For the residents of Harringay and neighbouring areas of Haringey
clothes beggars
Today i had a flyer through my letter box here is their website. Is it legal ? i would like to know so that i can choose to donate or not. http://bit.ly/ZsVLS
(bit.ly - notice Hugh, i am learning)
Tags: charity collections, scam
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by VIX on -
We got the flyer for old records.
You were supposed to call the number on the flyer and they would arrange to come take a look and buy them [if they wanted any of them of course]
Even with a vinyl collection of 4,000+ my man wasn't tempted to call them; he didn't like the idea of someone getting a look round our home and belongings. Guess we're all a bit suspicious of this kind of door to door activity now-a-days. That's why we use Ebay
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Permalink Reply by Cml on -
Mmmmmmmmmm. Vinyl records.
Anyone sending flyers round would have to be a dealer, and in my extensive experience, record dealers make house clearance people seem ethical.
Anyone who wants a free an honest evaluation of what their discs are worth are welcome to list them on Harringay Online and I promise to be truthful.
Provided of course you don't have anything I want...
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Permalink Reply by Antoinette Carter on -
This is not a scam, but it is a business. The clothes are collected, washed and sorted. Some types of garments are shipped directly to countries on a donated basis (for emergencies etc.) with the recipients covering the costs of shipping etc. Some is sold on to vintage clothing shops; other outlets. The rest is shredded and sold on for recycling into various things. I believe these sorts of operations should actually be encouraged because they can achieve a much greater degree of re-use of the stuff they collect. All of it ends up being re-used in some way or another. And where there's muck there's brass.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on -
Fair points, Antoinette. And if the outcome was solely an increase in the total clothing etc recycled, I'd agree with you entirely.
But many of the big charities have criticisms of at least some of the firms collecting clothes etc.
One reasonable concern is that not all firms who put out collecting bags are in fact charities. Some claim to be who aren't - despite the pictures of kids etc on their leaflets. Again, I accept your point that this is a recycling business. But I think donors are entitled to know to whom they're donating. People's charitable impulse shouldn't be exploited.
Lastly, there's the problem of stuff from bags getting stolen, cherry-picked and then dumped on the street. I'm not putting all responsibility on the door-to-door collectors. Bags are also stolen from outside charity shops which don't set up an out-of-hours system.
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Permalink Reply by Liz on -
This problem has become so bad in parts of Wales that they are now targetting police action on it. Story here
Which makes me feel even more that if I want to get clothes 'recycled' I'll take them to the charity shop or use the council facilities listed here for clothing that is beyond being sold to wear.
These are Haringey's partners LM Barry in textile recycling
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Since James posted this I've continued to collect the "good cause" leaflets we get through the letterbox. When there were about 50, I decided it was time for a review. So I've scanned and posted some of them on my Flickr photoblog.
I've also updated the comments and list of links here. This includes advice about checking whether the information on leaflets is from a bona fide charity or company.
Some good news: many of the companies which failed to lodge accounts have now been dissolved. (Though it seems that a few may continue to trade; and at least one leaflet gave another company's registration number.)
The Advertising Standards Authority has taken up complaints. And last October Tracey Crouch MP raised the issue in an Early Day Motion (EDM).
A different slant was given in an internal Oxfam report by Julian Fifield. He told the magazine Third Sector that the "bogus charity collections are a smokescreen. It's more about things like the volume of bags being distributed. I was shocked at how much was going on. There's a lot of duplication and waste, and that has a big environmental impact."
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