Do you take your "crap" clothes to Goodwill, or just the stuff that's still in good shape?

In My Humble Opinion
21

I can only speak for where I live.

First, two very generalized statements: The Salvation Army’s mission is to directly assist those in need. Items donated to the S.A. may be given to those who need them or sold to provide the S.A. with operating funds. Goodwill Industries’ mission is to provide job skills training and job placement assistance to those who are typically considered marginally employable/unemployable (e.g., people with developmental challenges). Items donated to G.I. are sold to fund its training programs and provide operating funds.

Once again, this is a simplified generalization which I’ve included mostly because I think Goodwill would much prefer to receive cash donations [rant] rather than the tons of broken, stained, mismatched, missing-important-pieces-of junk often left piled on their doorstep in the middle of the night when the attendant isn’t there to tell the “donor” they need to take their cr@p to the landfill and pay the dump fee rather than saddle Goodwill with it.[/rant]

I never donate clothing that is stained, is missing buttons, is ripped, has opened seams, frayed cuffs, etc. to a thrift shop. Clothing with minimal damage I will wash and dry, then take to places where homeless people gather to receive food, medical attention, and other assistance from local charities. I leave the clothing there for anyone who needs it. I donate used bras at these locations, but only if they are still wearable (no rips, loose seams, stretched-out elastic, etc). I never donate used underpants or socks with holes. I occasionally buy deeply discounted/clearance-priced new underwear from stores and include that in the clothing for the homeless.

Another option is to donate “gently used” clothing to shelters for battered women. They often escape their abusers with only the clothes they (and their children) are wearing.

Hope you find this info useful. Regards,

22

Throw the crap in Planet Aid boxes. Give the still-decent items to Goodwill, the Salvation Army, or St. Vinnie’s.

23

I work for a SA and the shit that is donated is pretty vile. Vile shit does not ever make it to the floor. It gets tossed.

The guys that work the dock have to handle and sort out your boxes and bags of crammed crap. Shoes go into a huge box. Purses and accessories go into another huge box. Xmas gets its own box. books fill up their own huge box about twice a day at our store ( other stores, not so much.) etc. It is scarily organized back there. When the boxes are full, they are either sent by truck to be sorted out at a main warehouse so the SA can make sure it isn’t giving away the one book in the bin that is worth $100 and the rest are not worth .25 combined. Then it is sent to a store. If we actually get “our” books back, I’ll eat my hat. We are probably getting some shithole area’s books in ( alot of God Will Save You Finciancially type books along with Taking BAck command of your Family & Wife tripe. and some other store is getting all the really good books. ( We’re in a high rent zipcode. we be literate here.)

Oh, don’t donate your f’n text books, trip books from England 1987, or anything like that. M’kay. Nobody wants them. Also, guess what the number one subject is that is donated in books: The bible. Seriously. I could buy up all the f’n bibles and build a wall out of them, probably a whole house, but that would be creepy and I’d have the American Taliban come after me.
Clothing: If it stinks of cigerettes or other funk, it gets pitched. Stuff that is found to have holes, pills, rips stains and tears, goes into a different bin and is bundled elsewhere, supposedly to a third world country.
What is most desperately needed are mens jeans and shoes. You guys wear your fn jeans and shoes until they dissolve. STOP DOING THAT YOU BASTIDS. Donate your stuff, now.

Women, clean out everyone’s closets and purge it all. You don’t need the 8 bridesmaids dresses from 1988. Dump them. They are awesome for parties and 80’s themed events. Clean out your crap.

Donate your jewelry. Put all your earrings in a little ziplock so they stay together. Same thing for necklaces. There is one poor schmuck who makes shit pay who has to sort through 10000’s of pairs of mismatched earrings every other day ( they don’t give the jewelry girl full time.) and it is a clusterfark of a hot mess. Those junk rings you have, those are great for little girls to buy for themselves for $1. Donate them.

24

Same apparently goes for used bed linens, particularly twin-sized, around here - the shelters can never seem to get enough of them.

25

Most of the stuff I donate is fine - a lot of it’s stuff my daughter’s grown out of.

I never donate jeans because of the enormous racks of jeans I see at every charity ship round here. There is a clothing bin near my house, so those jeans go there.

The clothes are always clean, but I don’t make any extra effort to iron them, partly because they’re going to get crumpled from me carrying them there anyway.

I second this; my nearest charity shop sometimes wants plastic carrier bags to give to customers and sometimes they’re overwhelmed with them.

I also once called ahead to a local charity bookshop and, without me asking, they came and collected the books.

