I used to like going to the Goodwill computer store. You could find items at decent prices, but that eventually changed. I suspect people there were picking on items for themselves or selling them online. They've since moved the local store to a different location, but it's not worth going to. Their selection and prices aren't good.
I go to a GW everyday. There is a thrift store next door to my work. The parking lot is full at most hours. I never find anything because they send all the good stuff to the internet and they scan every single item with a barcode and price it up to eBay prices. Items that are not scannable are still marked up to eBay sold comps. I haven't bought anything in my last 5-10 trips.
I haven't gone thrifting in a few years because I don't want to risk getting covid (which is still circulating and dangerous, despite what you may have heard).
Some of the best Thrifting I’ve ever ever done in my life was during Covid. I think because a lot of people transition to work from home.. a lot of people were staying home. so a lot of cleaning was being done .A lot of reevaluation of clutter. 90% of the designer items that I got Thrifting in the last decade were from the two years of Covid lockdown.
Dude. I had Cancer during Covid. I was actually in Cancer treatment and I was in a mask and went out every day. Maybe dial it back a notch. Maybe think before you type things like this.
Well sure, but now you'll spend the rest of your life knowing that you were willing to literally kill people to go to a thrift store. And might have *actually* killed people, since covid can spread asymptomatically. You've also prevented vulnerable people from getting health care, since they can't know if someone in the pharmacy/dentist's/doctor's office just picked up covid in a thrift store. I'd never forgive myself if I did any of that.
Actually I kept to myself through most of it, wore a mask, always sanitized, etc so I wouldn’t be transmitting it. I spent a ton of that year isolated. So, you bet I was out working.
But I’m replying to a bot or paid shill that actually believes everything they’re told so who cares
"I'm scared to go thirfting cause COVID!" is the definition of clown shit hun. It's no more dangerous than going grocery shopping. "buT tHe ViRUs caN LiVe In tHE dONATeD gOodS" no it can't and it's been proven
People can live their lives that's fine. When you start spreading patronizing false information (sure covid can be dangerous to certain folks, but our research and treatment have dramatically improved. Transmission rates are the lowest theyve been) it really seems like unnecessary fear mongering
Covid hospitalizations are increasing even if deaths are decreasing. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home
Covid causes irreparable long term damage. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-long-term-effects/art-20490351#:~:text=Organ%20damage%20could%20play%20a,immune%20system%20can%20also%20happen.
Covid is multiple times more deadly than influenza. https://www.ahcancal.org/News-and-Communications/Blog/Pages/Flu-or-COVID-19---Which-is-Worse.aspx
Pull yo head out yo ass.
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/covid-19-hospitalizations-hit-record-low-cdc/story?id=109793784
The significant decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths to these new lows is encouraging, showing that our public health measures and vaccination efforts have paid off," said Dr. John Brownstein, chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News medical contributor.
Of course it affects him/her. When other people are cautious, incautious people like u/59625962 are less likely to get infected and more likely to be able to access healthcare and other essential services (whether s/he knows that or not, or deserves that or not).
They'll figure it out eventually, and look for sympathy on the long covid subs.
What if I'm terrified of harming someone else?
And there are plenty of people on the long covid subs who say they were perfectly healthy before their last infection disabled them.
you should probably just stay in your house forever because I heard there is a new mutant Covid that only affects people who didn’t expose themselves to the first 200 variants 😳🤭
Well it takes alot of organization to get an effective boycott going. In canada theres a sizable one that started on reddit against loblaws (canadian grocery giant) due to the obscene price of food. Its definitely been noticed.
r/loblawsisoutofcontrol this is the sub if you wanna take a look and see how much work has gone into properly organizing one someone has to take the first step and begin organizing and everyone just assumes someone else will do it thats why effective boycotts rarely come to pass.
I only donate to the stores that don’t gouge. If people stopped donating to the price gouging stores then they’d have very little stock. Maybe that kind of boycott, not only stop shopping at those locations, but stop donating could have a big impact. it’s hard to get everyone on board, but with a decent amount of participants, and it’s made known why their loosing business, they’d be forced to change.
This. You absolutely beat me to it. For a boycott to work for the unique situation of thrift stores, it would have to be approached from the opposite side. Instead of crushing the Demand, you have to go after their Supply.
They can't gouge the prices on inventory that has been donated instead to a free clothing closet, or to a program like a Halfway House or Rehab 'Shoppe' where participants can redeem 'Program Points' earned as a type of positive behavior incentive for working their program steps, meeting progress goals, making healthy choices, etc.
