"Thrift Stores" and Charities

[Good Buddy]

As I make calls around the country trying to verify information about thrift stores for our directory, one of my main questions is whether the store actually supports a charity.
By supporting a charity I mean either monies from the sales go directly to a charity or charities, or the store buys goods outright from a charitable organization or organizations.
What I'm finding is stores with name's like "Faith Thrift Store" or "Community Thrift Store" or even "Faith Missionary Thrift" are really just For Profit businesses that do take donations. As a matter of fact, each store subsisted solely on donated goods.
Is it wrong to take donations when the donor is misled by name and appearance? Two of these stores ended the calls with "God Bless..." and everything.
When asked about each stores charity affiliation they all said they support the community, but when asking for more specifics, all they actually did was give the clothes they couldn't sell to the homeless at best.
It's fine if you have a business and you call it a thrift store, but if you cloak your For Profit thrift business like a charity thrift that's just shady.

I would love to hear everyone's opinion.

[Ava]

Thanks for bringing up this subject.  It is disgusting that people will try to project a for profit business as a charity.  Shame on them.  

I'll make sure I do due dilegence before I shop at these sham places!  

It's unreal how people rationalize theft and wrongdoing.

[Troy McClure]

I shop at both  for profit and non profit stores.  I shop mostly to wax nostaglic on a childhood wasted on RC Cola and Devil Dogs rather than preserving  my GI Joe with kung fu grip.  
I find it offensive that a thrift shop would pose as a non profit. I happily shop at stores that don't posture as helping anybody but the owner. Surprisingly I find the for profit thrift stores I frequent have better items and prices than the  non profits. The for profit store wants to turn inventory to buy my  stuff.
Good Buddy,  I  generally find that  people who say "God Bless You" could just as effortlessly  say "Go piss up a rope" with the same tone of voice and actually mean it more.  Unless the Thrift is directly connected to the church property I never assume because the words Faith, God, Son, Father or His have any meaning other than  marketing.

[Josie Rosy Posy]

Good Buddy touched slightly on my same concerns when I posted "Thrifting Ethics." How can we really trust a thrift store not to be a wolf in sheeps clothing? Like the one up in Evergreen that frustrates me with the way they mark things up so ridiculously. I mean, if they're helping the Evergreen community they are most DEFINITELY in the wrong place. Hmmm.... you mightbe on to a good story here.

I do think there are honest chain thrift stores out there. Names like Savers, Goodwill, Arc and Salvation Army are a-o.k. in my book.

[hayburneraddict]

I manage a great little thrift store that is non profit. Our organization helps the community in many ways such as..helping low income people with a utility payment before shut off, weatherizing homes etc. We also give vouchers to social services, schools etc so people in need can shop for free. We send our xtras to homeless shelters,churches etc--we dont send them "junk"....but to the subject..I support any thrift store(profit or non) because I know all the work involved,although we get great donations, some people use us as thier dump-holey,stained,smelly clothes-leaving mattresses that we have to pay to get rid of.We are in a small town and fill the dumpster daily..but we have racks of great stuff and tons of good to send to other organizations!

[Emmapeel]

Those stores are basically lying to everyone. I know of a few near me and I avoid them like the plague. When people ask, "Have you been to this store?" and it's one of the shady stores, I educate them about how they steal from charities to eek out a pathetic living. One lady's store has religious symbolism in her front windows and behind the counter, and she plays gospell music, it's all a sham.
Thanks Good Buddy for letting me vent, I guess everyone knows how I voted.. :twisted:

[Josie Rosy Posy]

I think the it is the shopper's and the shop's jobs to be honest and upfront about the reason why thrift stores exist. That means that neither should be afraid to approach the subject and respect the things that really matter.

