Price Tag "colors" at thrift stores

[thriftymama]

So what do they mean? All thrift stores mark their merch with different "colors," then have sales on certain colors on different days. How do they know what color tag to give each item. Does it go according to season, or the time the item was placed on the shelf, or the price range, or what? Either way, the items I want are never the right color.

[Tammy]

And then on yellow day I always end up with something orange that I thought was yellow because it's so light colored and they say nope that's orange. 

[ChrisMiss]

I think they color tag by the week it comes in.  One of my favorite thrift stores has sales by colors and the new stuff coming in would of course be a different color, and it seemed everything I liked would be the new color and not the sale color. 

My hardest color to distinguish between was orange and red.  I sometimes had to put the two together to tell the difference.

[Good Buddy]

Yes, the colored tags are to rotate the inventory of the shop.
Week one is orange say. Then week two is green. During the 4th week, the orange tagged products might be 50% off, then the 5th week the orange tagged merchandise is pulled to get rid of and the green tags are 50% off. Then the next week the green tag items are pulled and the 3rd week color, whatever it might be, goes to 50% off.
I'm trying my darnedest to get the little thrift I volunteer at to implement this type of system. A company called Hangers Unlimited is mailing me a sample packet of 1000 each of 5 different colors to test out the system.

[Magpie18]

One of the thrifts I shop at have the same system.  They keep the same pattern so you know when something is going on sale.  Say the pattern is  Blue- Green - Red - Yellow - Purple. 

If this week's $1 rack is Blue, then the 75% off is Green, 50% is Red, 25% is yellow & this week's new stuff is Purple. 

So the next week, Green is $1, Red is 75%, Yellow is 50% & Purple is 25%,  & Blue are new items.   

Anything not sold at a dollar are bagged up for a jobber -- it doesn't get mixed with the next week's new items.

& there is one other color -- PINK --- items that DO NOT GO ON SALE -- this for couture items or furs or truly wonderful vintage designer pieces  --- things that have high value but need more than a week in the store at full price.

[alexandra]

Since I am colorblind (deuteranopia is my type), I have a really hard time with lots of the tag colors.  I mostly shop on the "any color but" sale day, so I ask what the color is when I can't tell for sure, then find one in that color.  Then I check the date on the back (most tags have the date stamped on the back).  If I am not sure if the stuff I have is tagged the correct color, I check the date on the back to make sure I'm grabbing something from the right week.

I miss the days when housewares and bric-a-brac were included in the sales, but since those tags are adhesive, you can't check the back for a date!

When I get to the checkout, I plainly tell the clerk that I am colorblind and only plan to purchase in the sale color and to set aside any other color I've picked up in error.  Most of the regular clerks are cool -- when I walk in the door, a few will tell me the color right off!

Thriftily,
Alexandra
www.livingwithoutmoney.blogspot.com

[Good Buddy]

It's a GREAT fool proof system.
ALL thrift shops should have a similar way to do the same thing.

[Magpie18]

Some of the GWs around here use adhesive price guns with the a date function.  The date is month-day- year that the item was priced & put on the selling floor.

Kind of funny -- you can tell they don't rotate some items (non clothes) very well.

Although sometimes I find paperback books with multiple stickers.

I think some people do the same thing I do --- treat the GW as an old fashioned lending library.

Buy at GW, read, donate to GW

[thriftymama]

Yes, the colored tags are to rotate the inventory of the shop.
Week one is orange say. Then week two is green. During the 4th week, the orange tagged products might be 50% off, then the 5th week the orange tagged merchandise is pulled to get rid of and the green tags are 50% off. Then the next week the green tag items are pulled and the 3rd week color, whatever it might be, goes to 50% off.
I'm trying my darnedest to get the little thrift I volunteer at to implement this type of system. A company called Hangers Unlimited is mailing me a sample packet of 1000 each of 5 different colors to test out the system.

so what do you mean by "pulled to get rid of"?  what do they do with it? do thrift stores really go through that much merchandise, that they need to rotate every week?

[thriftymama]

Since I am colorblind (deuteranopia is my type), I have a really hard time with lots of the tag colors.  I mostly shop on the "any color but" sale day, so I ask what the color is when I can't tell for sure, then find one in that color.  Then I check the date on the back (most tags have the date stamped on the back).  If I am not sure if the stuff I have is tagged the correct color, I check the date on the back to make sure I'm grabbing something from the right week.

At my favorite thrift store, the tags are not only colored, but labeled. For instance, the green tags say "Green" on them. Would be handy in your case!

[Good Buddy]

so what do you mean by "pulled to get rid of"?  what do they do with it? do thrift stores really go through that much merchandise, that they need to rotate every week?

The ones that do use the colored tag system do go through the clothing every week.
"Pulled to get rid of", means the store pulls the clothes off the racks and then they might go to a homeless shelter of a grader.
Graders buy clothing in bulk and sell them out of the country or to domestic used clothing outlets.
There are grading companies all over the globe. Many have contacted us. Canada seems to be the hotbed of grading in this hemisphere.. There's also grading companies in South and Central America, India, Africa and Europe.

Below is a link to a grading company that we've worked with..In case you'd like to learn more of what they do.

Whitehouse & Schapiro at http://www.WeBuyRags.Com

I hope I've been helpful.

[thriftymama]

Hmm, very interesting. Thanks for the info!

So if I wanted to know the rotation schedule of the tag colors, should I just ask, or is it a big secret?

[Good Buddy]

Ask. Then you would know in advance when an item you might be interested in will be going on sale.
I don't think it's all that much of a secret. If it is, let me know too.

[ChrisMiss]

One thrift store that I shop at when I'm in Tampa uses a color system for sales.  On the dishes and other items that a tag won't hang on they write the price and a letter to state the color such as 1.99 Y.  They did it on the books too, write in a grease pencil the price and color.  I like it when the books at thrift stores are one stated price like all paperbacks 50 cents, hardcover $1.00.  SA has a 80% off of book price which can get expensive if you're interested in the hardcover books, many of them start out now at well over $20.





 
 

[Good Buddy]

SA has a 80% off of book price which can get expensive if you're interested in the hardcover books, many of them start out now at well over $20.

That's a really lame system. Hardbacks should not be more than $2, unless it's a rare book.
I bet that SA's books sit on the shelves there for months..