ISTM @ricepad is talking about Goodwill outlet stores where the goods are set out for the cusomers in bins. The customers are expected to paw through the bins hunting their treasures.
See also the recent phenomenon of Amazon return disposal stores, also called “bin stores”. See here for more:
That’s the thing; much clothing is cheap (i.e., inexpensive) when purchased new from places like Walmart.
The really good stuff is rare on the shelves. But in clothing especially, you can get name-brand clothes, often still with the price tags on them. Even for name brands (except for the super-top-end stuff), it’s usually not worth the effort to list it specially online, so it still ends up in the $1 piles, and anyone who wants can grab it from there and get a bargain. And a lot of those brand-new name-brand items do get snatched up. But not even all of those.
Yeah, the “student leaders” for the math club two years ago were clearly only interested in putting “club leader” down on their college applications, not in actually, you know, leading a club. Last year’s leader really took the helm, though, and did a ton of planning and work. Guess who is and isn’t getting a letter of recommendation from me?
Maybe, but the 2 stores I volunteered at didn’t allow that, so news to me.
I suspect the nagic distinction is “Goodwill store” versus “Goodwill regional outlet store”.
This is penny ante stuff. Our CEO’s son “led” a water purification mission in Guatemala (I think) which was funded to the tune of $75,000 by our company. Which has nothing to do with our corporate charitable priorities (which is feeding people in LOCAL communities, seeing as we are a supermarket company).
One of our former CFOs’ kid “started” a French Language and Culture program. Again funded by the company’s “charitable giving”
We once had a Community Relations Director who raised a stink about these. She didn’t last very long.
I saw an example of that today. I was looking through the book selection at a Goodwill and they had a copy of The Dirty Dozen by E. M. Nathanson. (I hadn’t known there was a novel which was the basis for the movie.) It was an old paperback so the cover price was ninety-five cents. But the Goodwill had priced it at $2.49.
On the other hand, I just checked on Amazon and used copies of that same paperback edition sell from $4.69 to $35.00. So I guess the copy I saw was a bargain.
I mean, how much did a copy of Action Comics #1 cost on the stands?
The third is that it’s just a secondary market to sell used stuff that would otherwise get tossed in the garbage.
I don’t think there’s any need to overthink it and ascribe some sort of morality as if you’re taking away an old dress shirt that was meant for some poor person.
I have donated stuff for years to a chain of thrift stores that’s a charity non-profit. Other than overhead expenses, most of the money goes to pay wages to disabled people who work at the store and sorting center. Even very disabled people can do something to help and they presumably get feelings of self worth out of it that is better than just giving them money.
I might buy into this if there wasn’t so much stuff. For that reason alone I think it’s more important for someone to buy the clothes, plates, knickknacks, or whatever else if they’re going to put it to good use…there’s always plenty more available to restock the rack or shelf. Plus, some of the larger thrift store chains have gained a bit of a reputation for throwing stuff out rather quickly.
(I’ve found some really awesome plates at thrift stores!)
That is not the set-up at the Goodwill Outlets I’ve visited. The bins are the ONLY way merchandise is displayed.
ETA:
Yeah, this.
I was very specific about corporate officers that make hundreds of thousands of dollars. That does not include the staff.
Well damn. I recently spent a lot of time looking for a used, functional iPod speaker/dock on eBay, and it never occurred to me to check thrift stores. Do they let you test electronics before purchase?
To stay with the purpose of the thread, it seems perfectly ethical for the non-poor to shop at these places. Without bargain hunters glomming onto stuff they don’t absolutely need (as at garage sales), thrift stores would lose a hefty chunk of their sales.
I looked around for an outlet to test it and couldn’t find one. Maybe they would have let me if I’d asked, but it was only marked $4.99 so I figured I was ok with the risk of it not working.
At the register it actually rang up as $2.50 – score! They had a promotion where everything with a blue label was half price that day, which included the dock I’d selected. I wonder if that’s their version of a clearance sale, like the last ditch effort to move items that weren’t selling before they get trashed (or at least sent to the outlet).
The Goodwills near me have great prices and are pretty meticulous about not putting junk out on the floor. Goodwill provides valuable job training to the needy. They also hire staff for the stores themselves who might be otherwise hard to employ. At least half of the floor staff at my nearest one have evident, significant impairments, and the receiving staff at the vehicle drive-thru is mostly men who look like they’re living on the street. A friend who is a senior citizen and moves pretty slow nowadays works as a sorter in the back. He needs the part-time work, and he can sit while he works.
There is so much merchandise there that poor people don’t have to worry that well-off people are buying all the good stuff.
That’s the going rate for CEOs of large companies nowadays. Has been for quite awhile. Supposedly, you get what you pay for. I know that the CEO where I work is worth far more than what he gets paid, based on the financial value he brings to the company.
I have reviewed scholarship applications for an organization I’ve been involved with. I’ve seen more than one where a teenager listed so many activities, there simply weren’t enough hours in the day to do everything they said they did. Oh, they may have gone to a single meeting, and that qualified, I guess.
Meaning as out-of-whack with reality as other large companies? Comparing a bloated salaries to other bloated salaries and saying they’re similar does not make it any less bloated.
Quite the tempest you are swirling up in this teapot. And all over “pilfering”? I explained my experience clearly. Nowhere did I mention ‘outlet’ stores.
Well, there’s pilfering and digging.
Everyone knows you shouldn’t dig in bins marked “store employees only”
These outlet bins are meant for digging thru.
I understand you meant your store was different. That’s legit. But the Outlet version of Goodwill is set up differently.
I love love the Amazon bin stores. They pop up in old big box stores and other large spaces. They are the cats PJs.