Salvation Army rant!

[scanmom]

So, I was lucky enough to get a new washer, dryer, dishwasher and trash compactor in November!! YAY!!! The old ones still work, just not quite as efficiently as the did when new. We took the old washer/dryer/dishwasher to salvation army to donate them, and they were VERY suspicious acting! Kept asking over and over if they REALLY worked. Than, get this... they refused to take the dishwasher. They said they don't take dishwashers! when I asked why not, the lady said.... POOR PEOPLE DON'T NEED DISHWASHERS... THEY CAN DO THEIR DISHES IN THE SINK!!!! (her exact words!). I was shocked! I was tempted to not give them the washer/dryer either, because of their poor attitude, but went ahead and did it. I could not believe what I heard! Crazy!

 

[Princess April]

Oh, I believe you. When we purchased our home (our very first!!!) We had some old furniture that we wanted to get rid of to make room for the new furniture that we had purchased. Naturally, I thought about the Salvation Army.... I called them and told them what we had for pick up. I told her the 2 main items were an entertainment center that had a few minor scratches on it and a sofa bed (mattress included, a really good one considering it was a sofa bed) (oh yea, and a couch cover and matching throw pillows). They basically interrogated me as to how bad the scratches were and then asked about the sofa. I told them that it was an outdated pattern (cloth) and there was a very small amount of repair needed to the fabric on the bottom (ya know where the flaps are?) Anyway they said they could not accept anything that was wasn't first rate and refused to even come and look at the stuff. I would never give away items that I thought were unsuitable for humans to use, but gee I guess I was really slumming it huh?
Well, needless to say the Goodwill was more than happy to get my donations and they even mentioned that they were glad that the S.A. refused my donations (they loved the stuff!) I'll tell you what S.A. will never get a penny from me! Not their bell ringers or any donations that I may have in the future... Goodwill gets all my stuff!

 

[Ennazus8810]

When my father passed away we donated everything from his apartment to a battered woman's shelter. They are always setting up women in their own apartments, and they have NOTHING to start with. Both SA and Goodwill were giving us a hard time about the furniture and dishes (they even wanted to make sure that there were full sets of all of the dishes). I finally had enough, called the shelter, and they came out the following day and picked up 3 rooms of furniture, and 15 boxes of kitchen supplies. They were so grateful, and I still get Christmas cards from them 9 years later.

 

[lisajl]

When my father passed away we donated everything from his apartment to a battered woman's shelter. They are always setting up women in their own apartments, and they have NOTHING to start with. Both SA and Goodwill were giving us a hard time about the furniture and dishes (they even wanted to make sure that there were full sets of all of the dishes). I finally had enough, called the shelter, and they came out the following day and picked up 3 rooms of furniture, and 15 boxes of kitchen supplies. They were so grateful, and I still get Christmas cards from them 9 years later.

Hey, I am so glad you posted this! I would have never thought of this.
Thanks!

 

[smidgen21]

So, I was lucky enough to get a new washer, dryer, dishwasher and trash compactor in November!! YAY!!! The old ones still work, just not quite as efficiently as the did when new. We took the old washer/dryer/dishwasher to salvation army to donate them, and they were VERY suspicious acting! Kept asking over and over if they REALLY worked. Than, get this... they refused to take the dishwasher. They said they don't take dishwashers! when I asked why not, the lady said.... POOR PEOPLE DON'T NEED DISHWASHERS... THEY CAN DO THEIR DISHES IN THE SINK!!!! (her exact words!). I was shocked! I was tempted to not give them the washer/dryer either, because of their poor attitude, but went ahead and did it. I could not believe what I heard! Crazy!

do you have a Habitat for Humanity ReStore? They would probably take it all.

 

[msmayor]

Understand that these charitable organizations are often re-selling these items, and I'd venture to guess that more often than not they have been given items that are really no more than junk and should have been trashed, simply because folks think "Oh, if I give it to the Salvation Army I can get a tax deduction for it!".

It then costs THEM to either try and sell it, or junk it themselves. I can really understand that while they are grateful for donations, those donations don't help if they end up simply being an intermediary disposal point.

 

[ctinct]

I think one of the reasons they are so picky, though, is lots of people donate stuff that is unsaleable or unusable. (Not you, OP ) I don't know if my Goodwill takes appliances at all. No SA nearby. They are expensive for them to get rid of. I know in my town we have to pay a fee to get rid of old appliances, on top of hauling it the dump ourselves in the first place. Years ago the town would have free curbside pickup twice a year.

