Woman Flabbergasted At Thrift Store’s Prices, Calls Them Out By Sharing 14 Examples
In the last decade, thrift hunting has become a hobby, if not a lifestyle, for many secondhand and vintage aficionados with a sharp eye for budget-friendly treasure. But people have noticed that prices for secondhand goods are getting higher than ever, and this TikToker who goes by the handle @Mrsniceguyy has had enough of it.
Captioned “I just can’t deal anymore,” the author shared a video stating that “Value Village just needs to be called out,” since they’re “getting out of control.” Mrsniceguyy then proceeds to share a couple of examples on the green screen behind her. She shows just what a ripoff their prices are for used, worn, dirty and defunct items that, according to her, don’t even cost that much brand new.
The author also created a petition “Boycott Value Village” that already has 111 signatures out of the objective 200. The petition says that pricing items higher than what they cost brand new shows the company is lazy and cares more about making a buck than offering consumers a way to shop secondhand instead of buying new.”
Scroll down to see what Mrsniceguyy had to say about Value Village below and let us know if you have noticed price increases in thrift stores!
One TikToker has had enough of Value Village thrift store pricing worn out, defunct, old and dirty items more than what they cost brand new so she called them out
Image credits: Jason F. Voll
Image credits: mrsniceguyy
Image credits: mrsniceguyy
Image credits: mrsniceguyy
Image credits: mrsniceguyy
Image credits: mrsniceguyy
Image credits: mrsniceguyy
Image credits: mrsniceguyy
It’s no secret that the secondhand market is rising faster than ever before. In 2020, the global market value of secondhand and resale apparel was estimated to be worth 27 billion U.S. dollars. This value is not just stopping there but is projected to rise rapidly in the coming years, almost doubling in size from 2020 to 2023, before reaching a value of 77 billion dollars in 2025.
Image credits: mrsniceguyy
Image credits: mrsniceguyy
Image credits: mrsniceguyy
Image credits: mrsniceguyy
Moreover, this rapid growth is not limited to the U.S.: in 2020, The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) conducted a study in 6 countries (the U.S., France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the U.K.) for Vestiaire Collective – the online platform for luxury secondhand fashion items – and estimated that the global secondhand market should grow by 15-20% per year in the next 5 years.
Image credits: mrsniceguyy
Image credits: mrsniceguyy
Image credits: mrsniceguyy
Image credits: mrsniceguyy
So what are the reasons for the secondhand renaissance? Well, first of all, consumers are prioritizing sustainability and retailers are embracing reselling. Experts say that at this point, we are in the early stages of a radical transformation in retail.
This newly surged secondhand demand is driven by resale platforms. These digital resale marketplaces like Depop, Vinted, Vestiaire Collective, ThredUP or RealReal connect consumers with no intermediary. They are expected to go from $15 billion in 2021 to $47 billion in 2025 in the U.S. Fashion brands are joining the trend by selling their own approved secondhand pieces on their websites.
Image credits: mrsniceguyy
Image credits: mrsniceguyy
Bored Panda reached out to Sean Fowlow, the professional thrift hunter and creator of “Ridiculous Thrifter” to talk about rising prices in thrift stores. Sean said that just about everything has gone up in price. We previously wrote about his entertaining page that features “the wonderful, bizarre and insanely overpriced items” found at secondhand points from Facebook marketplace to secondhand stores and charity shops. You can check out the article right here.
“Partly because of inflation, but I would have to argue it’s mostly because of the explosion in popularity of re-selling used items on the internet for extra income. The thrift shop owners have caught on to this and are now researching the current market values of items before pricing them for sale.”
Sean explained that “for instance, several years ago a particular thrift shop would have a set price for all video games…say $3.99 each or so. Now, at most shops, you will find the more valuable games priced separately and locked in a glass showcase with a price tag of whatever it sells for currently on eBay.” The professional thrifter said that it’s the same for retro toys, collectibles, and cookware now as well. “The days of finding a treasure for cheap at a thrift store are unfortunately almost behind us,” he told us.
The author also created a petition that asks people to boycott Value Village and it already has 111 signatures
Image credits: mrsniceguyy
And here are the viral TikTok videos Mrsniceguyy shared
@mrsniceguyy I just can’t deal anymore #boycottvaluevillage #thrifting #vancouver ♬ original sound – Mrs Nice Guy
@mrsniceguyy Reply to @gracebrinkly glad to hear so many of you have already long stopped shopping there! #greenscreen #boycottvaluevillage ♬ original sound – Mrs Nice Guy
When asked if it’s common for thrift stores to sell items for a price that is even higher than what you’d pay for a brand new item, Sean confirmed that’s the case. “I’ve noticed this is happening more frequently in the past 2-3 years. Especially with the larger franchise thrift shops like “Goodwill” or “Savers/Value Village.” The professional thrifter added that his “Ridiculous Thrifter” Instagram and Facebook accounts were created to shed light on and make fun of this very thing.
“You will often find brand new or good-used conditioned items priced higher than the original retail price. Many times, they get caught being lazy by failing to remove the original price tag. For instance a pair of pants with the original store price tag of $8.99 along with the thrift store’s new price tag of $14.99. This is both frustrating and laughable at the same time.”
Moreover, Sean said that these same stores are also infamous for pricing dollar store items for more than what they were originally sold for. “For example a $1.99 “Dollar Tree” cheese grater priced for $4.99 at “Value Village” with the original “Dollar Tree” price still attached to the item haha. I have many examples of this on my account,” he said and added that “I personally call this greedy, but it makes for good content which people enjoy seeing.”
Many people agreed that prices at Value Village are indeed getting out of control
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The increase at the thrift stores is approaching insanity (here's looking at you GOODWILL). These thrift places were originally for people that are poor that could not afford to go buy new. Now I believe they have raised their price point to edge out people that are poor because those that are more fortunate have realized you can get some great deals there thanks to social media - so they are pandering to them. At least that is how it feels where I live.
Yesss exactly when the bosses realized that people were looking for a bargain instead of this is all I can afford they jacked up prices because they realized they would still sell the stuff not caring about target demograph instead looking for $$$ Edit: this is not all thrift stores though we have a rescue ministry that runs them around here that's non-profit so the what you are paying is really a donation not the price of the item
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Are thrift stores in the USA not for charity? In the UK almost all (but not all) are run by a charity and staffed by volunteers. Apart from overheads all the money goes to charity. Is it not the same in the US?
Hello SS, I have no idea why you are getting downvoted. I am originally from the UK and moved to the United States for work, family, and school. I believe that some thrift shops are run by charities or religious organizations like the Salvation Army, however, it is no way near as prevalent. Most thrift stores in the United States appear to run on donations from the public and hire people to work there.
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When I go thrifting, I always look up before buying. I can often get the same item brand new at the Walmart down the road for less than they're tying to sell it used. Also, many thrift stores are now trying to brand themselves as "antique shops" to charge more for what are just thrifted items you can still get new.
That's the whole point of the story. The point is keeping usable items out of landfills. Buying new defeats that purpose. So why are they charging more for used than what the new one cost? It's hard to be socially responsible when you have to pay more to do it...
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The purpose of a thrift store is to help people in the community who are in need. If they lowered their prices they would make a heck of a lot more money and at the same time help people who are trying to stretch their dollar.
You gotta remember 90% of rich are just lucky morons with inherited wealth or one lucky streak they've psychologically turned into them being a business magnate. They don't seem to clue in that it's a zero sum game. Once the poor are priced out of everything your company makes zero dollars... No one buys your widgets... Fifty years of a downward spiral and they're still doing it. We're getting real close to the breaking point. It's going to be funny and violent. French revolution should be required study for business owners and investors heh.
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I used to shop at thrift stores when I was younger and had no money. A few years ago I needed to furnish an entire transitional living house, and I went shopping to see if I could find any decent housewares and furniture at the local thrift stores. They wanted so much money for old, beat-up, dirty merchandise, I found it was cheaper to just buy it all new. I felt bad because I thought it would be more environmentally friendly to buy things used. But I couldn't justify the cost, plus the time and effort it would take to clean and fix everything.
I agree, for us on very tight, fixed incomes, 2nd hand stores allowed us to buy things we can't afford to buy new. But now snapping up "finds" for a steal and then selling them for a profit has become a "side hustle" for people just looking to make a buck. Once knew someone who thought he was so clever by shopping at food banks for canned and boxed goods for pennies...he owned a house on a private pond. Greed is rampant in this country.
It is thw same everywhere. In Belgium our local "charity store' doesnt give you any money for giving them items (so they wont help people who might need a bitnof cash). But then they sell those same free items for crazy prices. Like a old sofa for 300 when you can get it new in ikea for 400. I wont ever donate to them. I give them for free in marketplace or so
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I live in a very poor, small town in Vermont, nowhere near the rich ski area cities. Our thrift stores, especially the Resource, are ridiculously overpriced too! Nobody cares what at item *could've* sold for on eBay, but that's how they've begun marking all of the items donated to them for free. It was great when the store first opened, but it's not even worth shopping at any more. And for the love of God, calling literally anything**vintage** just to mark it up to ridiculous price is the most pathetic, greedy scam I've ever heard of!!!!
In Australia the thift stores keep anything of value in a back room and put them on ebay themselves. I can only hope that all the profits are going to the poor considering they are staffed by volunteers here.
Load More Replies... I have noticed the same thing at my local Value Village. Why would I pay $25 for a 20 year old dirty crock pot? I can get a new one for that.
Thrift stores have to go out and buy all ..... Wait ... No they dont !!! Every thing they have was given to them for FREE so even a $0.01 is 100% profit .... Im not saying they should give stuff away for free but Christ on the cross the prices are getting outrageous... And some are so full they wont accept donations
I've been thrifting and yard sale shopping since I was a kid! This is crazy pricing! Goodwill is getting too expensive as well and when they over price a high end brand of shoes or something I see it and say Hopefully I'll see you at the goodwill outlet or the bins as we call it where everything that can't sell goes for a standard price! I've found H&M Dress shoes that the reg GW priced for $30 and now since they were greedy I get to buy it for $2 which is their shoe cost $3 for boots. I swear this is crazy for supposed nonprofits to upsale everything for such a ridiculous price margin! Crazy Sauce. It was free and now you're exploiting ppl and their wallets! It's impossible to find a great deal anymore and that's a bummer. On a side note I do still find deals at the reg Goodwill so I still go but their reg pricing for pants and shirts is sometimes more than it cost for new if it's a Walmart brand or something. I still thrift and just try to be selective. 💗
it cracks me up that all these items are labeled like __.99 to make it seem like less when it's really a one cent difference
I agree! Goodwill is doing the same foolishness with their pricing. Why are they charging so much for items they received for FREE! WHY would anyone pay brand new store prices for items that are donated when I can get a BRAND NEW item that was NEVER USED for the same price. SHAME ON ALL OF THEM! GOODWILL, THRIFT TOWN, VALUE VILLAGE, SALVATION ARMY and all the thrift stores SHAME ON YOU! And putting VINTAGE or ANITQUE on an item does not make it automatically priceless!
We went to a local thrift store recently and found a dresser with some wear and tear but it was in overall good condition. They wanted $450 for it.
Long gone are the days that my brother found a platinum necklace at VV for $5.99. (Not so long gone -- their miscellaneous "grab bags" which included the contents of people's medicine cabinets, like used razors. My neighbour called the health board about that). They've had professional pricers for at least a decade, but prices have gone up startlingly in the last year or two. Certain items, like earrings, which used to be plentiful , have almost disappeared. They're only selling the highest end items, so the rest is either being sold on or goes into the landfill. This is an interesting article about their deceptive practices: "Value Village Rebuked By Judge For Deceiving Consumers", invw dot org
Today i needed a black dress for a funeral, and i damn sure couldn't afford it at the price my local thrift store dared to charge. Thought i walked into a wormhole and came out in bloomingdales. Luckily i knew this was a depressing possibility, so i wore some clothes i planned to donate, changed into a dress, and put my donations on some hangers. They wanna play hardball? Do let's.
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Goodwill is more like Greed will, the price people must be smoking crack
I still find good buys at Goodwill Last Winter l found a lovely Max Mara designer coat for $9.99....obviously the pricer lady didn't realise the value. The coat is genuine camel hair and vicuna... Lovely and soft...a great buy. !!
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I worked at a savers (same company) being in charge of pricing items and setting them out for sale. The actual problem is they give employees a quota. They have to put out X dollars worth of products a day. That leaves the employee with two options ... Work like Speedy Gonzales on crack .. or put a higher price on everything. I quit in 2 weeks because I refused to give things a ridiculous price nor would I bust my behind for them for minimum wage.
Value Village is a FOR PROFIT thrift shop(Savers in the US). They donate to not for profits to be able to say they "do good". The pricing department researches prices online & prices according to their findings. A designer shirt will always be more expensive than a plain t-shirt. They also throw away at least half of the stuff donated to them.. They do this because they are FOR PROFIT. If you want to do some good, find another thrift shop to shop at.
Also, they pay legitimate charities to solicit donations on their behalf. If you don't want your donations going to a for-profit, be careful who you donate too. If they are not operating their own stores, they are likely being sold by the pound to a for-profit.
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For the record, Value Village has always been overpriced - stick to Sally's (Salvation Army), St. Vinnie's (St. Vincent de Paul) and Goodwill for the love of your pocketbook. I have found thrift stores that support local charities like animal shelters, Teen Challenge, etc... to be better yet.
I have found Value village to be overpriced for a decade or more. I visited one, years ago, that was right across the parking lot from a walmart. I was looking at white t- shirts and they actually had a Walmart brand t-shirt that was visibly used and they wanted a dollar less than a new one at walmart. Now why would I or anyone else on a budget choose that over a new one to save only a dollar? I was outraged by that and haven't shopped at a VV since. Instead I prefer the church owned ones, run by volunteers. There's a great one in the BC interior that frequently does a $2.00 bag day, which helps move the old stuff out to make room for the new. This helps everyone. There is no need for greed when the goal is supposed to be helping those less fortunate.
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That's what we call a tax write off. Sell nothing, get big bucks back.
I had this issue at a savers recently. I saw a rue21 top for $9. Thats how much that shirt would have cost new. I just walked right out. True charity shops, the ones with a single location that benefit a local charity/cause tend to a bit harder to go to, (location isnt near by, limited hours, some closed on weekends) but its definitely worth it.
Their stores in Chicago go by the name Unique. What I hate is when you find something without a price tag and they won't put a price on it and say it can't be sold. They claim that customers remove the price tags. I don't believe that. What would be the point of a customer removing the price tag and then they can't buy it either? So they'll send the item to the back to be priced by a pricer and then you have to come back the next day and hope that you can still find it. That isn't something I can do. I love that last comment in the article. "And they got it for free." I have definitely seen and actually bought a Dollar Tree store product for a little over a dollar just because I rarely get out and didn't know if it was still sold at Dollar Tree stores. I noticed that the Kitchen Aide stand mixer did not have a bowl. I would think the bowl that fits the stand would be essential. I laughed at the dirty Bob's shoes priced, at 12. Crazy.
Yes, it's common practice. Here's the reasoning - pull the tag off and see if the cashier will sell it for less or the back of house pricer will reprice it lower. If not, nothing lost. If so, you've received a discount. The reason some won't sell it until the next day is to discourage this. Maclimore wrote a song about it -- 'popping tags'
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If you saw the house that the people who own Value Village live in you’ll understand why everything is so expensive. Property taxes have skyrocketed over the last couple years, they’ve gotta pay those somehow. F*****g ridiculous. Perfect example of greedy corporate America.
I've seen garage sales with nicer merch for sale. Why not just stop going there?
If you are going to donate it to a company who is going to re-sell it for 100% profit and slap a price on there that is ridiculous, just find someone who needs it and give it to them.
In Australia there are a lot of Buy Nothing facebook groups popping up for exactly that reason...sick of having it be resold for massive prices when you just wanted to give it for free to help someone out .
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I get mad as hell when i pass by a Value Village drop off depot and see mounds of clothes and furniture piled up that have been donated by mostly well meaning people who think that the proceeds of the sale of said items will be going to charity. Well it isn't. Or very little does. The money goes into the pockets of the owner of the company who has to do nothing to get massively rich. It is all given to him and all he has to do is get very low wage earner to work in his stores. It is disgraceful and i wish people would STOP giving him this merchandise to sell when they could be giving it to a reputable charity shop that actually gives the proceeds of sales to charity. Charities that actually do something to help people, animals etc. Wake up people.
I'll be honest I don't really care if any money goes to charity or not. Thrift shops keeps stuff out of a land fill and give poor people a way to obtain goods at more affordable prices. The way they price things is the real problem.
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Goodwill is just as bad, I’ve been to some that are worse even. There was a Goodwill where I lived and we used to buy vhs’s (we had an old van with a vhs player) and they were great for my kid and long car rides. One day I went in, got my 5 vhs’s for a dollar and they decided to change the price for this ancient technology to $1 a pop. This is just straight greed and I’m sure that most of those vhs ended up in the trash because no one in this day and age is going to spend $1 on one. Pretty sure they find a way to pocket a lot of that money too. There was one goodwill where the store manager made over $400,000 annual salary.
$1 isnt that bad if you consider the fact that they are rarer and rarer and people do collect them . It could be MUCH worse. Ive seen vhs that were like $5 just cause they were clamshells and disney 🙃
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Good will stopped selling higher end items and video games in most stores, now they auction them off on ebay or there own goodwill auction site where it goes for way more.. So those that could use the items or something nice for the kids at a good price are new selling for way more and the community doesnt see this money, goodwill has dozens of CEO's across the country making 6 figures.. A non profit company shouldnt have CEOs making so much
I thought it was just me who thinks the prices at thrift stores are absurd. It is supposed to be a place you could go and get stuff you can afford and not break you but unfortunately they be trying to get rich off people that don't have extra money to play with,were better off buying it new I'm not gonna get something used when I can get it new for less.will I think it's just sad but I'm glad others are noticing it.
I saw a Dollar Store item for much higher price. I pointed out to an employee. She arrogantly said,"you don't have to buy it." I recently bought some plastic containers. The next day I was at Dollarama and saw exactly same for less than half price. I wrote to Value Village. They replied that they'd pass this information to the relevant store. Extremely disappointing.
Was the employee wrong? Why do they owe you a certain price level?
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One thrift in my city that has gone crazy … Habitat for Humanity. Far too many times over the past few years I have found products I could and did buy cheaper from Home Depot. It’s sad, I want to support but I can’t afford to anymore.
I hate that place they have always been way to expensive for us
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At my local thrift store, I found a red guitar hero controller that was super grimy, missing the whammy bar, and had no battery case. I thought "I can take it home and refurbish it" because Guitar Hero 5 controllers have the best strumbars in the entire series AND they fit really nicely in my large hands (plus they're really durable). I looked at the price? **Thirteen. Dollars.** I kid you not. $13 for a broken, dirty guitar hero controller.
Value Village is a bit like a casino now. The house always wins. You go there, you usually end up losing money. But, if you stay in the game long enough, that perfect hand might come along, and you take the house. I bought a nice Brooks Brothers leather bag for $12, while nylon bags embroidered with the name of someone's newspaper subscription sat on the shelf for $20. If they're dumb enough to price dollar store items for $7, they're also dumb enough to sometimes let something nice slip through their fingers for a pittance. And, one final word: the new self checkout kiosks at VV mean that it's now easier than ever to peel a $1.99 price tag, put it on anything you want, scan it yourself, and walk out the door ✌
I was told Savers was a nonprofit when I was hired on at one in the US. I was informed that this is why I wouldn't see a raise in my future because we have our charity to look after. If you've ever worked in the sweat-shop known as "production" then you'd argue that prices aren't high enough for what we had to go thru in the back to bring out the "sellable" items. But that was 7yrs ago and the production workers didn't see more than minimum wage. Same at Goodwill, minimum wages and slave labour! How do they keep workers? Most of their laborers are ex cons or "recovering" addicts, people who are desperate to be hired. Goodwill even hires handicapped folks who have other incomes ie. SSI/SSDI and by doing that they get gov. kickbacks! Total nightmare for anyone just looking to get good deals as an employee or trying to help out the community. Smh
"Village des Voleurs" !! As a dedicated punster in both English and French, je l'aime beaucoup!
I work at a charity thrift store, and most of these items wouldn't even be put in our store. All electrical appliances get checked by an electrician and we clean everything. If it's broken (like the fan and the picture frame) it gets thrown out. Those glass vases we'd sell for fifty cents for example.
This is why I no longer donate to thrift stores. I donate to shelters or just take the stuff to work and put it in the break room in a tote and mark that it is free.
I've noticed this trend over the last year or so at the Goodwill stores in the Phoenix Arizona area! I've come across Russell Brand shirts for guys my size(3xl) priced at $12.99 consistently. Yet I've purchased the same shirts at a local Walmart fir $9.99 and as low as $5.99 when on clearance! Goodwill here used to have half price Saturday's once or twice a month also but that was "temporarily" discontinued about a year ago and of course never seen ever since! Ripoff artists they are!
And whoever buys that mixer's still going to be dropping a bunch on stuff like a BOWL. I'm quite sure my comparable mixer for $230 brand new (back around 2013) was a better deal.
I just got one for Christmas and it was $300 for the entire mixer with bowl and an extra veg shredder attachment. I browsed the bowls they sell individually and the cheapest stainless steel one was I think $55. And I'm talking USD so CAD would be more. I definitely wouldn't buy an unknown second hand one for $200CAD! Maybe worth it but maybe not, my mom has had hers nearly 20 years and it's still a champ!
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My grandma used to go every day to Goodwill to the point the workers were her best friends, it was the saddest thing when we went in and they asked where she was cause she wasn't in for a week and we told them she passed....... she used to spend about 200 bucks a day there {rich old woman did this for over 20 years, that's 15 years before I was adopted!} she used to buy us toys and clothes and just buy out the store, I was only with the woman for 4 years but I got more stuff and love from her in those years then i did in my past 12 years~ everyday was Christmas, we would give toys to friends, give them out by the bag full at schools and I found my love of art and books, but back to the topic, The prices were always mostly under 5.99 to 10.99 and sadly we can no longer go into those stores now and buy the huge amount of stuff we liked {all of it was to charity too, we never went to places that didn't go to it}
There was a goodwill by my old house that would always price their items around the same as Walmart or Target. I remember buying a radiator heater there for $25. I thought it was a good deal. Go home a inbox it only to find out the base was missing and therefore unusable. I had to go buy material and wheels to make the base that was SUPPOSED to be included. A week or two later I’m in Walmart and see the same heater, brand new, for… $25 🤦♀️
I know they are really getting out of hand with the high price and yes alot is from the $ store they mark for $5.00, I ran in to look for something I needed it shouldn't have been only a $1. They wanted $12.00 and it was broken unusable. I found it on clearance at Walmart new for 50¢. So sad they gotten so greedy, also fyi goodwill is for there own profit only 05¢ of each thing sold goes to any charity.
I was in both Goodwill and value village after they both raised their prices significantly and upon noticing this I went to the manager and asked them directly why everything was all of a sudden so much more expensive even by thrift standards? Both of the managers at both places literally said that because people steal so much from them, they've had to raise their prices to make up the difference.. when all of their inventory is donated for free? Meaning no overhead except electricity and plumbing employees salaries etc? Which is hardly anything anyways for companies that have a billion dollars sitting in their bank account. These places are cheating thieving greedy and unpleasant. I wish there was a large thrift store that I could go to to find the clothing that I like, and I could actually just pay whatever I'm getting is actually worth. Oh well .......
