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Oxfam revisited
On 2003-09-04 at 21:30:16 PST I wrote:
I have only just this minute sent off an e-mail to Oxfam, with links to the various threads in which we have been talking about them and inviting them to help us out where we're making the wrong inferences. Perhaps they'll be able to clarify all this for us. I have no wish to resurrect the Oxfam threads (http://tinyurl.com/pwo9, http://tinyurl.com/pwoj, http://tinyurl.com/pwon, http://tinyurl.com/pwo4), but since I had had no reply a month later I contacted Oxfam again, and got a reply from Allan Clarke, data manager of the trading division, answering the points I raised and saying that my first e-mail must have slipped through the net. Firstly, he agreed that their shops are not making much more money now than ten years ago or so. In fact, he went further and said that in 2000/01 Oxfam's gross income from trading was just £6.2m, little more than a third of its level in the mid-nineties. The reasons cited were "a tough combination of changes in retail employment law, sharp rent increases and an increase in low-cost retailers". The following year, Oxfam conducted a comprehensive review, which "led to our Shop Managers being more empowered to make decisions local to their shop - as it is our shop managers who know their local markets so well. As a result of this, our profits have sharply increased to £15.4m in the financial year 2002/03" (i.e., profits from shops are back to their level in the mid-nineties). The on-topic part of this posting is the following: "One of the ways we have achieved this [i.e., the increase in profits from trading] is by being trusted by our donors of books to get a decent price for them. This success has led to Oxfam becoming the largest second-hand book seller in the United Kingdom." He didn't attempt to answer the point about whether their "collectible" books were always as collectible as they claimed, but he probably isn't qualified to deal with that issue. From what he says, though, it would seem that the shop managers are largely responsible for pricing, so I would imagine that would lead to a tremendous amount of local variation. He went on to say, "As well as being the most profitable charity retailer, we are also the most efficient at turning sales into contribution. This is in no small part due to the contribution of time by 23,000 volunteers." Then came the question of the apparent increase in total Oxfam expenditure from £11.1m in 96/97 to £74.5m in 2001/02. He explained that the £11.1m figure does not include retail expenditure, since at that time the law did not require charities to report that expenditure. "The law changed and now charities include...shop costs in expenditure, which is why it looks to have risen so dramatically." He wanted to make it clear that the expenses of retail outlets were financed entirely out of the income received from shops and money from cash donations was completely separate and was never recycled into subsidising the expenditure on retail outlets. "Somebody giving Oxfam £5 in cash will see most of that money going to the programme... None of this £5 will go on shop costs. If you were to purchase something for £5 in a shop, then shop costs will come out of this £5." Anyone wanting further information about any of the above can contact Oxfam directly at . -- John http://rarebooksinjapan.com |
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#2
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It is interesting looking at the prices Oxfam charge. In some cases they
obviously have computer literate people checking their stock, in others it is based on prejudice. In the first instance, we had a friend in the second hand music business who found a rare Beatles record in an Oxfam shop. They were charging the top price for a record of that title but the condition of the LP meant it was worth a lot less, he informed them of this and they said they had had it checked by an expert. We had a similar experience in the same shop where first edition books carried a fine/fine price tag even if they were ex-library! They obviously had someone who could use the internet to check prices but didn't know anything about what they were seeing! In the same shop (and others), however, we have found children's books and westerns with a very cheap price tag which are very collectable. Clearly in this instance it is based on prejudice. Of course we don't care because we can buy them cheap and sell them for a profit. But in the end, like any business, Oxfam have the right to sell their stock for the best price they can get. If they sell their stock for the same price as antiquarian book sellers then normal customer will be happy. It is only the book dealers who will be unhappy and when have Oxfam had to keep us sweet! We don't tend to bother with Oxfam shops much unless we find a very special title but I have axe to grind. If they can get those prices for their books good luck to them and it keeps those customers off my back who say "I can get this book cheaper at a charity shop!" 'cos I can just direct them to Oxfam and say "be my guest" ;o) "John Yamamoto-Wilson" wrote in message ... On 2003-09-04 at 21:30:16 PST I wrote: I have only just this minute sent off an e-mail to Oxfam, with links to the various threads in which we have been talking about them and inviting them to help us out where we're making the wrong inferences. Perhaps they'll be able to clarify all this for us. I have no wish to resurrect the Oxfam threads (http://tinyurl.com/pwo9, http://tinyurl.com/pwoj, http://tinyurl.com/pwon, http://tinyurl.com/pwo4), but since I had had no reply a month later I contacted Oxfam again, and got a reply from Allan Clarke, data manager of the trading division, answering the points I raised and saying that my first e-mail must have slipped through the net. Firstly, he agreed that their shops are not making much more money now than ten years ago or so. In fact, he went further and said that in 2000/01 Oxfam's gross income from trading was just £6.2m, little more than a third of its level in the mid-nineties. The reasons cited were "a tough combination of changes in retail employment law, sharp rent increases and an increase in