Recently a relative told me that the "good as new stuff" I had passed to her at her request as my contribution to the annual jumble sale held by her temple was still with her. Reason? The temple decided to skip the fund raising event because the abbess cited poor support from the buying public.
I applaud the decision.
Jumble sales for charity is a waste of time and good stuff -- the organisers, collectors and helpers spend a lot of time putting together the stuff. They try to price the donated goods at appropriate levels and often err on the side of generosity. Donated good stuff that might have sold for more at secondhand shops are priced like dirt.
Truly generous people won't mind paying a bit more when they drop in on these sales whereas the cheap skates who target such sales will grab the best for a song and usually before the truly charitable arrive to give support.
To help the really poor, my suggestion is that would-be donors give their rejects to the down n out selling in Sungei Rd; and those who support jumble sales out of charity rather than greed should ditto pass the spare change to the down n out. Instead of patronising charity sales of donated goods.
A few years ago, when I moved to downsize, I had too much furniture and other worldly goods to fit my new abode. I decided against giving away the things to charities to resell and instead held my jumble sale after I had taken all that I wanted to keep to the new home.
I managed to raise $1,000+ which duly went to charity. I know where most of the goods went: friends and neighbours. They bought only what they wanted. They didn't feel obliged to take my excess rubbish in the belief that someone poor would benefit.
I hope more people will take this route.
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