Goodwill??? For who?? I can't believe they have auctions on line,where things are going for 1000s of dollars! They only give 1/8 of there income to charities. When did they begin thinking that they were antique dealers ? Art dealers ect. They get everything free & sellling it to the highest bidder . That is b******t! So saying they are helping anyone least of all the people & children who truly need it is a joke! Check how much the ceo of this place makes a year . YOU WONT BELIEVE IT!
Goodwill is a charity! Why would they give it to another? There are 150+ GWs. Which CEOs salary are you writing about?
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And why doesn't Goodwill clean things up or even out. I asked why they don't clean purses out and the girls insisted they do....I said really, as I dumped a handful of ibuprofen out of a purse from their rack. I said this is downright dangerous! They are round and brown, a kid may think they are chocolate candies!
Dang been in there so long they oxidized from red to brown yikes
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Value vVillage is a for profit company. They donate tiny amounts to charity. Stop donating your stuff to them. Instead clean it up and take it to your local food banks where people who really are in need get it for free. Or to places like non profits that actually support communities and programs for those in need.
You missed one point, Bored Panda: more people are shopping at Thrift stores because wages are still at 1970s levels accounting for inflation. We are all getting cheated by capitalism. People are poor.
I suggest you move somewhere in the world where you don't have to worry about getting cheated by capitalism then. See how well that works out for you.
Load More Replies... I knew this would come to a head. YouTube thrifters did this. When you give the price and then price of what you'll sell it for is the downside. Employees now watch these channels and price the item's because of this. In other word's. They shot themselves and customers in the foot.
I use to work for Goodwill in Washington State, and I know for a fact they take all valuable items and put them on Ebay to sell never letting the local public see it. They sell empty glade candle jars for almost $9.00. All of these second hand stores are claiming that money goes to a good cause, I personally would like to see the paperwork on that and where it goes before I would believe them. It's ugly and sad that they are getting away with this. They should be ashamed.
Look up the Form 990 that all non-profits must file with the IRS. It'll tell you what you want to know.
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I, like many seniors just don't have the cash to buy items new sometimes. However when recently shopping at a Value Village I saw a good used bath chair; looking at the price asked $29.99 I nearly fell down. Looked on Kijiji when I got home I found one new in the box with tub rail to help get in for $10. People need to shop around on local sites and "Free Items" on such dites will shock you.....because kind people out there are giving away good useable items. Thanks to these kind souls. Please avoid Value Village until the company gets humble and lower its prices. Just to let you know that most employees who work there have spoken to me about the shame they feel. Spring is here and yard sales will help too.
The pandemic and influencers destroyed thrift culture, people who rely on thrifting for basic goods can no longer find the quality, nor the value. Due to scalpers and influencers upselling and hoarding used goods
I won't donate anything to Value Village, they collect for diabetes, they pay pennies on the dollar to diabetes & then ask way too much !
If you donate to any store, make it the Salvation Army. While their CEO gets paid, the salary they take is way less than other charities. Most of the other charity places see the money going into the pockets of the higher ups, including Goodwill. And the Salvation Army uses the money to provide meals, homeless shelters and emergency goods to families that are victims of disasters. Also consider donating to local charity shops. One in my area called Salty Paws donates all of their proceeds to local animal shelters and animal rescues.
Switching labels is shoplifting. No matter the reason. Just don't shop there.
I only shop at second-hand stores that are not for profit. They’re using the money to help the less fortunate.
I worked at an Ontario Value Village for about 6 months. The prices are jokes, and not all that much money/items actually ends up at whatever charity they're touting to support. You'd be better off buying the crap brand-new, it might even be cheaper. Not to mention, nothing is guaranteed to be tested for function/safety before it heads to the floor and the sorting zones are too small & chaotic to begin with!
Thank you for calling out these places goodwill just as guilty these stores are made of donations to boot and are suppose to be christian because the item has a brand name they feel like they can ramp up the prices well someone less fortunate have the right to be able to dress and cant even in a second hand store rediculous!!!!
I have a question. Recently l bought a lightweight goretex jacket at Goodwill. When preparing to wash it....l found a $20.00 bill in one of the many pockets. Can l keep the money. ??
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It’s like this all over. I don’t mind paying a little more for disabled or supporting our troops, but prices have become outrageous. I do more browsing than shopping nowadays.
We have the same problem over here (Netherlands) with 'het goed', a trift store. Dog bowl from another store (0.99) they sell it for 2.50. Same baby toy priced 2 euro's and 5 euro's. No difference in quality. Selling an old coat for the price of a new one. They have people working there that decide the price. From what I heard from someone that worked there they should price articals with the help of a book. But they just freestyle at best most of the time. The selling crew, or those on the floor keeping the store presentable are the once that people will complain (or even yell at). They are sick and tired of it as well as 'us' but those 3 lunatics wont listen. You just have to get lucky with the prices I guess. Got some very nice shoes (like new) for 10 euro's. Totally worth it.
Those three lunatics hahaha. I can them Goodwill crackheads. I always love finding decent Giant and GT and Trek bikes for $19.99-29.99 and then flat tire rusted chain Walmart s**t bikes for $69.99-149.99. who prices this s**t?
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I shop at St Giles stores in the UK and their prices seem to be going up a fair bit. Used shoes for 8-10 pounds seems to be the standard.
I live in west Yorkshire in the UK. Even in my little town the prices are mad! Balls of wool that are 3 for £2 in poundland, they sell for £1.50 each!
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I work at a thrift store and it took about a year of bickering to decide how expensive rare comic books should be in our store
Yes, I am sure they get some expensive items donated and why should they not get a fair price. There are also people who scour thrift stores to find under priced items to resell themselves and make a profit. They also have items that people looking for necessities will not buy that are fair game for pricing. I just hope that people who are in desperate need are taken care of better. There is a difference between needing and getting a deal.
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That is insane!! They should be ashamed of themselves for even thinking someone would buy that dirty broken c**p for such insane prices!! I mean if you are going to insult me by selling me used overpriced items at least have the common courtesy to clean it up first!! Atleast then I will feel like I am paying you for putting effort into it!! I have had yard sales I put more effort into than they have their whole store!!!
Ya but here is the thing, this is not limited to thrift stores!! I myself have been selling items on a couple online sale apps and have noticed items for sale way over their original price. For an example I went to our local dollar tree and purchased these rub transfer stickers. I have a weakness for stickers and temp tattoos. A few weeks later I was just browsing on Mercari and noticed the same exact rub transfer stickers someone had listed for $10. A sheet!!! I about fell out!! I couldn't help but send the seller a question. I asked if they did not know the stickers could be bought at dollar tree for $1.00?!! I never got an answer and was blocked by them but I also could not help but notice they had actually sold some at that outrageous price!!! Actually had quite a few sales!!! Now I admit I have been guilty of upping the price of items I have for resale by a dollar or two just so that I can have a slight profit but no way would ever consider trying to make a gain of 100% over!!
I noticed the spiraling prices started when Gopher became CEO of Goodwill 15-20 years ago.
When Walmart bought Value Village, that was the end of the " value. I saw a sweater I really liked but it had stains on it. It was priced for $10.99 which is ridiculous for a start. I asked for some money off and was told "We don't discount for dirt " I have not been there since & won't ever go again. That sweater would have been clean , pressed and $5 at our lovely Hospital Thrift store. That's where I'm shopping & donating now.
Goodwill is not a charity. Look up on pinterest noncharity thrift stores.
I know the Manager of a local Vallue Village. I also knew what his salary was. That was the reason I stopped donating or buying there.
If it’s going to cost more or the same brand new at Walmart or target,don’t buy it second hand. I’m very careful what I buy at goodwill or savers now.
I get offended because here in Las Vegas at Goodwill prices start at $5. No bartering allowed& it's pathetic. Savers can be outrageous also but I've been able to change the staffs mind. I prefer Deseret industries. They're decent prices for everything and their clothes are kick a*s for the money
I don’t go to Value Village anymore because of this exact reason. I saw a sweater priced at $34.99, used with a hole in it from a store that sells them new at 2 for $30. It’s disgusting. A lot of people who don’t have much money go there and think they’re getting a deal when going to Dollarama and Walmart is way cheaper. I even brought the pricing issue up with a manager once and they said they price things by going online, finding the items original price then tagging the item at 40% of the brand new cost. That was bs, since they have literal used garbage for double the cost.
Our local Goodwill and an abilities Unlimited store have these two women who are "besties" as the managers. These two ridiculous women have decided to run these places as "Boutiques" and have increased the prices on these DONATED ITEMS by pricing them at 75% of their value when they were new. They. call each item "gently used or previously loved" Like a 5 year old pair of Nikes for $65 or one of those cheap Chinese smartwatchs for $85 even though you can buy the very same one brand new on Stack Social for $15 bucks. They say the money is for a good cause but BOTH women are now remodeling their homes and each bought a new car on the same day. Sounds like someone is pocketing the profits and paying the bare minimum to the charity.
I looked up Canadian law on selling used goods, this refers to garage sales but applies certainly to thrift stores: "The Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (CCPSA) is administered by Health Canada. Its purpose is to protect the public by addressing and preventing dangers to human health or safety that are posed by consumer products in Canada. The CCPSA and its regulations do not distinguish between new and used products. Any person who sells, distributes, or gives away consumer products that do not comply with the current regulatory requirements is breaking the law in Canada." via: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/consumer-product-safety/reports-publications/consumer-education/facts-garage-sale-vendors.html
Considering most of these places don't pay a dime for all their inventory, the prices are ridiculous. I quit going to Goodwill because of high prices for trash. You can by new at WM for what they charge.
I think re sale is a noble idea but the issue also lies in the fact that new items are not made to last and sell already for dirt cheap esp from China so since that is the case, there really is no space for resell goods at all unless the store is marking them for free practically. Maybe there should be a cap that nothing is over 5 dollars...
After all this one thing hurts me the most: they put the sticker ontop of the artwork. Edit: Just saw this is an old post. Sorry
Stuff is dirty or smelly or just so plain and ordinary looking at valie villages on Vancouver island...ive hated my wardrobe since i lived here ..i cant affird brand brand new and just barely can afford what value village here offers.... in ont. The store has theclothing and everything cleaned and looked over before putting it on shelf....like why does a dress at a thrift store ..and a not even anything special lookin dress cist me 20 to 30 bucks?....i dont get it
Idk about Value Village, but I have a HUGE problem with Goodwill in the US. They use deceptive branding and marketing to make people think they're donating to a charity when really they're a for profit company. They hire mentally disabled employees and pay them as little as a penny per item of clothing hung on the rack. They only hire the disabled to take advantage of laws that say you don't have to pay them as much. Their prices have also gone up. While not nearly as bad as this place seems to be I've noticed used clothing (especially in the men's section) going for way higher than second-hand, donated items should be. T-shirts for $7 when I can get them at wal-mart for $5-9. Pants for 10 that would be $9-12 new. All of these types of places are designed to trick well-meaning people into giving them free inventory and maximizing profit by taking advantage of the disable and poor.
Yeah and at my local habitat for humanity restore, which is 3 hours out of NYC, I was told that since store owners from the city come up to buy cheap and sell for more the restore jacks up their prices and that’s the day I stopped shopping at thrift stores. It’s really messed up when people who need these resources are being priced out of second hand shops. Gentrification of life has to stop.
Because your big "thrift stores" like Salvation Army and Goodwill, know that some people shop there not for themselves, as in, I really need a pair of cheap jeans for work, but to buy cheap items to resale. And Goodwill themselves do this. They keep the good items and ship them to a main warehouse and those items go on Ebay or their "bidding" site.
Notice the broken bird tail pinned to the picture frame that the store priced at $7??
At least the "Where did you get your clothes from? Goodwill?" insults ain't gonna work anymore cuz even goodwill is becoming expensive LOL
It’s the same in Australia, and it’s insulting to the people who donated the items
As someone who grew up in a family too poor to get clothes anywhere but from thrift stores, seeing what's happened to them thanks to the stupid media icons who "upcycle" and "revamp" and spend more money than they could need on clothes a bunch of clothes they could easily afford to get elsewhere, makes me so SO angry. I understand some of you've got a job of some sort to do, but you could do it just as easily at a ross or hot topic or something with your rich having A**
Most thrift stores are jacking their prices because a lot of people are repurposing what they buy then reselling it on Marketplace or ebay
And Goodwill and Salvation Army thrift stores are just as awful nowadays.
This was my experience of living in Denmark in 2011/12 except that everything was c**p quality and overpriced.
I quit shopping at Thrift stores about 15 years ago when I realized that I was not saving any money and I was buying junk - that Ross, Marshall's, and Home Goods had similar prices for brand new items, plus these stores didn't stink, and the floors were cleaner. Fred Meyers is good for pricing too.
Our local thrift stores are being taken over by those people who come in and raid the place for things to sell on their Ebay stores. Its sad bc it's originally for low income families. Clothes & shoes for $1 but then people come in grab the good stuff in bulk and within a few hours are selling it for $20+
This has been going on for quite some time. Around 2010 I noticed that the local thrift stores were charging just as for their used items as walmart et al were charging for the same stuff brand new. I later also noticed that they had stopped doing consignment and switched to taking donations only. Nowadays all but one of the local thrift shops are shuttered and the one that remains, folks typically donate trash that they can’t bin or burn.
Some of the prices, especially of small appliances are out of whack. No one goes to a thrift store to spend those prices. However, you’ve got to remember that prices are going up on everything and even thrift stores have costs, like employee salaries, rent and utilities. Value Village is for profit also. They generally have very good, clean, quality items, not like old thrift stores where many things were really old, broken, and clothes were wrinkled, dirty, unfashionable and smelling of mildew.
That is nuts. How do they get away with$30 for that $15 retail coffeemaker? And I thought Ollie’s in my town was bad. It’s retail prices for discount store merchandise, but at least the stuff is new.
Was I agree the good will in my area has nothing under 5 bucks or actually 479 even stuff from the dollar store I live in Tracy California most of the prices are off the charts it's gotten ridiculous the clothing used to be a set price for everything like tops for five bucks or four bucks all done with $5 now every item is priced individually and I'm sure they're sales have gone down cuz I see the same stuff in there month after month after month it's gotten ridiculous it's out of hand and I don't understand cuz they're overhead didn't go up but for Goodwill sake they're opening a bunch of new stores and then charging customers twice as much
Same here in Sweden. It’s getting so popular with second hand items that they become overly priced. It’s about learning which thrift stores to visit and which ones to avoid. But I don’t understand how the expensive ones can exist. Why are people buying worn out items for full price?
The only thrift store I go to on the regular is a Salvation army one. 'Basic' clothes are $2 or $3, the fancier ones like wedding dresses...maybe $20? The most expensive thing I've seen there was a wooden kids bunk bed type thing with a desk and drawers and matresses as a part of it for $400. I can get a fair amount of stuff for under $10 ($5 minimum if I use a debit card) I know they aren't very LGBT+ friendly, but when I was homeless I stayed in a SA shelter so I like to try and pay it back a bit
Sadly, this is the trend at thrift stores. It seems it must be happening across America, and I thought it was just something going on in my region. It's greed, plain and simple. People from the upper classes are buying more from these stores (looking for antiques and vintage items to sell online or in their shops), and since they can spend more, the thrift stores are raising prices accordingly. It used to be a student who had maybe a couple bucks at most could go buy some old clothes, now forget it. Since vintage became popular a while ago, trendy vintage shops go to thrift stores, buy up all the old clothing, clean it and sell it for premium in their boutiques. TV and online influencers tell people how much they can make by picking through thrift shops. So, once again, the greed of making money by those who already have it has taken over one of the last bastions of affordable goods for the less fortunate and the thrift shops are no better by taking advantage of it.
Thrift store prices have gotten out of control. I had a house fire in 2014. My wife and I went to Goodwill to get some cheap clothes, because we literally only had the clothes we were wearing. We each got about week's worth of clothes (jeans and t-shirts, and I got a jacket) and spent about $30 total for everything. I went to our local thrift store last week, and the cheapest pair of jeans was $25. What the hell? $25 for used pants? I can get a new pair cheaper at Target.
I stopped going yearsssss ago... because it would put me in a 🤬 mood. They are NUTS what they want for used goods...most often, dirty, damaged and poor quality to begin with! Because thrifting has become a popular thing to do the last several years...charity /thrift stores have pushed pricing higher and higher... until it's no longer a viable option for many.
My family were immigrants who moved to Canada and we would shop at Value Village (back in 1997). It was very helpful to get things like dishes and such that you needed to put a home together. It is not an easy transition, and with everything being so expensive right now Value Village would be helping many families out (not just immigrants). They should be looking to change how they are approaching their sales system.
Well to be fair Canada is a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiitle different from the USA
This article is kind of old but just popped up in my feed. And I 💯 agree. Thrift store prices are completely out of control, particularly at Value Village (aka Valü Vilâge). I'm from Ontario, and I know Vancouver is known for being a very expensive place to live but in the greater Toronto area, it's not much better. I've recently moved to the east coast and prices out here are wild with certain things too.
In Arizona it’s easy to tell if it’s a charity. When looking at your sales receipt, you’ll see if you were charged sales tax . If you weren’t, it is a non profit; ie charity!
I do PAT testing for a charity shop. that fan should not have been allowed onto the shop floor with a fracture like that, the toaster should have been cleaned at the very least, and that coffee machine is at least 6x what it should be going by how it looks and presumably doesn't have any safety features either good lord, forget prices, they're going to kill someone with faulty electronics
I just can’t go to Value Village without bringing my friend who I know always intentionally pinches something from them. I look at the outrageous prices and think s**t they need to be robbed! Sorry, not sorry actually.
And PLEASE spare us the well WORN OUT BS that it’s inflation! The liberal/socialists have run that LIE into the ground!
I went to a Cancer charity shop today, "The Opportunity Shop" in Menlo Park, CA. And I heard a woman asking why a plate or something was so expensive when she could buy a new one for the same or less, and the volunteer LITERALLY said - that's what they are getting for it on EBay. (I suspect they are looking at ASKING prices, not SOLD prices.) A lot of us shop thrift to RESELL on eBay, and they are asking RETAIL prices!
I can buy new or nearly things at a discount store (Amazon and other store returns and closeouts) for way less than this thrift shop is pricing them. It is ludicrous to expect thrifters to pay retail prices at a thrift store.
You can get a coffee pot like that for like $12 at Walmart. Highway robbery right there!
I literally was thinking to myself within the firat paragraph...wonder if this is in vancouver lol...it is.... I moved to Vancouver island from a small community in ontario just over two years ago....and was so shocked the first time i hit up value village here...i dont have tons of money to throw around so value village is my go to always and i always loved it even when i could afford new i would choose value village ...back home in ontario the value village me and my bestie went to almost everyday was awsome....always had name brands ..good clean items ..like new looking . Nothing had rips or stains or smelled bad ....i like finding clothing that is more vintage woodstock feel to it cuz im diffrent its just me..and my bestie was very boujie ... ...and valie village back home covered all that for us ... shoes omg shoes ...heels wedges hightops..white shoes were actually white...i could spend 50 or 60 bucks and leave with like 5 outfits incl accessories...... Here, 20$ might get one o
The community I live in has a Freestore to keep usable items out of the landfill. It's at our recycling depot and is run by volunteers. Everything is free to take; if you no longer need something that's still useful you can just drop it off. It's been running since the 80s and the district payed for our new building when the old volunteer-built one finally deteriorated. It's a proven model, and whenever I admire someone's fancy linen pants or great new shoes, the reply is most often "Freestore!"
"anyone can write on Bored Panda" ... this "story" nicely illustrates that...
In my area Thrift Stores are privately owned, for profit businesses. I only shop and donate to Salvation Army, Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity Restore Stores. At least they are benefiting the community. I realize there are other similar options but none are near me. A Wayfair warehouse was recently built near the Restore Store I frequent. They donate hundreds of new, in the original box items each month. Gorgeous pieces but not what I am searching for. They are definitely bargain prices.
I am so glad you brought this up?!! Thank you!! I started noticing this trend about 2 years ago here in in New England USA. I used to go to Goodwill stores looking to save money, as my family budget is very tight. I just got disgusted. I THOUGHT GW and thrift shops were for those who couldn't afford much? And what pisses me off is they get all their inventory for FREE! Even our church thrift shop prices are creeping up. It goes against the whole principle of giving those who need help a break. They can keep it all, as far as I'm concerned. Thanks again for posting about it. I felt like I was the only one bugged about it?
Half that stuff I wouldn't even have in my house it's so nasty. Those items should be at goodwill for FREE
Oh and I meant the goodwill that I thought went to poor people for nothing. I didn't realize they had a thrift store also. I don't really do thrifting I'm too much of a germ phobe
Load More Replies... If you want to make a difference and actually help people give your donations to homeless shelters, crisis centers, charities etc the donations actually go to someone in need I used to love going to thrift stores when prices were reasonable but not anymore I can’t even afford it!
I still shop at Habitat for Humanity's thrift store and all of the thrifts that are in support of one specific place like a hospital or animal shelter. They tend to have better stuff and good prices. Savers/Value Village, GoodWill, ARC, and St. Vincent DePaul stores are quite overpriced. You are better off going to garage sales where you can plug something in and see how it works. It also pays to know what things cost brand new and have a sense of which old things are worth more.
Lots of misinformation on here. I'm a former GW manager and will try clear up a few things around GW and donations in general. 1) Goodwill is a non-profit. Always has been. 2) Some CEOs make 6 figures, some don't. 3) There are over 150 GWs in the US. All work independently, but as part of GW Industries. 4) All file a form 990 with the IRS. You can view the 990 to see what the CEO earns, as well as other top managers. Go to the IRS site or ProPublica. 5) Donations all come with a cost - cost to sort, cost to store, cost to sell. Our average trash bill was over $5K/mo. That's after recycling everything possible and selling unsold/unsellable textiles to salvage companies. People 'donate' junk so they can get a receipt for tax purposes but GW won't refuse it as it's bad PR. 6) GW pays rent, utilities, employees, employee taxes, fuel for trucks, truck leases, tuck and property insurance, benefits, etc. just like every other business. 7) The remaining revenue goes to the Mission.
No way in hell theres only 150 of them. My town thats super small has 3 of them
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Value village has always been the biggest rip off. Just stop going there. They will either lower their prices or go under. You have the power!
Reminds me of Poshmark and other second hand places. I laugh when I see the prices these places are asking for and seeing items priced at more than they sell new! In the article I'd say the trash can was fair (good shape just dirty and looked like good quality)..and that's it. We really need to do better bc second hand should be the norm, we need to stop w the excessive consumerism, our environment (our future!) relies on us making these changes.
This is happening all over the world. Charities raise billions and only put millions back into their causes. The rest go to CEOs and other high salaried staff. Just look at the Susan B. Komen Foundation's financial records & it will tell you everything you need to know about where the $$ goes....
I'd pay $7 for that bird picture frame if I liked blue jays. If the birds were cardinals I'd pay more so I'd have a nice frame for my late grandma's photo because she loved "red birds"
I live in Arizona USA and the local Goodwill used to be the place to shop for a really good deal, but now it is doing the same thing as your Value Village they are all run by major company's and think they sell retail, it is really a shame to think you can't buy second items for secondhand prices. An employee told me they look on the internet on eBay for the price to charge.
It's those "professional thrifters" like the one interviewed in the article that are to blame. Maybe YOU need to stop buying out all the "deals" just to resell on marketplace. It's absolutely bonkers this person is complaining about the prices as they make their money off of doing nothing except taking the deals feom people who need them.
