Oddities of Thrifts

[ChrisMiss]

When we moved out of house as part of the deal we had to be out in 10 days.  The seller paid us a lot more than our asking price for this deal.  They also had to be out of their house in 10 days.  We had called Salvation Army to bring a truck to pick up our donation of furniture.  They have such a stupid policy.  They couldn't pick up anything that wasn't on the list that we'd told them on the phone.  How stupid is that!   The guys who came to clean our carpet called a friend with a truck and we gave them so much good stuff that could have been donated.  We took several truck loads of stuff to the Goodwill donation site in our neighborhood.  It's a big truck that they put the stuff in and then haul away.  We wound up putting loads of stuff under the truck even though we weren't supposed to.  I hated to just put all that good stuff out on the curb.  But we still wound up with mounds of good stuff on the curbside.  The people who moved into our house at the same time we're moving out paid over $90 to have it hauled away; we paid them back the money after we heard.  It's amazing how much stuff we have in our houses. 

[Jay2TheRescue]

When we moved out of house as part of the deal we had to be out in 10 days.  The seller paid us a lot more than our asking price for this deal.  They also had to be out of their house in 10 days.  We had called Salvation Army to bring a truck to pick up our donation of furniture.  They have such a stupid policy.  They couldn't pick up anything that wasn't on the list that we'd told them on the phone.  How stupid is that!   The guys who came to clean our carpet called a friend with a truck and we gave them so much good stuff that could have been donated.  We took several truck loads of stuff to the Goodwill donation site in our neighborhood.  It's a big truck that they put the stuff in and then haul away.  We wound up putting loads of stuff under the truck even though we weren't supposed to.  I hated to just put all that good stuff out on the curb.  But we still wound up with mounds of good stuff on the curbside.  The people who moved into our house at the same time we're moving out paid over $90 to have it hauled away; we paid them back the money after we heard.  It's amazing how much stuff we have in our houses. 

I remember when I was remodeling my old house I had a bunch of furniture to donate to Salvation Army.  I called them and they agreed to send out a truck.  When they got there they refused to take anything because it wasn't already on the curb.  The person who answered the phone assured me that they would remove the furniture from the house, but the driver said that the liability was too great - he might scuff a wall or floor.  Even after I stated that the walls were going to be painted and the carpets are scheduled to be replaced he wouldn't take it.  I ended up taking several trips in my p/u truck hauling the donations to a store other than SA. 

-Jay

[MrsGoodwill]

My friend just donated her old couch to the Salvo. They took it straight from her living room to their truck. Somehow, they managed to rip a big hole in the side of it on their way out her door.

Getting back to the subject of poop, the worst that I ever came across was when I worked in retail. I was sent to reorganize and tidy the purse section and as I was shifting some things around, I came across a big pair of panties that had been dooked-in. Someone had crapped herself and then flung her dirty panties underneath a display of handbags. They were stiff. Nice.

And as far as fart clouds -- I worked with a lady (same store as the pooped-in panties) who used to have real problems with flatulence. She would sometimes let one while she was stood right BESIDE you and then make this noise like she was clearing her throat so as to get you to think that the fart sound had come from her throat instead of her bottom. I also once had the (VERY embarrassing) misfortune of rounding the corner to come down an aisle just as she was parting the display shower curtains to fart into the storage area that was behind them.

[secondhandnation]

I don't get what's up with the Salvation Army.  My mother is moving from Texas and she called them about donations and they told her a bunch of crazy-ass rules, too:  only so many bags, only this big, etc.  She was annoyed because in Minnesota, where she's from, drop-off on site is the norm and they don't seem to offer that.

I understand not wanting to move furniture, especially if your store is too small to display big items.  But it seems really ridiculous not to take free stuff in decent shape when it's offered.  At our store, we would reserve the right to take certain items with manager approval - this worked if someone had donated something really good, even if it was too big to take normally.  I mean, if you want to support the mission of your nonprofit, you can't be rejecting good merchandise!

What would make you sick to know is that the best stuff gets snapped up first by the employees!  Oh, how I miss that job...

