
By Roderick McIvor
MANY people say Hadden House in Bass is their favourite op shop. It has very reasonable prices. Most clothes are $2 an item or all that you can stuff in a bag for $5. Sited as it is in the old teacher’s residence, it offers a lot of nooks and crannies to show off the vast range of items that an op shop has on offer. With its shed for furniture and larger items, many people find visiting can become habit-forming. That’s wonderful for the Bass Valley Community Centre, which depends on the shop’s earnings to fund its services, particularly those supporting older and more isolated people in our community.
MANY people say Hadden House in Bass is their favourite op shop. It has very reasonable prices. Most clothes are $2 an item or all that you can stuff in a bag for $5. Sited as it is in the old teacher’s residence, it offers a lot of nooks and crannies to show off the vast range of items that an op shop has on offer. With its shed for furniture and larger items, many people find visiting can become habit-forming. That’s wonderful for the Bass Valley Community Centre, which depends on the shop’s earnings to fund its services, particularly those supporting older and more isolated people in our community.
What is NOT wonderful, however, is the approach some people have to making donations to the shop. There appear to be two attitudes moderately rife in the community that lead to the shop being mistaken for a transfer station or, to be blunt: the tip. Some people believe there is a population of “deserving” or otherwise poor people who are desperate to acquire what other people don’t want. This is regardless of the fact that the “donors” have very good reason not to want it … it’s rubbish.
The second attitude is more brutal, that is the op shop is closer than the tip.
With regard to the former attitude, the shop receives occasional calls from people who feel the dishwasher or fridge they are replacing has nothing wrong with it and could go to ‘poor’ people. In a country like Australia, the reason for having less income than is needed to meet expenses can be very complex but a worn and threadbare sofa encased in a layer of dog hair is probably not the answer to alleviating poverty.
The shop has a wonderful team of volunteers. They work tirelessly to sort the donations, readying them for sale and presenting an inviting environment for customers. It falls to them to deal with the less-than-saleable items.
The second attitude is more brutal, that is the op shop is closer than the tip.
With regard to the former attitude, the shop receives occasional calls from people who feel the dishwasher or fridge they are replacing has nothing wrong with it and could go to ‘poor’ people. In a country like Australia, the reason for having less income than is needed to meet expenses can be very complex but a worn and threadbare sofa encased in a layer of dog hair is probably not the answer to alleviating poverty.
The shop has a wonderful team of volunteers. They work tirelessly to sort the donations, readying them for sale and presenting an inviting environment for customers. It falls to them to deal with the less-than-saleable items.

One of our most problematic donations was a brand-new child’s bicycle sealed in its original box. A woman bought it for Christmas for her grandchild. Luckily the child’s mother couldn’t contain her curiosity and opened it before Christmas … only to find the box was full of rubbish. We reimbursed her, of course.
All of which is not to say we don’t get a wonderful and generous supply of very saleable donations. Some of what we receive is new and in its original packaging. Some of our volunteers have been involved for almost 20 years and they recall that it wasn’t always this way. In bygone years, the clothing was often stained and worn-out, fit only for rags (or possibly poor people). Wearing an item once (or not at all) before discarding it is a new phenomenon!
We are very indebted to the Bass Coast Shire Council for furnishing us with tip passes so we don’t have to pay the thousands of dollars to remove the rubbish. That isn’t to say the shop gets off scot-free. There is still the monthly bill (or bills) for collection of the op shop rubbish skip. And again, we are very dependent on willing volunteers to take rubbish to the tip.
We have publicised this behaviour on our Facebook page, hoping people will think before they set off with a load of goodies for the op shop. Most of the unsalable items are dropped in the dead of night. However there are times when items come in during the day and it is hard to turn them away. Rejecting Aunty Bessie’s wicker whatnot with most of the legs still intact can sometimes be too hard. The same applies to the faded and chipped children’s chair with the long-defunct whirly-gig above it that their children loved so much. The op shop can sometimes be seen as a place of palliative care for items whose demise has been incorrectly calibrated.
Roderick McIver manages the the Hadden House op shop at Bass.
All of which is not to say we don’t get a wonderful and generous supply of very saleable donations. Some of what we receive is new and in its original packaging. Some of our volunteers have been involved for almost 20 years and they recall that it wasn’t always this way. In bygone years, the clothing was often stained and worn-out, fit only for rags (or possibly poor people). Wearing an item once (or not at all) before discarding it is a new phenomenon!
We are very indebted to the Bass Coast Shire Council for furnishing us with tip passes so we don’t have to pay the thousands of dollars to remove the rubbish. That isn’t to say the shop gets off scot-free. There is still the monthly bill (or bills) for collection of the op shop rubbish skip. And again, we are very dependent on willing volunteers to take rubbish to the tip.
We have publicised this behaviour on our Facebook page, hoping people will think before they set off with a load of goodies for the op shop. Most of the unsalable items are dropped in the dead of night. However there are times when items come in during the day and it is hard to turn them away. Rejecting Aunty Bessie’s wicker whatnot with most of the legs still intact can sometimes be too hard. The same applies to the faded and chipped children’s chair with the long-defunct whirly-gig above it that their children loved so much. The op shop can sometimes be seen as a place of palliative care for items whose demise has been incorrectly calibrated.
Roderick McIver manages the the Hadden House op shop at Bass.