~ I totally 💯% agree! I rarely go to already Village but even here in New Brunswick, it's the same. Lots of crafting stuff found at dollar stores that sell for 2x $. Clothes being sold for same $ found at some retail stores. Just ridiculous & this is stuff that people give/drop at their location. Some say it is due to inflation? I say "baloney"! The stuff is given for free, no transportation fees to them. ~
Goodwill is like this, and it's one of the reasons I hate when people do ThredUp sponsorships. ThredUp makes it seem like you're getting a great deal because they're priced lower than the original cost, except the person who donated it was barely paid anything and ThredUp is making this huge profit.
The thrift store in my city does the following: When they get new items, they are somewhat expensive. Then 2 weeks later, of the items are not purchased by anyone, they put a big discount on it (like 50%). This allows people with more money to snatch up the items they really really want first. But no worries, there are still many cool items left for those who aim for the sale. Also, the store can easily clean out the shelves this way, before the new items come in.
Goodwill is the absolute worst about price gouging. Their s**t is free for Ducks sake and I've seen jeans in there for $27, a dresser for $200, etc. They don't help anyone with their fake job center, it has 2 1979 apple computers with dial up internet that says "job center" not really, but might as well be.
A skein of yarn from a project I was working on accidentally made it into a donation to VV once, and when we went to go buy it back it was 3 times the store price. The original label was still on and it would have been easy to look up the original price, so I don't know how they're running things.
This is called Greed, in the past the prices were ideal for those who were struggling financially, or those who had fun, buying some collectibles, it isn't nice to gouge the poor, especially those starting over, with nothing, as someone said those that have arrived from a war torn city, there are other examples, the list goes on, these days there are many more people that have trouble buying groceries, after paying the rent, not to mention, greed is what has the rent cost ludicrous, Also, the outrageous price to buy a home, Greed has grown like a monster !!!
Im from South Florida and have noticed recently a Goodwill store doing similar things. Have not been in a Goodwill in many years, as soon as I walked in, there are shelves with many brand new small items. I noticed the brand and price were EXACTLY the same as the items I just purchased a few moments ago at another store in same plaza. That store is called, Dollar tree. Recently they have raised their prices on everything by a quarter. Now its 1.25 per item. Now at that Goodwill, exact same items packaged were at least .69 cents to well over a dollar more than Dollar store. A mini surge extension cord that is 1.25 Goodwill wanted almost 5.00. This is a store that's suppose to spread Goodwill. 25 years ago I went into a different location & seen a used curling iron listed for 6.00 but once again, next door at Dollar General they had curling irons brand new for 3.00. So 25 years ago, was about how long I have noticed this price c**p. I hope many people will read and post more like this o
Keep in mind you live in Vancouver - the second most expensive city to live in, in the entire country. The VV can be pricy where I live, but nothing compared to the Lower Mainland. I do not think it is Value Village's fault - the blame belongs to Vancouver in general.
I live in a s****y small broke town in texas snd our thrift stores sr elioe this too dude
Load More Replies... This is just like Goodwill in America. STOP DONATING AND SHOPPING THERE!!!!!
TO THE AUTHOR: If you've recently moved to Vancouver, look for MCC Thrift stores - the prices are FAR better than VVs ... I haven't stepped foot in a VVs since I discovered the MCC 'chain' of stores!
This is because of stuff like Poshmark and other places where the people who have buy things meant for the poor and sell them marked up to those who have. It's really sad and disgusting to be honest.
I got a 4 slice toaster for like $14. $30 for dirty used 2 slice, that is just uncalled for. Most of those decorative items were Dollar Tree items, I recognize some of them.
I actually asked the manager of my local Goodwill and value village stores why they've raised their prices to such astronomical levels? And both stores managers told me that they had to raise their prices because people are stealing too much of their inventory and they had to literally make up the difference by raising their prices.. at a store that gets its inventory 100% for free because it's all donated? That inventory? Greedy greedy greedy greedy greedy
People steal from them so they are greedy? Explain. Their inventory is free but their employees aren't, their electricity bills aren't, their rent isn't etc.
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Ok im confused “used dirty old bobs, not even toms” Ok is it bobs or is it toms BTW 4 people who don’t get sarcasm well… it’s sarcasm
I worked at a Goodwill in Buckeye, Arizona. I processed linens, women accessories, and craft items. I can't tell you how many bed linens had blood, puke, rips, and stains on them. Stuff so nasty smelling I was retching on a daily basis. We had a quota to meet and it was impossible for me. Wasted so much time and effort unfolding items only to find out that they are TRASH. The only way I could have made quota was to do what the only person in my department did, just put EVERYTHING out on the floor. No, that's nasty. I hated the people who donated trash, who put their busted 60" TV in the box of the new one they bought and all the ancient purses with the pleather flaking off onto everything in sight, the Coach purse filled with dried vomit. Ripped, stained, torn, thread bare towels so thin you could see through them. What is wrong with people? Don't they have a trash service? Or is Goodwill their trash service? Just, nasty. The day I quit that job was the best thing about it.
I worked at a Goodwill processing linen's, purses, belts, ball caps and craft items. I can not tell you how many times I unfolded a sheet that had a pile of puke on it. Or blood. Or was ripped. Or looked as if it had been on the bed for three years and never washed one time. The smells...omg. Purses so old the fake leather had flaked off and onto everything. Knock off Coach and Michael Kohrs. People donated trash, plain and simple. I'd kill myself to make quota and never did because I was dealing with unfolding sheets/blankets/towels/comforters that needed to have been thrown out rather than donated.
So that's why everything's so much cheaper at the local thrift store. Wow, even at thrift stores you can see big store vs local business. Not that I mind, the local store is supposed to be "a safe haven from domestic violence" and is right next to another local business I love, so try have my support anyway
I agree that prices in "thrift" stores has gotten ridiculously expensive, for items that were given to them for nothing. One thing I noticed at the Value Village in my city, the amount of staff working at any time of day is way too many people doing nothing but getting a paycheck. If there wasn't so many floor walkers to watch over the donations maybe the prices wouldn't have to be so high. I've found a neighborhood sharing center that only charges $1-3 for clothing and nothing higher than $5 for household items, and 100% of money taken in goes back to help other charities in the city such as the local Food Bank. I think everyone should see if there's a local place like the sharing centre to donate to and shop at, more people could get the items they need for everyday life.
So, thrift stores are supposed to help everyone in a circle. 1st, the organization in which they are supporting, 2nd, the consumer that can’t afford retail prices. This benefits both parties , than as a positive side effect it helps keep garbage out of the landfill and is a beneficial relationship between all. Now, I understand the difference between for profit and not for profit and you usually or should find things cheaper at the not for profit businesses. But I have noticed the ridiculous inflation of prices at both. Who in their right mind would buy used and usually ugly products for more than they sell at a regular retail store? Thai stuff is mostly donated to begin with so their is such a level of greed that comes with this. Non profit thrift stores should be their to help the organization it supports along with the community (making available items for people with low income affordable). Hell, I’m thinking that these places might not even pay taxes , or receive heavy tax breaks.
I used to work adjacent to Goodwill , (we were a charity that got some of the items they couldn't sell). It was insane, we all clearly remember that there was a used notebook, just the regular coil notebooks you can get, it had about 2 free pages left, and they asked $2.00 for it. It's pretty disgusting, cities can easily set up these kinds of facilities, but they would rather private corporations do.
I thought goodwill was trying to support a cocktail habit...this place is coo-coo
Ooooo where can i join this boycott and make a capitalist cat. Can we also boycott salvation army??? Theyre racist homophobes who use homeless people tryna change their lives into slave wage work horses :o
Value Village is the worst. I don't mind a little inflation at the salvation Army because they are not profit motivated and a good portion of the money goes to charity as intended. But I don't think that's the case with Value Village. In fact, I think it's owned by Jimmy Pattison. Because that guy needs more money!
Please people! The original intent of thrift stores was to raise money for charity while helping people afford decent things. When I was a kid, a "thrift" store meant the Society of Saint Vincent dePaul, who used proceeds to help homeless people, or the Salvation Army. Goodwill is a little iffy, from what I understand, but did give $5 billion to charity. This looks like a total rip-off of the idea. Please stick to decent charities for your thrift stores!
They are a for profit company who sort donations and I believe purchase by weight from other places that receive them. Then they are sorted into departments and priced. They have an average price quaota and are supposed to know and do research on items received. Put out for sale. Tag colors are based on the day they were put out. Pulled every 3rd or 4th tag color and put with other unwanted items bailed and sold off by weight
Hey! Anybody slightly interested in disrupting the waste stream, please check into local groups that share and swap. I'm aware of issues with Facebook, but there are Buy Nothing groups for many neighborhoods and they now have an app as well. There is a for sale and free section on Nextdoor and don't forget garage sales! For myself, I really want to focus more on contributing to my nearby community and supporting my neighbors.
Almost all thrift stores I’ve gone to has overpriced stuff (like wth, its been used too!!!) so me and my parents go to America’s Thrift Store. Very reasonable prices and they arent stealing 👌 this angers my greatly that people are like “wow a used shirt that used to be $4 now lets make it $12”
I don't mind my local Value Village cause I get the feeling the employees and managers know there's no real benefit to them to hike prices to far out; and often I find stuff way under price:P..... however locally Salvation Army on the other hand, asking like $200 for a used stereo system; asking p**n shop prices pretty much without offering less, I stopped going there as it wasn't worth my time
Goodwill is the worst. Poor cannot but there. When I was fresh out of school, I would buy my scrubs there. Now the prices have doubled. It’s bs.
Wow, the coffee maker situation is practically criminal. I can find a brand new Hamilton Beach 12-cup programmable coffee maker at the nearest supermarket to me for US$20.99, which at CA$26.48 is a few dollars cheaper than the used coffee maker featured in this piece. The toaster situation is different because a 4-slice Hamilton Beach toaster is priced at US$40.99 but if you're ok with a 2-slice Proctor Silex toaster one can be had (bearing in mind that these are for NEW items) for US$13.99 (CA$17.65).
I used to love shopping at our local Habitat Re-Store. Not so much after doing a quick online price check for some brick pavers they were selling (only thought to because I used to be in sales in that industry). Regular price at Lowes - not clearance, not sale - was HALF the price per square foot. I would have bought a bunch if they were reasonable. When I brought up the discrepancy they shrugged and said, 'that's the price. Take it or leave it.' I left it, and I still have a bad taste in my mouth about that place. And yes, everything they receive is donated.
My entire high school life was spent going to these places for cool old t-shirts and pants...shirts would literally be like 50 cents to 2 dollars for a good one. I got an original "thriller" t-shirt for a quarter. It was 25 yrs old when I bought it at 16....it's pretty thin now but still in my closet. Not bad for being around 50 yrs plus old.
After working in a Savers I haven't been thrift shopping again(7yrs ago). I was told it was a nonprofit, which is why I wouldn't see a raise in my future without jumping thru hoops, basically, as that we "have our charity to take care of". There were complaints then about the prices being so high but I have to say, if you ever worked in the sweat shop known as "production" you would argue that prices weren't high enough. Not that it would matter because after working there I believe they would still pay minimum wages regardless of how much they charged for anything. They mostly hire people who are deemed unhireable by most companies, ie. ex cons and recovering addicts. People who are desperate to be hired! And Goodwill wasn't any better, they even hire disabled folks who are receiving SSI/SSDI and aren't totally dependant on their crappy wages. Not to mention Goodwill gets government kickbacks for those folks! Smh! Goodwill my butt!
Valu village is a for profit store . It all goes to one entity . Will never shop there . Use the salvation army . At least your funds stay in the community and helps those that need it most . The homeless , hungry and vulnerable . Who in hell does valu village village help ? No one . Bring back goodwill . Oh yeah , that was run by thieves too . Still , support those that need it .
I quit going to our Value Village years ago. Prices are ridiculous. *that small picture frame is a Marjolein Bastin, very collectible.*
You think THAT is bad...go to SAVERS in Las Vegas. It is practically RETAIL PLUS MORE. I saw items there are full retail and some at MORE than the retail price. The place is a total rip off.
The salvation Army store near me prices all coffee mugs at 4.99. Used coffee mugs, not fancy or collectable.
You have to really keep your eyes open for items that are worth more than the thrift store price.I recently bought a Michael Kors Wallet for $10 at the Salvation Army Thrift store in very good condition that sells for $150 new.
Yea I honestly hate thrift stores, and charity now, I used to give to charity but found out that a charity I always donated to only gave about twenty percent, go the charity they were meant to be supporting. I swear it scam, I don't even go in to charity shops anymore. The CEOs of these so called charities are beyond rich. I seriously hate this so much, if I'm going to donate to charity I do research into the charity I'm donating too, or I donate clothes and food etc to food banks and stiff, because I know they will actually go to people in need.
One of the thrift stores in my area has resorted to holding auctions for the more pricier donated items. Heaven forbid they just slap a decent price on them! Nope, they figured out a way to get, possibly, more than top dollar for these items. It's gross.
There are goodwills close to where I live and they have pretty decent prices on stuff I actually got a Vera W**g shirt for $1 and I have gotten other name brand stuff like Tom's and vans it just depends where you go and our salvation army store thrift store they are ridiculous with their prices they do the same thing they'll charge more than what it costing you but our Goodwill stores are actually pretty good although I'm not destitute we are slightly poor and I usually get all my clothes and shoes from Goodwill
This is why I donate to church group sales or other groups that keep the money local for helping people out. Look up charity watch.org. The CEO's of different so called charity group's are making One Million on up a year, and pay their employees peanuts. Sad.
Am I the only one who actually went online and found the petition? https://www.change.org/p/thrifters-boycott-value-village
As someone who used to work at Savers/Value Village for a year, theres alot of things you have to consider before assuming the worst and to just start boycotting. Please read everything. 1) When it comes to pricing items, theres a quota that must be met otherwise, you will hear complaints from customers there is nothing "new" out on the sales floor. By new I mean its on the sales floor for the first time. Plus the more shoppers there are at a location, the more that location has to work to make a higher quota. Also the quota is what has to be met to keep the store opporating. 2) The people that switch tags are A**holes, because majority of the time they switch a higher priced item with a lower priced item and now that low priced item is really high when it wasn't priced that way originally. Also the people that do this think that it just affects them and not the employees or other shoppers. 3) Having to reprice an item, or pricecheck an item, the MACHINE decides the price NOT the empolyee, they just put the sticker on it. Also they are being monitored by the cameras when they do this. 4) Shop lifting, its really gotten out of hand. People are stealling bags and bags of stuff thats like $100's going out the door. Now 1 person isnt going to affect much, but you have maybe 5-10 a day and its everyday, always at night too, it starts to affect things. But also its terrifying because the employees cant do anything, cops won't show up, and majority of the time they probably have a weapon. 5) The employees are forced to work hard, and only get paid min wage ($12.80/hr). So crap pay, to do crap work, and deal with crap people, not everyone but majority it is. The entitlement of some people is amazing, then there is Karen, then theres the creeps that are there just to sexually harass the employees and customers. 6) Despite the problems within the store, there are 100s of people that work at each one of these locations that have to put up with everything. They do it, because their job at Savers/Value Village is the only job they can get. So boycotting isnt going to do anything other than make stores close and put 100s maybe 1000s of people out of a job. 7) All locations are partnered with a non profit partner, to give money it dependes where the items come from, and its not by item, but by weight of items. Everything that is donated at the store helps that location's partner. But its not enough to supply the store on alone, so they purchase trailers of stuff from other places or sometimes other store locations. SO to make CHANGE, MEANINGFUL CHANGE there should be a petition to change the policies in place from the owners and corporate. Because its under new owners. They are the ones that are greedy for your money, and dont care what happens until it affects them. And they decide what happens at every location, to keep all stores opporating the same. They suck. And they are trying to get all stores to opporate on self checkout, eventually that will leave nobody in the front as cashiers.
I like most of what you say but the self checkout thing just makes sense. Why would they employ people they don't need? Do you want to pay more than you have to for things? Giving you a job simply to give you a job is a form of paid welfare.
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They used to be tested out all the electronics items and saying the what conditions items are,, now aday no testing at all plus no exchange if the items fail!!! WTH???
I felt mixed emotions when I went to a thrift store called the mission in Erie Pennsylvania we brought a couple bags of items to donate. I told him about some other things we wanted to donate and he said oh no we wouldn't take those and he says we mostly throw away everything we get and only sell a little bit 😳 then we went to the other side to look around I found a pair of clogs and they were $25 I was kind of bummed. I'm trying to downsize declutter and I have to clean out my mom's house and I hate that it's so hard to figure out a good place to donate to
I am from the US and I volunteer in a thrift store which exists to support a local non-profit organization. We try to keep our prices low to move the inventory, but there are resellers who come through every day looking to snap up bargains so they can resell them on EBay at a profit. We have to raise prices on items we know they will snap up, to discourage them from doing so. You still get it cheaper from us than if you bought it on EBay. Please shop at the non-profit thrift stores that support local needs; if you end up paying more than you would at a yard sale, get satisfaction from supporting the cause. These stores use a lot of volunteers, but employees are still necessary to keep them running, so there is overhead. Better to pay $15 to help the cause and the environment than to pay $25 to Walmart, even if you are not getting a steal.
I always thought prices at value village was ridiculous I sometimes have to point out the dollar store price at the bottom of the items they're selling for $4.99 and Sallie Ann and goodwill are now competing with it
I totally agree! People who shop at thrift stores do so because they can't afford regular price items. Why buy used at Value Village when you can get it for a better price new! It's for a good cause yes, but I think they are in it to profit for themselves and not for the cause and the people who need a break to save money!
Imagine a brand new plain shirt in a reputable store is priced around the same compare to a used one in Value Village but the stores like walmart's profit is probably $2/shirt only. VALUE VIILLAGE got it for free so this greedy thrift shop gets 100% of their jacked up prices. GREED!!!!
I don't think there's a value village in Ohio but if I want to spend $30 for a coffee maker I'm getting a new one 😑😑😑😑😑😑
In Canada, if the lower/original price is still on the item.... THEN THAT'S THE MAXIMUM LEGAL SELLING PRICE YOU'RE OBLIGED TO PAY!
I had a family friend, who was unfortunately killed by a drunk driver about 3 years ago now. My brother, who I rode up with for the funeral as our friend lived out of our town. My brother found out purple was his favorite color. So, he thought he'd go pick up a purple dress shirt at value village in our friends town. Basically, everything in the store was stupid overpriced. The cost of the shirt at value village, was more than the cost at Walmart. A fellow I know who worked at a value village, said he saw a list in the back of certain items. These items, if donated, didn't go to the shop floor. They got sent to the store owner, who sold them on eBay. Things like vintage star wars action figures and 1984 justice league, super powers action figures and vehicles, like the batmobile.
This is the wrong strategy. If you want to lower the prices at a thrift store, you have to tank their source of goods, especially if they are a for profit enterprise. For example, Value Village (and other similar stores) often claim to support a charity. Charitable organizations gather donations and sell their goods to this type of thrift store. (In the US, it's often Disabled American Veterans) Their take is pennies on the dollar because these stores pay a per pound rate for the items collected by the legit charity. And the charities themselves are the enablers of the behavior. Additionally, the stores pay minimum wage and I have witnessed terrible employment practices. So the strategy ahs to be to let donors know that there are better options to really help legit charities when giving away goods. Smaller independent thrift stores, often run by churches, animal shelters, Habitat for humanity, etc, impact people more directly.
Some people have forgotten the power of "word-of-mouth" and the large number of businesses that have suffered and failed because of it. Once enough people have heard about Value Villages greed, the chain will no doubt experience a huge loss of profit. Once that happens, no matter how hard VVillage tries to win back customers, it may be too late. In the meantime, places like the Salvation Army Thrift Store will thrive. For the Thrift Store and other thrift shops, there can be no better promotion than what VVillage is doing right now.
I've been telling Value Village in person and on their comment section that the prices are ridiculous, just too expensive for those whose do thrift stores. They haven't listened this far, but maybe now they will look at the comments.
I am in the same boat. This was a hobby of mine. But not any more! They are charging almost as much as the original cost price. Now I have a new hobby and get my kicks of scavenging for cool items on ebay. #wearenotgoingtotakeit
I live in Trenton, Ontario, Canada. I used to go to Value Village in Belleville, which is about 20 minutes from Trenton. The prices there are way to high for second hand merchandise and clothing, especially because it is all donated. Second hand men's shirts for as high as $16 or more. That is insane! One of the biggest things with Value Village is that they have all paid employees, while other thrift stores have very few employees on payroll, but most of them are volunteers. But still, Value Village prices are way to high because everything is donated.
People are giving less and selling more because baby boomers are retiring and doing side hustles to make ends meet. It's important, no matter your condition, if you are a seller to also be a giver.
Yeah, expect more obscene price increases. Everyone selling anything at this point are trying to overprofit from sales, they want the price they paid along with a profit. Our economy was already careening on the verge of destabilization and everything we've dealt with in the last few years, covid closures, the increase in immigration allowances, even the minimum wage increases have sent us pummeling into the danger zone. Everyone that can raise prices is doing so probably in some I'll advised attempt to avoid another depression. Well watch yourselves, you might just spark a revolution instead.
How about $3.99 and $4.99 for key chains that were give aways in the first place! And $29.99 for a sandwich bag size of absolute junk jewelry, the stuff off the floor that they can't sell, disgusting and ridiculous!!
I'm from Canada. And value village prices are right out of this world. Value village and good will charge all there items as if the are new. And these stores get it free from people who donate it. So sad.
I whole heartedly agree. The orgins of thrift store has lost its meaning. Originally for those who had little money to purchase clothes etc. It now has forgotten those people. It's shameful.
Exploitation. Money hungry. Unethical. Dare I go on? This life of ours is nothing but money focused. Where is the value of giving and support for the less fortunate. Not at, "Value, " Village, that's for sure. What a sad commentary on humanity, yet again.
theres goodwills doing this too. not my local one (its tiny af anyways) but there are goodwills that price by online comps 🤢
It's crazy. My husband worked at a Goodwill for a while. The really good stuff they kept to send to some warehouse that they sold online like eBay. They called it e-commerce. Lego sets, sports stuff, furniture, and fashion or tech. I've seen stuff we donated out on the floor for the same or more than we paid for it. I've been trying to be minimalist in everything so of I want new anything I have to donate something of equal value. I hate knowing it might not go to people who need it because of trends or greed. It makes it hard when local help organizations can't take certain items because "oh you have to give that to Goodwill or a consignment" and said place sells it like it's a vintage Gucci. It's probably from Walmart my dude. It's crazy.
The prices are absolutely ridiculous, i take my donations to the Salvation Army not to Value Village there is no value at that place.yes i have shopped there but prices are awful .you can buy brand new at Walmart for most so why buy ùsed dirty items.
I remember going to value village as a child and the most expensive clothing was around $4. Most items were $0.25-$1.25…. What fxxxxing happened!!!
I never shop at value village and we all need to stop donating to them. I only go to good will and mcc. The guy that owns value village has multiple houses. Pays his employees peanuts and people think they are donating to diabetes. That is a joke very little goes there.
100% agree. The prices are comparable to new items. Defies the entire purpose.
I have shopped at several thrift stores in Florida and ever time I go in the price is higher for the same dirty junk. So pisses me off people who run them are greedy. Goodwill is the worst for price broken stained missing pieces. I used to like thrift shopping but I will notover pay for used sorry not on my budget.