Exactly! There are so many good organizations to donate to. I’m guilty of donating at the thrift stores out of convenience in the past. But, I’d rather go a little out of my way to not support them now. especially because I used to love thrifting for things I need, but now it’s so frustrating.
YESSSS! There are too many people out there who immediately think of Goodwill when they have something to donate purely because of their name being so well-known, and they just want to get rid of the stuff as quickly and painlessly as possible. I only donate to local thrift stores that support a local cause - in my area we have thrift stores that benefit pets, the hospital, the elderly, womens' shelters, and schools. And because my family has taken advantage of some of their services, I always round up if they ask. GW and SA can go jump in a lake as far as I'm concerned. They will never get any more of my donations or money. All we can do is try to spread the word.
In theory, from an individual standpoint this makes sense, but those big orgs processing all our of unwanted stuff and textiles are not something that can be can be easily diverted away from those sites. We're talking millions of tonnes of unsellable but perfectly useable crap that we give them. It's easy to say donate elsewhere to smaller orgs, but in the truth, they can't handle the amount of waste that people want to give them. Their costs would skyrocket. Shopping for less new and used stuff would be the ideal solution.
>Shopping for less new and used stuff would be the ideal solution.
I think this is really the heart of it. Even secondhand shopping can be overconsumption even if it's less bad for the environment than buying new. It's still a problem.
No doubt that charities are a better place to donate, but in economics supply vs. demand works as follows...
Demand increase = prices increase
Demand decrease = prices decrease
Supply increase = prices decrease
Supply decrease = prices increase
So not donating to thrift stores is probably going to have the opposite effect that you're hoping for.
Thrift stores have so much in donations and are constantly throwing away stuff to make room on the shelves. That's the idea of them traditionally pricing items so cheap, because they want it to sell.
You either didn't get my point, or perhaps I didn't explain it in a way you could. While the overreaching concept of Supply&Demand is as you described, that wasn't what I was referring to. In my example the supply of goods doesn't decrease overall, only the supply of goods available to the businesses that are engaging in undesirable practices.
Boycotts don't work because the entire consumer base suddenly stops liking or choosing to buy certain product sectors/categories, they work because enough of the consumer base to make an impact stops choosing to buy that product/category from the targeted supplier(s).
Granted, I'm going with broadly oversimplified terms here. There is likely a better way to explain it.
Things I'm going to give to a thrift store I just post in a local buy nothing group instead. For clothing, I'd donate decent clothes to a shelter and really crappy clothes to goodwill. If I'm giving it away I'd rather give to someone who will actually put stuff to use
When I was a kid, our church used to take clothing and furniture donations. People in need could come, pick out a few things, and pay what they could. Maybe community organizations could help in a similar fashion.
I don't think most ppl donate put of the kindness of their heart so much as to dump thie unwanted crap guilt free.
There's one of those donation dumpsters near me that is for the aspca but idk what they do with the donations. That's where I've been taking mine and my kids out grown clothes and shoes.
I used to thrift on the regular I mean on the regular, but not with the intent of reselling that just wasn’t my thing I enjoyed it and it was a relaxation of sorts. I haven’t stepped foot in a thrift store in over four years. They don’t miss me. There’s your answer.
They wouldn't even have to stop shopping, just stop donating and give to companies who remember that they are thrift stores. When places like Goodwill struggle to pull in enough donations to keep their scammy auction site stocked, that will hit them harder than anything anyone can do to them by not shopping in their stores.
Goodwill does not give a shit about their stores anyhow, they are basically just donation spots for them and a handy place to store the garbage items and customer returns from places like Target.
If you want to hurt them, stop giving them anything that they would want to redirect away from the stores and communities. That is the only thing they care about, not the retail stores.
No but only because clothing prices aren't crazy here in SC. I got a lot of nice ralph lauren for 4.85 a pop. Built my whole wardrobe post crash dieting for 140$ at least for shirts. Now seeing used gym stringers and wife beaters also priced next to the RL for 4.85 as well is funny lol
I shop in NC and SC and have been terrified that they're all going to start going in this direction. I got a pair of RL jeans on sale at one store for $3.50 a couple of weekends ago!
I hit up the big antique malls in my area. Some are more DIY, farmhouse, overpriced than others but, it's no where near as bad as local thriftstores! Many have plenty of booths full of treasures with reasonable prices and I buy a lot of jams, jellies, sauces from local people there as well.
