THRIFT STORE BUYER/RESELLER? - HAVE YOU BEEN TREATED RUDELY BECAUSE OF IT?

[stonevintage]

I have, multiple times.  I am not sure why the discrimination but it's real.  Most thrifts are fine and realise that what we don't resell, likely gets donated right back to them. It's a constant source of income, even in the slowest months.

Any one else been treated less than courteous manner when shopping the thrift stores just for the simple reason they know you are a reseller?  Please share your experiences.  Happened to me again today.  I will be calling the director of operations tomorrow when I've calmed down.

[yuzuha]

The thrift that I frequent most often doesn't care if you're a reseller or not-- in fact, I've heard them say outright to another reseller that they don't care what you do with the stuff after you buy it because they're happy as long as it sells for the price they were asking for it.  One time I was in there at the same time as a guy who resells books on Amazon and the staff was very curious and asking him all sorts of questions about how the selling process works, how he knows which ones are worth money, etc.

[yuzuha]

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@18704d wrote:

The primary goal of most all thrift-help stores

is to maximize sales, so those increased funds can be used in needed community programs.

Not to provide low income people used household (and sometimes higher end) items.

fwiw,

Lynn

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Yeah, that's how all of the thrift stores around here operate-- they're non-profits staffed by volunteers and all of the money they make goes right to local charities.  The people who shop there most definitely aren't poor in the slightest.

[stonevintage]

I don't know... I see what Emerald is saying.  Local thrift stores used to derive most of their income from local donations and reselling to the local poor community... that's how it rolled and rolled well for decades.  That's how they easily got non profit status.

Things are different now, the best you donate goes on the internet. Ebay, etc. That leaves the local poor out of luck!  Most of my local thrift stores have turned 1/2 collectible/antique store and have scrubbed their shelves of anything the local poor or start up young couple needs.  Flatware, gently used sheets, couches, drinking glasses etc all gone because deco/collectible is more valuable for shelf space....  The stuff that the poor/starting out folks could really use never hits the floor but is binned and sold for pennies on the dollar - most likely going overseas... sad.

[18704d]

"I was told all of my late mother's furniture and home furnishings would be given to those who lost everything in a fire, or to an abused women who will finally have furniture for her new apartment."

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Yes,

Now if anyone walks down the aisles of virtually any thrift store

and studies the types of items.

It's pretty obvious 9 out of 10 items are 'fluff'

items unneeded by those trying to keep a roof over their heads and food on their tables.

Lynn

[mistwomandancing]

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emerald40 wrote:.....  I thought the items I donated were actually going to the people who needed it.  When I found out that was not true, I stopped donating - and that goes for resellers and the staff who take the better items.

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I've volunteered for many years at charity thrift shops around here, and your belief that the donations are supposed to be only for *those in need* is not at all correct, at least not here.  Of course, those folks shops at these secondhand places too.  Can't beat the prices, and it makes a few dollars stretch.  BUT, there is simply no way the sheer amount donated can be purchased by the needy, shall we say.  There is simply no way all of that used merchandise can be put into use by those in need at any given time. 

But the $$$$$ paid by the resellers who come in and buy, buy, buy can sure be put to good use by the charity thrift!  This cash coming in each day and week and month is what funds their programs!  If they only got their money from the needy coming in to make a few purchases, they wouldn't be able to fund and help much at all.

Resellers are a blessing to thrift shops!  (Managers and clerks who steal some of the donations for themselves without paying the store for it are a different subject..)

[mistwomandancing]

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emerald40 wrote:.....I now donate to a local Church or Temple.

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Great choice!  There, what they can't use is usually passed on to somewhere it CAN be used, and is welcomed! 

[ersatz_sobriquet]

It was 87 degrees here today and we are not acclimated to this sudden heat. I bought a snow shovel today for 75 cents, price was right...and a poinsettia vintage tablecloth...while everyone else is hunting through the shorts and tee shirts.

[stonevintage]

mistwoman - think about it.  There is a way to price items at a thrift that both serve the needs of the local needy, provide healthy returns from the day to day shoppers (and resellers) and price up a bit on certain items for internet or collectible items.

One of the stores I shop at is a leader in their industry.  Not Goodwill, but close statewise. Their computer tells them what to price at now.  A used sweatshirt top... 5.98 for example and it goes from there.  Items that are obviously not attractive or needed by anyone but the local poor being sucked right up into their "internet pricing" program.   It's just stupid and no longer serves the local poor.

