Whether you ’re a hard-core shopper who comb the racks of the Salvation Army regularly or rely on used shops as a post to donate your honest-to-goodness stuff and nonsense , you may have wondered what it ’s like to make behind the scenes . Wonder no more : Mental Floss talk to several workers at parsimoniousness stores around the commonwealth about what happens to eliminate donations , the coolheaded ( and weirdest ) items they ’ve get word , and the best mode to score an even expert deal .
1. THEY DON’T KEEP EVERYTHING YOU DONATE.
parsimoniousness storehouse do n’t always keep all your donations , either because they do n’t have elbow room or because token are n’t in good enough condition for resale . But rest assured they adjudicate to responsibly redistribute or recycle what they ca n’t expend . Stacie Morrell , manager ofHomeward Bound Pets Thrift Storein McMinnville , Oregon , tells Mental Floss that her non - profit has several destinations for idle donations . They take the good clothing to a local consignment store , generating another taxation stream ; they give their " pulling " ( items pulled off the racks that did n’t sell ) to the larger St. Vincent de Paul penny-pinching store across town ; and they broadcast donations that are n’t fit for resale to homeless shelters or a recycling quickness .
Goodwill , where Morrell has also work , has a dissimilar organisation . The stock charge pulls and poor - timbre items to Goodwill Outlets , where the material is set out in giant bin for customers to buy by the pound . That can mean gems for patient thrifters — the stores occasionally send contribution to the outlets " raw , " meaning they have n’t even had sentence to open up the boxful before sending them off . " It ’s like a hoarded wealth Richard Morris Hunt , " Morrell say .
For really unsalable ware , Goodwill sometimes finds overseas buyers , and they recycle what they can . If they ca n’t recycle it , it rifle in the folderol . " They have vast garbage bills every month , into the meg , " Morrell says .
2. THERE’S A MEANING BEHIND THOSE DIFFERENTLY COLORED TAGS.
If you buy at at Goodwill , you ’ll discern the dark credit card price tag on all the wearable . It ’s all part of a organization for rotating inventory and keeping the product sassy . Most Goodwill computer storage habituate five unlike colors and rotate them weekly in a even pattern : A young batch of vesture going onto the sales floor might get a puritanical tag , for example , and next hebdomad ’s ware might get chicken . Every week on a Sunday , Goodwill puts the oldest color on sale for 50 percent off to help get it off the storey . If you could figure out your local store ’s coloring pattern , you could predict when an item that catch your eye will go on sales event . gratuity : Try ( nicely ) asking an employee .
Other thrift stores expend different systems , but they usually have some way of tracking the escort on their wares . At Homeward Bound , the month the ware arrived is written on the tag . " We have a preindication up front that says , ' Items this month and before are 50 percent off , ' " Morrell excuse .
3. YOU MAY HAVE A BETTER SHOPPING EXPERIENCE AT A SMALL, NON-PROFIT STORE.
minor businesses can imply a more well-disposed experience for the client . " Most of the small thrift memory will be staffed by volunteers , so theywantto be there , " Morrell enjoin . A volunteer atHousing Works Bookstore Cafe , a secondhand shop class in New York City , explained to us : " They ’re not in business to make money . They ’re a Polemonium van-bruntiae . … The people that make for there understand that , that they ’re there to be helpful to each other and to the community . "
Another welfare : Unlike string stores , small storage may let you bargain . " If a person come up to me [ with a pair of $ 15 pants ] and said , ' I bonk these pants . I ’ve only got 12 Pearl Sydenstricker Buck on me , ' " Morrell says , " I ’d be like , ' trusted , ' because that ’s 12 bucks I ’d have in my hand rather than the 15 I did n’t . "
4. THEY MAKE A LOT OF MONEY SELLING ONLINE.
consider it or not , your favorite parsimoniousness store probably has a flourish vitamin E - commerce business . When donations add up in , employees separate out collectibles , book , and other high - goal items to sell online . That means it ’s worth jibe out your best-loved store ’s World Wide Web mien now and then . Goodwill , The Salvation Army , andHousing Worksall have their own on-line stores , and trade account book on Amazon , too . In fact , Housing Works Bookstore Cafe makes the majority of their money selling online , our source says . Mom - and - pop shops , on the other handwriting , might choose for eBay stores .
