Australia: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (and the Meh?)

[pmccarthy]

My daughter asked the garbage truck driver whether she has to separate the cardboard from the glass now that she has been given  a third bin. He said do what you like, it all goes into my truck and into landfill.

[facthunter]

That's shameful. People trying to do the right thing and its all a hoax. Nev 

[old man emu]

Tell me about it!

 

People bring in all sorts of things to the Op Shop - bags and bags of clothes, shoes, bags, bric-a-brac like crockery. We go through it all and sort the saleable from the rubbish. We end up sending unwanted clothing to go to Africa (allegedly). Yesterday I sent away 220 kgs of clothing. That was after I had taken a ute load of solids to the tip to go into landfill. We are lucky in that our local tip does not charge us for that. Getting rid of this stuf costs Lifeline and Vinnies thousands of dollars each year. 

 

On the bright side, our Op Shop has distributed over $100,000 within the community over the past three years and still has a helthy amount of funds on hand. It is marvellous how much money an Op Shop can make selling just about everything at less than $5 each. It helps that it is fully volunteer run with no wages, but rent and consumables do take a bit each month. 

[Jerry_Atrick]

My MIL volunteers in an op shop (called charity shop in the UK). They benefit from full relief of business council tax (rates) and of course, largely volunteers (I think there i a paid manager - but they will not be on much money). 

 

My MIL said revenues are up since the cost of living crisis, and that people who one would not normally associate with sopping at op shops.  I wonder if that is the same here (in Aus as I type ;-))

 

 

[old man emu]

Gilgandra is a typical inland town. The local indigenous mob  are the Widjuri, with Gamillaroi as next-door neighbours. Our Op Shop gets trade from the residents of the town and surrounding towns, as well as the travellers (who make up a large part of our customer base).. For the size of the indigenous population in the area, we see very few of them in the shop.  The word is that the indigenous people are not doing it so tough and can afford to buy from the major chain stores.