Friday, 7 August 2009
Oxfam and secondhand bookshops
The BBC and other media (The Guardian) have recently picked up on complaints made by some secondhand bookshops that Oxfam's network of secondhand shops - for which I have been poet in residence for 5 years - is putting them out of business. Little mention has been made of the good work Oxfam does, of mutual benefit to them and the writers, in establishing innovative cultural platforms across the UK for poetry and other writing, such as their Lifelines CDs, and the recent fortnight book festival, the biggest of its kind anywhere in the world. While I am sure having excellent Oxfam used bookshops nearby provides competition, it is likely the pressures on all book-sellers come more from the Internet, where used books are easily located and cheaply shipped. If anything, the Oxfam shops are extending a quality network of secondhand bookshops to communities and areas that might not otherwise have them.
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Yes, but how much damage do Oxfam shops do to the high street? Charity shops of all description get an automatic 50% discount on their business rates, and can apply to the local council for the remaining 50% of the tax to be waived. That's quite a tilt on the allegedly level playing field ...
ReplyDeleteAnother way of looking at this is that Oxfam is a big corporation like any other, and is acting like one. Living in Oxford and knowing many who work or have worked for them, I am familiar with their corporate methods, their use of highly paid managements consultants, their huge turnover and burueacracy and all the rest of it. Of course their aim is 'development' rather than profit, but this doesn't mean that their impact on smaller operations can be glossed over, or that everything they do is good.
ReplyDeleteAppreciate that you work for them Todd, and good for them for taking poetry seriously - but small bookshops, like all small businesses from pubs to farms, are under threat from many quarters right now. Oxfam, as you say, is not as a big a problem as Amazon, but given that it is supposed to be one of the good guys, I think it should be very careful it doesn't threaten the few remaining independent bookshops with what is a manifestly unfair trading model (free stock and low rent.)
As a previous fundraiser for Oxfam, I have come across several people complaining about these issues, mainly charging high prices for second hand books and taking business away from other high street businesses, and not just book shops - whilst receiving benefits in rent payments etc. I have to say though that the majority of people are fond of Oxfam but there is, and possibly always will be an atrocious response of the way the charity is run.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, there have been many changes over the years with regards to the charities budget/ Directors wages, many people in the UK cannot comprehend the good work that Oxfam does because they simply live in a bubble and can't relate to Oxfam's work, because they simply don't see it unless it's breaking news on our television screens.
What is clear is that many people do not like giving to charity, if they can save a buck or two at a charity shop all the better but these negative people in society have twisted the good work that charities do. If Oxfam have increased their prices perhaps its because they are struggling to make a profit that actually goes into the money pot for international aid etc. No one enjoys paying tax or paying rent etc - why should a charity have to pay these silly things? Seriously, people lighten up. If I give a pound to charity I want that POUND to go and save lives, not on things like shop admin but on the people who do the job, on the supplies that eventually save lives. If say Amnesty International has to pay high fees for professional people to do legal work for human rights or Oxfam to make sure aid is delivered to people in a disaster what difference is there in say a Macmillan nurse getting paid a lot more than a normal nurse in caring for a cancer patient. It is because they are the best at what they do. I would imagine even Oxfam shops are struggling too, hence the higher prices, we should be supporting Oxfam and not tarnishing it's real purpose.
Charities exist because our government does not have the resources to do all the work themselves. Seriously, If the government actually made people double their taxes or even force people to give 10% of the annual wage there'd be an outcry. There are many people who have lost their humanity.