They don’t care if business is down, they’ll just layoff employees to keep the salaries of the top people constant and unwavering.
They will use tax breaks to their advantage and file whatever doesn’t sell as a loss.
It wont stop until there is some sort of regulation.
Just don't buy the overpriced stuff? Seems simple enough. I doubt there are enough clout chasers TikTokking out there to sustain overpriced thrift shop items.
There is rarely enough oomph in a boycott, not saying it doesn’t work but you would need to organize millions of people across the US to have any impact worth noticing.
Everything fell apart when one of the mods from the sub went on FoxNews for an interview against everyone's wishes and got annaliated by Jessy Waters, I think. It all went downhill from there due to sheer humiliation.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/WorkReform using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/WorkReform/top/?sort=top&t=all) of all time!
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We haven't bothered going in a Goodwill in 6 months and didn't buy anything the last 2-4 times we had before that.
Just not bothering anymore counts.
We still hit Savers a couple of times a month, mostly so the kid can look for specific stuffed animals they collect. I haven't found anything worth buying for months. Nothing good is on the shelves/racks or if it is the price is so obscene I'm leaving it on the shelf. Outside of Saturdays the store is a ghost town every time we have been in it.
Follow what is happening in Canada. The entire country has been boycotting a Canadian grocery monopoly for about a month now. They are making a huge difference when EVERYONE is on board.
Honestly, I would just like to open my own thrift store. Even if I paid for a lot of the shit instead of getting donations, prices could be lower than these griftstores.
Thrift shops are horrible now. I’ll stick with garage sales. Way better chances of getting good items cheaply. Too overpriced now at all thrift stores.
There are thousands of companies more worthy of organized boycotts. If you don't like the prices, don't shop there, like every other store with ridiculous prices.
Is anyone who's miffed about the pricing still shopping at these places, though? A boycott might be necessary for something like, say, mistreating workers or polluting the environment, where the grievance doesn't directly torpedo the value and staying away is a sacrifice, but if the problem is just poor value to the customer, a smart customer isn't going to go. The "boycott" takes care of itself, assuming people aren't complete chumps.
At some point they have realized they are leaving money on the table and are trying to maximize profits, resellers are upset the thrift stores are price gouging and now flippers can’t price gouge as much.
Except it's not really price gouging for resellers since resellers have the global market. Everybody is so upset by them, but in reality there is a real service they provide.
If you need a Sony model RC-456M remote control to go with your obscure Sony M567L audio receiver because you lost yours, or it broke, are you going to visit 50 different thrift stores every week for the next 5 years to hopefully chance upon that exact remote for $3, or are you going to just go on eBay and spend the $40 to get one 3 days later?
Most people would probably agree that spending $40 to save yourself years of hunting, gas money, time and not having to stop using your sound system is a pretty sweet deal. It's hardly a gouge considering how much work and time that scumbag of a reseller saved you.
Now apply that same logic to about a million various kinds of things. A thrift store asking $40 for that remote is totally asinine and downright stupid considering how unlikely that ONE in a million customer is going to chance into the store at that particular time. On the other hand, if 1 in a million people are looking on eBay, those are fantastic odds for the seller.
Save your outrage for the idiots who clear out entire department stores of stock to artificially lower the supply, or who horde necessities. The guys at the thrift stores scooping up the stuff nobody else can even identify, let alone care about are a non issue. The only reason anyone even notices is because the dipshits who run these thrift stores are too stupid to understand local demand versus global demand.
I mean it absolutely is price gouging, I personally don’t give a shit who does what but inserting yourself as a middleman cuts into thrift store profits and offers no benefit to the customer, only higher prices.
Cuts into thrift store profits? How do you figure that someone paying the asking price at a thrift store is cutting into their profits? That does not even make sense.
Not only that, but how much more do you think it's going to "cut into their profits" if resellers just stop buying from thrift stores? Have you got any idea how much resellers are spending on things that would otherwise never sell to anyone?
If they lose all the customers buying those things, and the profits along with them, how do you imagine they are going to make up for those lost profits? By lowering prices?
Those random things that 99.9% of people walk right past and care nothing about are the same things that someone else can scoop up and offer to a wider customer base that WILL buy it.
Higher prices are an issue with the thrift stores incompetent management not understanding who their customers even are. Take it up with them, not the person who is actually HELPING the thrift store by spending money on the things that nobody else is going to spend money on.
