Yeah, everyone has a phone now, including goodwill employees. They aren’t going to put a Northface coat out for $12.99 when it goes for $129 online used.
Our local thrift stores price according to the real world too, and generally, I bet $35 is still a deal for this coat. Its just not the $3.50 that people want to see.
I went to a Savers (local thrift store chain) about a month ago and they had a boxed Wii console in the glass case. It was used, not sealed, and they wanted $350 for it. I asked the guy if that was a mistake and he told me it was indeed the listed price. “I know for a fact this will never sell at this price because it’s been here for over a year.”
Some of these employees are just putting crazy prices.
Savers is the same as Value Village and it’s a for-profit company that exists in three different countries. They’re not much better than Goodwill, if at all.
100% also happening. I bet they found a boxed Wii online listed for $350 and did not check the “sold” prices.
Then again, “vintage” gaming is having a revival right now, so it’s fully possible it sold for $350 online, but the local customers aren’t the same as the global customers.
I found dollarama products listed for $5+ at the local goodwill. Let’s not just make the blanket assumption that exploited goodwill workers are professional appraisers and that the customer is the problem.
Well, they deal with literally any object any store has ever sold in the history of time or space, likely for minimum wage. So yeah, I expect they don’t get them all right. Having to accurately price 1930’s glokenspiels and 2017 high fashion would be challenging for anyone, anywhere.
Still, it makes sense that they have some processes in place to get it right some of the time, and maybe even most of the time.
This is a store where people GIVE away their stuff, out of the goodness of their hearts with the premise that it will be sold at a low price so that someone less fortunate can benefit. If goodwill has decided to sell the merchandise it gets for FREE at “fair market value” to the highest bidder in order to maximise profit then what’s the point of goodwill? Might as well use a consignment store and get a cut.
The exchange in “Goodwill” is that you’re donating in goodwill so your things can help others. That’s what goodwill MEANS.
Okay, you misunderstand how retail charity works. These charities sell donated goods to generate revenue to fund their charity effort.
The “charity” isn’t the cheap goods inside the store. It’s using the profit they generate to run or give to that charity. This can be running food banks, animal shelters, jobs programs, etc. The more money they make, the more they can give to their causes.
Their social good works in 3 ways: provide that charity effort, provide inexpensive or less expensive goods to people, and act as free recycling centers for the environment. Most of what these stores receive is literal trash, flat out. They process this to the actual dump at no charge while sorting out any useful items.
You can disagree with this model, but it is the model. If you have real issues with it, then sure, sell the goods and keep the money or donate directly to a charity of your choice.
Goodwill specifically markets itself as a thrift store to help the working class while also helping homeless and disabled people get retail experience to get normal jobs.
Instead we’ve found out they get their product donated, they pay less than minimum wage (sometimes 22 cents an hour), and they sell at market prices. So that was all a lie. That’s why people are mad. Changing what they say they do now isn’t going to work without a massive PR campaign to show people the out of store projects they do. And then we’re all going to ask where the money for that PR campaign came from. They are a shit company, and a shittier charity.
Can you link some of these ads you’re talking about? I don’t really see any ads for them ever.
I don’t think they hide that they sell things that are donated, since they want people to donate. They also dont sell things at market prices, especially not from what I’ve seen personally. A $250 Artizia coat may be $35 dollars there, but that isn’t anywhere near “market” prices. I’ve got tons of things from years of thrifting there that were wildly under “market” prices. I still go regularly and think the prices are very solid for thrift, if occasionally bonkers.
It sounds like you have specific issues with Goodwill, which is fine, but the above is how all retail charities work. The store prices are not the charity. The charity comes from the profits from the stores, so all retail charities are incentivized to make a profit. The fact that the prices are much less than market, and that they do some great environmental things as well via recycling is the extra positive bits of retail charity like goodwill or habitat for humanity.
If you don’t care to support the model that’s fine, but that’s why they price things the way they do.
It’s literally their entire marketing scheme. And if the Goodwill near you is offering good prices still then that’s great. But this is something people have noticed.
My local one has a banner up for Halloween costumes, but that’s about it. There are some generic “feel good” images of people being happy to work inside on the walls, but it’s not like it rotates or has ads or anything. Just generic cheerful “thank you’s.”
There is nothing about how the store is there to sell cheap things to the working class, just that their charity helps people get jobs.
That’s just inside the walls too. I’ve never seen any kind of actual ad for Goodwill in print or online.
It’s actually subminimum. Goodwill gets to decide what they pay their workers thanks to a carve out in the Fair Wage act. They’ve been caught paying as little as 22 cents.
As of September 1, 2024, only 10 of the 149 local Goodwills in the United States are reported on DOL’s list. Many of those organizations are in the process of transitioning away from using the certificate. GII does not hold a certificate, and we support local Goodwill leaders as they collaborate with people with disabilities, local employers and other service providers to create an array of community-based employment and other opportunities.
More like its $35 that Goodwill can use to help an actual working mom of 3 when re-sellers pay to get a coat they can sell online for $130.
Retail charities view their store as the source of funds for the charity, not as the charity itself. They also know people are reselling high end items, so they can mark them higher to make more money for the charity.
Then they aren’t a thrift store and should stop deceptively marketing themselves as one. Furthermore their “programs” are shit. If they just paid their employees then they could afford the online courses without the administrative overhead.
That’s how all charity thrift stores work. That’s how they have always worked. The retail sales power the charity. Goodwill, habitat for humanity, salvation army, on and on. I have some local ones that pay for animal shelters.
They all sell donated items to make money for the charity.
