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Goodwills vary state by state. There is some stuff we send in to be sold online but we usually try to sell it in the store since they push us to have better in store sales numbers. We have three cases up front by the registers with various "high-quality" finds. We backstock our winter/summer clothes. Anything that doesn't sell in our store gets boxed up and moved to a different store to see how it fairs there. So we get local donations and stuff from all over the state that didn't sell.
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Jul 22, 2016 14:32
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JK! posted:Goodwills vary state by state. There is some stuff we send in to be sold online but we usually try to sell it in the store since they push us to have better in store sales numbers. We have three cases up front by the registers with various "high-quality" finds. That sounds good. It is definitely not how things work at my local place though. I sorted so many things that I would have liked to buy but I wasn't allowed because they were throwing it away.
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Jul 22, 2016 14:45
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As with any retail chain, you'll get some lovely and some good experiences based on the store manager. These local decisions don't always reflect company policy.
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Jul 22, 2016 15:01
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All the goodwills I've been to in Texas have sucked rear end, all the ones I've been to in the state of New York have been rad. This seems logical to me because of course Texans would be like "gently caress the poor"
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Jul 22, 2016 15:50
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InediblePenguin posted:All the goodwills I've been to in Texas have sucked rear end, all the ones I've been to in the state of New York have been rad. This seems logical to me because of course Texans would be like "gently caress the poor" Find the nicest part of town in your area and go to thrift shops in it. Cast offs from the rich are insane. I scored this grill for under $25, new in box: https://www.amazon.com/Char-Broil-TRU-Infrared-Electric-Chocolate-Graphite/dp/B0079TOG4G because somebody decided they didn't want a thing they bought anymore
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Jul 22, 2016 17:56
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rydiafan posted:they need to actually have money to spend on the charity programs that are the reasons they exist. Except they don't. The whole point of a thrift store is to take in donations of goods, then offer those donated items to the local (presumably poor) community. A legit registered nonprofit is already allowed to take grants, cash donations, and proceeds from the sales in order to cover its own overhead and non-slave wages. If the thrift store accidentally makes too much money, then it can donate the excess to other local charities. People donate their stuff under the pretense that the above is exactly how goodwill works. "I don't need this any more, but at least it will go to someone who can't afford it but needs it". People don't donate so that their stuff can get sold on eBay or Amazon for slightly less that retail (or even more than retail - I've seen some official goodwill listings on Amazon with flat out dumb prices), and I'm sure people would flat out stop donating to that organization if they knew about their bullshit practices Thrift stores are great, but it seems like goodwill as an organization just flat out takes advantage of naivete and generosity
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Jul 22, 2016 18:28
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Sentient Data posted:Except they don't. The whole point of a thrift store is to take in donations of goods, then offer those donated items to the local (presumably poor) community. A legit registered nonprofit is already allowed to take grants, cash donations, and proceeds from the sales in order to cover its own overhead and non-slave wages. If the thrift store accidentally makes too much money, then it can donate the excess to other local charities. I get what you're saying but as someone who both buys and donates to Goodwill, I'm not donating to help all those poor poverty-stricken families (although it's nice if it does!), I'm donating to get rid of all the poo poo I don't want and maybe it won't go straight to a landfill. I honestly don't care what they do with my poo poo after I drive away, I just don't want it taking up space in my house any more. If I wanted to spend the time, sure, I could sell the good stuff myself over eBay or whatever, but I don't want to, because I have better poo poo to do. If THEY want to sell it on eBay, why should I care? I GAVE it to them to do whatever they want with. Good for them for making more off it. They're just doing what I was too lazy to do.
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Jul 22, 2016 18:53
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Sentient Data posted:Except they don't. The whole point of a thrift store is to take in donations of goods, then offer those donated items to the local (presumably poor) community. What? No it isn't. The point of a thrift store is to take in donations of goods and convert those goods into money that can be used on the organization's charitable mission. The other major network of thrift shops in the US is the Salvation Army, whose mission has nothing to do with selling cheap clothes. Every other thrift shop I'm aware of is attached to another charitable mission, generally a church mission. This is a weird thing to think.
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Jul 22, 2016 22:19
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Fine, I'll accept that I'm wrong but I'll still defend the concept of the ur-thrift-store. I was always told when growing up that the point of donating was for those things to the needy, and i was incredibly pissed when i found out otherwise Related Lifehack: create a charity whose sole purpose is to redistribute donations to a "carefully selected group of local charities", then skim a percentage of all donations for administrative costs. Pay yourself a salary from that and you're set Sentient Data has a new favorite as of 23:21 on Jul 22, 2016 |
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Jul 22, 2016 23:19
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Sentient Data posted:Fine, I'll accept that I'm wrong but I'll still defend the concept of the ur-thrift-store. I was always told when growing up that the point of donating was for those things to the needy, and i was incredibly pissed when i found out otherwise There are charities that distribute clothing (especially coats) to those in need so that they don't have to buy them at all. Donate to those. As for the related hack: That's called a "foundation."
