Peeved in Pevely

Pevely, MO (11/27/09) - Greetings from fact-finding mish #59! There's nothing like combining business and pleasure, so I'm spending the evening writing new material for this marvelous blog!

Just now, in the motel parking lot, I noticed something rather bizarre.

There looms a red, outhouse-sized donation bin, which claims to accept shoes and clothes. Now that's fine, as long as all the donations go to charity. But in this case, they 'tisn't.

The donation bin features text blaring that donated items will be resold for profit, and that the bin is run by a for-profit company - not a charity.

If you see a Burger King or a Kroger, do you just walk in and give them $20, without getting any food or merchandise in return?

You do? Then you must be weird.

Seriously, nobody does. So why should people just give clothes to a for-profit business without being paid for it?

I'm prepared to say that this donation box is a scam. But that assumes anyone has actually been monumentally dumb enough to fall for it.

I'd hate to belabor this point, but it can't be stressed enough: You don't voluntarily give most proprietary businesses free money, so why should this case be any diff?

If you have new or gently used clothes you don't need, give them to a real charity - not a business that just resells them to Make Money. The profit sector has gotten something for nothing for far too long.

(Also keep in mind that charitable donations are tax-deductible; contributions to for-profit companies are not.)