Loughborough NCT - Nearly New Sale

Loughborough NCT - Nearly New Sale

General guidance for volunteers 22nd April 2017

Thank you for your help - without your help we would not be able to run this sale.

Please take time to read the information here. If you are unsure of anything, don’t worry, all should become clear on the day!

General information

Roles –We will send out an automated email with your allocated roles. If there are any problems with your allocated job, please do let us know ASAP (e.g you are pregnant and need a sitting down job, or have a babe in arms and we didn't already know).

Children - We have had issues in the past where volunteers have brought young mobile children (them getting lost etc). Therefore, we request that no young children are brought to the sale, except babes in arms or if arrangements have been made with us prior to the sale. Parents are responsible for and must supervise any children at all times.

Car Parking - Come to the main University entrance on Epinal Way and tell the security guards you are attending the NCT sale. Please park in car park 8 (map on our website). If you are also selling, please either use the car park before the barriers or come through the barriers and take the first right after the roundabout and park, unload then move your car to car park 8. You do not need a parking pass or pay and display ticket.

Quality control needs to happen throughout the sale. Any items deemed unsuitable for sale need to be placed in the reject box with a completed pink reject label attached. These will include any tatty, dirty or broken items, any unlabelled or un-priced items and any items we are unable to accept for sale (more details of which can be found on the Volunteer Quality Checklist available from your team leader). We can also not sell any item where the price has been altered (as at previous sales buyers have altered ticket price - so put in reject box and these items will be returned to the sellers). Refer to your team leader on the day if you are unsure of anything like this.

Refreshments - Drinks and biscuits will be provided in the upstairs kitchen (free of charge for volunteers) throughout the day, but only water should be taken out of the café / kitchen area please. Starbucks drinks with lids are OK to be taken around the sale. Ham or cheese sandwiches, crisps and snack bar will be provided for lunch.Please email ,uk if you have any food allergies. We will try and cater for you. The cheese will be vegetarian.

First Aid - The First Aid point is the cafe. The first aiders are Claire Delaney and Matt Nunn

Fire Procedure - Please familiarize yourself with this and look at where the fire exits are in the rooms.

• When placing items for sale ensure that the exits are kept clear
• Ensure all walkways are kept clear, not blocked by bags, pushchairs etc
• If alarm sounds, please ask buyers to place IKEA bags under or on top of tables.
• Direct everyone to the fountain.

Anti Theft guidelines for volunteers

Items being sold are those belonging to other sellers so please be vigilant. If you are concerned about something you see happening please alert one of the organizers who will be wearing an NCT T-shirt or blue apron.

Look out for:

• Goods under push-chair/buggy
• Clothing removed from hangers
• Labels being removed/swapped

We will not accept any altered tickets at the till (because we do not know who has altered them). If you are a seller and wish to change the price of your item when placing your items out to sell– please replace with a new ticket.

Arrangements

Schedule

We have three volunteer shifts happening on the day, with a fourth one being the Friday night set up. All volunteers have been asked to sign up for at least two shifts across the two days if they wish to attend the preview sale. This is to make it fair to all. If you wish to attend the preview sale and have only signed up for one shift – please contact us ASAP.

Refer at all times to your team leader as guidance on what you should be doing. Your team leader will issue you with a coloured sash to wear. This makes it much easier for them to see which volunteers are on their team and for us all to refer someone to a volunteer on a particular team. If you are moving round the sale room without a sash, please do not be offended if you are challenged. You must be wearing the correct sash during the preview sale. Believe it or not, we do have people each sale who sneak into the preview sale and find themselves an apron when they are not doing enough (or any!) volunteering to justify their entitlement and, again, we are trying to make sure that it is our hard working, loyal volunteers only who get this privilege!

8am: Shift 1

On arrival, collect your apron and badge and a reminder of your roles for the day from the INFO desk located close to the entrance. There will be a list of team leaders there. Proceed to your team leader. Nobody on this shift should need to set out their goods (either they are not selling or have set out their goods the night before). Ensure that you have parked your car in Car Park 4 (see map).

9.30am: Shift 2 (including preview sale)

Assemble in the café, regardless of whether you have been there since 8am or are just arriving. Collect an apron and badge from there if don’t already have one. Make contact with your team leader for this shift.

Volunteer Talk : 9.30am in the Café.

Preview sale 9.45-10.30am

• You need to be doing at least 2 full shifts to qualify for this. Please do not question anybody else’s validity to be there. If you have any concerns, please talk to the sale coordinator
• Do not put aside any items during set-up; shopping will only begin at 9.45am to ensure it is fair for all volunteers
• When you have finished shopping, take your bag upstairs to the volunteers goods room and label as directed by the helpers in there. Do nothing more. The volunteers in there will cut off your labels and total up your spend ready for you to pay and collect at the appropriate time during the day (see below). If possible, please pay by card (at the allocated time).

1pm: Shift 3

Ensure you have had some lunch, and then register with your team leader for this shift. If only arriving at this time, please collect an apron and badge from the INFO desk before heading into the sale floor.

You will be allocated a specific area and team leader to work with for this sale. Please listen carefully to instructions given about how you will proceed in that area. It is important that you go to the area you are allocated, otherwise other people will be left struggling without enough help.

Paying for and collecting the goods purchased in the preview sale

You will do this at the end of your last shift or pop in during your lunch break to pay. Volunteers will count up the ealier finishers first – so please come back at the end of your shift to pay if they ahvent been counted yet. Goods cannot be taken away until the end of your last shift.

You should not be removing labels yourself.

If your last shift ends with the Preview Sale – goods available from 10.45am. I suggest you wait until most people have deposited their goods and left before going in and then the volunteers will attend to your bags first.

If your last shift ends as the sale ends – you are welcome to lunch, your team leader will send you between 12.15 and 12.45 if you wish to partake. Goods available from 1.30pm.

If your last shift ends at 4pm – please stay to help longer if you can see that we are still working hard moving tables, moving tables and loading up vehicles. Goods available from 4pm.

Whichever point you leave at, please ensure your sash is returned to your team leader

If you are also a seller, please do not expect to be able to collect your unsold goods until 3.30pm. It is extremely disruptive when people start trying to leave with their stuff before we have completely finished the sort. Anyone trying to leave the sale with their unsold goods before 3.30pm will be questioned and we want to avoid any confrontational situation.

Cake

Please bring any cakes to sell at our cake stall. Any leftovers at the end of the sale will go towards the volunteers lunches.

Thank you

We appreciate all your help, and we hope the day goes smoothly. If you would like to get more involved with organization of the sales, we would love you to join the team. Everyone organizing the sale is a volunteer! We need helpers to help with bag stuffing, sandwich making, publicity, and more. Email you would like to find out more.

We look forward to seeing you all at the sale, enjoy the day!

Thank you for all your help

Contact if any queries

The National Childbirth Trust (NCT) offers information and support in pregnancy, childbirth and early parenthood.

We aim to give every parent the chance to make informed choices. We try to make sure that our services, activities and membership are fully accessible to everyone.Donations to support our work are welcome.

Registered No. 237053 (England) · Registered Office: 30 Euston Square, London, NW1 2FB · Registered Charity No. 801395