CHARITY bins across the region have been hit hard over the Christmas period and into the new year, with not only thefts occurring, but items being dropped off that are broken or unusable, costing the ‘op shops’ thousands of dollars to remove.
The Bridge Youth Service’s Revamp Op Shop on Fryers Street may have had a better holiday season compared to last year, but still has to endure costs of up to an estimated between $5,000 and $10,000 each year to spend time removing items that they cannot re-sell. They, among other charity op shops, also continue to be targeted by thieves who take quality items that could be going back to helping the charity organisations and in turn the local community.
Revamp Op Shop manager, Fiona Martin said, “We do get a lot of fabulous donations and we are very appreciative for that.
“This year (the holiday period) seems to have been better than last year, but we’re not sure if that’s because of the theft we’re experiencing.
“In previous years we have had a lot of rubbish dumped in and around our bins, which has been a major issue.
“Christmas in 2017 was the worst. We had damage to our bins and had so much theft and rubbish dumping so we were forced to remove our bins from around the city and only have the ones at our store.
“This year we received some pretty unsanitary items such as dirty, stained linen and soiled underwear as well as broken and unusable bric-a-brac and household goods.
“The saying goes if you wouldn’t give it to a friend, please do not donate it.
“It costs us a fortune in time and money to remove these items and that could be being used elsewhere.
“The biggest thing we can do is ask the community to, if possible, try dropping the donations in-store to us, to prevent against theft.”
