Donations at Port Kennedy Salvos store are being ransacked and vandalised, which has left the store’s frontage in disarray almost daily.

Salvos regional manager Sean Burgess said problems with unattended donations were ongoing, and had been amajor issue during the past two years.

Volunteers and staff at Salvos were left with the cleanup almost every morning.

Store manager Karen Martino said people left donations after store hours and on weekends which attracted vandals.

‘‘We have signs requesting people only bring donations during store opening hours but they are ignored,’’ she said.

Ms Martino said although they appreciated donations, she asked people to remember the timeliness of their giving.

‘‘We fill a skip everyday with unusable and broken donations— please before you give, ask yourself, ‘Is this really going to help the needy or is it just rubbish for the tip?’,’’ she said.

Mr Burgess said the issue had been affecting staff members’ workloads.

‘‘It hampers the work of both our volunteers and also our paid staff—adding up to an extra three hours of unproductive time in their working day,’’ he said.

He warned if the trend of dumping and subsequent ransacking of donations continued, valuable community programs run by the Salvation Army would be affected.

‘‘The ongoing issue reflects on what we can give back to the Salvation Army social and community programs, which assist many people in need,’’ Mr Burgess said.

‘‘Although we have lockable bins, if they are full, please only donate during trading hours where possible.’’