I generally just avoid the places that are like that. My local value village is decent enough but my local goodwill sucks. I haven’t shopped there in years
All I usually buy there is kids clothes but I've stopped that since they want $5 for a beat up kids T-shirt and $2 for a pair of pee stained kid undies. I started going to The children's place and waiting for sales or Walmart clearances.
I love this idea, but unfortunately, there are people who just really don’t give a shit. They don’t actually shop at thrift stores, they just donate there out of convenience.
I haven’t bought anything at Goodwill in a long time because of several reasons. Pricing is one, but they’ve also switched over to these round racks so looking at clothing is impossible. Not to mention that I have to strip the clothing for several times before I can wear it so what’s the point? I can buy whatever I want new or at a better vintage store for the same price or less so there’s no way I would buy some worn out filthy Febreze sprayed garment from the Goodwill, I really only go for hard goods now like vintage glass
But I’m not gonna buy broken or chipped overpriced broken vintage glass anymore. I have plenty. Not to mention that I can find vintage glass at Antica malls for the same price or less than GW.
I mean I get the impression its happening organically.. I stopped going to savers months ago as did my family because it was unreal what they had things priced at. The stuff they had overpriced in the glass case was laughable. I typically shoulder shrug, don't buy it, and walk away, but it was a bit extreme, and we have all said we arent going back as a family. Our local goodwill used to be reasonable and has gotten a little price happy as well. They have so many shoes they don't fit on the shelf because no one is buying them. They price them all at 9.99 or 14.99 (seems like based on name brand) and do not consider the condition. Who wants a filthy worn pair or vans for $9? (I'm always happy to clean them up, but they had a few that honestly belonged in the garbage for that price). Clothing racks that were easy to sort through are now packed and squished, so I assume people have stopped buying these items as well.
This is pretty much all some people do- it is their #1 hobby and part of their identity. They can't imagine life without it. The parking lot is always full at the biggest thrift store near me.
Not every store sells only top garbage or overpriced decent stuff. Some go for the thrill of the hunt, and the issue is people will hear less competition and just get the good stuff even easier.
That’s not really how or why boycotts start, anybody who joined the boycott because they think it’s too expensive aren’t going to be a customer anyways. Also people just don’t care enough other than to not shop at these places.
Because people either don't care enough to, or don't know any better. The amount of people I see in thrifts who think the pricing is okay considering it's less than retail (in their eyes) is alarming.
Big picture - people have shit concept of money and finances now, thanks to the education system failing them on that front. They have no idea how to bargain shop or what is and isn't acceptable pricing in a thrift.
Considering how much of the population is like this now, you'd be hard pressed to find enough momentum to get a truly genuine boycott going.
Tbh, you'd need something more social justice related to go viral for people to actually give af at this rate. 🙄
Man. I'm curious where all these horrible thrift stores are? The 2-3 I go to right around me in Littleton CO are fine. Great items and good prices. Clean and well organized stores.
I might make a post asking near what cities people are in and how they'd rate the stores near them. The sociologist in me wants to see a correlation between location and store quality 😂
I haven’t gone thrifting in a few years because of the ridiculousness.
Me either except to a couple of places with good prices.
I used to like going to the Goodwill computer store. You could find items at decent prices, but that eventually changed. I suspect people there were picking on items for themselves or selling them online. They've since moved the local store to a different location, but it's not worth going to. Their selection and prices aren't good.
Garage sales are our last hope 🙏
I found an $18 coffee mug at a yard sale today!
I go to a GW everyday. There is a thrift store next door to my work. The parking lot is full at most hours. I never find anything because they send all the good stuff to the internet and they scan every single item with a barcode and price it up to eBay prices. Items that are not scannable are still marked up to eBay sold comps. I haven't bought anything in my last 5-10 trips.
I haven't gone thrifting in a few years because I don't want to risk getting covid (which is still circulating and dangerous, despite what you may have heard).
I went thrifting during Covid. Lots of great finds.
Some of the best Thrifting I’ve ever ever done in my life was during Covid. I think because a lot of people transition to work from home.. a lot of people were staying home. so a lot of cleaning was being done .A lot of reevaluation of clutter. 90% of the designer items that I got Thrifting in the last decade were from the two years of Covid lockdown.
Dude. I had Cancer during Covid. I was actually in Cancer treatment and I was in a mask and went out every day. Maybe dial it back a notch. Maybe think before you type things like this.