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Jul 22, 2016 23:30
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Sentient Data posted:Fine, I'll accept that I'm wrong but I'll still defend the concept of the ur-thrift-store. I was always told when growing up that the point of donating was for those things to the needy, and i was incredibly pissed when i found out otherwise It's okay, I was in the same boat as you. I used to donate a ton of stuff to Goodwill, but quit when I found out more about their sorting/pricing/donation practices a few years ago. Now I primarily donate to the locally-owned/operated thrift stores in the area that price their products specifically for lower income individuals.
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Jul 22, 2016 23:32
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The Goodwill in my area runs adult daycares, mobility programs, job placement services, community centers, food banks and all kinds of other things. Even if your stuff doesn't go directly to poor people, the money people spend at the shop still helps them.
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Jul 22, 2016 23:33
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The main point of a thrift store operated by a charity isn't necessarily to get the less fortunate into nicer clothes (a lot of which have expensive maintenance, i.e. a dry clean only dress isn't a great purchase for a poor person regardless of the price, dry cleaning is expensive), it's to turn unwanted items into cash for operations. Charging more money means that you can feed more homeless people and perform more community services. Charging too little can even have the opposite effect, costing the charity money to operate the store and encouraging the well off to hoard clothes they don't need and may just end up donating back which costs the charity in terms of reprocessing the clothes for sale. If you want to actually put clothes on the back of the poor, consider giving your used clothing to a program that loans homeless/poor people with dress clothes for job interviews, which combined with program services like resume building and interview practice, can have a very meaningful effect on their lives.
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Jul 22, 2016 23:46
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A lot of donated clothes (globally) get cut up and sold by the kg to industry for rags.
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Jul 22, 2016 23:51
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Here's an even better charity lifehack: Too lazy to haul your unwanted poo poo to a charity? You can call them or go online to schedule a pickup. Depending on your area, you may have multiple charities that will pick up your junk right from your doorstep. In my area, DAV, American Red Cross, and Purple Heart all pick up. If you're bothered by charities reselling your stuff and you want it to go to "direct use," you can also donate clothes and household stuff directly to halfway houses, homeless shelters, women's shelters, etc.
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Jul 22, 2016 23:54
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As someone who works for a non-profit charity, it never ceases to amaze me that people don't get what that means. We still need money to operate. The more we get, the better we are. Lifehack: give more money to charities, they need it.
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Jul 23, 2016 00:26
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Picnic Princess posted:As someone who works for a non-profit charity, it never ceases to amaze me that people don't get what that means. We still need money to operate. The more we get, the better we are. Lifehack: give more money to charities, they need it. As someone who has also worked for nonprofits my whole career, I likewise find it unbelievable that people get offended that we expect to be paid (poorly). But so it goes.
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Jul 23, 2016 00:28
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The Goodwill in my area is garbage because all of the nice stuff gets sold online. There's a separate building a few towns away where 95% of the electronics stuff that people might actually want goes and is sold online. They also have basically nothing for children's clothes or books, both of which are kind of a big deal for me right now with a toddler running around the house. I end up at Savers if I want somebody else's used junk these days. Lifehack: buy baby and toddler clothes at thrift stores because your kid will outgrow them in a few months and somebody else's kid only wore them a few times because they outgrew them after only a few months.
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Jul 23, 2016 00:56
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Chitin posted:The other major network of thrift shops in the US is the Salvation Army, whose mission has nothing to do with selling cheap clothes. Maybe it's different in America, but according to their Australian website (which was ll that came up when I Googled it for some reason) "used furniture, clothing and goods donated to our stores are distributed free of charge to those in need through The Salvation Army’s network of Community Services Centres ... surplus donated goods are sold in Salvos Stores, which helps raise vital funds for The Salvation Army. This also provides the community with quality products at a reasonable price."
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Jul 23, 2016 04:18
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CharlieWhiskey posted:Find the nicest part of town in your area and go to thrift shops in it. Cast offs from the rich are insane. I scored this grill for under $25, new in box: https://www.amazon.com/Char-Broil-TRU-Infrared-Electric-Chocolate-Graphite/dp/B0079TOG4G because somebody decided they didn't want a thing they bought anymore This is extremely true. In the richer areas in town the salvation army's and goodwills have some really nice brand name poo poo and nice crystal glasses and poo poo. The poorer areas just have garbage clothes and crusty household items. Though gently caress the bourgie consignment shops trying to resell forever 21 clothes at nearly the original prices. Karma Monkey posted:Here's an even better charity lifehack: Even better lifehack: find one of those mobile charity clothes dumpsters and just leave bags of your old clothes around and on top of the donation box! Who cares if it spills over to the sidewalk and blocks pathways!!
