Salvation Army snubbed my dresser

[paulney]

WTF moment of the day: I wanted to get rid of our old dresser. It's a nice solid dresser in good used condition. Usually I take stuff to Goodwill, but I don't have a truck, and I'm not renting a U-haul for this occasion either. Local Goodwill won't do pickups, so that leaves Salvation Army. Scheduled an appointment with them for a pickup.

Driver comes and tells me: 'I can't take it'.
Me: why?
Driver: because it has scuffs on the front!

WTF. Yes, it has scuffs - it's used. It's not bad at all. What do you want - a new dresser for donation? Anyways, after he left, I set the dresser outside on the street, and it was gone in 20 minutes.

Screw you, Salvation Army, you won't see a red cent from me any more.

Just makes me ponder: do they value their time too much to mess with measly furniture in good condition, or is it the SA clientele that is so damn picky, SA realizes they will never move it fast enough through their store? Or is it that they are in for the profits, not for the helping out?

 

[Joseph F]

I guess they have too much furniture in-stock already. I don't see why else they would turn down a dresser just because of some scuffs.

 

[KLin]

#firstworldproblems

 

[HamburgerBoy]

#firstworldproblems

I hope you're referring to any "poor" individual that would turn down a dresser over a scuff.

 

[woodie1]

Yep. I gave up on SA and Goodwill some time ago. Just set whatever you want to get rid of at the curb and within 2 hours it will be gone.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

I don't get it.

 

[nageov3t]

was your dresser a homosexual? because the salvation army doesn't take kindly to that sort of sinning.

 

[InfinityOctopus]

I don't get it either, what's punchline?

 

[walkur]

I guess they have too much furniture in-stock already. I don't see why else they would turn down a dresser just because of some scuffs.

This.

They usually get more furniture than they can handle, same with old PC's / TV's.

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

WTF moment of the day: I wanted to get rid of our old dresser. It's a nice solid dresser in good used condition. Usually I take stuff to Goodwill, but I don't have a truck, and I'm not renting a U-haul for this occasion either. Local Goodwill won't do pickups, so that leaves Salvation Army. Scheduled an appointment with them for a pickup.

Driver comes and tells me: 'I can't take it'.
Me: why?
Driver: because it has scuffs on the front!

WTF. Yes, it has scuffs - it's used. It's not bad at all. What do you want - a new dresser for donation? Anyways, after he left, I set the dresser outside on the street, and it was gone in 20 minutes.

Screw you, Salvation Army, you won't see a red cent from me any more.

Just makes me ponder: do they value their time too much to mess with measly furniture in good condition, or is it the SA clientele that is so damn picky, SA realizes they will never move it fast enough through their store? Or is it that they are in for the profits, not for the helping out?

Actually, most of their storage areas are pretty full, people like yourself who are too cheap to spring for a fee to get their crap hauled to the dump are plentiful and they do state that they won't take anything that is broken or dirty.

If it's not in good condition, don't waste their time.

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

I guess they have too much furniture in-stock already. I don't see why else they would turn down a dresser just because of some scuffs.

Because it's not worth the money it takes to haul it to the storage area, what do you think they could get for an old broken dresser? But yeah, you're right about their storage area being mostly full most of the time.

£5?

 

[Turtle Man]

I wouldn't stop contributing to goodwill, etc because of this 1 person / incident. What you do and tried to do makes a world of a difference to another person/family.

+Karma

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

I wouldn't stop contributing to goodwill, etc because of this 1 person / incident. What you do and tried to do makes a world of a difference to another person/family.

+Karma

I think one thing people have to realize is that they are small organisations with limited storage and shop areas and they really can't take everything that people want to get rid of just to be nice and take it off their hands.

During a period i worked at a shelter in London and people were constantly angry because we didn't want to take their old mattresses or scruffed up/broken old furniture.

If it's not going to get sold it will just cost money to get rid of and that isn't the point of making donations, is it?

 

[Rage187]

I agree you shouldn't call them to hall away your broken and busted furniture.

 

[Bignate603]

Just makes me ponder: do they value their time too much to mess with measly furniture in good condition, or is it the SA clientele that is so damn picky, SA realizes they will never move it fast enough through their store? Or is it that they are in for the profits, not for the helping out?

People seem to think that the SA store is there for poor people to buy things cheaply. It's not, they do the stores for 2 reasons:
1. To make money to support their charity programs.
2. To create jobs and give opportunities to train people how to hold a job.

If they have a choice between nice furniture they can sell for more money and scuffed up furniture that they'd have to sell very cheaply they'll take the nice stuff. That gets them the most money, which then flows into their other aid programs.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Not a lot of demand for heavy furniture from the hobo community.

 

[Wyndru]

I've had SA deny clothes that weren't even in bad condition. It makes sense that they are trying to make money, but really? Turn down average sized clothes in good condition? I should have just dumped the clothes in their bin instead of going in. I've never had this issue with goodwill though.

 

[Joseph F]

Because it's not worth the money it takes to haul it to the storage area, what do you think they could get for an old broken dresser? But yeah, you're right about their storage area being mostly full most of the time.

£5?

Paulney said that it had some scuffs, not that it was broken.
BIG difference.

 

[waggy]

a good solid wood dresser? and they turned it down? ugh.

i need to get my son a new dresser set. his are cheap crappy particle board type crap. Everyone else in the family has solid wood ones.

My daughter inherited a very nice (and very old) set from when a close family member died. i think the stuff is around 100 years old and still as solid as anything i have seen. it has scuffs on it but still looks amazing. the makup thingy (errr dont' know what they are called) has been used but still great.

buying cheap furniture is such a waste of money.

 

[paperfist]

Wow I need a break, somehow I read the title as, "Salvation Army snubbed my hair dresser"

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I started leaving everything out on my side walk for any mexican to.come by and grab it. They litterally take everything that still works or is fixable.

 

[DaveSimmons]

People continue to think that SA and Goodwill collect items to give to poor people.

"Someone could still use this fork with one tine missing, it's better than no fork at all!"

No, they collect items that they can sell, for a profit, in their stores. Not to hobos, but to middle-class bargain-seekers. If they can't sell it then you're actually anti-donating and stealing money from them to get rid of your junk.

 

[wiredspider]

I think trident needed a dresser to make bacon or something...

 

[Mike Gayner]

You're angry because someone wouldn't haul you trash for free?