The same thing happens to Red White and Blue in Miami the price go higher everyday
Taking into consideration the min wage here in ont is $15.,the cost of overhead and utilities.taxes are up,water,sewer,garbage,etc.all has to be raised to meet the bills.yes I agree the pricing should be reexamined,but like any store.dont buy it.i am appreciative of our store,the staff are happy to be working.the store is clean,tidy,and always smells clean.pembroke is blessed to have a V.V. people could clean what they send ,but they don't.that to me is lazy I support your concerns,but not all
It's becoming such a sad world. The people pay for big businesses to get rich and then we even have to pay for the clean up. The big wig from goodwill makes over 2 million for stuff donated. It's time these fake places posing as charitable start paying for the real things. Governments made it so easy for these places to do this to. It all comes down to poor government. Since the 50s and 60s people have been talking about recycling but until now no one has really paid any attention to it. I really believe the governments of a lot of countries know we have in fact already killed this planet. Face it, carbon dioxide levels are higher then they've ever been in the history of our plant and that even includes when there were thousands of active volcanoes spewing out all that carbon dioxide. But here we are, people trying to get rich on recycling instead of doing it to save our world, so pathetic!
I must say that I Agree with you on this Subject because I Noticed the Higher Prices at my local Goodwill Store and I couldn’t believe those Ridiculous higher prices as well for Used and mostly Worn down Items it’s a RIPOFF just like we’re being Ripped Off for everything thing else in these stores Gas went up and so did everything else and they wanna talk Inflation that’s was just an Excuse for them to get Richer while we’re all out here Pinching Pennies to buy what we Really Need my Advice to Everybody If you Don’t need it Don’t Buy It and Watch the Prices Come Back Down I’m Just Saying!!!!
Swapping price tags is illegal and you can actually be arrested for it # planetscorpion
Salvation Army price increase out of control went to get a winter jacket that zipper was broken and jacket torn for 25.00 to 99.00. they forget they get items for free. When people purchase and resell they r not getting it for free. No excuse for the high prices when they get items FREE (donations from community).
Whaaaat? You guys are just noticing value village's "shylocky" prices. I canceled them more than 5 years ago.
In Sweden the "charity" shops are pricing many things higher than new, been that way for years. They sell basic IKEA stuff for more than new. People throw so much away. Unlike the US, people don't sell stuff via yard sales. Facebook market place and tiptap are the only places to get any kind of deals now.
Most items are donated, stop doing that and have garage sales/swap meets
I have not shopped at Value Village in years, for this very reason! They are pathetic! Also, people may not know this but they are a For Profit company!!! They are not a non profit thrift store. Disgusting that they gouge people the way they do!!!
This is why I created a new website for low- and fixed-income individuals, families and retirees. Nothing on our website is over $40. In fact, all shirts and blouses are $5 or less. www.EchoBoutiqueOttawa.com serving Ottawa and the Ottawa Valley.
The prices have been climbing for years. Its rediculas. They didnt even have to MAKE these items. Its other peoples OLD stuff.
True, Goodwill and value village is highly priced all items. I am not going now..there is one thrift store in Morinville, you can find things from .25 cents to 2 to 3 dollors that value village and Goodwill price for $5 to $30 up.
Savers is part of Village Value. Their prices are also insane and have gone way up.
These people are getting the stuff for free. It kills me that they think they have the right to charge that much! Goodwill told me they don’t even give tax right offs anymore. You have to clean up the items, check and sometimes spray for bugs. If they want to surf the net and see people selling their items and try to charge as much as they see items on the internet for then stop giving them stuff! Don’t donate to any of them. Annabells is another one. 49.99 for pictures and 30.00 for a lamp that may or may not work. I have saw dollar tree items marked 2.00. Stop giving to them.
My wife just went shopping at the local value village here in Central alberta and found that all the changerooms were removed. She figured that was fine as a covid protocol and she would just return whatever didn't fit. When she went to return a couple items out of the $400 worth of clothes she bought, she found out that they are no longer accepting returns and the changerooms will not be coming back either.
I used to shop @ SAVER'S which I assume is the same company as Value Village, as well as Salvation Army thrift stores in my area. About 10 years ago I used to get the greatest bargains there! I found Fendi and Coach handbags for less than $10! Designer clothes from just about every big brand, and some gorgeous furniture. But as it caught on over the years I noticed the good deals were harder to find and the prices started going up. When Covid hit the stores closed and when they re-opened the prices were ridiculous. Just like this lady says, they are trying to sell straight up refuse and make a big profit. They take advantage of people who don't know anything about the US economy or what things really cost here. I haven't been to a thrift store in 2 years and will probably never go back. Not until something drastically changes their business model.
Twice, at Goodwill, the price of a new Walmart book shelf was twice the price in Walmart. 29.00 at Walmart, $60.00 @ Goodwill. I googled the item and showed it to the manager. I also wrote on the box that it was 29. at Walmart.
It's not only Value Village. I found an Ikea end table in the wrap for $15.00 that is $9.99 ay Ikea. Know your prices before going in. I have also found a $150 book for $5. A lot of thrift stores rely on volunteer or minimum wage emplyees who have no idea how to value items.
I worked at v.v. and they suck ALL the way around.. They have coats that are 40-50$(+) everything but "most" furniture is donated 1 way or another.. They even make employees pay unless they steal including the traveling manager and store manager.. So honestly i would say if you can see something you like check out walmart, ebay, amazon ect for it first.. Not to mention you can return USED PANTIES YOU JUST BOUGHT Within 7 DAYS.. PUKE
I have a bigger problem to expose. Goodwill has a website similar to ebay where all the good stuff gets sold for a lot to the highest bidder. The stores only sell at way over priced junk that's left over after they keep or sell the good stuff. People STOP donating to these SCAMERS!!
This is not a secret..everyone knows they do this
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I used to be a reseller on ebay, but lately thrift store prices are so high that I can't turn a profit on them. Also noticed that what I used to buy is now behind glass or hung up/ placed where it's unaccessible to the public. Thrifting is not fun anymore for me, so it's time for a new side gig.
I've been told that some managers sell good things on kijijj and keep the money
I bought that Hamilton Beach toaster brand new at Walmart for less than they're asking for that used dirty one. Also, asking $30 for a used coffee maker is Crazy! You can pick up a brand new one for $20 at a Walgreens or Dollar General. It may not be a brand name but works just the same. This place is no Value!
Please do call these businesses out and stop going to them if you think they're not providing value, that's how we asset our power in the market at least to the degree govt isn't preventing us through victimless laws
I have seen broken laundry baskets 10 bucks. 5 bucks brand new at walmart and not broken. Ive seen items labelled 5.99. Look at the bottom and see dollar store price of 1.50. Old pans with scratched teflon 12 bucks and no lid. Same pan new at walmart with a lid 14 bucks. Wrangler jeans at valu village 16 bucks with broken belt loops. Brand new at walmart 21 bucks. I quit going there and refuse to donate items to them.
Just starting to notice this becoming an issue here in Vermont -- yes, even for worn out or dirty items. Given that the vast majority of items being sold are donated, it's insane. I get that there are some nicer items that may warrant a slightly higher price, but honestly, if these shops are not reinvesting a significant amount of profits (so, above the true operational costs of space, utilities, etc.) into workers' salaries and into social programming, it seems wrong for them to be jacking prices up. Commercial retail inflation is out of control and they can at least point to shipping/trucking issues as a part (just a part) of the problem, but Goodwill and other thrift locations that are taking local donations cannot make that claim. As someone pointed out, you're better off putting stuff on marketplace for free or, if you are fortunate enough to have a space to do it, set it out on free tables in front of your house.
I see from some of the comments that Value Village is a for-profit, but I'm talking about Goodwill and other organizations, which are nonprofits.
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We have REAL Thrift stores here in NC. Most all of them share their profits with local organizations such as Battered Women's Home, Fire Depts, Rescue Squads, etc. This place would be run out of the county in a matter of days 😂
Yeah, we have real thrift shops (Next Step Ministries is also a good one!) but let's not forget that there are still plenty Goodwills in the triad and elsewhere
Load More Replies... Thank God here in NC we have real thrift stores! Most of them share their profits with the battered women's home, rescue squads, etc. I always donate to those organizations as I know they're not ripping ppl off. This "Value" Village would be run out of the county here 😂
I totally agree the low income and senior citizens Bank shop at thrift stores but now you've got to have a good income to shop in them. It's not right and it's not fair because everything's donated and they don't pay their employees very well at all. I get so frustrated and angry when I go into a thrift store the Goodwill the salvation army any of them thrift world shame on all of you shame on all of you. If you go to their corporate website look at the bonuses they're paying to these people the CEOs and everything they get lots of money lots of money. Shame on them shame on all of them. Well I better stop cuz I could go on and on and on. I'm glad they're talking about this because it needs to be said it really does I think Goodwill salvation army all of them should be boycotted I think the thrift stores that you can find that are fair and they're hard to find but we should give them all of our business they deserve it shame on the others.
That's not all value villages. I live in a small city in Ontario and our prices are significantly lower.
At thrift stores if the item doesn't sell they will lower the price. If the prices are really too high, the stores won't sell the stuff and won't make money. The fact that you have to tell people that the prices are too high and not to buy the products, shows that plenty of people don't know that the prices are high and shouldn't buy the products.
Yup I haven't shopped at value village in 4 years when I looked at a pair of used boot for over 60$ left amd never went back
I've been into Value Village in Bellingham a couple of times and I have to agree that the prices at this thrift store are outrageously high. Nancy L.
I read the comments here and I am a avid fan of thrift stores, garage sales, women's Center thrift stores, Goodwill and any good donated clothes that I can obtain free or for a few dollars. I personally cannot afford any extra money lately. Even soap and water is extremely expensive!
Yeah, we have a thrift store here in Texas called Alamo Thrift and I found a full set of the 80s Tupperware canisters, not even the cool 70s ones that were avocado green or anything, just white with navy lids. They had each canister priced separately, and total for the four would have been nearly 70 dollars. A brand new set from Tupperware is 50. They are getting ridiculous. Their clothes used to be 99cents - 5 bucks for something nice, now they start at 4.99 and go up. I can't afford to shop anywhere but the Goodwill outlet where you pay by the pound.
Agreed. When I moved back home to Canada with next to nothing after ten years abroad, I got two pairs jeans, a couple shirts and a pair of boots for $50... Which was reasonable. I went to a VV not long ago and there's no way I could do that with their prices now
There's a small thrift store near me that has a sign up front that says most items 25c and nothing over $1. Maybe when I moved here 5 years ago. Now NOTHING is Under $1 no matter how broken. They get 100% of their items free from yard or estate sale leftovers. I can understand up pricing an antique furniture set. But that broken mug with no handle is not worth $3!! Plus they never do markdowns by how long things are there and they are 100% FOR profit. They had a whole pallet of EXPIRED boxes of Walmart trail mix they were selling for MORE than new ones. Sorry I'm not paying $20 for rancid nuts when I can get fresh for $12 a ½ mile away. A few other stores in neighboring towns will at least clear out stuff periodically by having "everything you can fit in a bag for $7" sales, which have gotten me some nice clothes (admittedly possibly from the 70s or 80s judging by polyester content).
Thrift stores were intented to sell to low income people. Then came along collectors and re-sellers. I can write a book about all the back door deals that I've witnessed over the past twenty years. I'm from Ont. Canada and please research into the demise of Goodwill. All about greed right from the top. Corporate corruption. The Salvation Army is also guilty of this when truckloads of Christmas toys went missing. Let reality kick in as we are heading into hyperinflation and it will put an end to the resellers. Add in the fact that soon there will be a global digital currency...NO MORE CASH.
Goodwill is a "non profit" and the CEO makes over $700,000 a year. These places are getting ridiculous. I love thrift store shopping but with these people pricing these used items the same as new no one can afford to shop. I refuse to donate to these places anymore. I will give my stuff to people who don't have or can't afford it
I'm in the USA( Montana, close to you) and I have a news flash for you-the "Dollar Store" is no more. Example- their cheapo mouthwash is now $1.25, as are most items in Dollar Tree in Kalispell. Just another example of the inflation insanity that apparently is spreading to Canada as well.
My mom & I have been talking about this for years! We were raised on secondhand items due to poverty & as an adult who makes more than enough, I can't shop here. Ridiculous, dirty & the staff are almost always rude. I give all my kids clothes away to those in FB.
All thrift stores are asking outrageous prices these days. I no longer donate to any of them. I give my donations to people in need now like women's shelters or people who have had a fire.
This only shows how most businesses are now reacting outrageously to price gouging. Businesses know things will quell and prices will begin to settle but for now, everyone's greedy as possible raising prices as high as possible. BUT this is the American system. Charge as much as possible and it is legal. It's also about time people figure out all these charities don't help anyone but the people running the charity.
We have DAV thrift stores here. They have gone to new prices for stuff. We stopped going.
I won't buy anything at Goodwill unless it's that tags color day bc it's just ridiculous. Can't say how many times I've seen a store tag on an item and their tag is higher!!! Who does the pricing over there? And everything they get is donated so everything they make is pure profit! No reason to be doing this bull.
I do most of my shopping at thrift stores and I definitely would not shop there 😂
This is because its a "for profit" not a not for profit.
Even goodwill and savers are ridiculous, sometimes the prices are higher then brand new,they forget about dollar trees too
I honestly feel that companies are running and ruining the economy. Stop by giving them excuses....well the current value and the product exceed.....the price is this due to.....no just for once say no! Your prices are outrageous everywhere for everything. People need to stand and say enough is enough. We are being lead....you all really enjoy being told what everything is going to cost and where and what you can afford??
I bought the exact same mixer for $160 brand new. Also came with 5 different mixing attachments. They're actually charging more for used crap. That fan was broken and from the 70s too. Probably costs $70 a month in electricity.
This person is spot on with her comments. I see items I can buy brand new for cheaper than what thrift stores are asking. And do they really compare their prices to what items sell for on ebay OR what they are asking? Yes, I've had it with thrift stores. They are rip offs. The best way to combat this and send a message? Dont buy from them. Period.
I work at Dollarama. I've seen many things from there at V.V marked up AND used ..they literally get stuff for NOTHING, then charge for it. What a scam.
I stopped going to Goodwill altogether. They sell their "good stuff" on Ebay and just sell the "garbage" now. AND CHARGE TAX! I get better stuff for free cruising neighborhoods on garbage day! Flee markets, estate sales and garage sales are all that's left for the thrift seeker. Boycott them all.
I had a cashier explain why an item was priced so high and she said the people pricing look on ebay for what the items are worth but they're basing the item's price off of active listings, not the sold listings.
"Used" is the "in" thing right now. They think they can raise the prices so some princess will buy some used crap and flaunt the fact that she went "thrifting." We have the ARCs here in Colorado. They have a different colored tags and every day one is chosen to be 50% off. Well, guess what color tags are strangely missing? I've been there when they've opened. So, what I do is go on "Senior Tuesdays and say I'm 59. I'm 49. Seniors (55+) get half off everything. I don't s^%$, either.
Value village stores in Arizona are rip offs too the owner is a disgrace. He makes millions off of people's donations and gives a tiny percentage to disabled children and the rest he pockets and goes on trips cheating on his wife
You could literally buy a nicer brand new coffee pot for less than $15... nicer photo frames from the damn dollar store for $1! ... you can get a brand new kitchen aid from eBay opened box with 4-6 attachments and 2 bowls for $300.. you can buy a brand new toaster at Walmart for $8... this place is bananas.
Unique (Savers stores in Chicago) remodeled stores which was nice. But later shut down stores. I don't live near one. Once I drove to a store and discovered that it had been shut down. I was furious because I had gone to the website before going and there was no mention of it. I called their customer service and gave them a piece of my mind. The employee acknowledged that was wrong.
Here at Goodwill same thing expensive garbage . I used to be a thrift shop aficionado and it's taking the fun out of it. Some things are more expensive than at Walmart Target t.j. Maxx it's just ridiculous and not even quality
You'd be amazed at the amount of items donated that are thrown into the compactor. I know because I've found brand new shower curtain liners and washclothes from Marshals amongst a whole array of items in perfectly good shape, some better than what's in the store . This was years ago and I spoke to someone in California only to say I was wrong and that they recycle and redonate to St.Vincent de Paul. Within 3 months or so that store was built next to the V.V. I had complained about. I also found out that Community Services For the Blind and Northwest Center for the R******d would call and ask for donations they would pick up only to sell donations to Value V. Goodwill throws massive items into their compactor also and then there's the store ( I can't name) ,that after my finding hundreds of items in dumpster , I talked with the manager about it. I then went everyday to get things before thrown away , cleaned , refurbished and took them to shelters , homeless camps and to anyone .
Yeah. There's a bunch of thrift stores jacking up their prices. The Christian thrift store by me was selling this specific couch set for 700 and it was clearly used, smelled like smoke, and was missing a leg. The EXACT SAME COUCH SET was at a Fred Meyer not a block away, not half a block away, but 2 BUILDINGS up the road... 300 bucks. I took a pick and brought it back to them. They said "We do things for the good of others in the community here. Wherever you found that must have been far away." So I walked back to the Fred's and took a vid of me at the couch and walked all the way back to the thrift store and showed them the entire vid. They just said "Oh! They don't have have the Christian people in mind." .....what? Just a few year prior I got my couch from that I use as a bed given it's odd shape and size... For only 20 bucks! I see a similar item about the same size... 380! Here for the people? Nope! Here for your wallets! The val vil by me isn't too bad. Goodwill's worse.
Thrift stores are out of control around where I am too, but thankfully not quite this bad. Why do some people think they can get brand new retail prices for dirty junk that’s missing pieces, or a premium, mint price for a collectible that doesn’t come with a box and is broken? And how much of it is ignorance and how much just trying to scam people?
I have raised two generations out of thrift stores praise God, but when goodwil started charging $6 and up for size 5 children clothes, and 6 to 20 for a pair of used shoes, and salvation merchandise went up I started going to Wal-Mart from toddlers to size 16 kids clothes top and bottoms range from $3 to four dollars brand new. Shoes 3 to 19.99. Household is cheaper at wall mart and decorations at dollar tree $1.25. If you got $400.00 to pay for a couch or stove or refrigerator or 10 - 15$ to pay for a pot or pan the you don't need the thrift stores. Only poor and low income used to frequent thrift stores. As far as habitat I used to purchase windows and doors and paint for my 105 year old house, now contractors and used good vendors buy everything donated and use the items either to cut cost or resale for outrageous prices. A poor person or low income don't stand a chance in America. I was told by car dealers that new cars are unavailable and hard to get, so used are up 5 to 10,000.
OVERPRICED & RUDE supervisor's a Lisa from Ontario canada was very rude to my son & i before xmas 2021 she yelled cuz we shop with our deaf cat its on my youtube the video of my talking my channel- Sega Girl adventures **(i would like to make a video of overpriced stuff at VV) also asked her about a teddy bear that was priced up at 7.99 i wanted to get for my kid, a arthur plush and i said its over priced she lowered it to 6.99 then the other time i re asked her on another price and she got angry and said she can no longer lower anything and she know im a single mom not working at that time. She didnt care she was RUDE i told her prices are too high but she didnt care! Another example a sweater thin material it had the picture of the nightmare before Christmas cartoons on it and it was do thin but my son knew i love this movie anyways it was priced up at $15.99 CAD so i rip tag asked my son to ask for price & they priced at $3.99 for my kid so why was it 16 before! LOTS overpriced!
Found an extremely obvious dingy old fake Gucci Tshirt at VV that was priced at $20. Got to be joking.
I have seen bags and dresses at Salvation Army in Australia for 100+ dollars, just because someone donates a nice cocktail dress they no longer need, does not mean that someone going to the salvos can afford 100+ dollars for that dress, it could be they are trying to get something for a school formal and do not have the funds, or want to repurpose it to wear out when the need arises, they have honestly all lost the plot.
Finally!!! Someone called them out!!! ... Yes, Goodwill is doing it too! They're practically tax exempt as well :/
Having worked retail for many years, we always had to give the customer the lower price if it was double tagged. Unless it was a gross error. Electric stove priced at $2K with a 2nd price tag at $500. My best friend argued with the sales manager & got the $500 price. But then she's relentless. Stores can be charged if they don't give you the lowest price. Not sure how or if this would work at Value Village. Try to hold them accountable but don't act like a "Karen". Polite, courteous & firm will get you further. I live in Ontario, Canada. Other countries/provinces/States may have different laws or restrictions. Check it out. Google can be your friend.
I was wondering if others noticed this. I go to a savers every once in awhile. A lot of same types of items as your pictures these things are way to much. You can but brand new cheep clothing at job lots for 3 to 5 bucks for shirts. Used kitchen stuff that's looks very used for almost refurbished items at another outlet. I was wonder about the finances of SAVERS. Who is it owned by. They say the profits go to helping communities in need. What does that mean exactly. Is the owners getting filthy rich. There every where. So your rent a big building pay utilities hire a crew. And people come and give you stuff to sell. Pretty good scam. Everything you sell your make 100%.
I've noticed the increase price trend at the VV in my area for several years now, so I can;t be told that it's due to recent inflation of wages or operating costs. And they are getting picky about what they will accept at the donation centres too so you know its being run to make profit. I suggest sticking to Salvation Army and Mission Thrift. They still seem to be about the charity work.
There are quite a few fake "charity thrift" stores that take free donations and sell them for profit. Some take the goods overseas where many locals see them as higher status, fashionable products from the USA, and charge more than the products cost new in the USA. Always, "caveat emptor"....buyer beware.
Value village is such a racket, there's no rhyme or reason to the pricing, people in the back just decide. I've found identical t-shirts, one will be 6.99 the other $13, all shirts should be one price, all pants one price etc. Kids tights shouldn't be $11
Thrift stores are junk collectors. For years I have shopped thrift stores and have lots of nice things for not a lot of money. Now everything is price so high you can actually go to a target or walmart and get new for less. And the thrift store shelves are bursting with junk they can't sell because it's priced too high.
1. I think a lot of the old, nonfunctional items have value to people who want vintage/retro decor. They'll pay more for a genuine artifact than a new, working item because they have no plans to use it for the original intended purpose. 2. Shows like Antiques Roadshow and American Pickers have also convinced some people that any of piece of junk they have might be worth a lot more than they might think, and they price things higher in case that plastic ice cube tray they had since the 80s might be worth something to a collector.
$30 for a coffee maker that you can't literally get for $10 is just stupidity but people don't realize goodwill and all the rest of those thrift shops have been robbing people for years now and people really didn't complain until recently. Worst part is most don't even care that their being robbed especially if the store is in a more convenient area. These stores won't ever go away unless you sue them because a petition isn't gonna do a thing other than rally the people who already know about the price gouging.
I live in Maryland, USA and they are the same here. Goodwill is also another retailer with out of control prices. The items they get for free....they don't overpay thier cashiers....so who is trying to get rich here? I want to give a shout out to the Salvation Army ....they are keeping it real and the people I encounter that work there are awesome. The Army has real good prices...sales and specials. Because I shop there...its the only place I donate too also!
It's the same with Goodwill, I just stopped shopping there. But the prices are probably ridiculous because people are dumb enough to think they are getting a good deal. Most of the stuff shown here you can buy at the dollar tree for $1 brand new. There used to be really good thrift store that actually had good prices where I live, but unfortunately they moved. It was a privately owned thrift stores. Don't trust the large corporations.
I am so glad to hear somebody calling these stores out! The prices have gotten outrageous and I rarely will buy anything unless it has a percentage off (as in the specials most stores will have daily). This crap is donated. DONATED!!! And they have the nerve to charge, as she pointed out, more than you can get it for at The Dollar Store or Walmart. I will not donate to any of them. I would rather give it away. Greed, pure greed!!