Agreed. Most of the other stuff about dirty clothes should be obvious, but people do tend to think that books are valuable no matter what they’re about. Who would ever want a Lonely Planet: Rome guide from 1998? Too many things have changed in the intervening 13 years.

Some textbooks, of course, are well worth donating, if they’re within the last few years, but, for example, my ex’s CIMA accounting textbooks are valueless a year after she bought them because the syllabus changed and it’s very much about learning the specific syllabus rather than learning any specific skills.

I also don’t donate books that have lots of scribble on them from when my daughter was younger. No book that’s damaged in any way is going to get sold unless it’s a first edition or something like that.

If I’m donating something extra nice I put it at the top of the pile and mention it to the staff. This is easy because if something’s extra nice then I’m likely to leave it till last anyway.

At least paper is still recyclable. It feels weird to send books off to be pulped, but if you don’t want read them any more and know that no-one else will either, you’re just pulping bits of paper with typing on, not treasures of literature.

26

Amen to the last! Another thing with books, if they’re very foxed, mildewed, or from a smoking household, please just toss them. Whoever has to sort them could have an allergic reaction.

27

No, I throw away or use crap clothes for rags. I only take clothes that are in good enough to wear condition to the thrift store (not saying they’re going to still be in fashion, but they’re not worn out or in disrepair :D).

28

@Shirley Ujest: :smiley: + <<Standing Ovation smilie>>

30

Not the Goodwills here in Indy, one of the largest Goodwill organizations in the country. 100% of all clothing items are used - if it doesn’t sell, it gets recycled as textiles.

And Goodwill stopped laundering and fixing ripped seams or broken buttons decades ago.

31

I don’t take anything to Goodwill. There is a church charity I have worked for that takes anything, and gives it directly to those in need the most. A homeless person doesn’t care if jeans have holes or stains. The woman who runs the clothes closet will do repairs and laundering if necessary. The rare time we threw things out is if they smelled really bad even after laundering.

32

Reported - spammer 3 posts above this revived a zombie.

33

If something is stained, zipper broke, bleach stains,etc…not something you would wear…it is JUNK! Throw it out, make rags out of it…whatever. The local thrift stores around here are mostly run by elderly and mentally handicapped people, who have a hard time discerning these things in clothing. The stores are charged for getting rid of peoples garbage. More than once I have been pissed off when I buy something, get it home and it is damaged. Or I see things on the hangers that are beyond selling. I want to grab a cart and gather up all the bad stuff and bring it up to them to throw out. I fully believe that the vast majority of people that donate this crap are aware of the damage. Shitty shape…throw it out!!!

34

Here is an article on how used clothing is now US 8th largest export.

And how the dark side of the business works

35

That’s good and fine, but in our small neck of the woods, there is no money/manpower to ship these damaged goods to third world countries…thus costing precious money for disposal…probably applies in big cities though…

36

Old cotton t shirts make the very best household rags, IMHO.

37

I agree. It’s a tid bit douchey to give someone stained or torn clothes. I throw them out or use them as rags; good stuff only goes to Goodwill. Oh, and no underwear. The thought of giving someone else something that has been on my crotch seems really gross, whether they’re clean or not. I can see buying a few packs of undies and giving them unopened to Goodwill, but all worn underwear goes straight to the trash when it’s no longer useable or wanted.

Bras are kind of a grey area. A decent one can be super expensive - sometimes as much as $50. But it’s also been on my boobs. I haven’t yet decided to start giving them to Goodwill, but it seems far less disgusting than a pair of my old skivvies.

38

I felt the same way. But: 1 : ) boobs don’t give off any bodily fluids (unless you’re in a particular time of life, or very sweaty) and 2 : ) I put some out for $1 per at my yard sale and sold all of them.

Run 'em through the washing machine, on delicate cycle, and you’ll be OK.

39

Maybe use some bleach?

40

I recycle the over worn torn & damaged clothes, and donate the rest.

They can & do turn worn out clothing into those grey blankets the Red cross etc hand out. For this wool is particularly good. So that ratty old motheaten wool coat could be turned into a blanket that saves someone’s life.

Musty and dusty is OK, but filthy and smelly is not. Sure, they will boil the material or dry clean or otherwise clean, but think of the workers who have to sort them.

Planet Aid is a scam.

41

After I lost a lot of weight, I had a number of quality bras in very good shape that were too big. I went ahead and donated them because I figured my boobs are no more gross than a man’s chest, and men donate plenty of stuff that they’ve worn right next to their skin like polo shirts and t-shirts.

All three of our main thrift store chains, (Goodwill, Thrift Town and Eco-Thrift) all sell second hand bras.