" For non - profit fund , e - commerce has become an all important part of marketing , " Morrell says . " I know a turn of small business owners that , if they were n’t online , they would n’t be making the rent . "
5. SOMETIMES THEY FIND REALLY EXPENSIVE ITEMS.
It does n’t happen often , but parsimoniousness stores sometimes come up across a rarified point and make a ton of money . Morrell limit up the e - commerce section for Goodwill of the Columbia Willamette , wherein 2006she solda 1923 watercolorby American impressionist Frank Weston Benson , whose work is also owned by the Smithsonian American Art Museum . The cost : $ 165,002 . Morrell was sorting through donations one 24-hour interval when she come in across the house painting and instinctively eff it was worth something . " It was in its original frame , but the frame was pose up . It had been obviously in somebody ’s cellar and the matting had acquire wet . " The workplace was sign up but she could n’t make out the name , so she listed it for auction sale on shopgoodwill.com start at $ 10 . The store was contacted by a congenator of the late artist ; patently , the family did n’t get it on this special slice existed . After the water-color was authenticate , the bidding hang glide until it reached the respectable summation .
6. THEY GET A TON OF FORMAL DINNERWARE.
A much - speak - about 2017New York Timesarticledocumented the unfortunate truth that millennials just do n’t want their maturate parent ' hooey , especially not their china , silver , and watch glass . And that signify that huge amounts of it go to the thrift shop . " Those are marvellous , beautiful things and they look great posture on a shelf , but that ’s precisely where they abide . It ’s hard to sell them , " Morrell says .
7. THEY’VE DEALT WITH A LOT OF BAD CUSTOMERS …
In anarticlefor Cracked , a former employee of a major thrift store chain writes that rich customer are often some of the bad . " The thrift storage I mould at was in a really flush neighborhood , so obviously we commence a solid fistful of plentiful , world-weary housewives who ’d descend in out of idle curiosity for how the other half life , " she writes . " The loaded customers would talk to me as if being around donate clothes mean that I was also some kind of discount rate , donate human . One such woman sneered when I assure her an Abercrombie shirt was $ 2.99 , because she expected it to be free , apparently . After I end up ringing her up , she stood by the registry and pointed out every dismal aspect of our storehouse like a judgmental stepmother . "
The anonymous Housing Works source says , " I think the most horrible client was the one when the cashier separate her that we do n’t take Discover . She put her Discover card in the auto and said , ' Well , I ’m going to hear my Discover anyway , ' and it caused the whole computer organization to crash . "
8. … AND SEEN A LOT OF GROSS STUFF.
Morrell has see a lot of bodily fluids in her time in the industry . " I was cultivate at Goodwill and I learn a mom take hold of her kid and hustle out the door . I thought , well mayhap he ’s fed up or something or she sustain an parking brake call . I ’m walking the story and I go past the toy gangway , and the fry had pooped and spread it all over the level . "
A former Goodwill employee who did aReddit AMAonce regain a rat at the bottom of a bag of clothing . " It made the entire back room smell , and we had to get rid of all the clothes . "
9. THE OCCASIONAL BAD EMPLOYEE WILL TRY TO GAME THE PRICING SYSTEM.
" People think that we glean the in effect poppycock off the top , but that is absolutely not on-key , " Morrell says . However , while she emphasizes that the majority of employees are honest , she has see a yoke workers who see a treasure , furtively price it for less than they should , and buy it for themselves or to flip online . Usually , there are rules in position to prevent that : The manager prices everything when it comes in , and if an employee want to grease one’s palms something , someone else has to ring them up .
" Most mass are fine with this , and if they are n’t , that ’s a good sign that they should n’t be there , " Morrell says . " Our first job as employees and volunteers is to make certain the organisation gets the most they can out of every donation . "
