Are Charity Shops Losing The Plot?

Charity shops provide a valuable addition to most high streets providing they don't overwhelm them. In addition to raising money for their own needs they allow us to recycle perfectly good clothes and other items and allow them to be bought at reasonable prices. Not everyone can afford to buy brand new clothes and other items all the time and I see it as an obligation of charity shops to satisfy the demand from this part of our communities. What I'm seeing more and more though is charity shops starting to charge prices that wouldn't be out of the ordinary in normal shops, for items that have been donated. Now, some might say this is good business sense - I don't, I say it is betraying the trust of their communities.

£20 for a second-hand jumper, £130 for a set of plates, bowls, cups etc., £35 for a ladies jacket - I've seen all these and many more in charity shops. No-one is saying that these items should be given away for next to nothing but if that set of plates was truly worth £130 it should have been sent to auction or an antique shop. Charity shops are running the real risk of alienating their customers by thinking they are something they are not. They aren't there to compete directly with other shops on the high street, they are there to serve the dual-purpose of raising money for their own needs and supporting the community they are part of. I just wish some of them would wake up and remember that.