[ChrisMiss]

It's not only Salvation Army that sometimes gives you a hard time about donating.  When we were moving from Cincinnati I took our truck filled with stuff to the Goodwill donation site in our neighborhood.  There was a sign out stating they'd be back in an hour.  While waiting for that hour to be up it had started sprinkling.  So when the guy returned he refused to take our donations because they were wet (he said).  I went back home and my husband grabbed his cell phone and went back with me.  The guy gave us such a hard time.  Even saying stuff like if it was such good stuff then we wouldn't be getting rid of it.  We called the main Goodwill office and they told the guy to let us donate our stuff.  We were so ticked off at the guy.  I hope they fired him but I doubt it.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Yeah, Salvation Army wouldn't come in the house to get the donations, and at another time Goodwill was being picky.  I wanted to donate some very expensive speaker stands but was told that unless I was donating a stereo to go with them that they would not take them. 

For these reasons whenever I have stuff to donate I will donate it to the smaller shops in our area that support local charities.  As long as its good merchandise they take it, not like GW or SA that have gotten way too picky.  It still gets me though, how picky they are at donation time, and yet their store is still full of junk mostly.

-Jay

It's not only Salvation Army that sometimes gives you a hard time about donating.  When we were moving from Cincinnati I took our truck filled with stuff to the Goodwill donation site in our neighborhood.  There was a sign out stating they'd be back in an hour.  While waiting for that hour to be up it had started sprinkling.  So when the guy returned he refused to take our donations because they were wet (he said).  I went back home and my husband grabbed his cell phone and went back with me.  The guy gave us such a hard time.  Even saying stuff like if it was such good stuff then we wouldn't be getting rid of it.  We called the main Goodwill office and they told the guy to let us donate our stuff.  We were so ticked off at the guy.  I hope they fired him but I doubt it.

[Mattie]

I don't donate anything to the Salvation Army, and that includes coins to their red kettles at Christmas.  I disagree with their basic beliefs and choose not to patronize their stores.  I also rarely donate to Goodwill because I'm never sure they'll actually put my stuff out for sale.  Goodwill stores always seem picked-over and limited in scope to me, and I think they toss a lot of good stuff.  My favorite store to donate to is St. Vincent DePaul.  Not only have I seen my donated items on display, I've found wonderfully bizarre things that I know other stores would've thrown out before they ever hit the sales floor.  Keeping with the subject of this thread, though, I've seen dried vomit stains on the carpet of a Goodwill, and St. Vincent has had ongoing problems with customers using the dressing rooms as restrooms.  Thrift Town is the only consistently clean thrift I know of, and it's probably due to the sheer number of employees on the floor.  They're constantly tidying and folding and restocking.  Makes it difficult to poop in the aisles, I'm sure.

[Vintage PurseLover]

Has anyone ever thought of donating to Purple Heart?I know they pick up stuff,and I know they have these giant trucks...and I think they p/u furniture but not sure if you set it outside for them to take.Its a thought.
Dianne

[ChrisMiss]

It depends on where you're at as to who you can donate to.  Purple Heart isn't everywhere.  Is Purple Heart the same as the Am/Vets? 

In Tampa we regularly donated to St. Vincent de Paul also.  They'd call about every other month saying they would have a truck in our neighborhood on a certain day.  If we said we had some donations then we could leave the stuff in our driveway and they'd pick it up while we were gone to work.  But when we were moving they weren't going to have a truck in our area so we called Salvation Army.  I do agree with Salvation Army's beliefs and I see many people being helped at their adult rehab centers.  Many of the employees that I talked with at the Tampa store are from the center there.     

In Tampa one of my favorite thrift stores is the Sunshine Thrift Store http://www.sunshinethrift.com/.  They have trucks with the National Kidney Foundation on the sides and will come pick up donations when they're in your area.  Another of my favorite thrift stores is Community Thrift.  They're run kind of funny though.  Outside you'll see the trucks for Am/Vets and those trucks are out picking up donations.  But from there I was told that the store buys the stuff from them by the pound and then they resell it.  So the store itself is a for profit non-charity store.  That was my understanding. 

In many areas you'll see clothing dropoff boxes.  When you look closer at them you find what your donations are for.  There was an article written that some of these dropoff boxes are actually not charities but for profit companies that sell the stuff overseas by the pound.

So sometimes our donations don't go where we think they are going and the profit from them isn't going where we think it is.  We have to be careful and ensure that our donations are going to help those we want to help.