Anyhow, I can see people "donating" stuff just to get rid of it. Heck, I work in a food bank with the kids from my school as part of their school program, and you would not believe the stuff that gets donated that is well past code. I wouldn't eat stuff that expired in 1996--an actual date on something we recently found from the holiday food drives. (We were having a contest to see who could find the oldest stuff. I won. )

 

[stahshee]

about 5 years ago I saw a 1980's stero complete with the glass cabinet it was 75.00 . I said to them thats alot of money for that time machine and she said well we have to make money

 

[Glenn]

Yes the Salvation army isnt what it used to be. I can understand not taking really beaten up stuff because what will they do with it but they are way to picky. Five yrs ago when we closed my moms apartment they refused to take a 1949 dresser & mirror (walnut) along with an older dinning room table & chairs. I think they didnt want to haul if off a 2nd fl. The dresser had some ring stains on 1 corner after 50+years of use. The other was "to old fashion". Both ended up with a family known by a neighbor who was having really hard times. And yes theyre prices are way out of line for some things now days. Nice to get other ideas for donations here.

 

[TaraPA]

OP glad you found someone to take them. I volunteered once for the Goodwill Thrift Store - our job for 2 days was to go through the donations & weed out what was saleable & what was not...I was shocked. 90% off the bags were of people's GARBAGE. I'm not talking about dirty or torn items to donate - I mean people's actual household garbage for the week! The coordinator said this is the norm - people are too cheap to pay for trash service so they dump it there. It was so sad (and disgusting). That particular store didn't accept appliances she said because of exactly the same thing - they are expensive to dispose of, so people would just drop them off there claiming they worked when they didn't - just so they didn't have to pay extra to have their trash service pick them up.

 

[lbgraves]

Habitat for Humanity took an old washer a couple years ago when we were donating other items even though it didn't work anymore. They asked about it and I said that we were just going to junk it but they said they could use it for parts to fix other washers if they couldn't get it to work.

 

[wall*e2008]

Understand that these charitable organizations are often re-selling these items, and I'd venture to guess that more often than not they have been given items that are really no more than junk and should have been trashed, simply because folks think "Oh, if I give it to the Salvation Army I can get a tax deduction for it!".

It then costs THEM to either try and sell it, or junk it themselves. I can really understand that while they are grateful for donations, those donations don't help if they end up simply being an intermediary disposal point.

I think one of the reasons they are so picky, though, is lots of people donate stuff that is unsaleable or unusable. (Not you, OP ) I don't know if my Goodwill takes appliances at all. No SA nearby. They are expensive for them to get rid of. I know in my town we have to pay a fee to get rid of old appliances, on top of hauling it the dump ourselves in the first place. Years ago the town would have free curbside pickup twice a year.

Anyhow, I can see people "donating" stuff just to get rid of it. Heck, I work in a food bank with the kids from my school as part of their school program, and you would not believe the stuff that gets donated that is well past code. I wouldn't eat stuff that expired in 1996--an actual date on something we recently found from the holiday food drives. (We were having a contest to see who could find the oldest stuff. I won. )

OP glad you found someone to take them. I volunteered once for the Goodwill Thrift Store - our job for 2 days was to go through the donations & weed out what was saleable & what was not...I was shocked. 90% off the bags were of people's GARBAGE. I'm not talking about dirty or torn items to donate - I mean people's actual household garbage for the week! The coordinator said this is the norm - people are too cheap to pay for trash service so they dump it there. It was so sad (and disgusting). That particular store didn't accept appliances she said because of exactly the same thing - they are expensive to dispose of, so people would just drop them off there claiming they worked when they didn't - just so they didn't have to pay extra to have their trash service pick them up.

I have done work with both the SA and our local mission and all of the above is true. Many have the attitude that something is better than nothing when you are a poor person. Sorry but a broken item or a game with missing parts is just as useless to a poor person as to the person who donated them.

When we got a new front loader washer and dryer, we asked around to see if there was somebody who could use our old but fully working models. The condition was they were to be here at delivery or the company we bought from would take them. My GF knew a lady at her work that whose husband dies recently and her washer broke. She did not have the money to replace it. Her daughter and son-in-laws dryer was on the fritz, so they wanted the dryer. The came with a truck to get both. The company got the old ones out of the house and we then loaded the SIL's truck. The women at her work was so happy (the SIL delivered it). All parties, including us, were very happy.

