overpriced junk at thriftshops

 I was out in CA recently and went to a Goodwill and was floored by the
prices they were trying to charge.  just a few examples: A 12 year old
Dell 200mhz Pentium 1 PC for $79.99!  a 50 pound barbell weight set for
$99.  $150 for a 15 year old worn out 4 hp lawnmower (you can buy a
brand new one for $130).

The store manager was going around barking orders to the staff; she no
doubt was the knucklehead who set the high prices on EVERYTHING.  It is
a shame because they are losing sales (and thus the program is losing
money for its programs to help the poor) because of the ridiculously
high prices.  Also, poor people often only have thrift stores as an
option to buy home furnishings, and if the prices are outrageous, they
can't afford to buy.

Our local thrift store here in Ohio has reasonable prices, except
occasionally an item will be way overpriced, and they don't haggle.  Do
thrift stores throw away unsold items?  Or discount them?  It'd be a
shame if they threw stuff out because no one bought it due to its high
price.

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Justin wrote:

 I run into the same thing in my area with the SA outlets. It's funny
to look at those computer prices. They used to have printers also and
never sold any so they got out of the business with them. There is
competition from other stores and garage sales. I think the high
priced places depend on people who don't know or don't have the energy
to search for good prices. They know the SA is there so that's where
they go.

Stores change constantly. Sometimes you have to write a certain store
off your list. The local Big Lots used to be really good. Then I
noticed the increase in prices and a decrease in stock quality. I knew
they were in trouble and went there less and less. Last time I went,
they wern't. And the other BL in the area will be following soon.

 

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I'm in Ohio too. I stopped going to the Good Will stores here when hard
bound books went up to $3-5.  I've seen Dollar Tree items (stickers still on
them) for $5.   I'm not paying $8 for a used shirt, or $12 for a used pair
of jeans.  They've also moved the Good Wills to locations near Wal-Marts in
an attempt to compete with them.  They lost my business, and I rarely shop
Wal-Mart either. I'd rather shop the locate Resale shops that are locally
owned.

Melissa

 Melissa wrote:

The whole operation at Goodwill must be shoddy.  Because people higher
than the title of store manager ought to audit the store's prices to
keep them reasonable and thus more money coming into the coffers.
There's a sweet spot in prices -- high enough to ensure good money's
coming in, but not too high to where no one's buying.

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 Shop around.  I go to a place, on occasion, called Vaue Village, here in
St Louis.  Everything is laid out neatly, sized ,clean etc.  What we
like is...they have days that are HALF OFF and if you saw an item the
day before, we come back and get it the next day for half off.  I
recently got about 7 pairs of summer shorts and a well made pair of
men's sandals for less that $10 for all of it.

    Value Village is also a fund raiser place.  My buddy has 4 grand
kids and he knows all their sizes shoes etc and he gets them some really
big brand name stuff for very little because he knows brands.   He has
bought them cashmere winter coats etc. In some cases the items were
never worn or hardly worn.  

    Obviously wash everything when you get it home, with Clorax or Lysol
or just hot water and soap.  A bonus sometimes is finding a $5 dollar
bill in a pocket etc.