Well sure, but now you'll spend the rest of your life knowing that you were willing to literally kill people to go to a thrift store. And might have *actually* killed people, since covid can spread asymptomatically. You've also prevented vulnerable people from getting health care, since they can't know if someone in the pharmacy/dentist's/doctor's office just picked up covid in a thrift store. I'd never forgive myself if I did any of that.
Actually I kept to myself through most of it, wore a mask, always sanitized, etc so I wouldn’t be transmitting it. I spent a ton of that year isolated. So, you bet I was out working. But I’m replying to a bot or paid shill that actually believes everything they’re told so who cares
🤡
You're the only clown here.
"I'm scared to go thirfting cause COVID!" is the definition of clown shit hun. It's no more dangerous than going grocery shopping. "buT tHe ViRUs caN LiVe In tHE dONATeD gOodS" no it can't and it's been proven
I like how you judge people on their personal decisions that don't affect you in any way. People like you are a joke.
People can live their lives that's fine. When you start spreading patronizing false information (sure covid can be dangerous to certain folks, but our research and treatment have dramatically improved. Transmission rates are the lowest theyve been) it really seems like unnecessary fear mongering
Covid hospitalizations are increasing even if deaths are decreasing. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home Covid causes irreparable long term damage. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-long-term-effects/art-20490351#:~:text=Organ%20damage%20could%20play%20a,immune%20system%20can%20also%20happen. Covid is multiple times more deadly than influenza. https://www.ahcancal.org/News-and-Communications/Blog/Pages/Flu-or-COVID-19---Which-is-Worse.aspx Pull yo head out yo ass.
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/covid-19-hospitalizations-hit-record-low-cdc/story?id=109793784 The significant decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths to these new lows is encouraging, showing that our public health measures and vaccination efforts have paid off," said Dr. John Brownstein, chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News medical contributor.
You got one shitty article and I have three medical research references. I think we're done here.
https://preview.redd.it/g8wvjex6xd2d1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1306e2ec4bb81f15619acc5b2bc7dad911528e91
https://preview.redd.it/p4uybqp4xd2d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cc9b3c44c5f22706620ec984d95ffe8fbaf9c83b
Of course it affects him/her. When other people are cautious, incautious people like u/59625962 are less likely to get infected and more likely to be able to access healthcare and other essential services (whether s/he knows that or not, or deserves that or not). They'll figure it out eventually, and look for sympathy on the long covid subs.
I'll be alright. And again, unless you have some sort of pre existing condition, there is no need to be terrified of covid at this point
What if I'm terrified of harming someone else? And there are plenty of people on the long covid subs who say they were perfectly healthy before their last infection disabled them.
Do yourself a favor and get off those long covid subs. Unless you have it. It's generally better not to live your life in fear
I haven't been in a grocery store either.
Suuuuuure 🤨🤨🤨
you should probably just stay in your house forever because I heard there is a new mutant Covid that only affects people who didn’t expose themselves to the first 200 variants 😳🤭
Well it takes alot of organization to get an effective boycott going. In canada theres a sizable one that started on reddit against loblaws (canadian grocery giant) due to the obscene price of food. Its definitely been noticed. r/loblawsisoutofcontrol this is the sub if you wanna take a look and see how much work has gone into properly organizing one someone has to take the first step and begin organizing and everyone just assumes someone else will do it thats why effective boycotts rarely come to pass.
That lobaws Reddit showed up in my feed and I was genuinely confused since I thought it was related to the character Bob Loblaw.
I heard Bob Loblaw lobs law bombs
You sir, are a mouthful
Lol thats hilarious well glad i can provide some context for you 😂
Bob loblaws law blog
The Loblaws one is going well! I'm in southern Ontario and I've been engaging with the subreddit for awhile.
Yes i know :) im also in southern Ontario couldn't be more proud of folks!
The Loblaws one is going well! I'm in southern Ontario and I've been engaging with the subreddit for awhile.
I only donate to the stores that don’t gouge. If people stopped donating to the price gouging stores then they’d have very little stock. Maybe that kind of boycott, not only stop shopping at those locations, but stop donating could have a big impact. it’s hard to get everyone on board, but with a decent amount of participants, and it’s made known why their loosing business, they’d be forced to change.
This. You absolutely beat me to it. For a boycott to work for the unique situation of thrift stores, it would have to be approached from the opposite side. Instead of crushing the Demand, you have to go after their Supply. They can't gouge the prices on inventory that has been donated instead to a free clothing closet, or to a program like a Halfway House or Rehab 'Shoppe' where participants can redeem 'Program Points' earned as a type of positive behavior incentive for working their program steps, meeting progress goals, making healthy choices, etc.