low-cost retailers". The following year, Oxfam conducted a comprehensive review, which "led to our Shop Managers being more empowered to make decisions local to their shop - as it is our shop managers who know their local markets so well. As a result of this, our profits have sharply increased to £15.4m in the financial year 2002/03" (i.e., profits from shops are back to their level in the mid-nineties). The on-topic part of this posting is the following: "One of the ways we have achieved this [i.e., the increase in profits from trading] is by being trusted by our donors of books to get a decent price for them. This success has led to Oxfam becoming the largest second-hand book seller in the United Kingdom." He didn't attempt to answer the point about whether their "collectible" books were always as collectible as they claimed, but he probably isn't qualified to deal with that issue. From what he says, though, it would seem that the shop managers are largely responsible for pricing, so I would imagine that would lead to a tremendous amount of local variation. He went on to say, "As well as being the most profitable charity retailer, we are also the most efficient at turning sales into contribution. This is in no small part due to the contribution of time by 23,000 volunteers." Then came the question of the apparent increase in total Oxfam expenditure from £11.1m in 96/97 to £74.5m in 2001/02. He explained that the £11.1m figure does not include retail expenditure, since at that time the law did not require charities to report that expenditure. "The law changed and now charities include...shop costs in expenditure, which is why it looks to have risen so dramatically." He wanted to make it clear that the expenses of retail outlets were financed entirely out of the income received from shops and money from cash donations was completely separate and was never recycled into subsidising the expenditure on retail outlets. "Somebody giving Oxfam £5 in cash will see most of that money going to the programme... None of this £5 will go on shop costs. If you were to purchase something for £5 in a shop, then shop costs will come out of this £5." Anyone wanting further information about any of the above can contact Oxfam directly at . -- John http://rarebooksinjapan.com |
#3
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It is interesting looking at the prices Oxfam charge. In some cases they obviously have computer literate people checking their stock, in others it is based on prejudice. In the first instance, we had a friend in the second hand music business who found a rare Beatles record in an Oxfam shop. They were charging the top price for a record of that title but the condition of the LP meant it was worth a lot less, he informed them of this and they said they had had it checked by an expert. We had a similar experience in the same shop where first edition books carried a fine/fine price tag even if they were ex-library! They obviously had someone who could use the internet to check prices but didn't know anything about what they were seeing! In the same shop (and others), however, we have found children's books and westerns with a very cheap price tag which are very collectable. Clearly in this instance it is based on prejudice. Of course we don't care because we can buy them cheap and sell them for a profit. Normally, the "expert" valuer is just a volunteer with some book pricing knowledge and in many instances the valuer only gets to see the ooks which have been selected by the other volunteers as beig potentially valuable so many scarce titles can still easily slip through the net. Then of course you get the smart-alec volunteers who decide they can do the pricing job themselves simply by looking up the values on the internet. As with the rare Beatles record mentioned no account is taken of condition and so often a First Edition is priced up based upon the highest price shown on ABE or Addall where the condition would only merit maybe a quarter of the price. Of course we all know that there are also some vastly inflated prices shown on ABE by some dealers and so when an uninformed volunteer charity shop worker see the top price and values accordingly this leads to farce. At the Oxfam where I used to do valuations they had a special locked cabinet for the more collectable items. When I stopped valuing they started to put silly prices on things and put them in the cabinet and amazingly alot were selling. It seemed Joe Public thought because they were told the books were collectable and valuableand put in a locked cabinet they believed it and bought. Stan |
#4
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Yesterday I noticed that the Leeds branch of Oxfam apparently is listing
books on ABE. Is that the only one that does this? ABE is probably the main source of their prices then for items they are trying to mark to a retail price. Randy -- "Giltedge04" wrote in message ... It is interesting looking at the prices Oxfam charge. In some cases they obviously have computer literate people checking their stock, in others it is based on prejudice. |
#5
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Randy wrote
Yesterday I noticed that the Leeds branch of Oxfam apparently is listing books on ABE. Is that the only one that does this? ABE is probably the main source of their prices then for items they are trying to mark to a retail price. As far as I know all the Oxfam collectable books are listed through the Leeds Branch. So if good stuff comes into shops across the country they are sent to Leeds to be listed on ABE. They have been listing on ABE now for quite some time. Stan |
#6
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Giltedge04 wrote:
As far as I know all the Oxfam collectable books are listed through the Leeds Branch. So if good stuff comes into shops across the country they are sent to Leeds to be listed on ABE. That's not right. If you go to http://dogbert.abebooks.com/abe/ClientQuickList and type in Oxfam you will get a list of all the Oxfam bookshops that sell on ABE. There are currently sixteen, fourteen of which are in England, and one each in Scotland and Ireland. -- John http://rarebooksinjapan.com |
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