Business model vs. so called charity aside, have you shopped there?

Wife calls me the other day & says she is stopping there so she might be late. I tell her to pick me up a 4 dollar flowered shirt in xxl. She bitches, I laugh & hang up.

She comes in with a nicer shirt than I'd normally buy for myself. It fits perfect & I wore it to a party on Friday night, that was an hour ago.

Nobody made fun of it, & I actually felt some admiration concerning the way I was dressed.

Is that a win?

Wife did make me give her $4.24.

Win! Go with my wife and daughters on occasion. Score sometimes, but I mostly look at the busted electronics. Sometimes find good work pants.

Gunzo: You did good (with the wife's help!).
I shop at thrift stores and donate to them as well - have for 51 years now.
My first "thrift store" shopping occurred when I was a young police recruit going to the police academy in a large west coast city.
The Goodwill type store was a block or so from the academy and on my hour long lunch I would walk in and peruse stuff. I felt funny shopping there though. I don't know why.
Anyway the academy was four months long and during one of our "morality type classes we were tasked with asking and answering a moral type question.
When my turn came most all of the good "moral questions" had been asked and discussed so I went with "was it morally okay for folks who had regular income to shop at the Goodwill"?
A surprisingly vigorous debate ensued amongst my 32 academy mates and the instructor over this. Half thought it immoral to take advantage of buying cheap donated stuff by employed folks and the other half of the class thought it was doing a good deed by shopping and buying there as the employees were all recovering alcoholics and people with diminished mental and physical capacity and they earned money with the humble job.
Fast forward 29 years and I am about to retire when I get ordered to attend a mandatory "sensitivity" three day training course! Sure enough 12 of us are in the "class" and the instructors are "exploring" moral dilemmas.
Asked for anything "on my mind" morally I pose the same question I had asked my academy mates 29 years earlier "should employed people shop at thrift stores or are they only for the unemployed and downtrodden"?
Well this time instead of a 50/50 split it was 90/10 in favor of everyone should shop at and support their local thrift type stores.
I see no reason for you to be hesitant about buying from thrift type shops.
It is my understanding that the monies raised therein most often goes to good and or charitable causes plus the jobs for the less fortunate.
Enjoy your "Luau shirt"!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

My son's girlfriend who has a masters degree in something to do with industrial technology buys clothes at thrift stores. I've advised him to hang on to her. She is smart and mechanically adept and seems to not go for shiny stuff. Personally I don't see a thing wrong with buying used clothing from thrift stores. I still wear a denim coat bought used about 35 years ago. It is sort of ragged but still useful when doing dirty work like running a chain saw or raising hoop nets in cold weather.

Aliens say keep her.

The only reason I go in there is to buy blankets for the dogs to sleep on in the kennel. Sometimes I might find a good used book to read but for some reason I never look at clothing items.

I’ve never been in one, but I buy used Wrangler blue jean shirts for welding on eBay. I get them real cheap sometimes.

I always say I'm going to shop there, but never do.

Probably a mistake, could be be fun.

My wife has worked for Goodwill for over 30 years. It is perfectly acceptable for people with a regular income to shop there. The stores are just a small part of the organization. Their main focus is on helping train people with disabilities and down-on-their-luck people. Much goes on behind the scenes. The stores, while they do offer good clothing for poorer people, are mainly used to fund their mission. It doesn't matter who buys the clothes, just that the money helps fund their programs.

I don't go out of my way to hit them, but if I'm in the area, I'll swing in if I've got time. Scored some really nice Cabela's shirts and stuff a few times. Always worth the stop.

I shop the Goodwill stores often.

My wife and I go to goodwill all the time!

When I was a superintendent for Muskegon Construction we did a regional office for goodwill. It was the office and a training center. They had some special needs people there, some down on there luck people, and I believe, some people who just got out of jail, working there. I was really impressed.

Go to shopgoodwill.com sometime. That is where the expensive items are! It is kind of like Ebay, as far as they you have to bid on the item.

