The Great Charity Drop-off Rip-off

Almost every month, someone from a charitable organization phones and wants me to donate almost any item imaginable for their good cause. Sure, I’d like to contribute something...But I absolutely refuse to leave anything outside by the curb anymore. Why? Because I know if I do that, my donation will be taken away by the wrong people. I know my donation -- no matter how big or small -- will be stolen before the charity’s truck even has a chance to drive over.

Welcome to Richfield, MN. 2013: the endless curbside garage sale for sticky fingers and entitled “collectors” on the lookout for free stuff.

These immoral bargain hunters who frequent Richfield’s curbs don’t care about charity or any intended charitable contributions. They only care about themselves. That’s why it doesn’t do any good to clearly mark these bagged donations with proper signs or labels. They’ll help themselves to whatever’s left out by the curb. Even if you put up a big sign that reads FOR LUPUS FOUNDATION. Or, FOR SALVATION ARMY. Or, FOR GOODWILL. Or, FOR COURAGE CENTER. They’ll simply take whatever they want. I know. I’ve actually seen them do it. Of course, I’d like to stop their reprehensible behavior, but these pickers are really hard to apprehend.

On the street where I live, people and their cars freely come and go. There’s always someone pulling up to the curb and driving off. Friends and family and neighbors alike usually park in the streets, not in the driveways. So vehicles stopping and going by the curbs have become an everyday occurrence around here.

In other words, someone in a parked car isn’t necessarily going to be a thief. You can’t get paranoid and start thinking everybody who parks in the street is up to no good. You have to actually see them steal something before you start crying wolf. But by the time you realize they’re taking the donations, it’s too late to do anything about it.

Before you can get their license plate numbers or call the police, they’re long gone.

Leaving a contribution curbside for your favorite charity has become a real crap shoot now. You know somebody is going to take it, you just don’t know who it will be. Charity worker or dumpster diver? Idealistic volunteer or motivated picker? Goodwill employee or cheapskate on the lookout for an old playpen?

One cold night last January, we put our old needle-shedding Christmas tree out on the curb for the special garbage collection. In less than two hours, that belated balsam was gone, baby, gone. Someone other than the waste removal/recycling company had already taken it.

So if they’re taking your old Christmas trees (and even your garbage) why wouldn’t they take your charitable contributions, too?

Why, indeed.

The funniest -- and most perplexing -- part of this story is how little the charities care about this new kind of theft. They know contributions are down. They know people aren’t giving them as much as they used to give. But they don’t want to connect the dots. They want to cling to their old system of wandering trucks that pick up donated stuff from the curb. They don’t want to change. So they don’t want to admit they have a problem.

I know because I’ve repeatedly tried to tell various charities about this problem. Not only do they not believe they have a problem, but these organizations actually come up with eerily similar responses to the info I give them.

I’ll tell them about the curbside thefts.

They’ll say, Oh, we’ve never had a problem with anything like that.

I’ll say, How do you know? You’ve never actually seen anyone steal one of these donations. I have. You’ve never had an inventory made so you could compare what was left on the curb outside with what the driver actually found and put in the truck.

They’ll say, Have you tried putting a sign on it that says it’s for charity?

I’ll say, No, because I know if I leave anything out on the curb someone will steal it.

They’ll say, You should put your donations by your front door. Can you do that?

I’ll say, I guess I can. But I don’t want to block my house’s front entrance. So why doesn’t your organization schedule specific times for your pick-ups so I’d know when to put the stuff out and watch for the truck?

Then they’ll always say, We couldn’t do that. We don’t know about their schedules. The trucks just come on certain days when they can come. We never know when they’re going to come around.

But I know that the cruisin’ thieves will get there first. And they won’t be taking any moldy Halloween decorations, either. They’ll be going through the good stuff and taking it with.