I'm sure women's shelters are glad to have donations, but I am thinking more of the working poor or the elderly on a limited, fixed income, or disabled people like my mother. When you have to plan not only your shopping trip, but change buses three times just to get to CVS, it's got to be disappointing to find that a much-needed health care item has been snatched up by bargain shoppers who are planning to donate the item to a random shelter or something. In my opinion, this is not in the spirit of charity, since if your true cost for an item is -$30, and you give it to a charity for free, you are actually acting as a middle man and taking that $30 difference as profit. The glucose monitor deals are the most egregious example, but to some extent you could apply the same logic to smaller items such as toothpaste. If they cost me -$.50 to buy, and I donate them, I'm not being terribly charitable, am I? That's why my personal rule is "nothing I don't need," with an occasional exception if I spot a good deal on something and I personally know someone who needs it. (I may do some CVS shopping for my mother, since it would truly benefit us both.)

Catherine Shaffer

Wise Bread Contributor