If You Shop at Goodwill…

[auntfrannie]

My local GW used to be in a crappy store where the door didn't always work but it was very spacious and they had a great drive-up drop off center. They moved last year to a nicer but smaller store and the prices have gone up to the point that for some things I might as well buy it new somewhere else.

I wonder if part of the price increases is related to the number of people that buy super cheap at GW then resell it elsewhere?

 

[DodgerGirl]

My mom and I used to shop Goodwill stores all the time and I mostly bought my music from there and a few books and they used to have great deals on books and music CDs and my music CD"s were always cheap like $1 but we stopped going to Goodwill when they focused on clothing and then my aunt was Goodwill obsessed and would find music CDs for my mom dad and me and she even sent us a whole box of music from Goodwill for Christmas once and we were happy. But I think Goodwill in general has gone downhill because as I mentioned focuses on clothing and I agree that their prices have gone up. Another store that was my favorite was Savers and Savers was better than Goodwill because they had better deals and you could also buy movies for $1 or $2 and their music selection was better than Goodwill too but sadly my Savers no longer exists. But I think the thrift store that's the weakest is Salvation Army Thrift Store and every time I went in any one they always never had anything worth buying and I can't figure out why they still survive because from what I used to see in there was furniture and electronics like stereos and VCR's. But then also Goodwill became a Target clearance center and you would see mostly leftover Christmas toys and that was all I would see in there no clothing and no electronics just toys. But I think Goodwill should lower it's prices and improve their stores

 

[barkley]

i noticed an uptick in prices at goodwill and our other local charity/thrift stores about a year and a half ago when a family member was preparing to preparing for a double mastectomy. i pointed out to them that they were only going to be able to wear tops that during recovery they could button or zipper up the front and that as long as the drains were going to be on they might want to go with the cheapest option in case of staining. when we went thrifting for them i was VERY surpised at how much prices had increased.

i recently donated to a brand new goodwill in our area b/c community response to several devastating fires had all the other places making a public appeal to cease donations for the time being b/c they had been overwhelmed. normally my go to is a localy organized chain of vet's stores-vets get anything for free, and all proceeds go towards the cost of materials used in conjunction with donated labor from local licensed trades to do repairs and upgrades to homes owned by vets. i think they still give free bags but that might have changed since we have to pay for them at grocery stores now (they are reliant on donations of bags which i suspect has had a big down turn).

I hadn't noticed this at the Salvation Army, and I don't go to the Goodwill often. However, our Goodwill, at least, has a large selection of men's suits and separates. It's been very handy for my growing sons--they might need a suit, but haven't stopped growing. For an item like that--and, especially, with an event such as a wedding or funeral--the price going from, say $10 to $15 is still very reasonable to me. We've had a few such events over the past few years.

oh my gosh-when my oldest was little i used to go to a goodwill that had a dedicated rack of kid's 'formal wear'-it was always loaded with worn only once flower girl dresses. i picked up several over the years for the formal nights on cruises (then they became play dress up clothes). i would also hit it right after christmas b/c the pricey foo-foo christmas dresses that you know someone only had the kid wear for the christmas card photos would be on clearance. snagged many a dress for my kid's following year school christmas pagent. i would also hit the women's 'formal wear' rack when preparing for cruises-found several obviously only worn once dresses for myself.

when my youngest was in school and needed white dress shirts for choir and such i learned that some tux rental places have a self imposed limit on the number of times they will rent shirts after which they practically give them away. got many a white dress shirt that way. they are also a phenominal resource for garment bags-they buy them in bulk and while they don't advertise it, if you ask you can often buy them new for pennies on the dollar.

 

[QueenIsabella]

i noticed an uptick in prices at goodwill and our other local charity/thrift stores about a year and a half ago when a family member was preparing to preparing for a double mastectomy. i pointed out to them that they were only going to be able to wear tops that during recovery they could button or zipper up the front and that as long as the drains were going to be on they might want to go with the cheapest option in case of staining. when we went thrifting for them i was VERY surpised at how much prices had increased.

i recently donated to a brand new goodwill in our area b/c community response to several devastating fires had all the other places making a public appeal to cease donations for the time being b/c they had been overwhelmed. normally my go to is a localy organized chain of vet's stores-vets get anything for free, and all proceeds go towards the cost of materials used in conjunction with donated labor from local licensed trades to do repairs and upgrades to homes owned by vets. i think they still give free bags but that might have changed since we have to pay for them at grocery stores now (they are reliant on donations of bags which i suspect has had a big down turn).



oh my gosh-when my oldest was little i used to go to a goodwill that had a dedicated rack of kid's 'formal wear'-it was always loaded with worn only once flower girl dresses. i picked up several over the years for the formal nights on cruises (then they became play dress up clothes). i would also hit it right after christmas b/c the pricey foo-foo christmas dresses that you know someone only had the kid wear for the christmas card photos would be on clearance. snagged many a dress for my kid's following year school christmas pagent. i would also hit the women's 'formal wear' rack when preparing for cruises-found several obviously only worn once dresses for myself.

when my youngest was in school and needed white dress shirts for choir and such i learned that some tux rental places have a self imposed limit on the number of times they will rent shirts after which they practically give them away. got many a white dress shirt that way. they are also a phenominal resource for garment bags-they buy them in bulk and while they don't advertise it, if you ask you can often buy them new for pennies on the dollar.

I hear you on the girls dresses! One time, I got an obvious flower girl dress for my oldest--all satin and lace, and pink, to boot. She wore it to preschool, and the teacher pulled me aside and said, "You know that we use paste and finger paint and stuff here, right?" And I said, "I bought that dress for $5 and she loves it! Paint away!"

For formal shirts, my kids sometimes needed black, and sometimes white. They were strings kids, and it depended on the grade.