If I'm in that area I hit a Goodwill store occasionally. Never know what you'll find but whatever it is you can get it cheap. And it's all for a good cause. Sometimes the prices are so good I have to force myself to not buy stuff I don't need or don't really want.

I've bought lots of stuff from Goodwill.
I've also donated lots of stuff to Goodwill.
Also the Salvation Army store as well, although Goodwill seems to have more and nicer stuff.
7mm

I get almost all of my shirts at thrift stores. $4 will often get a $30 shirt that's almost new. The Mormon church has one here that seems to always have better shirts than Goodwill. I guess the Mormons donate newer stuff.

I was grateful for them and the Salvation Army when I had to get rid of hundreds of pounds of stuff when mom moved and I had to clean out the house. The local homeless shelter, Habitat for Humanity, Salvation Army, Christian Thrift Store are all better places to donate to because things stay locally and they are non-profit organizations. While I applaud hiring the people at Goodwill, it miffs me some that the Goodwill owners are multi millionaires.

my wife just started to work for a church owned thrift store . people donate some real nice things .I am taking her lunch on Monday and going to look around

We do. A $2 shirt wears the same as a $50 shirt.

my wife does a lot of shopping at the thrift stores, i rarely go in except to hit the used book racks.
they are favorites of the "mexicanos."
i have seen multiple times a bunch of bambino's running all over the store to add to a pile pitched dead center in an aisle.
Few times i have seen the mamacita's walk out right past the cash registers without paying.

A few years ago, I was helping a family friend clean out her house when she put it on the market. Took a pickup load to Goodwill. Among her late husband's stuff were about a dozen pricey dress shirts, most still with the tags. An elderly black man approached the truck and timidly said he'd sure like to have one. Told him to hold out his arms, and handed him the whole bunch. The old guy's smile and gratitude were priceless. Sorry 'bout that, Goodwill!

I had never been in a Goodwill until a few days ago. While helping my recently graduated son find some furniture for his new apartment we came across an Amish made oak coffee table for $30. It had some finish wear but the construction was top notch. He and a friend put a bit of time into a refinish and it looks fantastic now.

Younger daughter is Director for Clothing Closet in her county. No charge to clients. Open to everyone. They actually take in more clothing than they can give away. Regularly receive stacks of new clothing with tags still attached.

Once or twice a year, they put on a "yard sale" event. All the clothes that you cram into a large brown shopping bag for $1 per bag. While their clients are normally women with children, during the yard sale, they get a significant number of men who are not willing to take "free" clothes. But, who are willing to take a shopping bag full that they can pay for. Even if only $1.

I enjoy "thrift stores". Mostly I get books, but I browse around and will from time to time find something else. I feel that they serve a number of good purposes.

They have an auction site so you don't even have to leave the house unless it's local then you have to go pick up what you win. Lot's of fishing stuff.

https://www.shopgoodwill.com

Back when I was in my 40's and earlier, I wore 32 waist pants,....then 34,...then 36,...now I'm at 38.

I accumulated vast quantities of pants that wouldn't fit any longer. When we moved I hauled 6 or 7 big plastic yard bags of clothes to Goodwill.

There's nothing wrong with buying clothes at Goodwill. The money they take in is what supports the place.

I've recently discovered elastic waist, light denim jeans with belt loops from a place online and that's all I want to wear any longer. I'll probably be hauling all of my typical pants down there soon.

The more affluent the areas the better you'll do.

My dad has found TWO Weber Genesis grills and gave $30 for one, $40 for the other. They were practically brand new.

And when you drop clothes off that blank receipt is pretty nice...

I go to Goodwill all the time. Went just yesterday. Found an Adirondack chair in great shape for $20. The chair appears to be pretty old, but well constructed, tight, and in good shape. A few scratches here and there, but for sitting on the back porch looking at the mountains, it will be perfect.

I buy all kinds of stuff at Goodwill and thrift shops type stores. Some nice stuff and quality antiques can be found.

