The Salvation Army

very arrogant service.
I scheduled online 2 months ago for a donation pick up and packed everything nicely into 10 boxed, sealed. On the day of the pick-​up, i moved everything out and lay it in front of my apartment so it’s easy for them to pick up. And then they called me to tell me that they will not come since i am not donating furniture and ask me to drop off everything myself. I told them that it’s way too many for me to move on my own and they said «you don’t have to drop everything at once. It (these donations) might seems a lot to you, but we have a lot of bigger ones we need to prioritize». there was no apology at all.
thank you salvation army. your attitude is well received by goodwill donations.

I have read the reviews and it seems that the reviews are concerning pick up and donation. There is some ignorance to what the Salvation Army does. The truck drivers or those picking up your things may be Salvation Army’s clients. They may not be selective in accepting your donation because the money goes to those in need. Learn who their clients are and maybe you’ll get some heart.

This is a review for their Truck Pickup service only. They give you a 3 hour window to be there for pickup. I was scheduled for today (a Tuesday) when someone called and said they weren’t going to be able to make it today and don’t call back and make an appointment for any other day. What?! Unbelievable! They said due to high demand the could not pick up today or any other day. They cancel me as if my donation wasn’t important but the others scheduled for the day were? Okay, so they don’t want my nice furniture, books, dishes etc at least give me the courtesy of a call the day before they are going to cancel! I took time off to be there for those hours waiting, all for nothing. Don’t bother with SA… donate to The ARC Call: (415) 626‑5710 at. They are local, friendly and it’s a great cause!

Reading some these reviews! Why or how does any person complain of a Salvation Army? Hey, I been volunteer, not here but at a different Corps since July of 1991! Salvation Army always does such excellent work to help both their clients and their volunteers!
Quit complaining people! Look at the list of TOP TEN charities, seems every December there this listing in Readers Digest! Salvation Army is always at the top, they always listed as top ten! Yes, I have even did bell ringing! I support all kind Food Banks and Salvation Army places in other towns, other states!

CONSUMER FEEDBACK FOR PICKUP:
Salvation Army comes across as a cunning, shrewd, for-​profit organisation rather than a non-​profit through its conduct in collecting donation goods.
ALL IT CARES ABOUT IS GETTING NEW ITEMS AND EARNING MONEY SELLING IT AT A VERY HIGH PRICE. WHILE COLLECTING DONATIONS THEY DONT CARE IF THAT ITEM COULD HAVE VALUE TO SOMEONE IN NEED AS THEY SAY ON THEIR WEBSITE. ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS MAKING $$MONEY$$. THEY SCRUTINISE EACH AND EVERY ITEMS BEFORE PICKUP AND WONT PICK IT UP IF IT HAS SIGNIFICANTLY MINOR DEFECTS.
There was no explanation about drivers’ discretion when fixing up an appointment. I found the drivers to be arrogant when they came. They only follow instructions from the organisation when it equals to making $$money$$ out of the pickup items.
My experience donating goods to Salvation Army made me realise that Salvation Army doesn’t want to help it’s community members receive a «clean and healthy living environment, good food, work therapy, leisure time activities, group and individual counseling, spiritual direction and the resources needed to develop life skills and a personal relationship with God.»
There are tons of other charitable organisation who will respond way better than Salvation Army. Talk to them about drivers discretion before scheduling pickup. Don’t donate here! Ever. You’ll regret.

This is a review for their Truck Pickup service only. They give you a 3 hour window to be there for pickup. I was scheduled for a Tuesday when someone, I think it was the driver, called and said they weren’t going to be able to make it that day so I had to schedule for the following Monday. Fine… I was now scheduled for Monday between 1:30 — 4:30pm. 5:20pm came around and SA had not arrived yet. I called and their automated response confirmed that I was scheduled but could not tell me what time the truck was going to be there so I called again and this time I spoke with a live person. She said they (the Truck) is probably behind but will be there. And. get this. they have no way of communicating with the driver so they couldn’t tell me exactly where the truck was. At 5:45pm or so, I get a call from the Truck driver that they can’t make it due to the truck being full and I would have to reschedule. WTF! Reschedule my a$$. I rather burn the furniture now, but NO I’ll give it to another more worthy charity. I took time off to be there for those hours waiting, all for nothing. Don’t bother with SA… donate to anyone but.