Our Goodwill seems to focus on clothes--I have good luck getting books and other items at Salvation Army. I'm sure it varies by location--I've been in lousy Salvation Army stores, too.

One thing the Salvation Army store did--at least, the one in New Hampshire where I lived--was, you could sort clothes for 2 hours, and get 5 free items of clothing. I thought that was a really good deal--the items could be a winter coat or pair of boots or whatever. Especially if I was desperate and had kids that needed winter gear.

 

[MIGrandma]

Random thoughts:
- I was going to bring up the point that someone made late in this thread: Just because they get their stuff donated doesn't mean it's free to sell it. They have to house the things, pay staff to sort and sell, keep the electricity on. Even keeping the parking lot maintained costs money.
- The mentally disabled students in our high school have "a job" a couple days a week sorting out clothing for Goodwill. That's free labor for Goodwill, though they need a lot of supervision.
- Our tee-shirts costs $3.99 and dress shirts are $4.99 -- I find that a fair price.

The price for T-shirts at my local Goodwill, as I said in my original post, is double the price of yours. Would you pay that much? I won’t.

 

[willowsnn3]

I have noticed the regular prices at our Goodwills are high, I never pay full price for anything there.
Our stores have different color tags on everything & on Mondays they pick a certain color & all those items are 99 cents. And a second color, everything is half off. They have different discounts for different days, ie, Tuesdays are 25% off for seniors. Another day is 25% off for veterans. I only go on Mondays & only allow myself to buy either the 99 cent item or the half off item if I think it is really worth it. I wear mostly black pants/leggings & have found so many very nice colorful 99 cent tops to wear with them.
Our stores still have plenty of plastic bags, but no open dressing rooms since covid.

 

[Diznygrl]

"Goodwilling" has been a hobby of mine and my mom's for many years, and I noticed the prices going up to eyebrow raising proportions even before the pandemic, but of course it's even worse now.

To add insult to injury, our only 50% off days used to be on holidays (MLK, President's, Memorial Day, etc.) which is when we used to do most of our Goodwill shopping, making a day of it. Of course they stopped doing those sale days during the pandemic but then they never brought them back. We don't even have 50% off color tag days or anything like that either (They experimented with that briefly at some point, but then got rid of it). I guess they feel like enough people are paying the (inflated) full price for stuff now so why put it on sale?

 

[tvguy]

Have prices gone up where you are?
I shop at Goodwill occasionally, and was very surprised at the prices. $7 for tops, $8 for jeans, even $8 for T-shirts. I could hardly believe it. I did buy a couple work shirts for DH, one was new with tags. And I bought a pair of Talbot jeans for myself. But no way was a spending $8 on USED T-shirts. And, they no longer have bags for your purchases! I asked about that and was told they discontinued bags more than a year ago. Not sure that’s true, as I’ve been there more than once in the past year. Just seems like the higher prices, on DONATED things, is pure greed. Won’t be going back. There are local thrift shops that will now get all my business. One donates profits to charities, the other employs mentally and physically challenged people and the profits go to monthly excursions for them.

No idea what Goodwill is currently charging but I sure would walk out. I bought 3 polo shirts at Kohls in July on sale for $7 each.
Last thing I bought at Goodwill was a VCR........for $7.

 

[Darcy03231]

All of our local thrift, second-hand, Salvation Army, and Goodwill stores have gone up in prices. Only the Goodwill doesn't give out bags/boxes anymore (they haven't for over a year).

 

[barkley]

does anyone else visit thrift stores when they are out of their home region vacationing? we are doing a get-away in a few weeks to a small town where one of my favorite things to do is visit their local thrift store. they have a very eclectic local population so it's always interesting to see what is on the shelves. by best find ever there was a project someone obviously put ALLOT of time and effort into making-a wooden table top (form that fits on top of a bistro size table) with hundreds of individualy handcut marvel and dc comic book characters and scenery-all decoupaged. snagged it and brought it home where i put in on top of an old patio table which got relocated to dh's office (aka-the land of comic books, action figures and what-not).

a few times we've been on vacation and stayed at places with 'full kitchens' that were lacking in odds and ends of cookware we needed so i've gone to local thrift shops to fill in the gaps.

 

[NannyBeBe]

The majority of my wardrobe is from thrift stores. Last winter I bought a coat at Goodwill, with the tag still on it, for $10. I researched and found that it retails for $120. There are good buys to be had. One just has to take time and be picky. Goodwill is my least favorite thrift store because our Goodwills will take anything, even if an item of clothing is stained or torn. Savers is the opposite. And our Savers is the best place to buy books.

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

The few times I've stopped by Goodwill recently I've come out empty handed due to the combination of prices and selection. Used to be that you could find actual deals there and now they're asking $10 for beat up Ikea picture frames.

Goodwill in many locations is also funneling the really good items to their online auctions: https://shopgoodwill.com/home

 

[tzolkin]

does anyone else visit thrift stores when they are out of their home region vacationing?

Yes! We enjoy checking out local thrift and antique stores when we travel. Different areas will have very different inventory, so we occasionally find things that we would never see where we live.

I was a "weird" kid and bought all my clothes at thrift stores growing up. DH did the same. We grew up in FL in the 90s where there was an abundance of vintage clothing that would get donated due to the older population. Our middle daughter goes thrifting about every week. She's always changing her style and she likes sewing/modifying many of the items she finds.

I do not like Goodwill. I find them way overpriced and they tend to have the worst selection and quality of items.

 

[QueenIsabella]

No thrift stores, but children's second-hand stores, for sure. Think Once Upon a Child. When my kids were growing up, my BFF (mother of 5) and I would meet up for breakfast when I was in town, then go to our favorite children's used clothing store.