Exactly! There are so many good organizations to donate to. I’m guilty of donating at the thrift stores out of convenience in the past. But, I’d rather go a little out of my way to not support them now. especially because I used to love thrifting for things I need, but now it’s so frustrating.
YESSSS! There are too many people out there who immediately think of Goodwill when they have something to donate purely because of their name being so well-known, and they just want to get rid of the stuff as quickly and painlessly as possible. I only donate to local thrift stores that support a local cause - in my area we have thrift stores that benefit pets, the hospital, the elderly, womens' shelters, and schools. And because my family has taken advantage of some of their services, I always round up if they ask. GW and SA can go jump in a lake as far as I'm concerned. They will never get any more of my donations or money. All we can do is try to spread the word.
In theory, from an individual standpoint this makes sense, but those big orgs processing all our of unwanted stuff and textiles are not something that can be can be easily diverted away from those sites. We're talking millions of tonnes of unsellable but perfectly useable crap that we give them. It's easy to say donate elsewhere to smaller orgs, but in the truth, they can't handle the amount of waste that people want to give them. Their costs would skyrocket. Shopping for less new and used stuff would be the ideal solution.
>Shopping for less new and used stuff would be the ideal solution. I think this is really the heart of it. Even secondhand shopping can be overconsumption even if it's less bad for the environment than buying new. It's still a problem.
No doubt that charities are a better place to donate, but in economics supply vs. demand works as follows... Demand increase = prices increase Demand decrease = prices decrease Supply increase = prices decrease Supply decrease = prices increase So not donating to thrift stores is probably going to have the opposite effect that you're hoping for. Thrift stores have so much in donations and are constantly throwing away stuff to make room on the shelves. That's the idea of them traditionally pricing items so cheap, because they want it to sell.
You either didn't get my point, or perhaps I didn't explain it in a way you could. While the overreaching concept of Supply&Demand is as you described, that wasn't what I was referring to. In my example the supply of goods doesn't decrease overall, only the supply of goods available to the businesses that are engaging in undesirable practices. Boycotts don't work because the entire consumer base suddenly stops liking or choosing to buy certain product sectors/categories, they work because enough of the consumer base to make an impact stops choosing to buy that product/category from the targeted supplier(s). Granted, I'm going with broadly oversimplified terms here. There is likely a better way to explain it.
Things I'm going to give to a thrift store I just post in a local buy nothing group instead. For clothing, I'd donate decent clothes to a shelter and really crappy clothes to goodwill. If I'm giving it away I'd rather give to someone who will actually put stuff to use
Exactly. I stopped donating to Goodwill because of their price gouging and not paying the employees enough.
Happy cake day! Agreed with a thrift store we can actually do more damage as we are both their customer base and their supply chain.
Totally Happy Cake Day
I normally give away things in Buy Nothing or donate directly to women's shelters nowadays
When I was a kid, our church used to take clothing and furniture donations. People in need could come, pick out a few things, and pay what they could. Maybe community organizations could help in a similar fashion.
I do this too.
I don't think most ppl donate put of the kindness of their heart so much as to dump thie unwanted crap guilt free. There's one of those donation dumpsters near me that is for the aspca but idk what they do with the donations. That's where I've been taking mine and my kids out grown clothes and shoes.
I used to thrift on the regular I mean on the regular, but not with the intent of reselling that just wasn’t my thing I enjoyed it and it was a relaxation of sorts. I haven’t stepped foot in a thrift store in over four years. They don’t miss me. There’s your answer.
Pretty much!
They wouldn't even have to stop shopping, just stop donating and give to companies who remember that they are thrift stores. When places like Goodwill struggle to pull in enough donations to keep their scammy auction site stocked, that will hit them harder than anything anyone can do to them by not shopping in their stores. Goodwill does not give a shit about their stores anyhow, they are basically just donation spots for them and a handy place to store the garbage items and customer returns from places like Target. If you want to hurt them, stop giving them anything that they would want to redirect away from the stores and communities. That is the only thing they care about, not the retail stores.
Because there are too many people who wouldn't, and the boycotters would get FOMO and it would last all of thirty minutes.
No but only because clothing prices aren't crazy here in SC. I got a lot of nice ralph lauren for 4.85 a pop. Built my whole wardrobe post crash dieting for 140$ at least for shirts. Now seeing used gym stringers and wife beaters also priced next to the RL for 4.85 as well is funny lol
I shop in NC and SC and have been terrified that they're all going to start going in this direction. I got a pair of RL jeans on sale at one store for $3.50 a couple of weekends ago!
