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I think what Ron61 is referring to, are people who work at these places like Goodwill who hoard the "best stuff" for themselves, so that customers who come to these stores cannot score any nice items. As for people buying and re-selling things they obtained honestly, I have no problem with that at all. I would not shop at any second hand store that allowed employees to do these things.
Yes, I'm well aware of what he's referring too. idk, it just doesn't bother me, even though in principle I suppose it should. I don't feel like a Goodwill customer has more of a "right" to my discarded clothing than an employee - I didn't want it anyway. I'd just be happy to know that it found a good home.
Yes, I'm well aware of what he's referring too. idk, it just doesn't bother me, even though in principle I suppose it should. I don't feel like a Goodwill customer has more of a "right" to my discarded clothing than an employee - I didn't want it anyway. I'd just be happy to know that it found a good home.
It doesn't bother those of us who manage thrift stores either. Our employees and volunteers are some of our best customers. As I said before we have very few full-time staff, and part-timers aren't eligible for benefits. And our volunteers return week after week, working 4-8 hours each day, for free. Allowing them first dibs on the donations seems fair, they do pay the same price as a customer walking through the door. We don't allow "stashing" though. As soon as the merchandise has gone through pricing, it must be taken to the register, paid for, and taken out.
If you want to join the first dibs group, volunteer!
I see so many donation boxes in parking lots,that are over stuffed, with items piled on the ground, and in the rain. Seems like folks are using these donation boxes as dumpsters. They can be a real eyesore. There has to be a better way.
"Does someone actually buy all those clothes we donate?"
well, i do.
the Goodwill is in the same center as our grocery store.
belts, suspenders, winter coats, etc. and as the above
posters have noticed, it is usually nice merchandise.
if you live in a somewhat affluent area, you can find some nice things if you have patience to sift through. I live outside NYC and I see designer items all the time @ thrift stores.
I've always wondered about this, because sometimes we donate to shelters for battered women and other charity organizations. I've always just wondered if they are perhaps more desperate for things and will take anything they can get because of the dire situation they might be in. Or do these organizations shop from thrift stores to provide victims, etc., with clothing? After reading this thread, though, I assume there is plenty of better-quality clothing to go around.
On a side note, for those of you who have worked in thrift stores, I've always wondered what their policies are on cleanliness. What if the clothes are clean but have been sitting in the closet for a while? Are we expected to "freshen" them up before we donate? And what about smoking homes? I don't smoke, but I have a relative who does. I presume smoky clothing would automatically get tossed, even if clean? I've just always been curious.
it's not the responsibility of the donator to clean the stuff. The person who is buying it (receiving it) should clean it. I'm not poor or homeless, I do thrift store shop and I ALWAYS wash the items as soon as I get home … no matter if they smell clean or not.
A lot of people will scour thrift stores for vintage stuff, though. I have a friend who'd pay top dollar for real 70s clothing in good condition.
I recently donated a jacket that was in good condition other than a button had fallen off. I never got around to reattaching the button, so I safety-pinned it to the placket and put the jacket in the donation bag. In a perfect world, someone could have seen the jacket and thought, "score! Some dummy was too lazy to sew a button on!" (guilty as charged,) but I fear the whole thing was probably put in the dumpster.
People who are handy with the sewing machine could work wonders on virtually any type of clothing. It's so sad how much stuff just gets tossed … when they could just be repurposed into something beautiful. Admittedly I'm not that type of person … but my friend is amazing @ that type of stuff.
I only donate good stuff, things I could sell on ebay if I cared to spend time doing it. I actually buy things on ebay for myself because other people do take the time.
You have to understand that everything you drop off or put in bins gets sorted by real people so the craap will end up in the trash heap and the good stuff will be put up for sale somewhere or donated to another organization where the process is repeated.
Ebay is amazing! Between that and Poshmark, I rarely buy anything 'new' anymore.
I got my wedding dress on Ebay for $400 … David's bridal wanted 3x the price and the dress was a 2 year old style.
I read that t-shirts contribute to a lot of the clothing waste that is in landfills, just t-shirts alone. And I can see why, almost every activity these days requires some kind of t-shirt, especially kid's activities. I get tired of buying a shirt for every single activity my child does, she has something like 30 of these in her closet right now. Field day, school, gymnastics, VBS, girl scout t-shirts, almost all of these were required purchases. And it's harder to donate these or re-sell them because of the logos on them.
5K's give out t-shirts too. Usually you pay to run and the $$ goes to an organization (ie. Autism Speaks etc) and you get a t-shirt from it. I never wear any of those shirts, it's so wasteful.
The employees can buy items. What they can't do, per Goodwill policy, is reserve items for themselves so that customers can't ever have access to purchase them. This has been explained already.
It still does not bother me whatsoever.
If the employees can use my discard in any ways, it is ok by me.
Most of the people working in my thrift store, are people in need of a break or volunteers.
I can’t think of anybody more deserving, ymmv.
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