# Value Village - Are you fucking insane? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 5, 2003, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-village-are-you-fucking-insane/179878 "2003-06-05T17:30:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-village-are-you-fucking-insane/179878/21 "2003-06-06T00:23:20Z")
Talk to a manager, the people who actually price the stuff work in the back and basically don’t check to see (nor are they even aware) of what the FMV of items should be. I’ve found items that were brand new (and with the store tags still on them, that the VV people had priced ABOVE the actual new price. Our local branch managers are very good about remarking stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-village-are-you-fucking-insane/179878/22 "2003-06-06T02:33:38Z")
As far as I know, they _buy_ the stuff from local charities, with a specific price per pound. My ex worked in the sorting department for two years, and they appeared to him to be a competitive business, rather than a charity. Incidentally, he got a staff 50% discount. We’ve got lots of them in Toronto. The prices are sometimes good, but Goodwill is cheaper, if badly organized, and the money goes directly to charity. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-village-are-you-fucking-insane/179878/23 "2003-06-06T02:36:40Z")
Well, the ones here have a place to drop off donations, and you get a receipt to write it off your taxes saying the money is going to AmVets, so it must be different in Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-village-are-you-fucking-insane/179878/24 "2003-06-06T02:43:47Z")
The one I go to here in Atlanta is right next to a Salvation Army store, but is better lit and usually has better stuff overall. I still hit both of em. And the prices are pretty good, I paid $2 for the new Laurel K. Hamilton book in hardback. ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-village-are-you-fucking-insane/179878/25 "2003-06-06T02:48:53Z")
Our Goodwill stores are much more organized and much more expensive (usually) than VV. I must say, I LOVE the monthly 50% off coupons that they send out. I can’t say I’ve ever seen something so grossly overpriced, but I can say I’ve gotten some FABULOUS steals. And I had no idea that they were everywhere! ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-village-are-you-fucking-insane/179878/26 "2003-06-06T02:53:24Z")
Just picked up a very good condition $35.[sup]00[/sup] Cuisinart Mini-Prep small load food processor / grinder at another Starvation Army today. Total price? $3.[sup]50[/sup]. I’m going to lay it onto a friend who helped me snag a mint condition micarta scaled long blade Puma folding hunting knife for $50.[sup]00[/sup] today. I also saw a similar cute little low capacity Black and Decker processor in not as good condition at Goodwill. They wanted frickin’ $4.[sup]00[/sup] for the little stinker. I even brought in the Cuisinart and showed them the price tag and they still wouldn’t back off to $2.[sup]00[/sup]. Rotters! ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-village-are-you-fucking-insane/179878/27 "2003-06-06T04:12:45Z")
A lot of people don’t understand that electronics are not like other things. A place setting that was nice 10 years ago is probably still nice. It probably differs very little from a place setting you could get today. Almost anything at all electronic can be purchased today for less than it could be purchased for 10 years ago and is in general does more than it did 10 years ago. So old electronics need to be sold for almost nothing but people think because they cost $150 new $75 is a great deal when it really isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-village-are-you-fucking-insane/179878/28 "2003-06-06T04:38:08Z")
You think electronics are bad? Try musical instruments and related equipment. It can be a beater acoustic plywood guitar, and they’ll still try to get a Franklin for it. It is just plain ridiculous. I suppose there are very few people working at thrift shops that can actually play an instrument, so they are unable to test drive them before assigning a price. Still, it gets pretty outrageous. **Myron** , were those Arcoroc glasses made of cobalt glass? It’s my guess they were. Were they the Bormioli Sapphire series? If they were ordinary clear French pyrex knock-offs, I want some of what that guy was having. Although cobalt glass is the most collected of all colors in the United States, the prices they try to get for old Pepto Bismol and Phillip’s Milk of Magnesia bottles is just plain outlandish. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-village-are-you-fucking-insane/179878/29 "2003-06-06T04:50:25Z")
This sounds alot like a store in the town I grew up in. **Toy World** would sell slot cars(“Model Motoring”) for $9 when the going price was $3.99. Or a Pong game (yes, I’m old:rolleyes: ) for $50 when the going price was about $19.99. I think sometimes people get put in charge of things and they have no concept of current reality. The manager of that store probably thinks…well, who knows what they think! It’s summer. I know I could find an Atire 2600 at a garage sale for less than $3! Maybe less! ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-village-are-you-fucking-insane/179878/30 "2003-06-06T05:13:49Z")
Our local Salvation Army prices old AOL discs at $3.50 ---
**Author:** ![Primaflora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Primaflora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Primaflora)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-village-are-you-fucking-insane/179878/31 "2003-06-06T05:22:52Z")
Uh Zenster? Read Myron’s post. The glasses were red. I don’t think it’s ethical to try and beat down prices in a Salvation Army store. Either pay it or don’t. It’s either worth it or it isn’t. But to try and drive down the price of a mini food processor to $2 when the extra $1.50 could be put to good use by the charity doesn’t seem fair to me. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-village-are-you-fucking-insane/179878/32 "2003-06-06T05:35:23Z")
It’s odd. The local Salvation Army is less organized than the local Goodwill but there are better deals. (Picked up 5 15" Dell color monitors with digital controls and Trinitron CRTs in great shape for 5.00 each) The Goodwill lady has absurd prices on doorstop crap like beat up 486's and old Pentium 66 systems. Some poor people will pay 150.00 - 200.00 for this junk and think they are doing well at that price but these will be of virtually no use with the net which is what most of them want it for. The Goodwill lady tries to use Ebay prices as a reference for electronic stuff but she knows little about practical values of this stuff and winds up grossly overpricing the old POS equipment that eventally gets thrown out. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-village-are-you-fucking-insane/179878/33 "2003-06-06T05:38:27Z")
