The Occasional...

Charity

Until recently I had been divesting of my material possessions via the commercial vehicles of Amazon and eBay. The plan was to declutter my life while raising a bit of working capital so I could start cluttering all over again (but with “better” clutter).

The practice matched the theory and until recently I was getting rid of stuff (mainly CDs) as fast as you like but then an overambitious weekend that saw me listing 93 items on eBay got me to thinking that my time (and sanity) would perhaps be best served by not spending my evenings and weekends variously listing, packing and posting CDs.

I realised that the opportunity cost of earning money the eBay way was simply too high given my lack of spare time.

So, I decided to do the honourable thing and give my stuff away.

The Oxfam on Western Road in Brighton has now had something like 500 of my CDs, ranging from a few mangy old singles to a few albums that are less than a month old. I popped in today to deliver 200 or so CDs and a couple of books and an old Agnes B hat that I’ve never really liked or worn (but that’s been languishing in my wardrobe for nearly ten years).

I noticed a few of my donations on the shelves and I can only assume at least a few of the others have already sold.

I wish them well and hope they sell the lot and soon. But I am slightly amazed that I’ve donated what seems like a fairly substantial amount of stuff and yet they’ve made no attempt to bring me into their “fold” or make more of me.

Isn’t it ironic that you can’t move for “chuggers” (street fundraisers) on most streets and yet you can walk into a charity shop to make a donation on numerous occasions and walk out again without being engaged.

I’m not saying I want to be preached at or sold to but I’d like to think they might have a way to make our interaction more meaningful.