There's on of their sister stores savers in my area. I can't remember I've ever want to know when they first open but one of their about a month ago and definitely the same over Priced garbage. Tons of items that have been broken by kids and other customers. They have items out there that should not even be put up for sale because of safety issue. Saw a battery back up (UPS) for the outer case was cracked around when the outlets and where's the electrocution and fire hazard. Probably had a bad battery to that cost just as much to replace it it would be to buy a new safe unit. Items marked with wrong category. Items missing parts or items that belong together price separate like no one working there has any clue to what items are and if they belong together.
https://www.invw.org/2019/11/08/value-village-rebuked-by-judge-for-deceiving-consumers/
I love to shop at thrift stores and found great deals over the years. My general rule of thumb, I NEVER shop at Goodwill, no way, or any for profit vendor. Church shops, St Vincent de Paul, Grace Centers of Hope yes, and Salvation Army shops and Volunteers of America stores also are where I go. I've found shops in high priced socioeconomic areas sell at higher prices, so I avoid them mostly, but I also avoid slums too for obvious reasons. This village place, I would avoid like the plague. Js... and I advocate the boycott. Definitely.
Goodwill is a not for profit, they keep enough to pay for payroll, property rent and store cost. Any extra goes to they're job training program, which is not just for Goodwill employees, literally anyone can take job training through goodwill and not have to work there. They are not for profit they do not keep extra money.
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Nothing new under the sun here. Used to work there as a floor manager back in the mid 2000's and prices were already out of control. One of the problems has to do with how the company works. There is an assessor in each store and the guidelines are very loose, non existant to say the truth. The price for the same item can vary enormously from one store to another. I remember items from the Dollarama being sold for more at value village or items being cheaper brand new at the Walmart.
Value village in Vancouver Washington got ran out of town for this very same thing where they would charge extraordinarily high amounts of money when something was already ticketed from a store target usually so it'd be $7.99 from Target clearance down and then they would put it on the shelf for like $12 I don't even shop there there a total waste of space as far as I'm concerned
A lot of charity shops in the UK are getting ridiculous too. They pay no business rates (tax that shops have to pay) and have staff costs that are low or non existent as most are run by volunteers. But I see fast fashion pieces in them for high prices all the time. My local one rarely has tshirts below £6. They're overflowing with donations and don't price anything to sell. If you're broke or looking for project pieces, it's really hard to shop.
I hate Value Village. Everything they have is donated to them, yet they charge high prices for everything. I will never go there again.
I just stopped by there today at London, Ontario's value village because it's senior's day 30% off but their prices are ridiculously high for a used clothing,Mission Services Thrift Store 8snstill the best place to shop.They have kept their prices low and no tax
Something is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. The only.way to stop this greedy policy is to stop buying AND stop donating to them. The only one I have found that seems to be as concerned with being a service to community is Red,White.and Blue.
Reminds me of catholic"charity" store, where people donated their things and they sold it. Money were for people in need, they said. Everything they had was ridiculously overpriced, and over 40% of all earnings went to store owner. Officially. Who knows how much they took.
This is what happens when "Thrifting" becomes trendy. Middle class people buying up stuff that is intended for the poor. You can't blame a for profit store from trying to turn a profit, and you can't blame a charity store from trying to raise as much as they can for their respective charities. If you really want to help make this stuff affordable, stop shopping there, and donate more.
There was a thriftshop I used to go to that was really all charity, I believe it was actually run by a church. Profits went to projects in Africa. Then, for some reason unknown to me, the ownership changed. Prices doubled, a lot more trash and I doubt any money ends up at projects nowadays. It took the fun out of going there. Thrift = big business, also in Holland.
wow, i am admittedly cheap when it comes to most things. I rarely pay $10 for t-shirts (unless it's at a concert); I love thrift stores, but this is one I'd quickly pass up! good job calling them out
I used to shop at Value Village when i lived in Michigan and the prices were good, better when every other month they had a coupon for 50% off entire purchase. Then everything was a great price. I just moved to Texas and was thrilled to see one close to home. Shopped and yes i did see a significant price jump. Michigan T-shirts were $1.99...Texas t-shirts $3.99-4.99. Used T- shirts! My friend liked a reprinted painting in a frame. The frame was scratched plastic, the picture on cardboard...$65.00. Target had very similar pictures in a wooden frame and it was $39.99. I went to them last week when i got a text from them saying that they were having a 50% off sale. Great!! i went there and was charged full price...when i questioned why, they said to read the fine print...it was for the store that is in a part of Houston that no one goes to for safety reasons only. Value village has seen the last of me.
I've noticed this at Value Village. Okay, so it's not only my location!
I arrived in Canada about 6years ago and with a $100 I got a couple a things for the kitchen, toaster, coffee pot and sandwich maker and bought work jeans and shirts. These days I can buy sweatpants at Costco is cheaper that Value Village
a toaster costs €20 in ireland how is a second hand toaster costing $30 in the US?
Not everywhere in the US is a second-hand toaster $30. This place is an exception which is why there is a petition out there that people are signing in an entire post about how they are prices are sky high.
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This is ridiculously sad. I worked at SAVERS which is the same as VALUE VILLAGE here in IL. I loved that place so much, was there pt for 3 years. To hell with inflation, those are lazy azz workers and back management is not checking the inventory. Theses are people who get to have jobs and don't want to do them properly. I totally agree with what you're doing. I pray you get more signatures than needed.
Those mixers don't even cost that much brand new from big box stores.
USE YOUR BRAIN and do some RESEARCH before you slam charities or perpetuate rumors and falsehoods. Most of them are in it to make money to serve various segments of our society! And they DO. Most people don't realize all the good they do,all they have to deal with. There are unethical, even criminal people working or volunteering everywhere, even for charities. MOST are decent people. People donate c**p. Prices are set to maximize the people they can help. Sometimes volunteers/employees misprice items (no one complains when they're not asking enough) You can still find deals, things either not or no longer sold in retail stores. Bottom line, DON'T GO THERE if you want something for free. Or if you can't see the forest for the trees!
I think anyone who still has a Value Village nearby to shop at should be happy. The one near me closed b/4 the pandemic and I miss it every day! It was my favorite place to shop. It is clean & well organized. No other thrift store offers what they offer. Now I have to drive many miles to get to one. I would dearly love it if it would come back.
Good god, what a sad life this woman leads...has it ever occured to her that even thrift stores are feeling the squeeze from inflation? And what kind of cheap c*nt is this obsessed with buying second hand c**p? In all seriousness, f*ck this broad and all her "calling out " Go to Walmart instead.
Part of the problem is that you’ve all allowed yourselves to be called “consumers” (i.e., that which consumes). You are not a goddamned unit of consumption. You are a valued CUSTOMER, and it’s about time that these shitty companies begin to treat you as such again. Stand up for yourselves!
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A petition to stop a business from charging what they do, for non essential items no less, is the most entitled thing ever. You will NOT like Vancouver if this hurts your wallet this much. VV owes you nothing. Yeah they charge insane prices now which is why I don't go to it anymore. The end. I'm not crying about it as if the world revolves around me.
Those Kitchen Aid mixers are that much used. Otherwise, go to Goodwill.
Do YOU donate 17% of YOUR net income, Les?? woman-call...d__700.jpg 
I get the argument that thrift stores need low prices to keep the garbage out of landfills but let's be honest. All of the items you buy are just going to end up in them eventually anyways, you don't stop the problem but instead delay it for a few months until you realize your pre used garbage bin smells like a dumpster fire.
In all seriousness if you can find better prices on non-used products why not just buy them instead of complaining about preused garbage cans being 5 whole dollars.
Honestly if you can find a better price on a non preused garbage can perhaps stop complaining about their prices and just buy an actual new one.
The pricing at thrift stores is based on what the original price of the item was when new and deducted by how much the price can decrease based on taxes in the region and the price is also based for the perslcentage that goes to the charity that the thrift store benefits
Bruh this woman do be Karen 10 DOLLARS FOR A COFFEE MAKER MY MOM PAID 100 DOLLARS YALL ARE FINE THOSE PRICES ARE EVERYWHERE SO SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUP
Still horrific but nothing tops goodwill. They even have goodwill blue a so called boutique to sell even more higher prices on s**t they got for free. Don't get me started on the online part. They have a huge board in the back room with name brands. The more higher brand like gucci prada etc goes on a table to be posted online. The sorters know this. It is b******t.
Is I see it, you schould not go to shop before you have some idea of what the product you are after should cost. That goes both for thrift stores and ordinary markets, because the latter likes to advertise, that the item is on sale, while stille asking the ordinary price.
Do you all not realize that these stores are just fallowing the American dream. Now I do go to these types of stores but I price hunt. I walk around many types of these stores and only walk out with one thing. It is a business and the goal is to make money. If you don't want to see the company thriving then don't shop at them. Use your ability to search for better deals and don't support these companies if it's that big a problem. No one is making you spend your money. If no one spends money at these places they will go out of business.
I have always found Value Village to be random in their pricing but nothing to get bent out of shape over. So you dont like the prices go to the Salvation Army. Oh and that whine about the $200 Kitchen Aide mixer too bad it sells new for over $800 so a quarter of the price is pretty good as far as I am concerned. Value Village is over priced but hey guess what there is no law against charging stupid prices for junk.
A mixer with no bowl and only one attachment? And it could be broken. Lmao.
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I know why these prices are this way! It's because of all of you with your cellphone out checking the price of what it sells for on eBay! Thrift store want eBay prices for there items because of you all! Why sell cheap just so you make all the money off the item. They want money too! That's why the prices are so high!
Don't "Call them out." Just quit shopping there. Eventually the message will be received.
LOL ...shopping advice for dummies .. ...you don't like the prices ??? ...SHOP SOME WHERE ELSE ..problem solved
Way to miss the point, just like every other man in the comments.
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I work at a Savers, we barely have the 50 off color anymore. My manager has raised the prices too high. When i called out my supervisor for pricing a pair of Walmart farm boots for 17usd- she got mad. They have us put stuff out for higher prices to cater to ppl tht resell stuff. Its r******d. Foolish. Unkind.
I used to work for a chain of thrift stores. When I read a comment like "and they got it for free" it makes my blood boil. We had to pay employees to greet the people making donations and then sort it into many categories (and mostly jump in the dumpster to compress dumpsters - people who handle the clothing actually have to do "sniff tests" with each bag to see if they are worth opening or not. Then sort out according to category. Hang and tag. Electronics all have to be tested. housewares and miscellaneous has to be sorted, cleaned and tagged. Toys sorted to see what is safe to sell, and then cleaned. Don't get me wrong, it is a very rewarding job because we supported a particular program which helps thousands of people. But that free donation goes a long way before making it to the floor. That said, I agree that this VV is overpriced!
I get what you're saying, but the comment refers to the fact that the companies did not have to pay for the products they are selling. They dont have to shell out anything to obtain those items. Paying their employees is part of their overhead and would happen whether they had an automated sorting system or not. Bottom line, they dont have to pay for shipping, or have contracts with other companies/brands to have their stuff in the store. Its freely given to them. Hence the anger
Load More Replies... Maybe if people would stop buying things at thrift stores and reselling them for 20 or 30x markup the thrift stores could continue to do business as usual. It’s unfortunate that the capitalist market has made it this way.
Um... how 'bout you just don't shop there? A KitchenAid Artisan mixer was $275 at Walmart last time I priced them, and a piece of broken plastic on a fan housing doesn't mean the fan won't work; it just means you shouldn't stick your finger in it while the power's on. If the prices are too high (I'm not saying they're not), the market will sort it out... no need for a jihad.
I guess you all are forgetting that Any Brick and Mortar store has a Tremendous amount of Overhead? They have to pay the salaries of the employees, the light bill, the water bill, the gas bill, insurance, taxes, not to mention the Exorbitant Monthly Lease Fees to the Corporate Landlords. Most of the folks posting here are Probably in their 20's or so and don't have experience with the responsibility of owning a business and having to pay big bills like this.
That is not a justification for why the prices are more for broken junk that it is for new items. If the items are not worth the cost then they are not worth the cost, plus, isn't value village the same as other thrift stores that have items all donated? The biggest cost of products is gone. Sure you need to make enough money to pay for staff, taxes, and utilities but can get a new coffee maker for around the same price at my grocery store. They sell them for $30-$35. No amount of overhead is going to justify that they stuff they are selling is simply not worth what they are charging.
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Lol funny to see someone on TikTok bitching about thrift store prices, when TikTok videos play a large part. You've got all these c*nts showing these great deals and of course every c*nt with a TikTok is gonna see that. At least I can feel better knowing that TikTok is more then likely stealing it's users personal info, and I will likely buy that info on the dark web in the future, and ruin some TikTok users credit score and chances of getting a loan
I DO WANT THAT STONE KNICK KNACK! To me it is pricelessIt looks exactly like one my grandmother had. I've NEVER seen one ever. I dont even k ow what happened to hers. Please go back. I will compensate you. Please.
If you don't like a price at a store, then don't spend your money at said store, simple as that. BS Karen-y Tik Toks will not get the corporate suits attention, but loss of revenue will.
Firstly, Value Village and Savers are NOT non-profit companies. So I don't understand why people are hating them for doing business. Secondly, based on the comments so far, it seems most people don't know how Value Village works. Value Village and their parent company Savers get their products from two sources. Primary: open box items, bulk sales from warehouses, items from stores with damaged packaging; and Secondary: donations which make up the MINOR part of where most of their products come from. For donation related sales, most people here get it wrong. A non-profit like Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Canadian Legion, etc, will align itself with Value Village for a contract amount of time. Whatever is donated will be sold to Value Village in bulk based on weight. The amount sold to Value Village will be donated to the aligned non-profit organization. This is why it seems for a company that has made a billion in sales, it only donated $170 million.
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Complaining about the prices at a THRIFT STORE? She can just f**k all the way off.
Dollar Tree in Biden's economy is now Dollar Twenty-five Tree. No, Terry haven't renamed, but they should. As far as thrift/secondhand stores, FOR SHAME charging more than the original price.
If only we had a system like capitalism where if you dont like store and its pricing you could go elsewhere.
If they overpriced, they won't sell. If they sell, they aren't overpriced. Just because a seller sits a price higher than what YOU are sold to pay doesn't make it overpriced.
Just go to Wal-Mart you get for what you pay for Value Village is just a dammmmmm SCAM B******T
Mrsniceguy probably voted for the Communist Biden now shes complaining about thrift store prices, get over it you ignorant person. What about gas, food and everything else that's skyrocketed its prices?
It's so simple. If you don't like a price, make an offer or just leave. Making an online spectacle of yourself condemning a business that did nothing wrong over a price you disagree with is just plain r******d. Just move on and buy from someone else.
r-word.org And first day on the internet for you?
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Why sign a petition? If a store has too high, just don't go to that store. Prices would eventually change.
The pricing is done by people doing their best... If items don't sell, they will drop just like any other store... The world is not perfect people ..wake up... If you don't wanna pay for something just walk away.
You sound like a spoiled brat! Don’t go there! There are plenty of other places to go! Damn! Quit bitching! They gotta stay in business dome how with the b******t in this world.
I understand some thrift stores charge crazy prices. But you just have to know the original value of things. I pretty much only buy my clothes at goodwill I often buy jeans worth 100$ for 12$ in slightly used condition. Most 20-30$ items I find for 6-7$. You just have to know what you're looking for. Also to those who say "oh I can get it cheaper at Walmart.." you can get Walmart brands for cheaper at Walmart yes...but you can't name brands ( express, van huesun, Ralph Lauren) at Walmart. So my thoughts: 1. Don't get your Walmart s**t at a thrift store, of course it's gonna be cheaper at Walmart. 2. Look for name brands and know how much they cost (you can often get it for 1/10 the price of the original item) 3.chain thrift r like McDonald's they are owned by different people/ have regional owners. 4. Don't buy things that are priced more than they are worth. 5. Talk to a manager if things r priced to high, complaining to a cashier won't do, ppl need to b trained better
Blame Resellers. They complain the most but do the same thing VV is doing. Just watch all the thrift hauls on YouTube. VV and all the other places are getting wise to the game. Why do you think the thrift shops hire pricers and authenticators now??
14 whole entire items, wow! Out of how many are in the store? This person most likely also expects the store to pay employees 50 bucks an hour! Ignorance at its finest! I have no doubt some items will be a little more than this business challenged lunatic expects, but maybe she can balance the books for a year or two and we can all watch as the store goes bankrupt.
FFS, it is a FOR PROFIT store. If they charge too much, ummm - DON'T SHOP THERE! This is so stupid, everybody all self-righteous over the prices.
Nobody says you have to BUY there. If the price isn't right, take your business elsewhere. Have you tried p**n shops? Same thing. Stuff that came over on the Mayflower priced like new.
Clearly a bored panda. The store doesn't hide the fact they are for profit. I love the fact I can roll up and drop of our junk with no questions asked. There is marketplace and varagesale apps. I mean there are alot people who over charge but then i guess you bored pandas can call out people by name when you don't like the asking prices.
You can boycott Value Village all you want, but I assure you the prices won't change, as sure as the sun will set and rise. I get that people think prices are rising up, but prices are rising on everything, and at this point it's the nature of the beast. I've been to all types of thrift stores where it use to be less expensive, but they are all rising in price, more so cause cost of operation. A lot of people don't want to work, go out on any day and you'll see store's and restaurants are full by 11am, cause people who don't need it are riding financial assistance instead of working. Store's are having to pay overtime to employees who will work to keep stores operating at full hours, and I get thrift stores are supposed to be cheap, but right now it's just how it is, as it is every where else.
I don't agree. It may be free but the money the stores make from "free donations" actually goes the people with disabilities and disabled veterans. They get a percentage of the sales. Please look up the facts before assuming. Yes most of these prices are wrong but did you bring into fact the thieves that switch tags? Also if it looks high, bring it up to store associates before posting negative stuff. They could be willing to help...Again stop assuming. I've been on both sides and I have facts!!!
Those prices wouldn't seem too unreasonable to me if the condition was much, much better. That fan looks like it was owned by a smoker for several decades.
These prices wouldn't be unreasonable if they didn't get the stuff for free and it was new.
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Bed Bath and Beyond has 20% off coupons that you can use on a kitchen aid mixer or any other item in the store. So why would someone pay 200 for a used item when they can get it brand new around the same price if not less?
Load More Replies... The increase at the thrift stores is approaching insanity (here's looking at you GOODWILL). These thrift places were originally for people that are poor that could not afford to go buy new. Now I believe they have raised their price point to edge out people that are poor because those that are more fortunate have realized you can get some great deals there thanks to social media - so they are pandering to them. At least that is how it feels where I live.
Yesss exactly when the bosses realized that people were looking for a bargain instead of this is all I can afford they jacked up prices because they realized they would still sell the stuff not caring about target demograph instead looking for $$$ Edit: this is not all thrift stores though we have a rescue ministry that runs them around here that's non-profit so the what you are paying is really a donation not the price of the item
Load More Replies... Are thrift stores in the USA not for charity? In the UK almost all (but not all) are run by a charity and staffed by volunteers. Apart from overheads all the money goes to charity. Is it not the same in the US?
Hello SS, I have no idea why you are getting downvoted. I am originally from the UK and moved to the United States for work, family, and school. I believe that some thrift shops are run by charities or religious organizations like the Salvation Army, however, it is no way near as prevalent. Most thrift stores in the United States appear to run on donations from the public and hire people to work there.
Load More Replies... When I go thrifting, I always look up before buying. I can often get the same item brand new at the Walmart down the road for less than they're tying to sell it used. Also, many thrift stores are now trying to brand themselves as "antique shops" to charge more for what are just thrifted items you can still get new.
That's the whole point of the story. The point is keeping usable items out of landfills. Buying new defeats that purpose. So why are they charging more for used than what the new one cost? It's hard to be socially responsible when you have to pay more to do it...
Load More Replies... The purpose of a thrift store is to help people in the community who are in need. If they lowered their prices they would make a heck of a lot more money and at the same time help people who are trying to stretch their dollar.
You gotta remember 90% of rich are just lucky morons with inherited wealth or one lucky streak they've psychologically turned into them being a business magnate. They don't seem to clue in that it's a zero sum game. Once the poor are priced out of everything your company makes zero dollars... No one buys your widgets... Fifty years of a downward spiral and they're still doing it. We're getting real close to the breaking point. It's going to be funny and violent. French revolution should be required study for business owners and investors heh.
Load More Replies... I used to shop at thrift stores when I was younger and had no money. A few years ago I needed to furnish an entire transitional living house, and I went shopping to see if I could find any decent housewares and furniture at the local thrift stores. They wanted so much money for old, beat-up, dirty merchandise, I found it was cheaper to just buy it all new. I felt bad because I thought it would be more environmentally friendly to buy things used. But I couldn't justify the cost, plus the time and effort it would take to clean and fix everything.
I agree, for us on very tight, fixed incomes, 2nd hand stores allowed us to buy things we can't afford to buy new. But now snapping up "finds" for a steal and then selling them for a profit has become a "side hustle" for people just looking to make a buck. Once knew someone who thought he was so clever by shopping at food banks for canned and boxed goods for pennies...he owned a house on a private pond. Greed is rampant in this country.
It is thw same everywhere. In Belgium our local "charity store' doesnt give you any money for giving them items (so they wont help people who might need a bitnof cash). But then they sell those same free items for crazy prices. Like a old sofa for 300 when you can get it new in ikea for 400. I wont ever donate to them. I give them for free in marketplace or so
Load More Replies... I live in a very poor, small town in Vermont, nowhere near the rich ski area cities. Our thrift stores, especially the Resource, are ridiculously overpriced too! Nobody cares what at item *could've* sold for on eBay, but that's how they've begun marking all of the items donated to them for free. It was great when the store first opened, but it's not even worth shopping at any more. And for the love of God, calling literally anything**vintage** just to mark it up to ridiculous price is the most pathetic, greedy scam I've ever heard of!!!!
In Australia the thift stores keep anything of value in a back room and put them on ebay themselves. I can only hope that all the profits are going to the poor considering they are staffed by volunteers here.
Load More Replies... I have noticed the same thing at my local Value Village. Why would I pay $25 for a 20 year old dirty crock pot? I can get a new one for that.
Thrift stores have to go out and buy all ..... Wait ... No they dont !!! Every thing they have was given to them for FREE so even a $0.01 is 100% profit .... Im not saying they should give stuff away for free but Christ on the cross the prices are getting outrageous... And some are so full they wont accept donations
I've been thrifting and yard sale shopping since I was a kid! This is crazy pricing! Goodwill is getting too expensive as well and when they over price a high end brand of shoes or something I see it and say Hopefully I'll see you at the goodwill outlet or the bins as we call it where everything that can't sell goes for a standard price! I've found H&M Dress shoes that the reg GW priced for $30 and now since they were greedy I get to buy it for $2 which is their shoe cost $3 for boots. I swear this is crazy for supposed nonprofits to upsale everything for such a ridiculous price margin! Crazy Sauce. It was free and now you're exploiting ppl and their wallets! It's impossible to find a great deal anymore and that's a bummer. On a side note I do still find deals at the reg Goodwill so I still go but their reg pricing for pants and shirts is sometimes more than it cost for new if it's a Walmart brand or something. I still thrift and just try to be selective. 💗
it cracks me up that all these items are labeled like __.99 to make it seem like less when it's really a one cent difference
I agree! Goodwill is doing the same foolishness with their pricing. Why are they charging so much for items they received for FREE! WHY would anyone pay brand new store prices for items that are donated when I can get a BRAND NEW item that was NEVER USED for the same price. SHAME ON ALL OF THEM! GOODWILL, THRIFT TOWN, VALUE VILLAGE, SALVATION ARMY and all the thrift stores SHAME ON YOU! And putting VINTAGE or ANITQUE on an item does not make it automatically priceless!