And about theburneraddict's comment on people leaving dirty donations, I know that some stores (not all) take even damaged goods for recycling.  I contacted Savers to ask them about the point at which I should throw something away instead of donating it and they responded that as long a s something is fairly clean, they'll take it. Even the pair of shoes that I thought were far to dirty and worn out to wear, they said they would take because "you would be surprised what some people will wear." And also, what is recyclable. They also recycle broken electronics! But I would recommend calling a chain or going to their website before just dropping anything at their door.

[Black Cat]

I agree; but do want to put another spin on the subject.  Some stores like Thriftko buy their items for so much a pound or truckload full from the charities that have the donation bins around town.  Even the Amvets in our area do not run their own shop; so this is where their merchandise comes from.  So, the charities are getting some money out of the items.  

However, the items tend to be priced higher; as they have a paid staff; and they are paying for their merchandise.  But, I find that they are way out of line on anything that they consider collectible.

[SecondhandSophisticate]

All the points raised here have been valid at one time or another in my 30-odd years of thrift/grarage/estate sale experience. There are a few "church thrifts" in my area that I stay out of here because they just give me the willies...it almost like they are recruiting you and the merchandise is pretty dreadful with high prices.  I do like the Salvation Army, Goodwill, and certain church thrifts in my area who practice what they preach and are staffed with amazing volunteers. Also, animal shelter thrifts have been great for me, with decent prices most of the time, very nice volunteers, and in showing where the money we spend on the donations actually goes.

I have found that with the advent of ebay, all those great (well most of) those great bargains we might have gotten maybe 5-7 years ago are being marked up as "collectibles" or "antiques" or, in some cases of church thrifts, put on auction to go to the highest bidder.  It is my experience that ebay has really changed the thrifting landscape for many of us. As with everything, it has it good and not-so-good perspectives. Also, many people are now keeping their stuff and selling it to "collectible" shops, or pickers, or taking their stuff to  "ebay drop off stores".

SeSo   

[lizardsally]

Regardless of whether a thrift is for charity or for profit - buying stuff there is 1000 times better than buying new crap made in China, right?!

[SecondhandSophisticate]

Hear, hear lizardsally!  New crap from China is EVIL

I try to avoid it as much as possible.  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Ciao,
SeSo

[alexandra]

My problem with the cheap imports, is that they are going to be filling up landfills.  Their regulatory powers are lacking -- they are, from a safety perspective, in the dark ages.  Thrifting is, IMO, a good recycling strategy. I would much prefer to re-use something that exists, than create the demand that leads to unbridled mass-production.  Maybe we need to author a Thrifters Manifesto?

What I hate, is seeing that cheap stuff over-priced at thrifts.

Thriftily,
Alexandra
www.livingwithoutmoney.blogspot.com

[SecondhandSophisticate]

Alexandra, what a great idea! A Thrifter's Manifesto...the "articles" could read like "commandments" or articles from the Constitution .  Such as:

The Thrifter's Commandments:

 As a Thrifter, I shall not:

1.buy cheap stuff over-priced at thrifts; OR

The Thrifter's Manifesto

We hold these truths to be self-evident:  That we the thrifters will buy ONLY... 

ETC. 

We should all add an article or commandment.  What do y'all think???

Ciao,
SeSo

 

[Cookie]

Maybe we need to author a Thrifters Manifesto?

You had us at hello, Jerry. 

[fifihex]

In the Netherlands the thrift culture is a hipe. So we have loads and loads of commercial thrift stores, the "hip" stores. They probably buy stuff in bulk from trash companies around Europe or maybe even charity organisations.
My favourite thrift store is a real thrift store. It's run by Rotterdam trash company and is part of their recycling plan. In my neighbourhood there's also a charity thrift store at a center for people with sindrome of down. I think relatives of those people and volunteers seek donations for the store. Besides that I go to flea markets, which is like a garage sale only people hire a stand and sell their junk. People treat that more like entertainment than for profit activity, though there are those who seek profit only.
We also have the salvation army stores which I never been to. They sell clothes per kilo, that's all I know.