I wish we had more pawn shops around here. Paying £10 for a book is insane.

pawn shops in england have books?

compared to? the usual 50c an hour they pay third world children to make clothes and little purses?

I'm fairly sure the point of Oxfam is that they pay a lot more to the people who make the items they sell, than most mass cheap import businesses. But who knows what really happens, I guess.

Maybe it is different though, because Oxfam near me sells craft and clothing and items made by people in third world countries through community projects that are supposed to benefit the people a lot more + raise money for further help.

http://www.oxfam.org.au/

the front page is funny though.

"Join will.i.am, Missy Higgins and Scarlett Johansson in a global call to action against poverty, and demand leaders keep their promises on Millennium Development Goals. Add your name to the petition and download the new song from will.i.am."

Im sure Scarlett is gutted at world poverty. A few months ago I read an article talking about how much she loves her shiseido $280 a jar moisturiser and just can't live without it.!

I'm completely poor but I regularly spend a fair amount on a good book or magazine. To me it's a little more insane spending 10 pounds on a bad meal or a coffee and cake..

Oxfam seems to be different over here- here they sell used clothes, books, records, et cetera, charging considerably more than other used goods shops do.

Yeah, cause Scotland (a country) is in England (another country) uhhhh

Unless you weren't talking to me, I dunno.

i rlyrlyrly wanted this princess peach costume, but it was over $50 and only available online. what did i happen to find at the thrift store yesterday for $1.50?

Last time I went to a pawn shop, it got robbed with me in it...
I'm wary of going to one again.
I was just about to buy standing in the spotlight by Dee Dee King to!!!

I don't know what you're saying here.

are you saying books are in pawnshops?

that sucks, our Oxfams are pretty awesome. ..and you know the neato african board game you're buying wasn't bought off some little kid for 2cents and sold to you for $20 like a lot of ethnic stores.

I really thought Oxfam was universal.. damn. Do they pay their workers? A lot of thrift stores run with volunteers so if they;re paying people to work they'd need to charge higher. Just one theory.

I buy a lot of clothes second hand, it's the way to go.

probably third or fourth hand. who really knows?

No joke.

I asked my parents for $20 with which to buy warm clothes at a thrift store.

They said no.

I'll knit you a scarf if you like.

Aw man, unlucky. That's an album absolutely everyone should hear. Though probably just once :)

I also buy almost all my books and a significant proportion of my clothes from charity shops.

I've found two vinyl copies of Goo and a Touch Me I'm Sick/Halloween 12" in the past as well, alongside one really sweet LP haul: Stereolab, PJ Harvey, Bad Brains, Soundgarden's Screaming Life 12", Dylan, Neil Young and a bunch more.
Though admittedly that's one really sweet haul in about a decade of checking 3-4 times a week...