Featured Man thrift stores piss me off

I've been shopping at the Goodwill for 50 years! Which is waaaaaay longer than most sales people and certainly longer than any executive have been working there! haha

I can't see that changing anytime soon.

It's not that much different from eBay's gradual disconnection with sellers - who have their hands full trying to make money and keeping up with their endless policy changes.

 

Microsoft had been calling me all morning and saying the connection was so bad they couldn't hear me. Finally got through as I was typing "boxed electronics, etc."
I'll guess it was not referring to Male thrift stores.

Sorry, I have to say I am very, very sorry an insider confirmed my thoughts. Yes, I brought it up, but it hurts.
For the last 50 years or so I changed my attitude. Before that I thought up really bad things I could do to people whom I detested because they were so dishonest and showed no sign of remorse. But I realized I was not going to get around to doing any of those things.
That's when I just sat back and said, "God will get them some day and He knows best how to handle it."
By now an awful lot of those cases have been settled.
My only fear now is what will be remembered when it's my turn.
HONEST!!!! I only stole one doughnut. Or was it two?

 

I rarely donate to them, but mostly because I NEVER EVER want to see my stuff again! haha

I've asked managers if they could send my stuff out to the donation center - they said no problem, but guess what?

I realize it's kind of a odd request, but why say yes if you don't agree?

 

I donate to the domestic violence thrift near me in which I take more out.
Same goes for the one that uses its profits to buy new clothes for kids.

 

I hardly ever go to GW due to their high prices. But I frequently donate to them. Now I may rethink that and find somewhere else.

Once, I bought an old wood kitchen table at an auction for $20. It was one of those where the extension leaves folded in under the top. I used it for a party we had on the back deck and "accidentally" left it out there and it got rained on (torrents!). Then the sun came out and baked it until it was a hot mess. So I donated it to GW.

A few weeks later, I saw it for sale in my own antique mall!!!! I was so shocked, the table was a complete wreck. I should have just put it on the curb. I wonder what they paid for it.

Please don't tell me that Habitat for Humanity is corrupt, I would have no faith left in any charities!

 

Thanks for reminding me. When I found a great $3 table lamp at an estate sale which I had wanted for a long time I went to the old Goodwill location for a suitable shade. Had an idea that they might be high priced so went across the street to Walmart. Found a perfect shade under $10. Half GW's price, and it was wrapped in cellophane, nice and clean.
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Ola. Was that the table they had on Antiques Road Show a few weeks ago?

For some reason, maybe my memory box's low battery, I know of no local charity thrift shops besides Goodwill. Maybe once a year a group of volunteers looking for donations to "tag sales." I'll donate and then go and spend what I can on usable items.

The phone ones I'll hang up on, or tell off depending on my mood when answering are the POLICE Benefits. Used to donate until I found out those are unauthorized groups who actually will donate a percentage of what they collect --- but that's never over 10%. The other 90% goes towards their "overhead expenses!!!!!"

Because of my business, Habitat for Humanity was recipient of many donations. I've witnessed their exceptionally good work. Many times, instead of sending Christmas gifts to numerous business partners I'd donate to Habitat in their name and HfH would notify them of it. The only problem with HfH is that they can only fulfill a bit of what's really needed.

 

Habitat is a great outfit. I was in the local Restore today and paid more than they were asking for a couple of small framed items. Not much more maybe, but I'm happy to round up for them. I call GoodWill Ill Will for good reason; their clothing prices here are high, and we all know their labor practices. I did buy some stuff today, but knew what I was looking at. The one near me likes to sell Target leftovers. When they get something decent they tend to overprice it.

 

I wonder how much they wanted for it?

Re: shopping where my stuff ISN'T: at a local Charity store that gets really nice things from a local wealthy congregation a Chinese vase caught my eye. I had to price one at a sale we'd done recently and was curious what they were asking for it. The green sticker looked familiar and it dawned on me it was my handwriting - they hadn't even bothered to take the tag off!

The people who I worked for normally do sales about 50 miles away, but they used a local liquidator and that's just where it landed.

The other bug-worthy Goodwill peeve I have is the year 'round Christmas aisle they now maintain. Stop using junk real estate for Big Lots and Target holiday stuff!!!! arrrrgh!!!!