For those who don’t know what to make of this listing…
This is NOT a Thrift Store location. To find your local Salvation Army thrift store or donation location, visit
. You can also schedule a donation pick-​up at
or by calling 1−800-SA-Truck.
A tip on making your Salvation Army Thrift Store review effective:
This Unilocal listing is for the administrative headquarters for social service branch of The Salvation Army — NOT the part of the Salvation Army that operates the Thrift Stores or donation pick-​up. If you’re going to write a positive/​negative review about a particular Salvation Army Thrift Store, please find the appropriate listing (double check the street address) so they can actually respond to your remarks and make the necessary changes in customer service (they won’t see it here).
If you have a complaint because of pick-​up service, please call 800-​SA-​Truck. The guys/​gals who are on the pick-​up routes are actually participating in The Salvation Army’s rehabilitation program and they’re learning how to work /​manage time, etc. They only way they can learn (and the only way supervisors can better help them) is for your feedback to reach them. They don’t always check Unilocal,so I would highly recommend that you call 800-​SA-​Truck with the date, time and location of your pick-​up and the name (or description) of the person who came to take your donation. Generally, poor service or mistakes with donation pick-​ups are rare, but when they do occur, the staff supervisor likes to know so he/​she can improve customer service. If you are reporting poor service in San Francisco, call 415−695−8000. Otherwise, use 1−800-SA-TRUCK (728‑7825).
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To address the concerns of other reviewers:
– The Salvation Army has a TON of different programs in San Francisco (and around the world, really) and a lot of Unilocal/​YP/​Google listings simply say «Salvation Army.» When looking at a Unilocal listing, double check to see if its classified as a «Thrift Store,» «Community Center,» «Gym,» «Church,» etc., etc., etc. That will help you in finding a thrift store shopping experience vs. a gym rat hangout.
– Yes, many times the items you donate are sold in the Salvation Army thrift stores. This is because Thrift Store sales help operate The Salvation Army’s adult rehabilitation centers, which works with individuals with drug /​alcohol addiction and helps them achieve sobriety while becoming productive citizens in our community. When disasters occur (house fires, etc), those effected individuals are often given the opportunity to select items that will help them recover (so yes, many times your donations help those in need as well).
– Since The Salvation Army has been operating thrift stores for a very long time, they know what will sell, what can be safely reused, and — sadly — the items that will have be recycled /​thrown away. Since The Salvation Army is a non-​profit, they are operating on a shoe-​string budget (again, sales support the rehabilitation center) they usually take everything that can be sold or reused, but since disposal fees are so high, they generally shy away from accepting junk (but believe me – they sure do try to recycle /​reuse as many things as possible!). Before you get angry because The Salvation Army didn’t accept your old, torn and stained couch that «had a lot of life left in it,» think to yourself… would you buy something like that? Would you — as a store manager– want to have the reputation of selling junk? OR, just because someone experienced a tragedy in their life (e.g. house fire), then they deserve someone’s dirty 1980s couch? No. They deserve something decent and given with care.
– Also, you can’t fault Salvation Army for not accepting toys — they can’t resell or distribute used toys because of California Law (and health concerns).
– If you leave a donation on the street unsupervised, earlier than the time the Salvation Army is supposed to arrive, people will likely pick through it before Salvation Army has a chance to arrive. Its just a fact of living in San Francisco. There’s nothing Salvation Army can do about that. Its best if you can meet the driver, but its understandable if you can’t — we all have to work for a living, right?
Hope this information helps clear the air for my fellow Unilocal’ers!

