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St Michael's Hospice nurse holding up broken and unclean items in the Whitestone donation centre
7 October 2024

Would you buy it? Rise in unsaleable donations prompts plea from St Michael’s

With our Donation Centres receiving an increasing number of unsaleable items, we are sharing the challenges facing our retail teams.

With our Donation Centres receiving an increasing number of unsaleable items, we are sharing the challenges facing our retail teams.

This #HospiceCareWeek and we are adding our voice to the campaign to share more information about the importance of our shops for the hospice.

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This year, we have worked hard to provide better access to our donation centres across the county, including the opening of our first 7-day a week Donation Centre. Sadly, during this time, we have seen an increase in unsaleable items arriving with us. Our teams have received unclean or damaged clothing, broken furniture, DVD or CD cases without the discs, dirty homeware or kitchen items, broken electricals and even bags of general household rubbish.

With government funding for hospices falling short, hospices across the country are relying on their shops as they are receiving more funds from retail profits than the government. St Michael’s is no different and these extreme quantities of unsaleable items is taking a toll. Processing unsaleable goods costs us money and dominates a large proportion of staff and volunteer time, making it harder for our teams to get quality pre-loved goods onto the shop floor.

“Discarding items costs us money and is always our last resort,” commented Lesley Wilkinson, Head of Retail at St Michael’s Hospice.

“We distribute many items to our Pound Shops, and where possible, we recycle what cannot be sold. However, both recent changes to fabric recycling and the type of items being donated, means more must be disposed of by us. Waste disposal costs the organisation tens of thousands of pounds- every pound spent in this way is a pound less to spend on patient care.

“So, we are asking everyone to pose themselves a simple question before donating their items – ‘would I buy it?’ We hope that by thinking about whether they would buy the item in its current condition, it will help our wonderful supporters know whether it is suitable for donation.”

October 7 – 13 is #HospiceCareWeek and St Michael’s Hospice is adding their voice to the campaign in the hopes that by increasing education about donations and the important role retail plays, their shops can focus on stocking shelves with amazing pre-loved products and generating funds to support patients and their families in Herefordshire.

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