 

I've been known to buy plastic easter eggs that way, but not for Easter, and year round. I use them to ship earrings and the like. Add tissue, tape the egg shut, and it goes into a padded mailer. Never had an egg break yet, and people everywhere love my "cute containers". I generally fold one end of the tape in on itself so it acts like a pull strip. Other than that I couldn't care less about modern Holiday stuff either, most of the time. (sterling Christmas ornaments, well, yeah but...)

 

I was wondering why about 4 big multi shelf units in the brand new Goodwill has Christmas decorations. I thought they hadn't found time to put them in storage.

Real reason for stopping by again. I kept forgetting. You all know of the news that many are reverting to 78 records because the sound is better than disks.
Well, I can't find confirmation but do recall a report, I believe on a news station?, that VHS tapes are being claimed better than DVDs and are sought after.
I am very confident that at least 99.9% of the folks here have followed my lead and disposed of those monstrosities.

 

i record the walking dead on vhs and have all the married with children on vhs altho i find if i throw something out or take it to the dump the very next day i need it . such as i threw out a whole bunch of dora the explorer and a lot of kids vhs , a couple days later a friend showed up from loon lake and he has a vhs and young kids no cable . i felt bad i could have given them to him , garbage bag full. and yes i love to bring out my 78 speed player and play beethoven's 5th for them it is kewl, but i really like my 33 and a 3rd i have a liner tracking turntable so i can really crank it up no wow or flutter at all it sounds great with my (vintage) marantz amp it has to be louder than my drums lol

 

I saw a lot of driving dead on the way up north from Seattle a bit ago....
That's terrifying enough without consuming electricity to see more.

 

There are few thrift stores around here that aren't part of a multi-national conglomerate.

All of the little ones appear to be storage locker buyers trying to get rid of their trash. Anything good they find must be sold elsewhere.

The goodwills are numerous. Some are within sight of each other. All brand new buildings. Most of their merchandise is no name store donations. Highly unlikely to find anything worth more than five dollars.

There is a number of ARC Value Village. They have been around for years. ARC stands for Association for Retarded Children. They can't say retard anymore. Go figure. Anything they think is worth ten dollars or more they put on feebay.

The rest are Unique/Savers. They will not consciously put out anything they believe to be pre 1985. They have misinterpreted the law that was meant to keep hazardous toys from children. So they only sell modern cheap Chinese junk that was the reason for the law to made. It seems their prices have doubled yearly for the last three years. Things that were ninety-nine cents just a few years ago are now $7.99.

Every time I go I see more familiar faces shopping. I know of a few who spend hours a day per store. They walk the isles repeatedly in hopes of being there when something good comes out.

I'm lucky to find a trinket worth buying one out of five visits.

 

It's what's on the vhs - Otherwise, comeback of video tape is about as practical and workable for entertainment as a mimeograph machine!

I'm not a luddite, but I kinda hate technology right now, sorry.

 

ya it goes to fast and is all about money like they aren't rich enough

 

i have one of those pvr from shaw with a 500 gig hd sitting beside me but it takes an hdmi cable and i only have that kind of tv in my bedroom (60 inch a friend gave me didn't want it to fall on his down syndrome kid ) has some little lines in it so i haven't even hooked it up too big lol

 

I've hit once or twice in Savers, but not big enough to bother going back often. My best score was a pile of flannel remnants, the better to make a quilt with m'dear. The most remunerative was one of their goofs - a rock crystal necklace with a gold clasp that they totally missed. Really good licks in those chain stores are few and far between. Some municipal senior centers have thrifts in them too. Since they're town property they're open to anyone; donate tchotchkes you don't know what to do with yourself and you can go in and hunt for the good stuff. They generally don't have a ton of good stuff either, but I've hit the mother lode in them once or twice.

 

I have a Karfellsnarkenfarple from IKEA...

 

And all the stuff that the big chains won't put out - the cool old stuff you're looking for - gets sent overseas by the container. The stuff you and I want is ending up in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, China, Africa, etc @ fourteen cents a pound.
https://www.savers.com/impact

 

They've destroyed the local clothing market in some countries, because it's cheaper for people to buy imported "donations" than to support local artisans. Gee thanks, Savers. Even the Salvation Army is guilty of that. Their "pulls" end up sold to people buying used clothing by the ton.