If they're going to be that way, that prices in the back woods towns should fetch the same prices as buyers in NYC... then let the state and local taxing entities pull their exempt status as a non profit that helps locally..... that's still how the advertise...

[emerald40]

When new merchandise comes in that would actually be beneficial to the poor, they should be held.

And then when enough is gathered, have a day when they can come in and shop to their heart's content.  They would have to provide documentation that thhey qualify.

And the fluff can be sold to whomever to fund programs.

[livadia]

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@ersatz_sobriquet wrote:

It was 87 degrees here today and we are not acclimated to this sudden heat. I bought a snow shovel today for 75 cents, price was right...and a poinsettia vintage tablecloth...while everyone else is hunting through the shorts and tee shirts.

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LOL @ersatz_sobriquet  - You and I were of like minds today.  🙂    I have a friend who's birthday is next month who just got a new car.  Decided to put together a "car care" basket to give as a birthday present and really wanted to include a snow brush/snow scraper that could be stashed in the trunk until it inevitably will be needed .

Almost 90 degrees here today as well which *is not* normal.  Stopped by the local Goodwill store. Everyone else was madly going through the summer clothes racks while I was rummaging through the "this and thats" in the back.   But unlike you, I struck out.  Cashier throught I was nuts when I asked...  😉

[mistwomandancing]

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@emerald40 wrote:

When new merchandise comes in that would actually be beneficial to the poor, they should be held.

And then when enough is gathered, have a day when they can come in and shop to their heart's content.  They would have to provide documentation that thhey qualify.

And the fluff can be sold to whomever to fund programs.

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Around here St. Vincent's does tons for disadvantaged folks in this area.  They'll help when rent money or utility payments are short, donate boxes of food, clothing.  After we had a very damaging flood, Goodwill donated TONS of clothing, household goods and furniture to folks who lost everything, doing exactly what you stated:  documentation of their need.

The only heartbreak I've heard against making it all work in this way is how absolutely humiliating it is for many to have to prove and document how poor they are to *qualify* for this largesse from others.  Most just prefer to go into the thrift stores like everyone else and find stuff that is affordable and buy it at those low prices.  They don't have to feel ashamed. 

[ersatz_sobriquet]

Now I want your sundae banana split you have for sale. Just the glass? Oh pooh! Window will be open all night, this breeze is fantastic now that the sun has gone down. There is Hagen daaz in the freezer.....hmm.....brb! 

[stonevintage]

Lol, I bought a 1.99 push broom and 2 vtg Farbio banded wool blankets for 25.00. 

The manager of this thrift store had chosen to roll these three blankets up separately and throw them on a shelf with no size.  I called the clerk over and asked her if she knew the size.  She said no and himmed and hawed, so after a while, I said "I guess there's only one way to find out" and I layed one over a group of suitcases and unrolled it... worm holes.  Rolled it back up and checked the next one. No worm holes, beautiful snowy white and a keeper. I put it in my cart. Same with the 3rd one.

Here comes the manager.... Whyyyyy did you unroll those blankets?...  I was pretty dumbfounded... answered "because I want to buy them".... "I was checking for worm damage".... .  She says" there are no worm holes, I wouldn't have put them out for sale if there was"....  I said, "actually, I would have bought all three, but the first one I unrolled has worm holes".  She just stood there... I said "Is it alright if I look at what I want to buy?.... She says... ya and wanders away.   But I made a scene at the counter about the treatment... there was a line and my friend the cashier and the customers know what went down.   This is a manager that cares more for how pretty displays look than selling for the shelter.  Vanity....

[ersatz_sobriquet]

Haagen Dazs. I can't spell. It's only vanilla, I'll suffer. 

That doesn't sound so bad Stone, I thought you were denied buying something or something worse went down...that's no biggie. 

Here the only thrift on the straight and narrow has a very greedy squishy faced woman who brings the workers all doughnuts in the mornings and little envelopes of cash....nobody else gets to touch the carts when they come out until she is done. I hope she rots in her greed. 

Some know the price of everything but the value of nothing. 

[mistwomandancing]

I've never held it against those few around here who always seem to get there first and already have the good stuff in their carts by the time I can arrive.  Fair is fair.  You snooze, you lose.  BUT...  there is a Goodwill here that will hold back certain items before they put them out on the floor, holding them in the back until a certain reseller gets in to see if he wants the stuff.  He gets First Dibs, and only after that will these certain items get set out for the rest of us to see.  I was livid when I found out about that stunt.   It may have stopped by now, be that is now the last thrift I stop at, and then only if I still find I'm low on found treasures to list for the week.