DO NOT DONATE TO SALVATION ARMY! unless you want your things picked through and rubished. I will never donate to them again. They only wanted the clothes and electronics, because they can resale them for cash. Even if the clothes don’t sell, they bind them up and sell them. (Don’t think that no one is on salary over there).They left almost everything outside on the sidewalk, so now I have to start over trying to donate. There were baby board books, great toys! and many items and they couldn’t have possibly looked through all the bags that fast. Like I said, they only want clothes. I remember that experience once before, where they came in my house and only took an expensive children’s picnic bench, brand new about $ 100. Waste of time waiting on them! Goodwill will test and fix more things, ARC comes out regulary, and Homeless Prenatal for my things from now on. Didn’t know they don’t support gay marriage. Boo

I worked with the Salvation Army when I was with the Red Cross.
First of all, its too bad the charity wasn’t able to pick up the furniture in a manner that seemed satisfactory. However, it is important to note that people who make donations are not «customers» and charities, including the Salvation Army, are not service organizations to people «donating» their cast-​off items.
The Salvation Army, like the Red Cross, does consider itself to have clients — but those clients are people in need, not people with too much furniture.
In my experience, the Salvation Army is exceptional — the people I’ve met in the field go above and beyond. I saw guys in the SA staying up all night, only two of them (horribly understaffed and stretched thin), running a shelter that it later took us, Red Cross workers, 10 people to run. Why? Because they were there first. They were faster on the uptake, more dedicated and better trained in the field.
As for the guy who was worried about his money «going to teak desks» — that’s just plain old slander. And seriously, slandering a charity? How low can you go?

Salvation Army pick up service SUCKS!!! Will never use them to pick up my donations. I did ALL the waiting (waited all day) I did ALL the calling. And when I called after waiting ALL day, the ‘dispatcher’(who I was told to call) had an answering machine. REALLY!!! I’m so tired of bad customer service!
The biggest losers are the victims of the fires in San Bruno, CA (where my furniture, etc donations where going to). Oh and BTW, in order to post this message on Unilocal,I had to give it a «rating» of at least one star, but it really does not deserve it.

This is the address of The Salvation Army’s Headquarters and not a thrift store or thrift store drop off point or one of the community centers.
I’m giving this location two stars because it’s the offices of The Salvation Army… it’s not like a thrift store or a church where people can have lots of contact. It’s not an open to the general public kind of place.
It’s really hard to sort out all The Salvation Army listings in the Yellow Pages!!! They’re all listed as The Salvation Army.
For better information, you could check out
There’s a search engine so that you can find the right center for your needs. The web site is, unfortunately, seriously out of date for a lot of things.
If you want to send a check or money order, make it payable to The Salvation Army. Don’t write it out to the Food Program.
Instead, write a separate note and BE SPECIFIC about
1.) the program you want the $$ to go towards
for example,
* for care for the elderly,
* to assist families in need,
* to help abused women and children,
* to shelter homeless families and individuals,
* for addiction services (drug, alcohol, gambling),
* for victims of the most recent natural disaster, or
* for the meals programs
and
2.) the location
* San Francisco,
* Salinas,
* Sunnyvale,
* Tulare,
* South Lake Tahoe,
* or whatever… but you name it
Don’t be polite and say, «please use my funds where they are most needed» and have someone else decide!!! I mean, would you like the money to go into a general fund and then end up paying for a teak desk for someone’s office?
I know if I were to donate someplace, I would say something like «use my donation specifically to feed the seniors in San Francisco through the meals program and make sure you send me documentation so I know you used it there or I’m coming after you… I know where you live.»
If the donation is for a memorial or honorarium, make sure you let them know the person to be honored or remembered and the names of the persons (and their addresses) you want to be notified of the gift.
If your company does matching gifts, you can fill out a matching gift form to get more bang for your buck.
Then, send everything to
The Salvation Army Golden State Division
Attn: Donor Stewardship Department
PO Box 193 465
San Francisco, CA 94 119‑3465
Also…
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The following information is taken from a flyer posted at The Salvation Army on 850 Harrison St.
For donations to thrift stores, you can drop it off at
1.) The Salvation Army Thrift Store
1185 Sutter Street
San Francisco, CA 94 109
(415) 771‑3818
2.) The Salvation Army Thrift Store
1500 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94 110
(415) 643‑8000
Or, to schedule a pick-​up, you may call 1−800-SA-TRUCK
(1−800−728−7825)
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NOTE: I don’t donate to The Salvation Army. This is written for those who want to donate to them, but can’t make heads or tails from the Yellow Pages.