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Jul 23, 2016 21:13
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The clothes bins in my area are perpetually full and often attacked by selfish people who want new clothes. Lifehack: raid clothes bins for new clothed and throw the ones you don't want at traffic. Because you can. Wedemeyer posted:Even better lifehack: find one of those mobile charity clothes dumpsters and just leave bags of your old clothes around and on top of the donation box! Who cares if it spills over to the sidewalk and blocks pathways!!
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Jul 24, 2016 00:10
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Most of those bins aren't run by charities near me, the life hack would be to round up anything loose and take it to the places that pay you £0.50 per kilo for clothes.
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Jul 24, 2016 12:44
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Wedemeyer posted:This is extremely true. In the richer areas in town the salvation army's and goodwills have some really nice brand name poo poo and nice crystal glasses and poo poo. The poorer areas just have garbage clothes and crusty household items. this is aggressively not true in yuppified post-hipster cities (like my hometown of Portland), where there are legitimate Goodwill-branded "boutiques" where they send the nicer stuff that is donated in the area. Not saying that is a good or a bad thing, just that the whole notion of lucking into a sweet find is very unlikely in certain areas. The moderately more out-of-the-way thrift stores tend to be way better in my experience (or at least have nicer 80's stereo equipment) edit: also a 24-pack of good-quality tempered Libby pint glasses costs about $29 at most restaurant supply stores. cut beer bottles will not last anywhere near as long as tempered glass and don't look that much cooler. just saying Radio Help has a new favorite as of 13:44 on Jul 24, 2016 |
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Jul 24, 2016 13:39
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Jerry Cotton posted:A lot of donated clothes (globally) get cut up and sold by the kg to industry for rags. That's because it's unsellable. If it's dirty, too worn, too unfashionable, too damaged or whatever to sell, selling for rags at least allows the charity to make some money rather than just throwing that stuff away.
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Jul 24, 2016 14:53
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Wedemeyer posted:Even better lifehack: find one of those mobile charity clothes dumpsters and just leave bags of your old clothes around and on top of the donation box! Who cares if it spills over to the sidewalk and blocks pathways!! Nah man, that thing is like 50 feet from my door. If I had one bag of stuff, sure, I'd haul it over there, but I'm not dragging 8 bags to that thing. Plus it only takes clothes and shoes. My lifehack is for lazy bastards like myself.
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Jul 24, 2016 15:50
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Wedemeyer posted:This is extremely true. In the richer areas in town the salvation army's and goodwills have some really nice brand name poo poo and nice crystal glasses and poo poo. The poorer areas just have garbage clothes and crusty household items. Lifehack: When you unexpectedly find a designer handbag for a fraction of its retail price, smile condescendingly at the two pensioners volunteering that day and gloat "you have no idea what you've just sold, have you?". Snatch the bag away before they can see the label and leave the shop to a standing ovation that you've got one one over on a charity and made the people working there feel guilty and stupid. And that designer? Albert Einstein.
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Jul 24, 2016 23:15
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Those clothes drop boxes aren't run by a charity, USagain is a for profit recycling company. Also Goodwill is only a charity in the loosest sense. They donate a little bit of the money they make but their execs are fairly highly paid and they abuse worker laws to pay mentally disabled workers less than minimum wage
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Jul 25, 2016 04:50
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Tiggum posted:Maybe it's different in America, but according to their Australian website (which was ll that came up when I Googled it for some reason) "used furniture, clothing and goods donated to our stores are distributed free of charge to those in need through The Salvation Army’s network of Community Services Centres ... surplus donated goods are sold in Salvos Stores, which helps raise vital funds for The Salvation Army. This also provides the community with quality products at a reasonable price." They do this in the US too. If you have a house fire that destroys your furniture you can call up the SA and they'll hook you up for cheap or free. Radio Help posted:this is aggressively not true in yuppified post-hipster cities (like my hometown of Portland), where there are legitimate Goodwill-branded "boutiques" where they send the nicer stuff that is donated in the area. Not saying that is a good or a bad thing, just that the whole notion of lucking into a sweet find is very unlikely in certain areas. The moderately more out-of-the-way thrift stores tend to be way better in my experience (or at least have nicer 80's stereo equipment) You were going to wrong Goodwill. You want the one on NE 122nd, that's where the real money is made. It's just bins, rows and rows of bins filled with random poo poo and it's sold by weight. I've pulled 7 for all Mankind jeans there, I pulled hundreds of dollars in NES and SNES games there and even more in Gameboy(gameboy games by the pound mean they are basically free). It's basically a Mad Max wasteland version of a thrift store where only the strong survive. I've had to outrun people before to get things, I've watched two tweakers get into a fist fight over a pretty decent but not terribly good car stereo, and you must wear gloves at all times. Once I found a velvet bag full of literal glass shards, I think it used to be a mirror. It's a wonderful wonderful thunderdome of deals. If any of you have a Goodwill outlet near you, go sometime, that's where the people who make money from thrifting find the big bucks.