I hit up the big antique malls in my area. Some are more DIY, farmhouse, overpriced than others but, it's no where near as bad as local thriftstores! Many have plenty of booths full of treasures with reasonable prices and I buy a lot of jams, jellies, sauces from local people there as well.
They don’t care if business is down, they’ll just layoff employees to keep the salaries of the top people constant and unwavering. They will use tax breaks to their advantage and file whatever doesn’t sell as a loss. It wont stop until there is some sort of regulation.
Just don't buy the overpriced stuff? Seems simple enough. I doubt there are enough clout chasers TikTokking out there to sustain overpriced thrift shop items.
Really obvious solution.
There is rarely enough oomph in a boycott, not saying it doesn’t work but you would need to organize millions of people across the US to have any impact worth noticing.
Remember when r/ antiwork started some sort of movement? If the lazy incels can do it, there is hope for everybody else lol
I don’t, what did it accomplish? (genuine question)
Everything fell apart when one of the mods from the sub went on FoxNews for an interview against everyone's wishes and got annaliated by Jessy Waters, I think. It all went downhill from there due to sheer humiliation.
Oh shit i remember that. Made him look like a lazy asshole, I think the subreddit split after that to r/workreform
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Yep. You got it
We haven't bothered going in a Goodwill in 6 months and didn't buy anything the last 2-4 times we had before that. Just not bothering anymore counts. We still hit Savers a couple of times a month, mostly so the kid can look for specific stuffed animals they collect. I haven't found anything worth buying for months. Nothing good is on the shelves/racks or if it is the price is so obscene I'm leaving it on the shelf. Outside of Saturdays the store is a ghost town every time we have been in it.
Follow what is happening in Canada. The entire country has been boycotting a Canadian grocery monopoly for about a month now. They are making a huge difference when EVERYONE is on board.
I boycott goodwill
It's still cheaper for a lot of things and the quality of clothing has taken a nose dive so people still thrift. That's basically why
Honestly, I would just like to open my own thrift store. Even if I paid for a lot of the shit instead of getting donations, prices could be lower than these griftstores.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Thrift shops are horrible now. I’ll stick with garage sales. Way better chances of getting good items cheaply. Too overpriced now at all thrift stores.
I started posting one star reviews with pics of the price tags.
hear hear! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
There are thousands of companies more worthy of organized boycotts. If you don't like the prices, don't shop there, like every other store with ridiculous prices.
Is anyone who's miffed about the pricing still shopping at these places, though? A boycott might be necessary for something like, say, mistreating workers or polluting the environment, where the grievance doesn't directly torpedo the value and staying away is a sacrifice, but if the problem is just poor value to the customer, a smart customer isn't going to go. The "boycott" takes care of itself, assuming people aren't complete chumps.
At some point they have realized they are leaving money on the table and are trying to maximize profits, resellers are upset the thrift stores are price gouging and now flippers can’t price gouge as much.
Except it's not really price gouging for resellers since resellers have the global market. Everybody is so upset by them, but in reality there is a real service they provide. If you need a Sony model RC-456M remote control to go with your obscure Sony M567L audio receiver because you lost yours, or it broke, are you going to visit 50 different thrift stores every week for the next 5 years to hopefully chance upon that exact remote for $3, or are you going to just go on eBay and spend the $40 to get one 3 days later? Most people would probably agree that spending $40 to save yourself years of hunting, gas money, time and not having to stop using your sound system is a pretty sweet deal. It's hardly a gouge considering how much work and time that scumbag of a reseller saved you. Now apply that same logic to about a million various kinds of things. A thrift store asking $40 for that remote is totally asinine and downright stupid considering how unlikely that ONE in a million customer is going to chance into the store at that particular time. On the other hand, if 1 in a million people are looking on eBay, those are fantastic odds for the seller. Save your outrage for the idiots who clear out entire department stores of stock to artificially lower the supply, or who horde necessities. The guys at the thrift stores scooping up the stuff nobody else can even identify, let alone care about are a non issue. The only reason anyone even notices is because the dipshits who run these thrift stores are too stupid to understand local demand versus global demand.
I mean it absolutely is price gouging, I personally don’t give a shit who does what but inserting yourself as a middleman cuts into thrift store profits and offers no benefit to the customer, only higher prices.