We went to a local thrift store recently and found a dresser with some wear and tear but it was in overall good condition. They wanted $450 for it.
Long gone are the days that my brother found a platinum necklace at VV for $5.99. (Not so long gone -- their miscellaneous "grab bags" which included the contents of people's medicine cabinets, like used razors. My neighbour called the health board about that). They've had professional pricers for at least a decade, but prices have gone up startlingly in the last year or two. Certain items, like earrings, which used to be plentiful , have almost disappeared. They're only selling the highest end items, so the rest is either being sold on or goes into the landfill. This is an interesting article about their deceptive practices: "Value Village Rebuked By Judge For Deceiving Consumers", invw dot org
Today i needed a black dress for a funeral, and i damn sure couldn't afford it at the price my local thrift store dared to charge. Thought i walked into a wormhole and came out in bloomingdales. Luckily i knew this was a depressing possibility, so i wore some clothes i planned to donate, changed into a dress, and put my donations on some hangers. They wanna play hardball? Do let's.
Load More Replies... Goodwill is more like Greed will, the price people must be smoking crack
I still find good buys at Goodwill Last Winter l found a lovely Max Mara designer coat for $9.99....obviously the pricer lady didn't realise the value. The coat is genuine camel hair and vicuna... Lovely and soft...a great buy. !!
Load More Replies... I worked at a savers (same company) being in charge of pricing items and setting them out for sale. The actual problem is they give employees a quota. They have to put out X dollars worth of products a day. That leaves the employee with two options ... Work like Speedy Gonzales on crack .. or put a higher price on everything. I quit in 2 weeks because I refused to give things a ridiculous price nor would I bust my behind for them for minimum wage.
Value Village is a FOR PROFIT thrift shop(Savers in the US). They donate to not for profits to be able to say they "do good". The pricing department researches prices online & prices according to their findings. A designer shirt will always be more expensive than a plain t-shirt. They also throw away at least half of the stuff donated to them.. They do this because they are FOR PROFIT. If you want to do some good, find another thrift shop to shop at.
Also, they pay legitimate charities to solicit donations on their behalf. If you don't want your donations going to a for-profit, be careful who you donate too. If they are not operating their own stores, they are likely being sold by the pound to a for-profit.
Load More Replies... For the record, Value Village has always been overpriced - stick to Sally's (Salvation Army), St. Vinnie's (St. Vincent de Paul) and Goodwill for the love of your pocketbook. I have found thrift stores that support local charities like animal shelters, Teen Challenge, etc... to be better yet.
I have found Value village to be overpriced for a decade or more. I visited one, years ago, that was right across the parking lot from a walmart. I was looking at white t- shirts and they actually had a Walmart brand t-shirt that was visibly used and they wanted a dollar less than a new one at walmart. Now why would I or anyone else on a budget choose that over a new one to save only a dollar? I was outraged by that and haven't shopped at a VV since. Instead I prefer the church owned ones, run by volunteers. There's a great one in the BC interior that frequently does a $2.00 bag day, which helps move the old stuff out to make room for the new. This helps everyone. There is no need for greed when the goal is supposed to be helping those less fortunate.
Load More Replies... That's what we call a tax write off. Sell nothing, get big bucks back.
I had this issue at a savers recently. I saw a rue21 top for $9. Thats how much that shirt would have cost new. I just walked right out. True charity shops, the ones with a single location that benefit a local charity/cause tend to a bit harder to go to, (location isnt near by, limited hours, some closed on weekends) but its definitely worth it.
Their stores in Chicago go by the name Unique. What I hate is when you find something without a price tag and they won't put a price on it and say it can't be sold. They claim that customers remove the price tags. I don't believe that. What would be the point of a customer removing the price tag and then they can't buy it either? So they'll send the item to the back to be priced by a pricer and then you have to come back the next day and hope that you can still find it. That isn't something I can do. I love that last comment in the article. "And they got it for free." I have definitely seen and actually bought a Dollar Tree store product for a little over a dollar just because I rarely get out and didn't know if it was still sold at Dollar Tree stores. I noticed that the Kitchen Aide stand mixer did not have a bowl. I would think the bowl that fits the stand would be essential. I laughed at the dirty Bob's shoes priced, at 12. Crazy.
Yes, it's common practice. Here's the reasoning - pull the tag off and see if the cashier will sell it for less or the back of house pricer will reprice it lower. If not, nothing lost. If so, you've received a discount. The reason some won't sell it until the next day is to discourage this. Maclimore wrote a song about it -- 'popping tags'
Load More Replies... If you saw the house that the people who own Value Village live in you’ll understand why everything is so expensive. Property taxes have skyrocketed over the last couple years, they’ve gotta pay those somehow. F*****g ridiculous. Perfect example of greedy corporate America.
I've seen garage sales with nicer merch for sale. Why not just stop going there?
If you are going to donate it to a company who is going to re-sell it for 100% profit and slap a price on there that is ridiculous, just find someone who needs it and give it to them.
In Australia there are a lot of Buy Nothing facebook groups popping up for exactly that reason...sick of having it be resold for massive prices when you just wanted to give it for free to help someone out .
Load More Replies... I get mad as hell when i pass by a Value Village drop off depot and see mounds of clothes and furniture piled up that have been donated by mostly well meaning people who think that the proceeds of the sale of said items will be going to charity. Well it isn't. Or very little does. The money goes into the pockets of the owner of the company who has to do nothing to get massively rich. It is all given to him and all he has to do is get very low wage earner to work in his stores. It is disgraceful and i wish people would STOP giving him this merchandise to sell when they could be giving it to a reputable charity shop that actually gives the proceeds of sales to charity. Charities that actually do something to help people, animals etc. Wake up people.
I'll be honest I don't really care if any money goes to charity or not. Thrift shops keeps stuff out of a land fill and give poor people a way to obtain goods at more affordable prices. The way they price things is the real problem.
Load More Replies... Goodwill is just as bad, I’ve been to some that are worse even. There was a Goodwill where I lived and we used to buy vhs’s (we had an old van with a vhs player) and they were great for my kid and long car rides. One day I went in, got my 5 vhs’s for a dollar and they decided to change the price for this ancient technology to $1 a pop. This is just straight greed and I’m sure that most of those vhs ended up in the trash because no one in this day and age is going to spend $1 on one. Pretty sure they find a way to pocket a lot of that money too. There was one goodwill where the store manager made over $400,000 annual salary.
$1 isnt that bad if you consider the fact that they are rarer and rarer and people do collect them . It could be MUCH worse. Ive seen vhs that were like $5 just cause they were clamshells and disney 🙃
Load More Replies... Good will stopped selling higher end items and video games in most stores, now they auction them off on ebay or there own goodwill auction site where it goes for way more.. So those that could use the items or something nice for the kids at a good price are new selling for way more and the community doesnt see this money, goodwill has dozens of CEO's across the country making 6 figures.. A non profit company shouldnt have CEOs making so much
I thought it was just me who thinks the prices at thrift stores are absurd. It is supposed to be a place you could go and get stuff you can afford and not break you but unfortunately they be trying to get rich off people that don't have extra money to play with,were better off buying it new I'm not gonna get something used when I can get it new for less.will I think it's just sad but I'm glad others are noticing it.
I saw a Dollar Store item for much higher price. I pointed out to an employee. She arrogantly said,"you don't have to buy it." I recently bought some plastic containers. The next day I was at Dollarama and saw exactly same for less than half price. I wrote to Value Village. They replied that they'd pass this information to the relevant store. Extremely disappointing.
Was the employee wrong? Why do they owe you a certain price level?
Load More Replies... One thrift in my city that has gone crazy … Habitat for Humanity. Far too many times over the past few years I have found products I could and did buy cheaper from Home Depot. It’s sad, I want to support but I can’t afford to anymore.
I hate that place they have always been way to expensive for us
Load More Replies... At my local thrift store, I found a red guitar hero controller that was super grimy, missing the whammy bar, and had no battery case. I thought "I can take it home and refurbish it" because Guitar Hero 5 controllers have the best strumbars in the entire series AND they fit really nicely in my large hands (plus they're really durable). I looked at the price? **Thirteen. Dollars.** I kid you not. $13 for a broken, dirty guitar hero controller.
Value Village is a bit like a casino now. The house always wins. You go there, you usually end up losing money. But, if you stay in the game long enough, that perfect hand might come along, and you take the house. I bought a nice Brooks Brothers leather bag for $12, while nylon bags embroidered with the name of someone's newspaper subscription sat on the shelf for $20. If they're dumb enough to price dollar store items for $7, they're also dumb enough to sometimes let something nice slip through their fingers for a pittance. And, one final word: the new self checkout kiosks at VV mean that it's now easier than ever to peel a $1.99 price tag, put it on anything you want, scan it yourself, and walk out the door ✌
I was told Savers was a nonprofit when I was hired on at one in the US. I was informed that this is why I wouldn't see a raise in my future because we have our charity to look after. If you've ever worked in the sweat-shop known as "production" then you'd argue that prices aren't high enough for what we had to go thru in the back to bring out the "sellable" items. But that was 7yrs ago and the production workers didn't see more than minimum wage. Same at Goodwill, minimum wages and slave labour! How do they keep workers? Most of their laborers are ex cons or "recovering" addicts, people who are desperate to be hired. Goodwill even hires handicapped folks who have other incomes ie. SSI/SSDI and by doing that they get gov. kickbacks! Total nightmare for anyone just looking to get good deals as an employee or trying to help out the community. Smh
"Village des Voleurs" !! As a dedicated punster in both English and French, je l'aime beaucoup!
I work at a charity thrift store, and most of these items wouldn't even be put in our store. All electrical appliances get checked by an electrician and we clean everything. If it's broken (like the fan and the picture frame) it gets thrown out. Those glass vases we'd sell for fifty cents for example.
This is why I no longer donate to thrift stores. I donate to shelters or just take the stuff to work and put it in the break room in a tote and mark that it is free.
I've noticed this trend over the last year or so at the Goodwill stores in the Phoenix Arizona area! I've come across Russell Brand shirts for guys my size(3xl) priced at $12.99 consistently. Yet I've purchased the same shirts at a local Walmart fir $9.99 and as low as $5.99 when on clearance! Goodwill here used to have half price Saturday's once or twice a month also but that was "temporarily" discontinued about a year ago and of course never seen ever since! Ripoff artists they are!
And whoever buys that mixer's still going to be dropping a bunch on stuff like a BOWL. I'm quite sure my comparable mixer for $230 brand new (back around 2013) was a better deal.
I just got one for Christmas and it was $300 for the entire mixer with bowl and an extra veg shredder attachment. I browsed the bowls they sell individually and the cheapest stainless steel one was I think $55. And I'm talking USD so CAD would be more. I definitely wouldn't buy an unknown second hand one for $200CAD! Maybe worth it but maybe not, my mom has had hers nearly 20 years and it's still a champ!
Load More Replies... My grandma used to go every day to Goodwill to the point the workers were her best friends, it was the saddest thing when we went in and they asked where she was cause she wasn't in for a week and we told them she passed....... she used to spend about 200 bucks a day there {rich old woman did this for over 20 years, that's 15 years before I was adopted!} she used to buy us toys and clothes and just buy out the store, I was only with the woman for 4 years but I got more stuff and love from her in those years then i did in my past 12 years~ everyday was Christmas, we would give toys to friends, give them out by the bag full at schools and I found my love of art and books, but back to the topic, The prices were always mostly under 5.99 to 10.99 and sadly we can no longer go into those stores now and buy the huge amount of stuff we liked {all of it was to charity too, we never went to places that didn't go to it}
There was a goodwill by my old house that would always price their items around the same as Walmart or Target. I remember buying a radiator heater there for $25. I thought it was a good deal. Go home a inbox it only to find out the base was missing and therefore unusable. I had to go buy material and wheels to make the base that was SUPPOSED to be included. A week or two later I’m in Walmart and see the same heater, brand new, for… $25 🤦♀️
I know they are really getting out of hand with the high price and yes alot is from the $ store they mark for $5.00, I ran in to look for something I needed it shouldn't have been only a $1. They wanted $12.00 and it was broken unusable. I found it on clearance at Walmart new for 50¢. So sad they gotten so greedy, also fyi goodwill is for there own profit only 05¢ of each thing sold goes to any charity.
I was in both Goodwill and value village after they both raised their prices significantly and upon noticing this I went to the manager and asked them directly why everything was all of a sudden so much more expensive even by thrift standards? Both of the managers at both places literally said that because people steal so much from them, they've had to raise their prices to make up the difference.. when all of their inventory is donated for free? Meaning no overhead except electricity and plumbing employees salaries etc? Which is hardly anything anyways for companies that have a billion dollars sitting in their bank account. These places are cheating thieving greedy and unpleasant. I wish there was a large thrift store that I could go to to find the clothing that I like, and I could actually just pay whatever I'm getting is actually worth. Oh well .......
Goodwill??? For who?? I can't believe they have auctions on line,where things are going for 1000s of dollars! They only give 1/8 of there income to charities. When did they begin thinking that they were antique dealers ? Art dealers ect. They get everything free & sellling it to the highest bidder . That is b******t! So saying they are helping anyone least of all the people & children who truly need it is a joke! Check how much the ceo of this place makes a year . YOU WONT BELIEVE IT!
Goodwill is a charity! Why would they give it to another? There are 150+ GWs. Which CEOs salary are you writing about?
Load More Replies... And why doesn't Goodwill clean things up or even out. I asked why they don't clean purses out and the girls insisted they do....I said really, as I dumped a handful of ibuprofen out of a purse from their rack. I said this is downright dangerous! They are round and brown, a kid may think they are chocolate candies!
Dang been in there so long they oxidized from red to brown yikes
Load More Replies... Value vVillage is a for profit company. They donate tiny amounts to charity. Stop donating your stuff to them. Instead clean it up and take it to your local food banks where people who really are in need get it for free. Or to places like non profits that actually support communities and programs for those in need.
You missed one point, Bored Panda: more people are shopping at Thrift stores because wages are still at 1970s levels accounting for inflation. We are all getting cheated by capitalism. People are poor.
I suggest you move somewhere in the world where you don't have to worry about getting cheated by capitalism then. See how well that works out for you.
Load More Replies... I knew this would come to a head. YouTube thrifters did this. When you give the price and then price of what you'll sell it for is the downside. Employees now watch these channels and price the item's because of this. In other word's. They shot themselves and customers in the foot.
I use to work for Goodwill in Washington State, and I know for a fact they take all valuable items and put them on Ebay to sell never letting the local public see it. They sell empty glade candle jars for almost $9.00. All of these second hand stores are claiming that money goes to a good cause, I personally would like to see the paperwork on that and where it goes before I would believe them. It's ugly and sad that they are getting away with this. They should be ashamed.
Look up the Form 990 that all non-profits must file with the IRS. It'll tell you what you want to know.
Load More Replies... I, like many seniors just don't have the cash to buy items new sometimes. However when recently shopping at a Value Village I saw a good used bath chair; looking at the price asked $29.99 I nearly fell down. Looked on Kijiji when I got home I found one new in the box with tub rail to help get in for $10. People need to shop around on local sites and "Free Items" on such dites will shock you.....because kind people out there are giving away good useable items. Thanks to these kind souls. Please avoid Value Village until the company gets humble and lower its prices. Just to let you know that most employees who work there have spoken to me about the shame they feel. Spring is here and yard sales will help too.
The pandemic and influencers destroyed thrift culture, people who rely on thrifting for basic goods can no longer find the quality, nor the value. Due to scalpers and influencers upselling and hoarding used goods
I won't donate anything to Value Village, they collect for diabetes, they pay pennies on the dollar to diabetes & then ask way too much !
If you donate to any store, make it the Salvation Army. While their CEO gets paid, the salary they take is way less than other charities. Most of the other charity places see the money going into the pockets of the higher ups, including Goodwill. And the Salvation Army uses the money to provide meals, homeless shelters and emergency goods to families that are victims of disasters. Also consider donating to local charity shops. One in my area called Salty Paws donates all of their proceeds to local animal shelters and animal rescues.
Switching labels is shoplifting. No matter the reason. Just don't shop there.
I only shop at second-hand stores that are not for profit. They’re using the money to help the less fortunate.
I worked at an Ontario Value Village for about 6 months. The prices are jokes, and not all that much money/items actually ends up at whatever charity they're touting to support. You'd be better off buying the crap brand-new, it might even be cheaper. Not to mention, nothing is guaranteed to be tested for function/safety before it heads to the floor and the sorting zones are too small & chaotic to begin with!
Thank you for calling out these places goodwill just as guilty these stores are made of donations to boot and are suppose to be christian because the item has a brand name they feel like they can ramp up the prices well someone less fortunate have the right to be able to dress and cant even in a second hand store rediculous!!!!
I have a question. Recently l bought a lightweight goretex jacket at Goodwill. When preparing to wash it....l found a $20.00 bill in one of the many pockets. Can l keep the money. ??
Load More Replies... It’s like this all over. I don’t mind paying a little more for disabled or supporting our troops, but prices have become outrageous. I do more browsing than shopping nowadays.
We have the same problem over here (Netherlands) with 'het goed', a trift store. Dog bowl from another store (0.99) they sell it for 2.50. Same baby toy priced 2 euro's and 5 euro's. No difference in quality. Selling an old coat for the price of a new one. They have people working there that decide the price. From what I heard from someone that worked there they should price articals with the help of a book. But they just freestyle at best most of the time. The selling crew, or those on the floor keeping the store presentable are the once that people will complain (or even yell at). They are sick and tired of it as well as 'us' but those 3 lunatics wont listen. You just have to get lucky with the prices I guess. Got some very nice shoes (like new) for 10 euro's. Totally worth it.
Those three lunatics hahaha. I can them Goodwill crackheads. I always love finding decent Giant and GT and Trek bikes for $19.99-29.99 and then flat tire rusted chain Walmart s**t bikes for $69.99-149.99. who prices this s**t?
Load More Replies... I shop at St Giles stores in the UK and their prices seem to be going up a fair bit. Used shoes for 8-10 pounds seems to be the standard.
I live in west Yorkshire in the UK. Even in my little town the prices are mad! Balls of wool that are 3 for £2 in poundland, they sell for £1.50 each!
Load More Replies... I work at a thrift store and it took about a year of bickering to decide how expensive rare comic books should be in our store
Yes, I am sure they get some expensive items donated and why should they not get a fair price. There are also people who scour thrift stores to find under priced items to resell themselves and make a profit. They also have items that people looking for necessities will not buy that are fair game for pricing. I just hope that people who are in desperate need are taken care of better. There is a difference between needing and getting a deal.
Load More Replies... That is insane!! They should be ashamed of themselves for even thinking someone would buy that dirty broken c**p for such insane prices!! I mean if you are going to insult me by selling me used overpriced items at least have the common courtesy to clean it up first!! Atleast then I will feel like I am paying you for putting effort into it!! I have had yard sales I put more effort into than they have their whole store!!!
Ya but here is the thing, this is not limited to thrift stores!! I myself have been selling items on a couple online sale apps and have noticed items for sale way over their original price. For an example I went to our local dollar tree and purchased these rub transfer stickers. I have a weakness for stickers and temp tattoos. A few weeks later I was just browsing on Mercari and noticed the same exact rub transfer stickers someone had listed for $10. A sheet!!! I about fell out!! I couldn't help but send the seller a question. I asked if they did not know the stickers could be bought at dollar tree for $1.00?!! I never got an answer and was blocked by them but I also could not help but notice they had actually sold some at that outrageous price!!! Actually had quite a few sales!!! Now I admit I have been guilty of upping the price of items I have for resale by a dollar or two just so that I can have a slight profit but no way would ever consider trying to make a gain of 100% over!!
I noticed the spiraling prices started when Gopher became CEO of Goodwill 15-20 years ago.
When Walmart bought Value Village, that was the end of the " value. I saw a sweater I really liked but it had stains on it. It was priced for $10.99 which is ridiculous for a start. I asked for some money off and was told "We don't discount for dirt " I have not been there since & won't ever go again. That sweater would have been clean , pressed and $5 at our lovely Hospital Thrift store. That's where I'm shopping & donating now.
Goodwill is not a charity. Look up on pinterest noncharity thrift stores.
I know the Manager of a local Vallue Village. I also knew what his salary was. That was the reason I stopped donating or buying there.
If it’s going to cost more or the same brand new at Walmart or target,don’t buy it second hand. I’m very careful what I buy at goodwill or savers now.
I get offended because here in Las Vegas at Goodwill prices start at $5. No bartering allowed& it's pathetic. Savers can be outrageous also but I've been able to change the staffs mind. I prefer Deseret industries. They're decent prices for everything and their clothes are kick a*s for the money
I don’t go to Value Village anymore because of this exact reason. I saw a sweater priced at $34.99, used with a hole in it from a store that sells them new at 2 for $30. It’s disgusting. A lot of people who don’t have much money go there and think they’re getting a deal when going to Dollarama and Walmart is way cheaper. I even brought the pricing issue up with a manager once and they said they price things by going online, finding the items original price then tagging the item at 40% of the brand new cost. That was bs, since they have literal used garbage for double the cost.
Our local Goodwill and an abilities Unlimited store have these two women who are "besties" as the managers. These two ridiculous women have decided to run these places as "Boutiques" and have increased the prices on these DONATED ITEMS by pricing them at 75% of their value when they were new. They. call each item "gently used or previously loved" Like a 5 year old pair of Nikes for $65 or one of those cheap Chinese smartwatchs for $85 even though you can buy the very same one brand new on Stack Social for $15 bucks. They say the money is for a good cause but BOTH women are now remodeling their homes and each bought a new car on the same day. Sounds like someone is pocketing the profits and paying the bare minimum to the charity.
I looked up Canadian law on selling used goods, this refers to garage sales but applies certainly to thrift stores: "The Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (CCPSA) is administered by Health Canada. Its purpose is to protect the public by addressing and preventing dangers to human health or safety that are posed by consumer products in Canada. The CCPSA and its regulations do not distinguish between new and used products. Any person who sells, distributes, or gives away consumer products that do not comply with the current regulatory requirements is breaking the law in Canada." via: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/consumer-product-safety/reports-publications/consumer-education/facts-garage-sale-vendors.html
Considering most of these places don't pay a dime for all their inventory, the prices are ridiculous. I quit going to Goodwill because of high prices for trash. You can by new at WM for what they charge.
I think re sale is a noble idea but the issue also lies in the fact that new items are not made to last and sell already for dirt cheap esp from China so since that is the case, there really is no space for resell goods at all unless the store is marking them for free practically. Maybe there should be a cap that nothing is over 5 dollars...
After all this one thing hurts me the most: they put the sticker ontop of the artwork. Edit: Just saw this is an old post. Sorry
Stuff is dirty or smelly or just so plain and ordinary looking at valie villages on Vancouver island...ive hated my wardrobe since i lived here ..i cant affird brand brand new and just barely can afford what value village here offers.... in ont. The store has theclothing and everything cleaned and looked over before putting it on shelf....like why does a dress at a thrift store ..and a not even anything special lookin dress cist me 20 to 30 bucks?....i dont get it
Idk about Value Village, but I have a HUGE problem with Goodwill in the US. They use deceptive branding and marketing to make people think they're donating to a charity when really they're a for profit company. They hire mentally disabled employees and pay them as little as a penny per item of clothing hung on the rack. They only hire the disabled to take advantage of laws that say you don't have to pay them as much. Their prices have also gone up. While not nearly as bad as this place seems to be I've noticed used clothing (especially in the men's section) going for way higher than second-hand, donated items should be. T-shirts for $7 when I can get them at wal-mart for $5-9. Pants for 10 that would be $9-12 new. All of these types of places are designed to trick well-meaning people into giving them free inventory and maximizing profit by taking advantage of the disable and poor.