 

[Abbie]

If you can't find a suitable place to donate, you could try www.freecycle.org It's an online way to get rid of stuff, and sometimes it doesn't even matter if it's working or not. Just post whatever you want to get rid of and if someone wants it they will haul it away. The reason it started was to try to limit what goes into the landfill and the only real "rule" is that whatever you offer is free.

 

[loveabargin]

Just wanted to speak up for The S.A. I work in PR for the S.A. and I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. The worker you encountered was not very professional, and not a good reflection of the values of The S.A.

Unfortunately, what other Disers have said is true. In our city, we have to pay to bring stuff to the dump that we can't use. Unfortunately, many things are donated to us because of that very reason...what they may not realize is that we also have to pay that fee when we get stuck with the items. Likely, this is why S.A. workers have been quizzing some of you when you try to donate.

 

[disykat]

We have people dump appliances and old electronics that no longer work on us at an annual youth organization rummage sale. We have to eat the cost of disposing of them. Trust me, it's not you - they have good reason to be suspicious.

 

[pezheadmeg]

Don't get me started on the Salvation Army.

First of all, I work in a Department Store, I see the bell ringers at the entrance 5 days a week for 2 months. Every afternoon when I left, they were standing there either smoking cigarettes or having loud conversations on th cell phone. Needless to say I wasn't giving change most days.

Then I figured I would spread some cheer and pull an angel off the tree for the Salvation Army's needy child drive. I figured I could spend $30 or so on a sweatshirt or a toy. The tags on the tree were for PSPs, an I-pod, Nike sneakers. 3 of them had the kid requesting their own lap-top -- 2 of them actually said $100 cash!

 

[girli565]

I understand how you feel OP, I bought a new sofa and love seat and had to get rid of my previous set. The sofa had a tear that we had repaired with the same fabric and the matching chair just needed a good cleaning. When I called they wouldn't even send someone out because of the tear, even though I explained several times it was repaired. Finally I hung up on the rude woman and put it up for free on Craig's list. It was gone in a day.

 

[Moeluv4u7]

The battered women's shelter is where I donate most of our items but other things- I craigslist it- >>> Free! You pick it up- & we do have a truck so occassionally my DH will agree to help someone by bringing it to them if they get it off his truck and into the house (he's had a heart attack and multiple complications, very big & strong but is not supposed to do heavy lifting anymore)
Also, our local area paper has a section for Free ads as long as the item is between Free - $100- Very Cool! So I advertise both ways and in a day the item(s) is/are gone-
Not to mention, I would much rather someone who needs it, can use it, appreciate it, get my item than a place that is going to sell it for too much money that a less fortunate person can not afford half the time and then not use the money to take care of the homeless people that the money should be used for! & I am not blowing smoke- I know this has happened many times over!

 

[DaddyDon]

do you have a Habitat for Humanity ReStore? They would probably take it all.

Omg..they are worse than the op....Never agin will i call them! I dont mind helping people in need but as the rest have said ...next time i will give it away to someone or take it to the dump..not worth the hassle....

 

[loveabargin]

Don't get me started on the Salvation Army.

First of all, I work in a Department Store, I see the bell ringers at the entrance 5 days a week for 2 months. Every afternoon when I left, they were standing there either smoking cigarettes or having loud conversations on th cell phone. Needless to say I wasn't giving change most days.

Then I figured I would spread some cheer and pull an angel off the tree for the Salvation Army's needy child drive. I figured I could spend $30 or so on a sweatshirt or a toy. The tags on the tree were for PSPs, an I-pod, Nike sneakers. 3 of them had the kid requesting their own lap-top -- 2 of them actually said $100 cash!

I'm sorry that the S.A. does this in your area. When we have parents ask for items like that, we don't allow it to go on our angels on the tree. If they ask for a DS or something, we put down "handheld game" which can range from a $20 game on up. No Ipods, brands of clothing, electric scooters, anything over about $40 is allowed to go on our trees. Of course, every S.A. locally sets their own criteria.

The bellringers are sometimes paid shelter residents or people who need a job desperately (in our area at least), and many times they are volunteers. I'm sorry that you'd let what they are doing deter you from giving. It takes hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions each year to run S.A. programs like shelters, soup kitchen, community centers, etc. Believe me, I hear all of this, and I understand your frustration...however, the S.A. does much good in many communities. They are one of the most respected organizations in the world.