Please would you mind removing your fur coat

There are certain items that by law we are not allowed to sell (for example upholstered items without fire labels or toys without a CE label) then there are items for which a licence or age restriction may be required such as a DVD and then the last category, items we can sell but choose not to either out of respect or fear of controversy which brings me to the title “Fur”.

Personally I don’t believe in animals being killed for sport or fashion that’s why in the modern world we have faux but this is not the place to discuss my own concerns, but rather to explain the connotations associated with the endless possibilities of a donation and what should we do with them?

The first thing that springs to mind is a ...SALE! Yes...but as a responsible shop manager or even a volunteer you stop and consider the implications of that fur coat going out for sale on the shop floor (can I just take this opportunity to apologise for my incoherent grammas as I often remind myself of a French person who writes very good English but I don’t always place the word in the correct place of a sentence like just now although it all makes perfect sense)

Here is a photograph of said genuine fur coat, I can’t go into detail of what animal skin it is as I have no idea nor do I have a particular desire to find out although they are beautiful coats and I know from past experience synthetic furs that we have had donated have sold for £50 as they are always very popular.

You see lots at vintage fairs (now they are such a fun experience!) One of the older volunteers (Mary) has a saying “Fur Coat No Knickers” whatever that means I’m not entirely sure to be honest. 

So this leaves us with a problem. What do we do with it? Well there a few options we could rag it but I feel this would be a waste (we get a standard price per KG of a bag so yes even your moth eaten jumpers can be recycled and made money out of!) we could offer it to an animal shelter organisation (the animals like to sleep on them as they are real fur) or an independent campaigner and get some nice publicity or sign it over to an amateur theatre company and suggest they make a donation to us.

What would you suggest?

I have heard a story of another charity that had a fur coat for sale in one of their stores, I think it might have possibly been part of the window display which was obviously not the best move they had ever made (most probably unintentional) and an animal’s rights campaigner placed a lit cigarette in the pocket of the jacket and this resulted in the whole shop being burned down. I don’t know if anyone got hurt, I hope not but the moral of the story is to research what you can and can’t sell and what may be at risk to your reputation, charity profile, staff and ultimately yourself. This is quite an isolated incident. A potential good sale could cost a lot more down the line!

We are always trying to maximise profits and make the most of people’s donations. A charity shop isn’t just about making money (although it’s a Plus – see what I did there?) but also to serve the community for want of a better word - we have volunteers from the local community, youth work organisations, government organisations (more about these another time) and people enrolling on “back to work” courses to improve their skills and CVs. So it’s all good and all beneficial with or without fur coats!