Social department store

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This article or paragraph presents the situation in Germany . Help us to describe the situation in other countries.

Social department stores are department stores in which mostly used and donated goods are offered. They should offer affordable shopping for consumer goods, household goods and textiles. Social department stores are often supported by municipal welfare or large welfare organizations such as workers' welfare .

Social department store "fairKauf" in Hanover

Goals and concept

As a commercial enterprise, social department stores have the following social goals:

  1. Inexpensive sale of goods (supply)
  2. Recycling of goods (environment)
  3. Generating financial resources to finance social projects (money)
  4. Offer / carry out training / further education measures in the store (education)
  5. Create paid regular employment (work)
  6. Enable civil / voluntary work (honorary office)

The staff is mostly made up of long-term unemployed people , as it is often part of the concept of the social department store to encourage their reintegration into working life. However, jobs subject to social security contributions are rare. In addition to the sales activity and in some cases also the previous repair of the sold goods (e.g. furniture), services such as household liquidations or goods transport are also offered.

Most social department stores are accessible to all customers. Therefore, in addition to those in need , they are also sought out by other groups, such as collectors who are on the lookout for antiques , bargain hunters for whom the low price is important, or people who consciously want to take a stand against the throwaway society and therefore prefer used items. Some municipalities that have chosen the option model for the care of ALG-II recipients have switched to having the needs covered exclusively by vouchers via the social department store for services such as initial equipment.

economics

The primary goal of social ware houses is not profit, but the most inexpensive possible distribution of products. A cost recovery amount of around 30–40% based on the costs incurred is financed through measures taken by the employment offices. Social department stores are dependent on transfer payments from the social budget or the labor market-related financing systems "to cover the revenue gap". As they also help to reduce waste, there is a discussion as to whether funds from the waste fee budget can be released.

frequency

The first social department stores were founded in 1985. Since then, their growth has continued unabated. Since the introduction of unemployment benefit II in 2005, the number of social department stores and customers have increased. According to estimates, there were around 400 social department stores across Germany in 2013. In 2013, 50 social department stores in Lower Saxony were analyzed in an empirical study by the Hildesheim / Holzminden / Göttingen University of Applied Sciences. Their sales areas ranged from 50 to 1,300 square meters.

Environmental aspect

With the amendment of the Waste Framework Directive and the obligation of the public sector to implement measures to avoid waste , used goods and social department stores are a useful factor for increasing sustainability in the municipalities .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ fair Kauf eG (publisher): fair trade fair buy - 10 years of fairkauf eg Festschrift for the anniversary . 2017 ( PDF ).
  2. ↑ a b FAKT report: Social department stores. Manuscript of the contribution. (No longer available online.) In: mdr.de. Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk , January 23, 2006, archived from the original on February 14, 2006 ; accessed on April 23, 2019 .
  3. ↑ S. Löhle, S. Bartnik: Promotion of the preparation for the reuse of old electronic (electronic) devices . Ed .: Naturschutzbund Deutschland NABU. August 2016.
  4. ↑ Hildebert Ehrenfeld: Second hand - sell socially [social department stores]. An empirical study . CCE Publication, Hildesheim 2013, ISBN 978-3-939758-30-3 , pp. 171 .
  5. ↑ Stefan Empter: Social department store as a social business - potential on the border between society and economy . Ed .: University of Hanover, Catholic adult education, Stephansstift. Hanover January 2013, p. 6 , doi : 10.2139 / ssrn.2214578 (created as part of the symposium “Social Department Stores as Social Enterprises”).
  6. ↑ Ifo Dierbach: The recycling of bulky waste . In: SWE Stadtwortschaft Erfurt GmbH (Ed.): Series of publications, Department of Waste Technology, University of Kassel . university press GmbH, Kassel 2013, p. 155 .