Clothing collections :
Theft of bags

Headings on this page :

Introduction
Clothes Aid
What happens to the stolen bags?
Solutions
- Taking clothes to charity shops (and to re-use/recycling centres)
- House-to-house collections
Related pages

Introduction

Theft of filled bags is a major problem - costing charities £ millions each year. The key problem is the vulnerability of bags - they're on doorsteps, drives or public pavements for several hours, unsupervised, awaiting collection. Worse still, around 5% of bags are put out in the evening for collection the next day - thus increasing the risk.

The thieves fall into several categories :

One-off opportunists - petty criminals, passing by
Organised thieves, specifically targeting collections
Competing collectors - When two collections take place in the same area on the same day, there're often reports of one collector picking up bags intended for the other collector. If they're both genuine charities it's not so bad, but if one of the collections is commercial, the charity loses out.

What happens to the stolen bags?

Disposal in the UK :

car boot sales
ads in newsagent windows
small ads in local newspapers
Ebay.

With organised gangs, typically the clothes go abroad - especially to Eastern Europe (eg Lithuania and the Ukraine), by container-lorry. There have been many reports of bags of clothes intended for British charities, being spotted in Eastern Europe and Africa. Often the bags have the charity logo on them.

There's scope here for HM Revenue and Customs to take a more active role at ports - stopping these cargoes.

Clothes Aid

Solutions

Taking clothes to charity shops (and to re-use/recycling centres)

The best way of reducing theft of bags is to avoid using house-to-house collections altogether - by taking your unwanted goods direct to a charity shop (or to a re-use/recycling centre).

When you take your unwanted clothes etc to a charity shop (during opening hours), there's no risk of the bags being interfered with or stolen. Furthermore, this method usually maximises the proceeds raised for the good cause - raising pounds not pennies.

Recycling symbol

Taking your goods to a re-use/recycling centre (eg at supermarket car parks) is usually less risky than house-to-house collections, but there's still some risk of interference and theft.

See the page on Choosing the best way to donate your clothes etc for more on the pros and cons of using charity shops versus recycling centres versus collections.

Credit cards Coins

Note - This is similar to the problem of theft when donating cash (banknotes or coins) to charities - eg using collection tins, jars and envelopes.

The solution to this is to pay by a secure method - such as cheque, card, or direct debit. This radically reduces the risk of the money going astray. For example, even if your cheque is stolen, the thief usually can't cash it.

House-to-house collections

If you're unable to take your goods to a charity shop or recycling centre, you have to resort to using house-to-house collections. There are several things that can be done to lessen the problems of collections. We describe some of these below.

Some of these things can be done by the public who are donating the goods. However, others require action by collectors and/or the regulators.

High-value goods

Always bear in mind that your donation bag may be stolen. So don't put small, high-value goods in collection bags. For example, if they ask for jewellery, CDs, DVDs etc, resist the temptation to put them in the bag. Instead, save them up for your next visit to the town centre - when you can give them to a charity shop. And remember, NEVER put cash in a house-to-house collection bag.

The printing on bags

It helps if the bags are printed - rather than plain/anonymous.

Firstly it's important that the name of the collector and/or charity is given.

Secondly, it helps if the wording on the bag includes a prominent sentence like :

"This bag and its contents are the property of xxxx charity"

This reduces the number of thefts (=prevention).
If a bag is stolen, it makes it easier to prosecute - because the culprit can't argue that he didn't know who the bag was intended for.

See the page on Collection leaflets, bags and labels for more on this.

Marking of vans - It helps if genuine collection vans are clearly (and permanently) marked with the name of the collector/charity, their logos, telephone numbers and web address. This makes it easier for the public and the regulators.

Uniforms and badges - It helps if genuine collectors wear an identifiable uniform, and have ID badges.

Action needed

We feel the government should introduce regulations requiring genuine charitable collectors to comply with the examples of best practice outlined above.
We would encourage reputable collectors (eg charities) to follow these suggestions voluntarily now.

Clothing collections :Theft of bags