Buying clothes really doesn't bother me. I was one of 8 kids, didn't have a lot, and always had hand me down clothes, so what the hell - I have been wearing someone else's clothes my whole life.

Incorrect. Each local Goodwill is semi-independent (think semi franchise) and operates the programs that best serve their local community. They are all non-profits and nobody "owns" them.
I know some people here don't like snopes.com, but they used Charity Navigator and Guide Star as references, and those are both well regarded organizations.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/executive-salaries-charities/

I was going to post a question but i discovered my answer and deleted it


I guess they do hire a few people that arent "special" to handle the money.


My other question would be: do the few normal people pick thru the super-good shït and take it home before it hits the floor?

No. Most Goodwills have strict policies that you can't shop in your own store.

Pretty soon, you'll just be wearin stretchy-pants to the Golden Corral

I bought these jeans so I'd have something other than pajamas to wear.

I hit the goodwill and other thrift stores all the time. I buy every long sleeve denim shirt I can find in my size to wear welding. They don't last to long. 2 or 3 bucks is usually the going price.

I was in Durango Colorado a couple of years ago and there was a second hand clothing store there,..pretty nice stuff.

Somebody who was a Tommy Bahama enthusiast must have died and his shirt collection was there. they had several Tommy Bahama silk hawaiian shirts. Those things go for $100+ each. I bought 3 of them for $15 each.

They're my "steppin' out" shirts.

fixed it

As far as "merchandise" goes, they seem to be the best of the bunch, however IMO they exhibit anti-2A tendencies. Here in Georgia you are allowed to carry anywhere on private property EXCEPT where they post a sign that says no.

Around here (North Georgia) at least, they make a point of posting the front doors of their establishments with "no guns allowed" signage. Is this a corporate wide policy?

IMO, this seeming disregard for security as well as infringement of civil rights is enough for me to lose interest in patronizing the brand.

Anyone else notice this?

Not here in Michigan. Each local Goodwill makes their own policies. There are 3 separate ones in Georgia-Macon, Atlanta and Columbus. Maybe you should try talking to them and get them to change it.

My wife has drug me into dozens of them, and I've yet to seen a gunbuster sign.

I would call that "good will'.

Last couple Good Will finds:
A $4.00 toaster oven for curing powder coated bullets.
A $5.00 heavy tripod for large digital camera or chronograph. Not sure of the brand, but it has a gold crown emblem trademark on it.

Buy all of my hunting pants at thrift stores including Goodwill.

Picked up a pair of excellent Pyrex mixing bowls recently, a giant Alaska size salmon landing net... and often browse to see what they have. Like Deflave said, thrift stores in affluent areas often have high quality goods: like a top end floater coat, my all time favorite custom made blazer dress jacket, or an Eddie Bauer canvas anorak I wore a lot and finally gave to my sister since she flat out loved it.

When I was traveling to 3rd world countries I used to buy my clothes either at quality places like Tilley's, or at Goodwill. The day I was done and heading home, I would give away all of my Goodwill clothes to locals and sometimes fly home with no more than a small gym bag or day-pack.

I have made myself a rule to NOT buy if it is close, needs some sewing, almost fits, etc. no matter how high quality something is. If it fits and I need it, yes. Otherwise it becomes an unused clutter project.

Ah, the good old fat man stretchy jeans............

Ain't nothing like 'em. I also bought a Carhartt belt with some elastic next to the buckle. Don't put on a pair unless you want to get spoiled.

I also like the weight of the denim. It's very light. They're excellent summer work pants.

When I was remodeling that one in Muskegon I got to know the guy who was in charge of receiving. He called me one day and told me to come over. He said, you reload don't you. I said yup! He said her take this box. He said we can't sell it. It was a tub and contained 7 dies , numerous boxes of bullets, scale, powder tricker, basically everthing but a press.

Occasionally find decent kitchen knives such as Henkles for $1@ and also CI pans. I usually go to "The ARC" Which has senior Tuesday 50% off as well as Saturday 50% off. Goodwill also has some sale days.

I might be familiar with them...........