Yeah and at my local habitat for humanity restore, which is 3 hours out of NYC, I was told that since store owners from the city come up to buy cheap and sell for more the restore jacks up their prices and that’s the day I stopped shopping at thrift stores. It’s really messed up when people who need these resources are being priced out of second hand shops. Gentrification of life has to stop.
Because your big "thrift stores" like Salvation Army and Goodwill, know that some people shop there not for themselves, as in, I really need a pair of cheap jeans for work, but to buy cheap items to resale. And Goodwill themselves do this. They keep the good items and ship them to a main warehouse and those items go on Ebay or their "bidding" site.
Notice the broken bird tail pinned to the picture frame that the store priced at $7??
At least the "Where did you get your clothes from? Goodwill?" insults ain't gonna work anymore cuz even goodwill is becoming expensive LOL
It’s the same in Australia, and it’s insulting to the people who donated the items
As someone who grew up in a family too poor to get clothes anywhere but from thrift stores, seeing what's happened to them thanks to the stupid media icons who "upcycle" and "revamp" and spend more money than they could need on clothes a bunch of clothes they could easily afford to get elsewhere, makes me so SO angry. I understand some of you've got a job of some sort to do, but you could do it just as easily at a ross or hot topic or something with your rich having A**
Most thrift stores are jacking their prices because a lot of people are repurposing what they buy then reselling it on Marketplace or ebay
And Goodwill and Salvation Army thrift stores are just as awful nowadays.
This was my experience of living in Denmark in 2011/12 except that everything was c**p quality and overpriced.
I quit shopping at Thrift stores about 15 years ago when I realized that I was not saving any money and I was buying junk - that Ross, Marshall's, and Home Goods had similar prices for brand new items, plus these stores didn't stink, and the floors were cleaner. Fred Meyers is good for pricing too.
Our local thrift stores are being taken over by those people who come in and raid the place for things to sell on their Ebay stores. Its sad bc it's originally for low income families. Clothes & shoes for $1 but then people come in grab the good stuff in bulk and within a few hours are selling it for $20+
This has been going on for quite some time. Around 2010 I noticed that the local thrift stores were charging just as for their used items as walmart et al were charging for the same stuff brand new. I later also noticed that they had stopped doing consignment and switched to taking donations only. Nowadays all but one of the local thrift shops are shuttered and the one that remains, folks typically donate trash that they can’t bin or burn.
Some of the prices, especially of small appliances are out of whack. No one goes to a thrift store to spend those prices. However, you’ve got to remember that prices are going up on everything and even thrift stores have costs, like employee salaries, rent and utilities. Value Village is for profit also. They generally have very good, clean, quality items, not like old thrift stores where many things were really old, broken, and clothes were wrinkled, dirty, unfashionable and smelling of mildew.
That is nuts. How do they get away with$30 for that $15 retail coffeemaker? And I thought Ollie’s in my town was bad. It’s retail prices for discount store merchandise, but at least the stuff is new.
Was I agree the good will in my area has nothing under 5 bucks or actually 479 even stuff from the dollar store I live in Tracy California most of the prices are off the charts it's gotten ridiculous the clothing used to be a set price for everything like tops for five bucks or four bucks all done with $5 now every item is priced individually and I'm sure they're sales have gone down cuz I see the same stuff in there month after month after month it's gotten ridiculous it's out of hand and I don't understand cuz they're overhead didn't go up but for Goodwill sake they're opening a bunch of new stores and then charging customers twice as much
Same here in Sweden. It’s getting so popular with second hand items that they become overly priced. It’s about learning which thrift stores to visit and which ones to avoid. But I don’t understand how the expensive ones can exist. Why are people buying worn out items for full price?
The only thrift store I go to on the regular is a Salvation army one. 'Basic' clothes are $2 or $3, the fancier ones like wedding dresses...maybe $20? The most expensive thing I've seen there was a wooden kids bunk bed type thing with a desk and drawers and matresses as a part of it for $400. I can get a fair amount of stuff for under $10 ($5 minimum if I use a debit card) I know they aren't very LGBT+ friendly, but when I was homeless I stayed in a SA shelter so I like to try and pay it back a bit
Sadly, this is the trend at thrift stores. It seems it must be happening across America, and I thought it was just something going on in my region. It's greed, plain and simple. People from the upper classes are buying more from these stores (looking for antiques and vintage items to sell online or in their shops), and since they can spend more, the thrift stores are raising prices accordingly. It used to be a student who had maybe a couple bucks at most could go buy some old clothes, now forget it. Since vintage became popular a while ago, trendy vintage shops go to thrift stores, buy up all the old clothing, clean it and sell it for premium in their boutiques. TV and online influencers tell people how much they can make by picking through thrift shops. So, once again, the greed of making money by those who already have it has taken over one of the last bastions of affordable goods for the less fortunate and the thrift shops are no better by taking advantage of it.
Thrift store prices have gotten out of control. I had a house fire in 2014. My wife and I went to Goodwill to get some cheap clothes, because we literally only had the clothes we were wearing. We each got about week's worth of clothes (jeans and t-shirts, and I got a jacket) and spent about $30 total for everything. I went to our local thrift store last week, and the cheapest pair of jeans was $25. What the hell? $25 for used pants? I can get a new pair cheaper at Target.
I stopped going yearsssss ago... because it would put me in a 🤬 mood. They are NUTS what they want for used goods...most often, dirty, damaged and poor quality to begin with! Because thrifting has become a popular thing to do the last several years...charity /thrift stores have pushed pricing higher and higher... until it's no longer a viable option for many.
My family were immigrants who moved to Canada and we would shop at Value Village (back in 1997). It was very helpful to get things like dishes and such that you needed to put a home together. It is not an easy transition, and with everything being so expensive right now Value Village would be helping many families out (not just immigrants). They should be looking to change how they are approaching their sales system.
Well to be fair Canada is a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiitle different from the USA
This article is kind of old but just popped up in my feed. And I 💯 agree. Thrift store prices are completely out of control, particularly at Value Village (aka Valü Vilâge). I'm from Ontario, and I know Vancouver is known for being a very expensive place to live but in the greater Toronto area, it's not much better. I've recently moved to the east coast and prices out here are wild with certain things too.
In Arizona it’s easy to tell if it’s a charity. When looking at your sales receipt, you’ll see if you were charged sales tax . If you weren’t, it is a non profit; ie charity!
I do PAT testing for a charity shop. that fan should not have been allowed onto the shop floor with a fracture like that, the toaster should have been cleaned at the very least, and that coffee machine is at least 6x what it should be going by how it looks and presumably doesn't have any safety features either good lord, forget prices, they're going to kill someone with faulty electronics
I just can’t go to Value Village without bringing my friend who I know always intentionally pinches something from them. I look at the outrageous prices and think s**t they need to be robbed! Sorry, not sorry actually.
And PLEASE spare us the well WORN OUT BS that it’s inflation! The liberal/socialists have run that LIE into the ground!
I went to a Cancer charity shop today, "The Opportunity Shop" in Menlo Park, CA. And I heard a woman asking why a plate or something was so expensive when she could buy a new one for the same or less, and the volunteer LITERALLY said - that's what they are getting for it on EBay. (I suspect they are looking at ASKING prices, not SOLD prices.) A lot of us shop thrift to RESELL on eBay, and they are asking RETAIL prices!
I can buy new or nearly things at a discount store (Amazon and other store returns and closeouts) for way less than this thrift shop is pricing them. It is ludicrous to expect thrifters to pay retail prices at a thrift store.
You can get a coffee pot like that for like $12 at Walmart. Highway robbery right there!
I literally was thinking to myself within the firat paragraph...wonder if this is in vancouver lol...it is.... I moved to Vancouver island from a small community in ontario just over two years ago....and was so shocked the first time i hit up value village here...i dont have tons of money to throw around so value village is my go to always and i always loved it even when i could afford new i would choose value village ...back home in ontario the value village me and my bestie went to almost everyday was awsome....always had name brands ..good clean items ..like new looking . Nothing had rips or stains or smelled bad ....i like finding clothing that is more vintage woodstock feel to it cuz im diffrent its just me..and my bestie was very boujie ... ...and valie village back home covered all that for us ... shoes omg shoes ...heels wedges hightops..white shoes were actually white...i could spend 50 or 60 bucks and leave with like 5 outfits incl accessories...... Here, 20$ might get one o
The community I live in has a Freestore to keep usable items out of the landfill. It's at our recycling depot and is run by volunteers. Everything is free to take; if you no longer need something that's still useful you can just drop it off. It's been running since the 80s and the district payed for our new building when the old volunteer-built one finally deteriorated. It's a proven model, and whenever I admire someone's fancy linen pants or great new shoes, the reply is most often "Freestore!"
"anyone can write on Bored Panda" ... this "story" nicely illustrates that...
In my area Thrift Stores are privately owned, for profit businesses. I only shop and donate to Salvation Army, Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity Restore Stores. At least they are benefiting the community. I realize there are other similar options but none are near me. A Wayfair warehouse was recently built near the Restore Store I frequent. They donate hundreds of new, in the original box items each month. Gorgeous pieces but not what I am searching for. They are definitely bargain prices.
I am so glad you brought this up?!! Thank you!! I started noticing this trend about 2 years ago here in in New England USA. I used to go to Goodwill stores looking to save money, as my family budget is very tight. I just got disgusted. I THOUGHT GW and thrift shops were for those who couldn't afford much? And what pisses me off is they get all their inventory for FREE! Even our church thrift shop prices are creeping up. It goes against the whole principle of giving those who need help a break. They can keep it all, as far as I'm concerned. Thanks again for posting about it. I felt like I was the only one bugged about it?
Half that stuff I wouldn't even have in my house it's so nasty. Those items should be at goodwill for FREE
Oh and I meant the goodwill that I thought went to poor people for nothing. I didn't realize they had a thrift store also. I don't really do thrifting I'm too much of a germ phobe
Load More Replies... If you want to make a difference and actually help people give your donations to homeless shelters, crisis centers, charities etc the donations actually go to someone in need I used to love going to thrift stores when prices were reasonable but not anymore I can’t even afford it!
I still shop at Habitat for Humanity's thrift store and all of the thrifts that are in support of one specific place like a hospital or animal shelter. They tend to have better stuff and good prices. Savers/Value Village, GoodWill, ARC, and St. Vincent DePaul stores are quite overpriced. You are better off going to garage sales where you can plug something in and see how it works. It also pays to know what things cost brand new and have a sense of which old things are worth more.
Lots of misinformation on here. I'm a former GW manager and will try clear up a few things around GW and donations in general. 1) Goodwill is a non-profit. Always has been. 2) Some CEOs make 6 figures, some don't. 3) There are over 150 GWs in the US. All work independently, but as part of GW Industries. 4) All file a form 990 with the IRS. You can view the 990 to see what the CEO earns, as well as other top managers. Go to the IRS site or ProPublica. 5) Donations all come with a cost - cost to sort, cost to store, cost to sell. Our average trash bill was over $5K/mo. That's after recycling everything possible and selling unsold/unsellable textiles to salvage companies. People 'donate' junk so they can get a receipt for tax purposes but GW won't refuse it as it's bad PR. 6) GW pays rent, utilities, employees, employee taxes, fuel for trucks, truck leases, tuck and property insurance, benefits, etc. just like every other business. 7) The remaining revenue goes to the Mission.
No way in hell theres only 150 of them. My town thats super small has 3 of them
Load More Replies... Value village has always been the biggest rip off. Just stop going there. They will either lower their prices or go under. You have the power!
Reminds me of Poshmark and other second hand places. I laugh when I see the prices these places are asking for and seeing items priced at more than they sell new! In the article I'd say the trash can was fair (good shape just dirty and looked like good quality)..and that's it. We really need to do better bc second hand should be the norm, we need to stop w the excessive consumerism, our environment (our future!) relies on us making these changes.
This is happening all over the world. Charities raise billions and only put millions back into their causes. The rest go to CEOs and other high salaried staff. Just look at the Susan B. Komen Foundation's financial records & it will tell you everything you need to know about where the $$ goes....
I'd pay $7 for that bird picture frame if I liked blue jays. If the birds were cardinals I'd pay more so I'd have a nice frame for my late grandma's photo because she loved "red birds"
I live in Arizona USA and the local Goodwill used to be the place to shop for a really good deal, but now it is doing the same thing as your Value Village they are all run by major company's and think they sell retail, it is really a shame to think you can't buy second items for secondhand prices. An employee told me they look on the internet on eBay for the price to charge.
It's those "professional thrifters" like the one interviewed in the article that are to blame. Maybe YOU need to stop buying out all the "deals" just to resell on marketplace. It's absolutely bonkers this person is complaining about the prices as they make their money off of doing nothing except taking the deals feom people who need them.
~ I totally 💯% agree! I rarely go to already Village but even here in New Brunswick, it's the same. Lots of crafting stuff found at dollar stores that sell for 2x $. Clothes being sold for same $ found at some retail stores. Just ridiculous & this is stuff that people give/drop at their location. Some say it is due to inflation? I say "baloney"! The stuff is given for free, no transportation fees to them. ~
Goodwill is like this, and it's one of the reasons I hate when people do ThredUp sponsorships. ThredUp makes it seem like you're getting a great deal because they're priced lower than the original cost, except the person who donated it was barely paid anything and ThredUp is making this huge profit.
The thrift store in my city does the following: When they get new items, they are somewhat expensive. Then 2 weeks later, of the items are not purchased by anyone, they put a big discount on it (like 50%). This allows people with more money to snatch up the items they really really want first. But no worries, there are still many cool items left for those who aim for the sale. Also, the store can easily clean out the shelves this way, before the new items come in.
Goodwill is the absolute worst about price gouging. Their s**t is free for Ducks sake and I've seen jeans in there for $27, a dresser for $200, etc. They don't help anyone with their fake job center, it has 2 1979 apple computers with dial up internet that says "job center" not really, but might as well be.
A skein of yarn from a project I was working on accidentally made it into a donation to VV once, and when we went to go buy it back it was 3 times the store price. The original label was still on and it would have been easy to look up the original price, so I don't know how they're running things.
This is called Greed, in the past the prices were ideal for those who were struggling financially, or those who had fun, buying some collectibles, it isn't nice to gouge the poor, especially those starting over, with nothing, as someone said those that have arrived from a war torn city, there are other examples, the list goes on, these days there are many more people that have trouble buying groceries, after paying the rent, not to mention, greed is what has the rent cost ludicrous, Also, the outrageous price to buy a home, Greed has grown like a monster !!!
Im from South Florida and have noticed recently a Goodwill store doing similar things. Have not been in a Goodwill in many years, as soon as I walked in, there are shelves with many brand new small items. I noticed the brand and price were EXACTLY the same as the items I just purchased a few moments ago at another store in same plaza. That store is called, Dollar tree. Recently they have raised their prices on everything by a quarter. Now its 1.25 per item. Now at that Goodwill, exact same items packaged were at least .69 cents to well over a dollar more than Dollar store. A mini surge extension cord that is 1.25 Goodwill wanted almost 5.00. This is a store that's suppose to spread Goodwill. 25 years ago I went into a different location & seen a used curling iron listed for 6.00 but once again, next door at Dollar General they had curling irons brand new for 3.00. So 25 years ago, was about how long I have noticed this price c**p. I hope many people will read and post more like this o
Keep in mind you live in Vancouver - the second most expensive city to live in, in the entire country. The VV can be pricy where I live, but nothing compared to the Lower Mainland. I do not think it is Value Village's fault - the blame belongs to Vancouver in general.
I live in a s****y small broke town in texas snd our thrift stores sr elioe this too dude
Load More Replies... This is just like Goodwill in America. STOP DONATING AND SHOPPING THERE!!!!!
TO THE AUTHOR: If you've recently moved to Vancouver, look for MCC Thrift stores - the prices are FAR better than VVs ... I haven't stepped foot in a VVs since I discovered the MCC 'chain' of stores!
This is because of stuff like Poshmark and other places where the people who have buy things meant for the poor and sell them marked up to those who have. It's really sad and disgusting to be honest.
I got a 4 slice toaster for like $14. $30 for dirty used 2 slice, that is just uncalled for. Most of those decorative items were Dollar Tree items, I recognize some of them.
I actually asked the manager of my local Goodwill and value village stores why they've raised their prices to such astronomical levels? And both stores managers told me that they had to raise their prices because people are stealing too much of their inventory and they had to literally make up the difference by raising their prices.. at a store that gets its inventory 100% for free because it's all donated? That inventory? Greedy greedy greedy greedy greedy
People steal from them so they are greedy? Explain. Their inventory is free but their employees aren't, their electricity bills aren't, their rent isn't etc.
Load More Replies... Ok im confused “used dirty old bobs, not even toms” Ok is it bobs or is it toms BTW 4 people who don’t get sarcasm well… it’s sarcasm
I worked at a Goodwill in Buckeye, Arizona. I processed linens, women accessories, and craft items. I can't tell you how many bed linens had blood, puke, rips, and stains on them. Stuff so nasty smelling I was retching on a daily basis. We had a quota to meet and it was impossible for me. Wasted so much time and effort unfolding items only to find out that they are TRASH. The only way I could have made quota was to do what the only person in my department did, just put EVERYTHING out on the floor. No, that's nasty. I hated the people who donated trash, who put their busted 60" TV in the box of the new one they bought and all the ancient purses with the pleather flaking off onto everything in sight, the Coach purse filled with dried vomit. Ripped, stained, torn, thread bare towels so thin you could see through them. What is wrong with people? Don't they have a trash service? Or is Goodwill their trash service? Just, nasty. The day I quit that job was the best thing about it.
I worked at a Goodwill processing linen's, purses, belts, ball caps and craft items. I can not tell you how many times I unfolded a sheet that had a pile of puke on it. Or blood. Or was ripped. Or looked as if it had been on the bed for three years and never washed one time. The smells...omg. Purses so old the fake leather had flaked off and onto everything. Knock off Coach and Michael Kohrs. People donated trash, plain and simple. I'd kill myself to make quota and never did because I was dealing with unfolding sheets/blankets/towels/comforters that needed to have been thrown out rather than donated.
So that's why everything's so much cheaper at the local thrift store. Wow, even at thrift stores you can see big store vs local business. Not that I mind, the local store is supposed to be "a safe haven from domestic violence" and is right next to another local business I love, so try have my support anyway
I agree that prices in "thrift" stores has gotten ridiculously expensive, for items that were given to them for nothing. One thing I noticed at the Value Village in my city, the amount of staff working at any time of day is way too many people doing nothing but getting a paycheck. If there wasn't so many floor walkers to watch over the donations maybe the prices wouldn't have to be so high. I've found a neighborhood sharing center that only charges $1-3 for clothing and nothing higher than $5 for household items, and 100% of money taken in goes back to help other charities in the city such as the local Food Bank. I think everyone should see if there's a local place like the sharing centre to donate to and shop at, more people could get the items they need for everyday life.
So, thrift stores are supposed to help everyone in a circle. 1st, the organization in which they are supporting, 2nd, the consumer that can’t afford retail prices. This benefits both parties , than as a positive side effect it helps keep garbage out of the landfill and is a beneficial relationship between all. Now, I understand the difference between for profit and not for profit and you usually or should find things cheaper at the not for profit businesses. But I have noticed the ridiculous inflation of prices at both. Who in their right mind would buy used and usually ugly products for more than they sell at a regular retail store? Thai stuff is mostly donated to begin with so their is such a level of greed that comes with this. Non profit thrift stores should be their to help the organization it supports along with the community (making available items for people with low income affordable). Hell, I’m thinking that these places might not even pay taxes , or receive heavy tax breaks.
I used to work adjacent to Goodwill , (we were a charity that got some of the items they couldn't sell). It was insane, we all clearly remember that there was a used notebook, just the regular coil notebooks you can get, it had about 2 free pages left, and they asked $2.00 for it. It's pretty disgusting, cities can easily set up these kinds of facilities, but they would rather private corporations do.
I thought goodwill was trying to support a cocktail habit...this place is coo-coo
Ooooo where can i join this boycott and make a capitalist cat. Can we also boycott salvation army??? Theyre racist homophobes who use homeless people tryna change their lives into slave wage work horses :o
Value Village is the worst. I don't mind a little inflation at the salvation Army because they are not profit motivated and a good portion of the money goes to charity as intended. But I don't think that's the case with Value Village. In fact, I think it's owned by Jimmy Pattison. Because that guy needs more money!
Please people! The original intent of thrift stores was to raise money for charity while helping people afford decent things. When I was a kid, a "thrift" store meant the Society of Saint Vincent dePaul, who used proceeds to help homeless people, or the Salvation Army. Goodwill is a little iffy, from what I understand, but did give $5 billion to charity. This looks like a total rip-off of the idea. Please stick to decent charities for your thrift stores!
They are a for profit company who sort donations and I believe purchase by weight from other places that receive them. Then they are sorted into departments and priced. They have an average price quaota and are supposed to know and do research on items received. Put out for sale. Tag colors are based on the day they were put out. Pulled every 3rd or 4th tag color and put with other unwanted items bailed and sold off by weight
Hey! Anybody slightly interested in disrupting the waste stream, please check into local groups that share and swap. I'm aware of issues with Facebook, but there are Buy Nothing groups for many neighborhoods and they now have an app as well. There is a for sale and free section on Nextdoor and don't forget garage sales! For myself, I really want to focus more on contributing to my nearby community and supporting my neighbors.
Almost all thrift stores I’ve gone to has overpriced stuff (like wth, its been used too!!!) so me and my parents go to America’s Thrift Store. Very reasonable prices and they arent stealing 👌 this angers my greatly that people are like “wow a used shirt that used to be $4 now lets make it $12”
I don't mind my local Value Village cause I get the feeling the employees and managers know there's no real benefit to them to hike prices to far out; and often I find stuff way under price:P..... however locally Salvation Army on the other hand, asking like $200 for a used stereo system; asking p**n shop prices pretty much without offering less, I stopped going there as it wasn't worth my time
Goodwill is the worst. Poor cannot but there. When I was fresh out of school, I would buy my scrubs there. Now the prices have doubled. It’s bs.
Wow, the coffee maker situation is practically criminal. I can find a brand new Hamilton Beach 12-cup programmable coffee maker at the nearest supermarket to me for US$20.99, which at CA$26.48 is a few dollars cheaper than the used coffee maker featured in this piece. The toaster situation is different because a 4-slice Hamilton Beach toaster is priced at US$40.99 but if you're ok with a 2-slice Proctor Silex toaster one can be had (bearing in mind that these are for NEW items) for US$13.99 (CA$17.65).
I used to love shopping at our local Habitat Re-Store. Not so much after doing a quick online price check for some brick pavers they were selling (only thought to because I used to be in sales in that industry). Regular price at Lowes - not clearance, not sale - was HALF the price per square foot. I would have bought a bunch if they were reasonable. When I brought up the discrepancy they shrugged and said, 'that's the price. Take it or leave it.' I left it, and I still have a bad taste in my mouth about that place. And yes, everything they receive is donated.
My entire high school life was spent going to these places for cool old t-shirts and pants...shirts would literally be like 50 cents to 2 dollars for a good one. I got an original "thriller" t-shirt for a quarter. It was 25 yrs old when I bought it at 16....it's pretty thin now but still in my closet. Not bad for being around 50 yrs plus old.
