Why Are There So Many Charity Shops
Over the last few years in every town or city there have been a surge of second hand charity shops opening up on the high street, all selling the same type of items and all within a few hundred yards of each other, this competition has resulted in a price war driving the value of good quality second hand furniture through the floor and resulting in the lower value item's becoming worthless, in the end most good quality second hand furniture and general household items now have a relatively low value so unlike in the past charities that collect furniture will only take the better quality items leaving you with the rest to clear at your expense.
The Rise Of The Charity Shop
There has been a 40 percent rise in the number of high street charity shops in the last ten years, do you ever wonder why, could it have something to do with full business rates are liable on empty commercial properties that remain unoccupied for three months or more, including lower value properties such as small shops, however, charities occupying a commercial property qualify for a mandatory 80% discount on business rates, local authorities also have the discretion to grant the remaining 20% as a further discount, Charities are being approached by retailers and landlords to enter into tenancy agreements that would relieve the landlords of their requirement to pay full business rates
Charity Benefits
Equally, some charities are actively marketing their willingness to enter into tenancy agreements with commercial landlords, this is advantageous for charities and provide good opportunities for them to also lease commercial properties for low or nominal rents, sometimes so low it would be called a peppercorn rent, they may even receive charitable donations from landlords that reflect the percentage of the business rates that they would otherwise be liable for, they acquire their stock free of charge and have staff who mostly work for free along with benefiting from being exempt from corporation tax and have zero rated V.A.T on the sale of donated goods, they even have a discount on the V.A.T they pay on their energy bills.
We Are Not A Charity
Please bare in mind we are not a charity, we are not linked or associated with any charities and we do not undertake free collections of item’s specifically to donate to charity, we are a business who specialise in property clearance, removal and recycling of all office and household contents, although during the course of our work we do acquire item’s that are suitable to be donated to charities, by donating things like books, cd’s and items of bric-a-brac, clothing and bedding and items of furniture we save money on the recycling costs of a house clearance making us more competitive with our house clearance quotations, please take your time when selecting a charity to donate your items to, make sure you read the small print on their websites and have a backup plan, we have had a lot of customers who have been left with furniture in their property at the very last moment because they assumed a charity would take it all but didn't and left them high and dry, About Us
"Hi Mark,
Thank you very much for your highly professional and courteous team work regarding the clearing of rubbish etc, we cannot fault your approach and work and the care that you took in doing the job, we very much appreciate all of this.
Colin and I both feel that the extra work involved on the removal of the freezer was so much more difficult, unpleasant and time consuming than we had expected, we never thought it would be easy but we feel strongly that you should invoice us separately for this work, we will then pass your invoices to the solicitor for payment,
It is important to us that your work is not undervalued and I hope you find our suggestion agreeable."
Thank you again, Catherine.
"Hi Mark,
I would like to thank you again for the great job you and your team did in clearing my parent’s bungalow. When we arranged the job I had no idea how much clutter and rubbish was stuffed away in every available space – and the shed was like another house on its own!
You and the boys were very patient, hard working and polite and there is no doubt that we wouldn’t have managed to sort it without you.
I would definitely highly recommend your company to anyone. Considering how much extra stuff there was, your quote was very reasonable and you all worked relentlessly without having a proper break all day!"
Thank you, Barbara