The St Vincent de Paul Society of Canberra/Goulburn on Friday officially took over the ACT Government contract to run the Mugga Lane and Mitchell reuseables sheds, taking items donated by the public and re-selling them to avoid the goods ending in landfill.
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The sheds, formally operated by The Green Shed, are now known as Goodies Junction.
Drop-off of donations continue as usual.
The shop part of the operation is closed until Monday, July 1 to allow Vinnies to fit it out and put stock back in the sheds.
The shops will open for business from 7.30am on July 1.
Vinnies director of commercial operations Lindsay Rae and chief operating officer Tony Allen sat down to explain the operation of Goodies Junction going forward.
PRICING
Fears about prices increasing at the Mugga Lane and Mitchell sheds following the departure of The Green Shed have been regularly expressed by customers.
But, Mr Rae and Mr Allen say, Goodies Junction won't be like shopping at your local Vinnies op shop. Prices will be cheaper, they say.
And the other big change is that all items at Mugga Lane and Mitchell will be priced and that price will be fixed. No more haggling.
Lindsay Rae said items would be priced by staff as the donations were received in the drop-off zone.
"They'll sort it, they'll price it and then it will go on the shop floor," he said.
"There are various ways of doing it and it's not simple. Either the individual items will be priced where we can, which will be great, or there will be category prices.
"That means when people get to the counter, they know the price. I think that's what the ACT Government wants - they want people getting to the counter knowing the price, not then asking what's the price.
"We expect the pricing to be the same.
"We will have stickers. In some items you can't just put stickers on, so there will be zone signage saying, 'Well, these items are $2 or these items are $5'. And that's how it will be done," Mr Rae said.
Former staff of The Green Shed now employed by Vinnies will be manning the drop-off bay and doing the pricing. Mr Allen said 50 former staff of The Green Shed had found jobs with Vinnies.
"There's been no staff member from The Green Shed who has come to us that we've said no to," Mr Allen said.
WHAT ABOUT THE HAGGLE?
If people could haggle before under The Green Shed, how can Vinnies guarantee prices will not be higher if prices are fixed?
"Over the last couple of weeks, we've been talking to some staff [of The Green Shed] - some ex-staff and some current staff - and the biggest problem they have is this haggling.
"And they claim harassment from the public when they don't get the right price. And some of those salesmen are very happy not to haggle. Because people always want a lower price.
"Some of [the former staff of The Green Shed] are excited that's not going to happen because it's so difficult.
"The bottom line is, these are going to bargain basement prices because we need to move the stock on. The intention is to sell more and not knock back as much.
"We need to move the stock through, that's what this is all about."
Mr Rae said he understood there had been theft at The Green Shed.
"What I'm hearing is you put an expensive item out on the shelf, you don't see it come through the sales. So where's it going?," Mr Rae said last week.
"So there are problems like that, that we don't have all answers to yet."
HOW ABOUT THE GOOD STUFF?
What happens if a designer item or other good stuff ends up at the Mugga Lane or Mitchell sheds?
"We're there to make more money on the things that are worth more money," Mr Rae said.
The Green Shed did siphon off the better items to sell for more money in its retail outlets, The Green Shed Shop and The Green Shed Underground in Civic.
Vinnies will do the same, sending some items to its 10 op shops in Canberra.
THERE WILL BE FREE CLOTHES, FURNITURE AND MORE
Like The Green Shed, Vinnies or Goodies Junction will also have a section of free clothing. There will also be free furniture.
"For people who are in need, they will be getting free clothes. There will be free furniture. There will be free stuff for people in need," Vinnies chief operating officer Tony Allen said.
Mr Rae said, for example, Vinnies helped women and children escaping domestic violence to set up in a new home.
"At the moment, we can supply then with all the clothing, crockery, cutlery, a mattress and bedding," he said. "But this will give us the opportunity to give them, hopefully, a fridge, a dining room set, a lounge set so we can have that stuff ready to go."
One Vinnies member last week had three women escaping domestic violence needing help with re-housing and furniture.
"He said, 'Are we going to do better than we are now?' and I said, 'Yes'," Mr Rae said.
"That's the intention. We can give them the furniture. They don't have to wait a week while we go and buy it. We can give it to them there and then."
Mr Allen said they were following in the footsteps of The Green Shed.
"They've done a fantastic job of doing that for 14 years and absolute respect to them for that and we're here to continue that and do it better," he said.
WHAT CAN I DONATE?
Like The Green Shed, Goodies Junction will take almost anything and everything, including electrical items and baby products which would may not be taken by the average Vinnies op shop.
"This is a totally new branch," Mr Rae said.
"In this situation, we've got tag and testers. We've got all these people here. So stuff comes in and can be tag and tested and sold and it will be safe."
"Tip shed" kind of items that wouldn't pass muster at a Vinnies op shop are more likely to be accepted by Goodies Junction.
"That is the stuff that will be saved from landfill and have no other option," Mr Rae said.
"It hurts us seeing stuff going into the tips... I believe we can reduce what we now send to landfill by 10 per cent."
OPENING TIMES
Drop-off times for donations have not changed.
Drop-offs will be from 7.30am to 4.45pm, Monday to Sunday, at Goodies Junction located at the Mitchell and Mugga Lane Resource Management Centres.
The second hand items will also be sold from Goodies Junctions from 7.30am to 4.45pm, Monday to Sunday, as soon as it opens for trade on July 1.
WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO?
Mr Rae said Vinnies wanted the tip contract because it would raise money for its programs, save items from landfill (including items that couldn't be displayed in its existing Vinnies op shops) and provide it with a supply of furniture and other items it could provide for free to people in need.
"The money we make at the end of the day will go to our programs - emergency food, housing, clothes to people who really are in need," Mr Allen said.
"And that demand is growing - the number of people is growing and the cost of providing the aid is increasing. So we need to increase our capacity to help those people and we're hoping this what we can do here."
Mr Rae said 68 per cent of money going out was for emergency food.
"People don't realise in Canberra there are thousands of people who receive food assistance every day," he said.
Mr Allen said Vinnies would also introduce on-site education programs such as "how can you fix things? How can you re-purpose things?" for school students as well as the general public.
"We're also looking to partner with some re-purposing organisations to promote giving things a second chance, being more sustainable," he said.
WHAT ABOUT THE NAYSAYERS?
"Absolutely watch and see," Mr Rae said.
"A lot of people are wary. There has been a lot of misinformation out there. I would just say, 'Watch and see'."
Megan Doherty
I like telling local stories and celebrating Canberra. Email: megan.doherty@canberratimes.com.au
I like telling local stories and celebrating Canberra. Email: megan.doherty@canberratimes.com.au