Yeah, everyone has a phone now, including goodwill employees. They aren’t going to put a Northface coat out for $12.99 when it goes for $129 online used.
Our local thrift stores price according to the real world too, and generally, I bet $35 is still a deal for this coat. Its just not the $3.50 that people want to see.
I went to a Savers (local thrift store chain) about a month ago and they had a boxed Wii console in the glass case. It was used, not sealed, and they wanted $350 for it. I asked the guy if that was a mistake and he told me it was indeed the listed price. “I know for a fact this will never sell at this price because it’s been here for over a year.”
Some of these employees are just putting crazy prices.
Savers is the same as Value Village and it’s a for-profit company that exists in three different countries. They’re not much better than Goodwill, if at all.
100% also happening. I bet they found a boxed Wii online listed for $350 and did not check the “sold” prices.
Then again, “vintage” gaming is having a revival right now, so it’s fully possible it sold for $350 online, but the local customers aren’t the same as the global customers.
I found dollarama products listed for $5+ at the local goodwill. Let’s not just make the blanket assumption that exploited goodwill workers are professional appraisers and that the customer is the problem.
Well, they deal with literally any object any store has ever sold in the history of time or space, likely for minimum wage. So yeah, I expect they don’t get them all right. Having to accurately price 1930’s glokenspiels and 2017 high fashion would be challenging for anyone, anywhere.
Still, it makes sense that they have some processes in place to get it right some of the time, and maybe even most of the time.
This is a store where people GIVE away their stuff, out of the goodness of their hearts with the premise that it will be sold at a low price so that someone less fortunate can benefit. If goodwill has decided to sell the merchandise it gets for FREE at “fair market value” to the highest bidder in order to maximise profit then what’s the point of goodwill? Might as well use a consignment store and get a cut.
The exchange in “Goodwill” is that you’re donating in goodwill so your things can help others. That’s what goodwill MEANS.
Okay, you misunderstand how retail charity works. These charities sell donated goods to generate revenue to fund their charity effort.
The “charity” isn’t the cheap goods inside the store. It’s using the profit they generate to run or give to that charity. This can be running food banks, animal shelters, jobs programs, etc. The more money they make, the more they can give to their causes.
Their social good works in 3 ways: provide that charity effort, provide inexpensive or less expensive goods to people, and act as free recycling centers for the environment. Most of what these stores receive is literal trash, flat out. They process this to the actual dump at no charge while sorting out any useful items.
You can disagree with this model, but it is the model. If you have real issues with it, then sure, sell the goods and keep the money or donate directly to a charity of your choice.
Goodwill specifically markets itself as a thrift store to help the working class while also helping homeless and disabled people get retail experience to get normal jobs.
Instead we’ve found out they get their product donated, they pay less than minimum wage (sometimes 22 cents an hour), and they sell at market prices. So that was all a lie. That’s why people are mad. Changing what they say they do now isn’t going to work without a massive PR campaign to show people the out of store projects they do. And then we’re all going to ask where the money for that PR campaign came from. They are a shit company, and a shittier charity.
Can you link some of these ads you’re talking about? I don’t really see any ads for them ever.
I don’t think they hide that they sell things that are donated, since they want people to donate. They also dont sell things at market prices, especially not from what I’ve seen personally. A $250 Artizia coat may be $35 dollars there, but that isn’t anywhere near “market” prices. I’ve got tons of things from years of thrifting there that were wildly under “market” prices. I still go regularly and think the prices are very solid for thrift, if occasionally bonkers.
It sounds like you have specific issues with Goodwill, which is fine, but the above is how all retail charities work. The store prices are not the charity. The charity comes from the profits from the stores, so all retail charities are incentivized to make a profit. The fact that the prices are much less than market, and that they do some great environmental things as well via recycling is the extra positive bits of retail charity like goodwill or habitat for humanity.
If you don’t care to support the model that’s fine, but that’s why they price things the way they do.
https://www.goodwill.org/press-releases/goodwill-celebrates-national-thrift-shop-day/
It’s literally their entire marketing scheme. And if the Goodwill near you is offering good prices still then that’s great. But this is something people have noticed.
My local one has a banner up for Halloween costumes, but that’s about it. There are some generic “feel good” images of people being happy to work inside on the walls, but it’s not like it rotates or has ads or anything. Just generic cheerful “thank you’s.”
There is nothing about how the store is there to sell cheap things to the working class, just that their charity helps people get jobs.
That’s just inside the walls too. I’ve never seen any kind of actual ad for Goodwill in print or online.
It’s actually subminimum. Goodwill gets to decide what they pay their workers thanks to a carve out in the Fair Wage act. They’ve been caught paying as little as 22 cents.
Thats pretty fucked up, but it also looks like they are moving away from using it:
According to this article in 2013, there were 69 goodwill franchises that used it, so it’s something in progress.
You mean it’s not the 3.50 that the working mom of 3 needs it to be in order to buy it.
More like its $35 that Goodwill can use to help an actual working mom of 3 when re-sellers pay to get a coat they can sell online for $130.
Retail charities view their store as the source of funds for the charity, not as the charity itself. They also know people are reselling high end items, so they can mark them higher to make more money for the charity.
Then they aren’t a thrift store and should stop deceptively marketing themselves as one. Furthermore their “programs” are shit. If they just paid their employees then they could afford the online courses without the administrative overhead.
That’s how all charity thrift stores work. That’s how they have always worked. The retail sales power the charity. Goodwill, habitat for humanity, salvation army, on and on. I have some local ones that pay for animal shelters.
They all sell donated items to make money for the charity.
And yet Habitat for Humanity manages to build houses while it’s stores are actually thrift stores.