My all time favorite Value Villlage story? Two red forty watt lightbulbs, GE, in a beat up old box. Original price, 69 cents. Value Village price? $2.99!!! ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-village-are-you-fucking-insane/179878/34 "2003-06-06T05:47:50Z")
Red tumblers? I though he was describing some Communist gymnasts! Always the helpful one, **Primaflora**! My mistake. Believe it or not, red glass is one of the more difficult to make. Either you use gold to create the sanguine hue at great cost or you incorporate selenium to do the job. Both have their drawbacks. Added selenium creates what is known as a “fugitive” color. Wait a few minutes too long and you get a gray murky sort of vitrious crap instead of that intense blood red coloration. Still, twice ten frogskins for each glass is extortionate. Oh, and sweetie pie, mebbe you need to read more carefully too. I was beating down the prices at a _Goodwill_ store and not the Starvation Army. In fact, at a Salvation Army store I visited today, I had to make them put a beautiful vintage French made Mouli rotary cheese grater (with the red wooden knob on the handle) behind the counter because another customer had separated its parts before I got to it. Looks like I might have saved them the incredibly overpriced value of nearly fifteen clams (USD) by doing so. Fortunately, I’ve already bought two of them for five bucks each long ago. I have zero compunctions when I “beat down” prices at these stores because for every dollar I screw them out of I earn them twice as many by edumahcating their staff about the true value of their goods. Especially _after_ I buy them. Now piss off like a good little brat, dearie. ---
**Author:** ![Primaflora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Primaflora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Primaflora)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-village-are-you-fucking-insane/179878/35 "2003-06-06T05:59:04Z")
Goodwill’s charity isn’t it? We don’t have them here but I understood them to be a charity. Must feel so good to screw them out of a dollar here and there. You overbearing boor of a man. If you really feel the need to lecture and educate everyone you come in contact with, I feel sympathy for the poor people trapped behind the counter enduring your rantings and ravings and your sense of entitlement to a knockdown price. Bizarrely enough it would be possible for you to both pay the asked price _and_ lecture the thrift shop staff in submission thus getting your ego jollies and being ethical. Pompous windbag that you are. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-village-are-you-fucking-insane/179878/36 "2003-06-06T06:14:27Z")
Seeing as how I’m a “windbag;” BLOW ME! ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-village-are-you-fucking-insane/179878/37 "2003-06-06T06:15:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GMRyujin \* > \*\*The one I go to here in Atlanta is right next to a Salvation Army store, but is better lit and usually has better stuff overall. I still hit both of em. And the prices are pretty good, I paid $2 for the new Laurel K. Hamilton book in hardback. \*\* How funny! Ours is too. I’ll check first at sally’s and then V V. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_of\_the\_CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Earl\_of\_the\_CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_of_the_CC)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-village-are-you-fucking-insane/179878/38 "2003-06-06T07:03:19Z")
Oh, nice **Zenster**. You’re screwing a charity, but not quite as hard as you _could_ so you are Mr. Ethics. **Primaflora’s** latest post may have been a bit overdone, but you came back with an excellent rebuttal that completely ignored his perfectly good suggestion of both paying the full price (that goes to CHARITY) and then educating them. Now sometimes the overprice will be outrageous but you actually said you go for every dollar. That’s just overboard. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-village-are-you-fucking-insane/179878/39 "2003-06-06T07:34:04Z")
Why pay the full price when I can provide them with information that increases their profitability by noticable degrees? They make more money, I get the odd good deal and the public gets better quality goods. What a burn job, no? Yes, I also frequently bring up items to the counter so that they can remove taped on price tags that are about to absolutely ruin the finish of a wood piece or musical instrument. In one case I had to point out to a Goodwill store manager how the beautiful mint condition Dr. Seuss “Bartholomew Cubbins and the Five Hundred Hats” hard bound edition with intact dust jacket had been devalued by more than half BECAUSE SOME MORON FUCKING IDIOT HAD APPLIED THE ADHESIVE PRICE TAG DIRECTLY TO A PROMINENTLY ILLUSTRATED AREA OF THE COVER ILLUSTRATION! I know that it’s an impossible leap of faith for you to believe that I provide useful instruction to my favorite thrift shops about evaluating Royal Copenhagen Danish porcelain just by running your fingernail across the plate’s back. Yet, this is what I do on a regular basis for all of the stores I patronize. I’d rather that they make an honest profit on donated goods that they DO NOT DESTROY while bringing them to market than sell myself or other complete strangers ruined pieces. Yes, I’m a complete and totally incorrigible thief to share knowledge that they cannot obtain except through extensive specialized training or experience. Once more with feeling; BLOW ME! ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-village-are-you-fucking-insane/179878/40 "2003-06-06T13:30:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lissla Lissar \* > \*\*As far as I know, they _buy_ the stuff from local charities, with a specific price per pound. \*\* Maybe they do that in addition to donating, but I _know_ donations are a big part of it. They have drop off boxes all over the city for people to leave stuff. This is in Canada, also. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-village-are-you-fucking-insane/179878.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-village-are-you-fucking-insane/179878.md?page=3)