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Jul 25, 2016 08:28
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AlmightyBob posted:Those clothes drop boxes aren't run by a charity, USagain is a for profit recycling company. That sounds like most big charities in the US.
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Jul 25, 2016 13:05
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AlmightyBob posted:Those clothes drop boxes aren't run by a charity, USagain is a for profit recycling company. Varies by bin. Most around here are for-profit; a few aren't.
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Jul 25, 2016 16:10
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We have Red Cross bins near us. Red Cross is not my favorite charity, but good enough for the sweatshirts or whatever that I want to put in a bin. The fancy stuff goes to Boomerangs, an AIDS charity with really nice thrift stores. Blankets and sheets go to the animal shelter for bedding.
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Jul 25, 2016 19:07
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El Estrago Bonito posted:They do this in the US too. If you have a house fire that destroys your furniture you can call up the SA and they'll hook you up for cheap or free. I used to haunt the Hillsboro bins on the regular. After you find your seventh pair of poo poo-encrusted kid's briefs in as many visits, you realize the amount of money you're spending on neoprene exam gloves is actually cancelling out any potential sweet finds. also the pros figured out that the Hillsboro bins is easily the best one in all of Oregon so now everyone's even nastier and weirder there than they were when I was in high school. gently caress that edit: lifehack: dig through more or less completely unsorted garbage and be legitimately worried about getting poked by used hypodermic needles because maybe you'll find something cool and not pay much money for it??? Radio Help has a new favorite as of 11:36 on Jul 26, 2016 |
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Jul 26, 2016 11:29
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A Korean newspaper has a tip of the day and they are invariably dumb  
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Jul 27, 2016 01:24
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These are jokes, right? Nothing like the smell of pit sweat and spoiled milk
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Jul 27, 2016 04:38
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I don't know if this counts as a life hack but I was at a local gas station chain. I was getting a frozen soda and the woman working there went over to the drink machine, got some ice and wrapped it in a towel and poured some Sprite on it. Then she proceeded to scrub the hotdog rollers with it. I just kinda looked at her for a moment and said something to the effect of "Huh. Does that actually work?" She gave me a rather nonplussed response as though it's something you should see every day or as though everyone does it.
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Jul 28, 2016 14:49
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Tracula posted:I don't know if this counts as a life hack but I was at a local gas station chain. I was getting a frozen soda and the woman working there went over to the drink machine, got some ice and wrapped it in a towel and poured some Sprite on it. Then she proceeded to scrub the hotdog rollers with it. I just kinda looked at her for a moment and said something to the effect of "Huh. Does that actually work?" She gave me a rather nonplussed response as though it's something you should see every day or as though everyone does it. Was it Sprite, or was it the tab on the fountain that spits out carbonated water (from the sprite head)? Because using straight carbonated water was something we did to polish silverware in the restaurant I worked at.
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Jul 28, 2016 14:57
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It was definitely Sprite and not just carbonated water. I could understand that at least. The whole ice wrapped in a towel thing is what initially threw me off since I figured it was gonna be for a bruise or something but then she just started scrubbing with it after dousing it. Again I could easily be in the wrong here but this screams of life hack to me.
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Jul 28, 2016 15:07
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Carbonic acid works super well for cleaning off random restaurant gunk. You can use the soda water to clean the nozzles themselves easily.
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Jul 28, 2016 15:07
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Iron Crowned posted:Was it Sprite, or was it the tab on the fountain that spits out carbonated water (from the sprite head)? It would be a pretty funny story if she was using water and thought some random dude was asking if water really works to clean things.
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Jul 28, 2016 15:19
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Karma Monkey posted:It would be a pretty funny story if she was using water and thought some random dude was asking if water really works to clean things. Son of a bitch. Despite being absolutely 100 percent positively sure it was Sprite (since water dispenses from a tap on the other side of the machine) this makes me want to go there right now and check to make sure. But even so the other steps to the process seem odd to me and I've seen how grimey and horrifying those hotdog rollers get. I don't know how anything sort of acid can get those things decent again.
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Jul 28, 2016 15:33
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