[Jay2TheRescue]

I don't donate anything to the Salvation Army, and that includes coins to their red kettles at Christmas.  I disagree with their basic beliefs and choose not to patronize their stores.  I also rarely donate to Goodwill because I'm never sure they'll actually put my stuff out for sale.  Goodwill stores always seem picked-over and limited in scope to me, and I think they toss a lot of good stuff.  My favorite store to donate to is St. Vincent DePaul.  Not only have I seen my donated items on display, I've found wonderfully bizarre things that I know other stores would've thrown out before they ever hit the sales floor.  Keeping with the subject of this thread, though, I've seen dried vomit stains on the carpet of a Goodwill, and St. Vincent has had ongoing problems with customers using the dressing rooms as restrooms.  Thrift Town is the only consistently clean thrift I know of, and it's probably due to the sheer number of employees on the floor.  They're constantly tidying and folding and restocking.  Makes it difficult to poop in the aisles, I'm sure.

I know many times when thrifting I have had to use the restroom and the store didn't have a public restroom.  I know once at SA in Leesburg, VA I walked right past the Out Of Order sign to find a nice, clean, perfectly functioning restroom.  That was an extreme emergency though.

I really like Thrift Town, I went to one last winter when I was down in FL for my grandfather's funeral.  I will definately go again next time I drive down there.

-Jay

[secondhandnation]

I barely bother with Goodwill anymore.  It's all overpriced Target samples and clearance - often priced higher than the Target clearance sticker.  All the fun merch goes to their auction website, www.shopgoodwill.org, which is highly addictive and I have to avoid if I want to save any money right now.

Salvation Army also suffers from this Target influx.  Sometimes you can get good scratch and dent items, which is nice if you happen to be in the market for something from Target anyway.  But I like to thrift so I can find weird and unique things, so this kinda merchandise isn't interesting to me anymore. 

Though I still look at GW and SA occasionally, I admit to being rather turned off by their employees/volunteers.  Clearly, they are disheartened by their surroundings and I can hardly blame them.  But, much like walking through stranger's fart clouds or seeing their detritus from their meals as they walk through the store, there's a limit on how much lack-of-shopping-ambience I can take. 

[Thrift Shop Romantic]

Gee, I'm sorry your area sounds so all-around depressing for thrifts!

I guess I'm pretty lucky because both my Goodwills and my Salvation Army's have a good influx of interesting merchandise, depending on store-- true, usually Goodwill is a little more expensive, but I've also gotten some unique things there from them that I was delighted with-- Marble topped pedestal, 1940s purse, Victorian vases, etc.

Funny story- we have a presumably college kid at the one Goodwill who I'm guessing must work the University radio station as well as the Goodwill; this guy gets on the loudspeaker to discuss what's on sale this week and does it in this enthusiastic DJ style-- you can just see the waves of customers chuckling through the store, it's so unexpected.

Most of the employees I've found to be pleasant enough. It's such a shame your experience has gotten ruined there. Maybe it trickles down from management of those particular stores.

[secondhandnation]

That Goodwill DJ guy sounds like a hoot!

I must amend my previous comments - Goodwill employees around here generally have been very friendly, which I think is a reflection their stores being better kept.  However, the Salvation Armani is generally a miserable joint and is across the board in Minneapolis.  I don't know why that is, as I've been in SA locations in smaller towns in Minnesota that are really quite nice to shop in.   

Aside from the SA complaints, Minneapolis/St. Paul does have some great thrifting.  We have three Value Villages that I adore and a for-profit Unique Thrift which has three location that are enormous.  St. Vincent de Paul in St. Paul is also a fun store to visit. 

Back to oddities, though: 

When I still worked at a thrift store, we had to make wall displays all the time.  One time, over the shoe department, we hung up various kinds of shoes:  athletic, sandals, boots, high heels, all in a collage on the wall.  People always want to buy whatever is displayed, of course, which we didn't do generally.  But one customer convinced me.  She saw this one mateless lipstick-red high heel shoe tacked up in the display and had to have it.  I kept telling her that it didn't have a mate, which was why we chose it for the display and I couldn't sell display items.  Finally, she told me she didn't want to wear the shoe, but that she was an art student doing a collage project and had been scouring thrift stores looking for the perfect red spike heel and ours was it.  Knowing well the feeling of hitting every store looking for something that is *just right* I climbed up the ladder and pulled it down for her. 

[Mattie]

That was nice of you to pull down that red high heel for her.  One time I saw a sweater I just had to have, but it was tacked up on the wall as part of a display.  I waited until I was sure nobody was looking, climbed on the bottom shelf of the display case in front of the wall, and yanked it down.  It had a price tag and the cashier never knew I took it off a display.  I felt kinda bad but hey, all they had to do was hang another sweater up there.