Now that thrift stores are expected to register all their goods from April 1, the owners have expressed their displeasure en masse. This should not be asked of them, they say. In addition to finding it pointless (‘Which thief hands in stolen items at a thrift store?’), they also say that it is an unnecessary amount of work. “I am absolutely not participating in it,” says Lex Gorsselink of thrift store Saartje in Wieringerwerf.
It sounds like a bad joke, but it isn’t. The registration obligation, the Digital Purchasers Register (DOR), intended to prevent handling and money laundering and which has existed for some time, will be maintained from 1 April. And from that date, the registrations must also be kept digitally, instead of on paper. Thrift stores also fall under this scheme.
It is a hell of a job for them to register all the items brought in, says Mandy Minnaard of Kringloop Hollands Kroon. “Every day, about ten cars come here full of stuff that is brought in. It mainly concerns small stuff, because we usually collect the big stuff ourselves. Think of pans, books, DVDs. But also clothing and electronics.”
Shortage of staff
It is already a lot of work to sort everything. In addition to the electronics, it is also necessary to check whether the devices are still working. Minnaard: “It is already being made so difficult for us. First of all the waste discussion which we are still working on. But we are also still experiencing the consequences of the corona crisis. We are still paying off the debts we built up at the time. And we are short of staff. We need volunteers and they are very hard to find. Then this adds up.”
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She doesn’t quite know what to do with it. “I think I’m going to contact the mayor and the alderman. I have the feeling that we should do something about this. If it takes so much effort and time, people will soon be taking their stuff to the landfill instead of to us And the mere obligation to ask for identification is a reason for me not to want this. For that reason alone, I refuse to cooperate.”
Lex Gorsselink of thrift store Saartje in Wieringerwerf is now clear: “I’m not going to participate in it. It is totally impossible to find a solution for this. Every day four to five busses full of stuff arrive at the door. I would have to hire someone to do it all day. And I don’t see the point in it either.”
Purchase receipt
He understands that the government wants to prevent criminals from reselling their stolen goods. But that doesn’t happen through a thrift store, he says. “I also sometimes buy something, I recently went to Belgium and Spain. But then I neatly make a purchase receipt. Here, mainly things are delivered to us for free. Which thief now hands in his stolen things?”
Anyway: Lex is not going to register the stuff. “That is god impossible for me to do. And when enforcement comes to see me, I will see where the ship strands.”
Trade association Kringloopbedrijven Nederland (BKN) has with the ministry agreements made about the registration requirement. “We have managed to make an exception for our members in the new law,” says Rachel Heijne of BKN. In that case, thrift store owners who are affiliated with BKN do not have to ask for identification and only have to register items that have a unique number, such as bicycles and telephones.
However, most thrift stores, especially the smaller ones, are not affiliated with this trade association. It is not yet known what it will be like for these stores in the future.
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