Behind the Rails
A look at local volunteering opportunities in retail
Mention Volunteering to someone and they might immediately think of working in a charity shop. Of course, there are many more ways to volunteer, but we thought that this month we would take a look at what is involved in volunteering in a charity shop – you may be surprised at the variety of roles and tasks.
With the changes people have made in there lives over the past couple of years, and the volatile nature of retail exacerbated by the varying restrictions over COVID-19, many of the familiar high street charity shops are finding themselves short of volunteers at this time when the charity services that they are raising funds for are in even more demand.
We spoke to Ross Wilson, the new store manager at Bedford’s Salvation Army Charity shop who is really keen to recruit more volunteers to help improve the shop, sell more donated goods and support all the new projects that he is planning for the future.
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Ross told us:
“I am planning some big changes to make more money for the Salvation Army trading company, so that we can make a big difference helping more people. This includes projects teaming up with others and some big adventures and events to come this year.”
We look forward to seeing the results of Ross’s collaboration and new projects in 2022. Perhaps volunteering in a charity shop offers much more than you might first imagine?
Whatever the charity, and future plans for their retail outlets, the variety of tasks undertaken by volunteers can be very wide ranging. If you think that your donations to charity shops just get taken out of the bag and hung or placed on the shelves with a random price marker, you would be very much mistaken.
We take a look at the process involved:
DRIVING
Many charities offer collection services to householders wanting to donate furniture, white goods or undertaking a house clearance. So, if driving, lifting and handling heavy goods is your forte then there may be a role for with a charity helping them to keep their retail business going. You may never even see the shop front – but instead be out and about collecting and delivering goods or evaluating furniture in people’s homes to assess its sale-ability. You will need to be up to scratch with health and safety, and be able to provide good customer service. Other driving roles might include transporting goods that cannot be sold in the shop, to be sold for recycling.
SORTING
Before customers have sight of donations there is lots of sorting and processing going on and volunteers provide the key resource to get this done. If you are a behind the scenes sort of person, then this role would suit you. Not only might you be sorting the saleable items from donations to be sold to textile recycling companies, but there is cleaning, steaming, sizing, recording and pricing to be done.
RECORDING AND PRICING
Image: Chris, who has been volunteering with Salvation Army for 10 years, and loves to find the little gems. She enjoys getting out of the house, being social and knowing she has made a difference in the world.
Recording ensures that gift aid can be processed accurately enabling an additional profit to the charity of 25% or more where appropriate paperwork has been completed. Pricing requires a good specialist knowledge – whether it is clothing, books, LP’s or antiques (for example) your interest and familiarity of particular goods will be invaluable to the charity. Spotting a high value item will ensure that the charity gets the most benefit from donations. You may find yourself researching prices and listing items on eBay – or packaging and posting items to be sent elsewhere.
DISPLAYING
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Image: Iris has been volunteering with the Salvation Army for around four years. She loves getting out to be social and the role stops her getting bored. Iris especially enjoys hanging the clothes and linen. |
You have a flair for design? A keen eye for aesthetics? A good shop front display draws customers in and it takes skill and knowledge to know what works. Special promotions and seasonal trends need to be accounted for. This goes for internal displays too. Your interest and knowledge in creating a good display will be invaluable to any charity shop.
SELLING
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Image: The staff at Salvation Army know the importance of Gift Aid in increasing the amount of money raised for charitable work. Here, a paid staff member is making the sales at the till. If you are confident handling money and working the till then many volunteering positions will involve this, but if not, there are plenty of other things to do. |
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Perhaps this is the bit that most people think of when volunteering in a charity shop is mentioned? It is the sociable side of the process and your interest in other people and good customer service skills are required. Meeting and greeting customers, making them feel welcome but not overpowered, dealing with queries, making sales and working the till are all involved. It goes without saying that without customer assistants, everything else would be pointless. And most of this work in charity shops is done by volunteers. If you have a particular interest and knowledge of a specific charity, you will also be able to promote the work of the charity with customers along with any events, or activities that are happening in the local area.
MAINTENANCE
Someone has to keep things in the shop clean and presentable and ensure that stock is rotated to keep things looking refreshed. Hands on deck are needed for this important role so if you are a habitual tidier and enjoy keeping things sparkling clean, you would be an asset to the charity. Sometimes you may also be required to keep an eye on security or help with unlocking and locking up the premises.
Depending on the way a charity organises volunteers, or the size of the retail operation or outlet, volunteer positions available may be geared to just one, a combination, or even all parts of the processes described above. Find a role that suits your interests, skills and ability.
We have drawn together the opportunities that are currently active – both those at the High Street Salvation Army shop in Bedford, and those with other charities in Bedfordshire. These are all on our Simply Connect volunteering platform. The opportunities change on a regular basis, so if you want to view these again later, go to our opportunities role search facility and use the search facility on Simply Connect by selecting ‘Retail and Charity Shops’ from the drop down list under Activities I am interested in.