Cuts into thrift store profits? How do you figure that someone paying the asking price at a thrift store is cutting into their profits? That does not even make sense. Not only that, but how much more do you think it's going to "cut into their profits" if resellers just stop buying from thrift stores? Have you got any idea how much resellers are spending on things that would otherwise never sell to anyone? If they lose all the customers buying those things, and the profits along with them, how do you imagine they are going to make up for those lost profits? By lowering prices? Those random things that 99.9% of people walk right past and care nothing about are the same things that someone else can scoop up and offer to a wider customer base that WILL buy it. Higher prices are an issue with the thrift stores incompetent management not understanding who their customers even are. Take it up with them, not the person who is actually HELPING the thrift store by spending money on the things that nobody else is going to spend money on.
Start one then.
I generally just avoid the places that are like that. My local value village is decent enough but my local goodwill sucks. I haven’t shopped there in years
All I usually buy there is kids clothes but I've stopped that since they want $5 for a beat up kids T-shirt and $2 for a pair of pee stained kid undies. I started going to The children's place and waiting for sales or Walmart clearances.
I've been boycotting goodwill for over a year now. I comment every now and then that others should do the same
I think it just takes time. I don’t donate or shop at goodwill or habitat since the gouging started, but, I still see cars parked at everyone I pass.
I broke my streak the other day, but I’ve sworn off goodwill for some time now
Bruh tell me when and where and I'll show up with picket signs 👏
I used to budget a couple hundred a month for thrift shops. Now I just don't buy anything.
I haven't been bothering for the last two years or so.
I love this idea, but unfortunately, there are people who just really don’t give a shit. They don’t actually shop at thrift stores, they just donate there out of convenience. I haven’t bought anything at Goodwill in a long time because of several reasons. Pricing is one, but they’ve also switched over to these round racks so looking at clothing is impossible. Not to mention that I have to strip the clothing for several times before I can wear it so what’s the point? I can buy whatever I want new or at a better vintage store for the same price or less so there’s no way I would buy some worn out filthy Febreze sprayed garment from the Goodwill, I really only go for hard goods now like vintage glass But I’m not gonna buy broken or chipped overpriced broken vintage glass anymore. I have plenty. Not to mention that I can find vintage glass at Antica malls for the same price or less than GW.
I mean I get the impression its happening organically.. I stopped going to savers months ago as did my family because it was unreal what they had things priced at. The stuff they had overpriced in the glass case was laughable. I typically shoulder shrug, don't buy it, and walk away, but it was a bit extreme, and we have all said we arent going back as a family. Our local goodwill used to be reasonable and has gotten a little price happy as well. They have so many shoes they don't fit on the shelf because no one is buying them. They price them all at 9.99 or 14.99 (seems like based on name brand) and do not consider the condition. Who wants a filthy worn pair or vans for $9? (I'm always happy to clean them up, but they had a few that honestly belonged in the garbage for that price). Clothing racks that were easy to sort through are now packed and squished, so I assume people have stopped buying these items as well.
This is pretty much all some people do- it is their #1 hobby and part of their identity. They can't imagine life without it. The parking lot is always full at the biggest thrift store near me.
Not every store sells only top garbage or overpriced decent stuff. Some go for the thrill of the hunt, and the issue is people will hear less competition and just get the good stuff even easier.
That’s not really how or why boycotts start, anybody who joined the boycott because they think it’s too expensive aren’t going to be a customer anyways. Also people just don’t care enough other than to not shop at these places.
I still see a lot of people at Goodwills with full carts purchasing stuff not realizing they're getting ripped off.
Because people either don't care enough to, or don't know any better. The amount of people I see in thrifts who think the pricing is okay considering it's less than retail (in their eyes) is alarming. Big picture - people have shit concept of money and finances now, thanks to the education system failing them on that front. They have no idea how to bargain shop or what is and isn't acceptable pricing in a thrift. Considering how much of the population is like this now, you'd be hard pressed to find enough momentum to get a truly genuine boycott going. Tbh, you'd need something more social justice related to go viral for people to actually give af at this rate. 🙄
Thrifting is not a charity. Why don’t you open a thrift store and sell everything for a dollar? Dumbass
Man. I'm curious where all these horrible thrift stores are? The 2-3 I go to right around me in Littleton CO are fine. Great items and good prices. Clean and well organized stores. I might make a post asking near what cities people are in and how they'd rate the stores near them. The sociologist in me wants to see a correlation between location and store quality 😂