U’SAgain claims that their mission is to keep clothing out of landfills and that they never state that the donations they accept reach a charitable cause. U’SAgain is in no way breaking any laws, but maybe acting morally questionable. Their portrayal of a charitable organization really takes advantage of people who thought they were helping out a good cause. It’s doubtful that many of the donations U’SAgain has received in the past would have made their way into the big red boxes if knowledge about this deceitful company as more well known. So, spread the word, unless of course you want to help US’Again out instead of giving your unneeded items to someone in need.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Salvation Army Poser (by anon)
You’ve all seen them, the big red metal bins scattered throughout towns across the nation. Not to be confused with the popular Red Box movie rental system, these large mailbox like structures are for donating used clothing and shoes. Donating=good, right? Well that is not quite so in this case. These boxes are owned by a company called U'SAgain (pronounced as Use-again) based in Illinois. U’SAgain is a for profit company that then takes the seemingly charitable donations and sell them to textile factories to be used as needed. U’SAgain then keeps the money made off of unknowing citizens acts of good will. Due to the red color of the boxes, many people admit to confusing the boxes as an entity of the Salvation Army and think they are donating to the community, yet very rarely do the items donated actually reach a charity.
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Here are some additional facts:
ReplyDeleteThe salaries of CEO's.
The worst offender is, UNICEF - CEO, receives $1,200,000 per year, (plus use of a Royal Royce for his exclusive use where ever he goes, and an expense account that is rumored to be well over $150,000.) Only pennies from the actual donations goes to the UNICEF cause (less than $0.14 per dollar of income).
The second worst offender is Marsha J. Evans, former President and CEO of the American Red Cross...for her salary for the year ending in 2009 was $651,957 plus expenses. Enjoys 6 weeks - fully paid holidays including all related expenses during the holiday trip for her and her husband and kids. including 100% fully paid health & dental plan for her and her family, for life. This means out of every dollar they bring in, about $0.39 goes to related charity causes.(She is no longer the head)
The third worst offender is Brian Gallagher, President of the United Way receives a $375,000 base salary (U.S. funds), plus so many numerous expense benefits it's hard to keep track as to what it is all worth, including a fully paid lifetime membership for 2 golf courses (1 in Canada, and 1 in the U.S.A.), 2 luxury vehicles, a yacht club membership, 3 major company gold credit cards for his personal expenses...and so on. This equates to about $0.51 per dollar of income goes to charity causes.
Fourth worst offender is World Vision President (Canada). He receives $300,000 base salary, (plus supplied - a home valued in the $700,000 - $800,000 dollar value range, completely furnished, completely paid all housing expenses, including taxes, water/sewer, telephone/fax, HD/high speed cable, weekly maid service and pool/yard maintenance, fully paid private schooling for his children, upscale automobile and an $55,000 personal expense account for clothing/food, with a $125,000 business expense account). Get this, because it is a "religious based" charity, it pays, little to no taxes, can receive government assistance and does not have to declare were the money goes. Only about $0.52 of earned income per dollar is available for charity causes.
The lowest paid (President/C.E.O/Commissioner) was heading up a charity group right in Canada was The Salvation Army's Commissioner Todd Bassett receives a salary of only $13,000 per year (plus housing) for managing this $2 Billion dollar organization. Which means about $0.93 per dollar earned, is readily available and goes back out to local charity causes...truly amazing ...and well done "Sally Anne" But his wife made a salary too! The salary of the CEO of Goodwill Industries is well over $400,000 annually with the appropriate perks.
Americans do not quite understand that the "charity" business is a business! All donations, from the donations to the above organizations to the relatively benign donation of blood, body parts, such as skin, eyes, kidneys, hearts, even the entire body after death, generate huge profits! The only question is - who gets paid?
Charity and voluntarism pays!