After working in a Savers I haven't been thrift shopping again(7yrs ago). I was told it was a nonprofit, which is why I wouldn't see a raise in my future without jumping thru hoops, basically, as that we "have our charity to take care of". There were complaints then about the prices being so high but I have to say, if you ever worked in the sweat shop known as "production" you would argue that prices weren't high enough. Not that it would matter because after working there I believe they would still pay minimum wages regardless of how much they charged for anything. They mostly hire people who are deemed unhireable by most companies, ie. ex cons and recovering addicts. People who are desperate to be hired! And Goodwill wasn't any better, they even hire disabled folks who are receiving SSI/SSDI and aren't totally dependant on their crappy wages. Not to mention Goodwill gets government kickbacks for those folks! Smh! Goodwill my butt!
Valu village is a for profit store . It all goes to one entity . Will never shop there . Use the salvation army . At least your funds stay in the community and helps those that need it most . The homeless , hungry and vulnerable . Who in hell does valu village village help ? No one . Bring back goodwill . Oh yeah , that was run by thieves too . Still , support those that need it .
I quit going to our Value Village years ago. Prices are ridiculous. *that small picture frame is a Marjolein Bastin, very collectible.*
You think THAT is bad...go to SAVERS in Las Vegas. It is practically RETAIL PLUS MORE. I saw items there are full retail and some at MORE than the retail price. The place is a total rip off.
The salvation Army store near me prices all coffee mugs at 4.99. Used coffee mugs, not fancy or collectable.
You have to really keep your eyes open for items that are worth more than the thrift store price.I recently bought a Michael Kors Wallet for $10 at the Salvation Army Thrift store in very good condition that sells for $150 new.
Yea I honestly hate thrift stores, and charity now, I used to give to charity but found out that a charity I always donated to only gave about twenty percent, go the charity they were meant to be supporting. I swear it scam, I don't even go in to charity shops anymore. The CEOs of these so called charities are beyond rich. I seriously hate this so much, if I'm going to donate to charity I do research into the charity I'm donating too, or I donate clothes and food etc to food banks and stiff, because I know they will actually go to people in need.
One of the thrift stores in my area has resorted to holding auctions for the more pricier donated items. Heaven forbid they just slap a decent price on them! Nope, they figured out a way to get, possibly, more than top dollar for these items. It's gross.
There are goodwills close to where I live and they have pretty decent prices on stuff I actually got a Vera W**g shirt for $1 and I have gotten other name brand stuff like Tom's and vans it just depends where you go and our salvation army store thrift store they are ridiculous with their prices they do the same thing they'll charge more than what it costing you but our Goodwill stores are actually pretty good although I'm not destitute we are slightly poor and I usually get all my clothes and shoes from Goodwill
This is why I donate to church group sales or other groups that keep the money local for helping people out. Look up charity watch.org. The CEO's of different so called charity group's are making One Million on up a year, and pay their employees peanuts. Sad.
Am I the only one who actually went online and found the petition? https://www.change.org/p/thrifters-boycott-value-village
As someone who used to work at Savers/Value Village for a year, theres alot of things you have to consider before assuming the worst and to just start boycotting. Please read everything. 1) When it comes to pricing items, theres a quota that must be met otherwise, you will hear complaints from customers there is nothing "new" out on the sales floor. By new I mean its on the sales floor for the first time. Plus the more shoppers there are at a location, the more that location has to work to make a higher quota. Also the quota is what has to be met to keep the store opporating. 2) The people that switch tags are A**holes, because majority of the time they switch a higher priced item with a lower priced item and now that low priced item is really high when it wasn't priced that way originally. Also the people that do this think that it just affects them and not the employees or other shoppers. 3) Having to reprice an item, or pricecheck an item, the MACHINE decides the price NOT the empolyee, they just put the sticker on it. Also they are being monitored by the cameras when they do this. 4) Shop lifting, its really gotten out of hand. People are stealling bags and bags of stuff thats like $100's going out the door. Now 1 person isnt going to affect much, but you have maybe 5-10 a day and its everyday, always at night too, it starts to affect things. But also its terrifying because the employees cant do anything, cops won't show up, and majority of the time they probably have a weapon. 5) The employees are forced to work hard, and only get paid min wage ($12.80/hr). So crap pay, to do crap work, and deal with crap people, not everyone but majority it is. The entitlement of some people is amazing, then there is Karen, then theres the creeps that are there just to sexually harass the employees and customers. 6) Despite the problems within the store, there are 100s of people that work at each one of these locations that have to put up with everything. They do it, because their job at Savers/Value Village is the only job they can get. So boycotting isnt going to do anything other than make stores close and put 100s maybe 1000s of people out of a job. 7) All locations are partnered with a non profit partner, to give money it dependes where the items come from, and its not by item, but by weight of items. Everything that is donated at the store helps that location's partner. But its not enough to supply the store on alone, so they purchase trailers of stuff from other places or sometimes other store locations. SO to make CHANGE, MEANINGFUL CHANGE there should be a petition to change the policies in place from the owners and corporate. Because its under new owners. They are the ones that are greedy for your money, and dont care what happens until it affects them. And they decide what happens at every location, to keep all stores opporating the same. They suck. And they are trying to get all stores to opporate on self checkout, eventually that will leave nobody in the front as cashiers.
I like most of what you say but the self checkout thing just makes sense. Why would they employ people they don't need? Do you want to pay more than you have to for things? Giving you a job simply to give you a job is a form of paid welfare.
Load More Replies... They used to be tested out all the electronics items and saying the what conditions items are,, now aday no testing at all plus no exchange if the items fail!!! WTH???
I felt mixed emotions when I went to a thrift store called the mission in Erie Pennsylvania we brought a couple bags of items to donate. I told him about some other things we wanted to donate and he said oh no we wouldn't take those and he says we mostly throw away everything we get and only sell a little bit 😳 then we went to the other side to look around I found a pair of clogs and they were $25 I was kind of bummed. I'm trying to downsize declutter and I have to clean out my mom's house and I hate that it's so hard to figure out a good place to donate to
I am from the US and I volunteer in a thrift store which exists to support a local non-profit organization. We try to keep our prices low to move the inventory, but there are resellers who come through every day looking to snap up bargains so they can resell them on EBay at a profit. We have to raise prices on items we know they will snap up, to discourage them from doing so. You still get it cheaper from us than if you bought it on EBay. Please shop at the non-profit thrift stores that support local needs; if you end up paying more than you would at a yard sale, get satisfaction from supporting the cause. These stores use a lot of volunteers, but employees are still necessary to keep them running, so there is overhead. Better to pay $15 to help the cause and the environment than to pay $25 to Walmart, even if you are not getting a steal.
I always thought prices at value village was ridiculous I sometimes have to point out the dollar store price at the bottom of the items they're selling for $4.99 and Sallie Ann and goodwill are now competing with it
I totally agree! People who shop at thrift stores do so because they can't afford regular price items. Why buy used at Value Village when you can get it for a better price new! It's for a good cause yes, but I think they are in it to profit for themselves and not for the cause and the people who need a break to save money!
Imagine a brand new plain shirt in a reputable store is priced around the same compare to a used one in Value Village but the stores like walmart's profit is probably $2/shirt only. VALUE VIILLAGE got it for free so this greedy thrift shop gets 100% of their jacked up prices. GREED!!!!
I don't think there's a value village in Ohio but if I want to spend $30 for a coffee maker I'm getting a new one 😑😑😑😑😑😑
In Canada, if the lower/original price is still on the item.... THEN THAT'S THE MAXIMUM LEGAL SELLING PRICE YOU'RE OBLIGED TO PAY!
I had a family friend, who was unfortunately killed by a drunk driver about 3 years ago now. My brother, who I rode up with for the funeral as our friend lived out of our town. My brother found out purple was his favorite color. So, he thought he'd go pick up a purple dress shirt at value village in our friends town. Basically, everything in the store was stupid overpriced. The cost of the shirt at value village, was more than the cost at Walmart. A fellow I know who worked at a value village, said he saw a list in the back of certain items. These items, if donated, didn't go to the shop floor. They got sent to the store owner, who sold them on eBay. Things like vintage star wars action figures and 1984 justice league, super powers action figures and vehicles, like the batmobile.
This is the wrong strategy. If you want to lower the prices at a thrift store, you have to tank their source of goods, especially if they are a for profit enterprise. For example, Value Village (and other similar stores) often claim to support a charity. Charitable organizations gather donations and sell their goods to this type of thrift store. (In the US, it's often Disabled American Veterans) Their take is pennies on the dollar because these stores pay a per pound rate for the items collected by the legit charity. And the charities themselves are the enablers of the behavior. Additionally, the stores pay minimum wage and I have witnessed terrible employment practices. So the strategy ahs to be to let donors know that there are better options to really help legit charities when giving away goods. Smaller independent thrift stores, often run by churches, animal shelters, Habitat for humanity, etc, impact people more directly.
Some people have forgotten the power of "word-of-mouth" and the large number of businesses that have suffered and failed because of it. Once enough people have heard about Value Villages greed, the chain will no doubt experience a huge loss of profit. Once that happens, no matter how hard VVillage tries to win back customers, it may be too late. In the meantime, places like the Salvation Army Thrift Store will thrive. For the Thrift Store and other thrift shops, there can be no better promotion than what VVillage is doing right now.
I've been telling Value Village in person and on their comment section that the prices are ridiculous, just too expensive for those whose do thrift stores. They haven't listened this far, but maybe now they will look at the comments.
I am in the same boat. This was a hobby of mine. But not any more! They are charging almost as much as the original cost price. Now I have a new hobby and get my kicks of scavenging for cool items on ebay. #wearenotgoingtotakeit
I live in Trenton, Ontario, Canada. I used to go to Value Village in Belleville, which is about 20 minutes from Trenton. The prices there are way to high for second hand merchandise and clothing, especially because it is all donated. Second hand men's shirts for as high as $16 or more. That is insane! One of the biggest things with Value Village is that they have all paid employees, while other thrift stores have very few employees on payroll, but most of them are volunteers. But still, Value Village prices are way to high because everything is donated.
People are giving less and selling more because baby boomers are retiring and doing side hustles to make ends meet. It's important, no matter your condition, if you are a seller to also be a giver.
Yeah, expect more obscene price increases. Everyone selling anything at this point are trying to overprofit from sales, they want the price they paid along with a profit. Our economy was already careening on the verge of destabilization and everything we've dealt with in the last few years, covid closures, the increase in immigration allowances, even the minimum wage increases have sent us pummeling into the danger zone. Everyone that can raise prices is doing so probably in some I'll advised attempt to avoid another depression. Well watch yourselves, you might just spark a revolution instead.
How about $3.99 and $4.99 for key chains that were give aways in the first place! And $29.99 for a sandwich bag size of absolute junk jewelry, the stuff off the floor that they can't sell, disgusting and ridiculous!!
I'm from Canada. And value village prices are right out of this world. Value village and good will charge all there items as if the are new. And these stores get it free from people who donate it. So sad.
I whole heartedly agree. The orgins of thrift store has lost its meaning. Originally for those who had little money to purchase clothes etc. It now has forgotten those people. It's shameful.
Exploitation. Money hungry. Unethical. Dare I go on? This life of ours is nothing but money focused. Where is the value of giving and support for the less fortunate. Not at, "Value, " Village, that's for sure. What a sad commentary on humanity, yet again.
theres goodwills doing this too. not my local one (its tiny af anyways) but there are goodwills that price by online comps 🤢
It's crazy. My husband worked at a Goodwill for a while. The really good stuff they kept to send to some warehouse that they sold online like eBay. They called it e-commerce. Lego sets, sports stuff, furniture, and fashion or tech. I've seen stuff we donated out on the floor for the same or more than we paid for it. I've been trying to be minimalist in everything so of I want new anything I have to donate something of equal value. I hate knowing it might not go to people who need it because of trends or greed. It makes it hard when local help organizations can't take certain items because "oh you have to give that to Goodwill or a consignment" and said place sells it like it's a vintage Gucci. It's probably from Walmart my dude. It's crazy.
The prices are absolutely ridiculous, i take my donations to the Salvation Army not to Value Village there is no value at that place.yes i have shopped there but prices are awful .you can buy brand new at Walmart for most so why buy ùsed dirty items.
I remember going to value village as a child and the most expensive clothing was around $4. Most items were $0.25-$1.25…. What fxxxxing happened!!!
I never shop at value village and we all need to stop donating to them. I only go to good will and mcc. The guy that owns value village has multiple houses. Pays his employees peanuts and people think they are donating to diabetes. That is a joke very little goes there.
100% agree. The prices are comparable to new items. Defies the entire purpose.
I have shopped at several thrift stores in Florida and ever time I go in the price is higher for the same dirty junk. So pisses me off people who run them are greedy. Goodwill is the worst for price broken stained missing pieces. I used to like thrift shopping but I will notover pay for used sorry not on my budget.
The same thing happens to Red White and Blue in Miami the price go higher everyday
Taking into consideration the min wage here in ont is $15.,the cost of overhead and utilities.taxes are up,water,sewer,garbage,etc.all has to be raised to meet the bills.yes I agree the pricing should be reexamined,but like any store.dont buy it.i am appreciative of our store,the staff are happy to be working.the store is clean,tidy,and always smells clean.pembroke is blessed to have a V.V. people could clean what they send ,but they don't.that to me is lazy I support your concerns,but not all
It's becoming such a sad world. The people pay for big businesses to get rich and then we even have to pay for the clean up. The big wig from goodwill makes over 2 million for stuff donated. It's time these fake places posing as charitable start paying for the real things. Governments made it so easy for these places to do this to. It all comes down to poor government. Since the 50s and 60s people have been talking about recycling but until now no one has really paid any attention to it. I really believe the governments of a lot of countries know we have in fact already killed this planet. Face it, carbon dioxide levels are higher then they've ever been in the history of our plant and that even includes when there were thousands of active volcanoes spewing out all that carbon dioxide. But here we are, people trying to get rich on recycling instead of doing it to save our world, so pathetic!
I must say that I Agree with you on this Subject because I Noticed the Higher Prices at my local Goodwill Store and I couldn’t believe those Ridiculous higher prices as well for Used and mostly Worn down Items it’s a RIPOFF just like we’re being Ripped Off for everything thing else in these stores Gas went up and so did everything else and they wanna talk Inflation that’s was just an Excuse for them to get Richer while we’re all out here Pinching Pennies to buy what we Really Need my Advice to Everybody If you Don’t need it Don’t Buy It and Watch the Prices Come Back Down I’m Just Saying!!!!
Swapping price tags is illegal and you can actually be arrested for it # planetscorpion
Salvation Army price increase out of control went to get a winter jacket that zipper was broken and jacket torn for 25.00 to 99.00. they forget they get items for free. When people purchase and resell they r not getting it for free. No excuse for the high prices when they get items FREE (donations from community).
Whaaaat? You guys are just noticing value village's "shylocky" prices. I canceled them more than 5 years ago.
In Sweden the "charity" shops are pricing many things higher than new, been that way for years. They sell basic IKEA stuff for more than new. People throw so much away. Unlike the US, people don't sell stuff via yard sales. Facebook market place and tiptap are the only places to get any kind of deals now.
Most items are donated, stop doing that and have garage sales/swap meets
I have not shopped at Value Village in years, for this very reason! They are pathetic! Also, people may not know this but they are a For Profit company!!! They are not a non profit thrift store. Disgusting that they gouge people the way they do!!!
This is why I created a new website for low- and fixed-income individuals, families and retirees. Nothing on our website is over $40. In fact, all shirts and blouses are $5 or less. www.EchoBoutiqueOttawa.com serving Ottawa and the Ottawa Valley.
The prices have been climbing for years. Its rediculas. They didnt even have to MAKE these items. Its other peoples OLD stuff.
True, Goodwill and value village is highly priced all items. I am not going now..there is one thrift store in Morinville, you can find things from .25 cents to 2 to 3 dollors that value village and Goodwill price for $5 to $30 up.
Savers is part of Village Value. Their prices are also insane and have gone way up.
These people are getting the stuff for free. It kills me that they think they have the right to charge that much! Goodwill told me they don’t even give tax right offs anymore. You have to clean up the items, check and sometimes spray for bugs. If they want to surf the net and see people selling their items and try to charge as much as they see items on the internet for then stop giving them stuff! Don’t donate to any of them. Annabells is another one. 49.99 for pictures and 30.00 for a lamp that may or may not work. I have saw dollar tree items marked 2.00. Stop giving to them.
My wife just went shopping at the local value village here in Central alberta and found that all the changerooms were removed. She figured that was fine as a covid protocol and she would just return whatever didn't fit. When she went to return a couple items out of the $400 worth of clothes she bought, she found out that they are no longer accepting returns and the changerooms will not be coming back either.
I used to shop @ SAVER'S which I assume is the same company as Value Village, as well as Salvation Army thrift stores in my area. About 10 years ago I used to get the greatest bargains there! I found Fendi and Coach handbags for less than $10! Designer clothes from just about every big brand, and some gorgeous furniture. But as it caught on over the years I noticed the good deals were harder to find and the prices started going up. When Covid hit the stores closed and when they re-opened the prices were ridiculous. Just like this lady says, they are trying to sell straight up refuse and make a big profit. They take advantage of people who don't know anything about the US economy or what things really cost here. I haven't been to a thrift store in 2 years and will probably never go back. Not until something drastically changes their business model.
Twice, at Goodwill, the price of a new Walmart book shelf was twice the price in Walmart. 29.00 at Walmart, $60.00 @ Goodwill. I googled the item and showed it to the manager. I also wrote on the box that it was 29. at Walmart.
It's not only Value Village. I found an Ikea end table in the wrap for $15.00 that is $9.99 ay Ikea. Know your prices before going in. I have also found a $150 book for $5. A lot of thrift stores rely on volunteer or minimum wage emplyees who have no idea how to value items.
I worked at v.v. and they suck ALL the way around.. They have coats that are 40-50$(+) everything but "most" furniture is donated 1 way or another.. They even make employees pay unless they steal including the traveling manager and store manager.. So honestly i would say if you can see something you like check out walmart, ebay, amazon ect for it first.. Not to mention you can return USED PANTIES YOU JUST BOUGHT Within 7 DAYS.. PUKE
I have a bigger problem to expose. Goodwill has a website similar to ebay where all the good stuff gets sold for a lot to the highest bidder. The stores only sell at way over priced junk that's left over after they keep or sell the good stuff. People STOP donating to these SCAMERS!!
This is not a secret..everyone knows they do this
Load More Replies... I used to be a reseller on ebay, but lately thrift store prices are so high that I can't turn a profit on them. Also noticed that what I used to buy is now behind glass or hung up/ placed where it's unaccessible to the public. Thrifting is not fun anymore for me, so it's time for a new side gig.
I've been told that some managers sell good things on kijijj and keep the money
I bought that Hamilton Beach toaster brand new at Walmart for less than they're asking for that used dirty one. Also, asking $30 for a used coffee maker is Crazy! You can pick up a brand new one for $20 at a Walgreens or Dollar General. It may not be a brand name but works just the same. This place is no Value!
Please do call these businesses out and stop going to them if you think they're not providing value, that's how we asset our power in the market at least to the degree govt isn't preventing us through victimless laws
I have seen broken laundry baskets 10 bucks. 5 bucks brand new at walmart and not broken. Ive seen items labelled 5.99. Look at the bottom and see dollar store price of 1.50. Old pans with scratched teflon 12 bucks and no lid. Same pan new at walmart with a lid 14 bucks. Wrangler jeans at valu village 16 bucks with broken belt loops. Brand new at walmart 21 bucks. I quit going there and refuse to donate items to them.
Just starting to notice this becoming an issue here in Vermont -- yes, even for worn out or dirty items. Given that the vast majority of items being sold are donated, it's insane. I get that there are some nicer items that may warrant a slightly higher price, but honestly, if these shops are not reinvesting a significant amount of profits (so, above the true operational costs of space, utilities, etc.) into workers' salaries and into social programming, it seems wrong for them to be jacking prices up. Commercial retail inflation is out of control and they can at least point to shipping/trucking issues as a part (just a part) of the problem, but Goodwill and other thrift locations that are taking local donations cannot make that claim. As someone pointed out, you're better off putting stuff on marketplace for free or, if you are fortunate enough to have a space to do it, set it out on free tables in front of your house.
I see from some of the comments that Value Village is a for-profit, but I'm talking about Goodwill and other organizations, which are nonprofits.
Load More Replies... We have REAL Thrift stores here in NC. Most all of them share their profits with local organizations such as Battered Women's Home, Fire Depts, Rescue Squads, etc. This place would be run out of the county in a matter of days 😂
Yeah, we have real thrift shops (Next Step Ministries is also a good one!) but let's not forget that there are still plenty Goodwills in the triad and elsewhere
Load More Replies... Thank God here in NC we have real thrift stores! Most of them share their profits with the battered women's home, rescue squads, etc. I always donate to those organizations as I know they're not ripping ppl off. This "Value" Village would be run out of the county here 😂
I totally agree the low income and senior citizens Bank shop at thrift stores but now you've got to have a good income to shop in them. It's not right and it's not fair because everything's donated and they don't pay their employees very well at all. I get so frustrated and angry when I go into a thrift store the Goodwill the salvation army any of them thrift world shame on all of you shame on all of you. If you go to their corporate website look at the bonuses they're paying to these people the CEOs and everything they get lots of money lots of money. Shame on them shame on all of them. Well I better stop cuz I could go on and on and on. I'm glad they're talking about this because it needs to be said it really does I think Goodwill salvation army all of them should be boycotted I think the thrift stores that you can find that are fair and they're hard to find but we should give them all of our business they deserve it shame on the others.
That's not all value villages. I live in a small city in Ontario and our prices are significantly lower.
At thrift stores if the item doesn't sell they will lower the price. If the prices are really too high, the stores won't sell the stuff and won't make money. The fact that you have to tell people that the prices are too high and not to buy the products, shows that plenty of people don't know that the prices are high and shouldn't buy the products.
Yup I haven't shopped at value village in 4 years when I looked at a pair of used boot for over 60$ left amd never went back
I've been into Value Village in Bellingham a couple of times and I have to agree that the prices at this thrift store are outrageously high. Nancy L.
I read the comments here and I am a avid fan of thrift stores, garage sales, women's Center thrift stores, Goodwill and any good donated clothes that I can obtain free or for a few dollars. I personally cannot afford any extra money lately. Even soap and water is extremely expensive!
Yeah, we have a thrift store here in Texas called Alamo Thrift and I found a full set of the 80s Tupperware canisters, not even the cool 70s ones that were avocado green or anything, just white with navy lids. They had each canister priced separately, and total for the four would have been nearly 70 dollars. A brand new set from Tupperware is 50. They are getting ridiculous. Their clothes used to be 99cents - 5 bucks for something nice, now they start at 4.99 and go up. I can't afford to shop anywhere but the Goodwill outlet where you pay by the pound.
Agreed. When I moved back home to Canada with next to nothing after ten years abroad, I got two pairs jeans, a couple shirts and a pair of boots for $50... Which was reasonable. I went to a VV not long ago and there's no way I could do that with their prices now
There's a small thrift store near me that has a sign up front that says most items 25c and nothing over $1. Maybe when I moved here 5 years ago. Now NOTHING is Under $1 no matter how broken. They get 100% of their items free from yard or estate sale leftovers. I can understand up pricing an antique furniture set. But that broken mug with no handle is not worth $3!! Plus they never do markdowns by how long things are there and they are 100% FOR profit. They had a whole pallet of EXPIRED boxes of Walmart trail mix they were selling for MORE than new ones. Sorry I'm not paying $20 for rancid nuts when I can get fresh for $12 a ½ mile away. A few other stores in neighboring towns will at least clear out stuff periodically by having "everything you can fit in a bag for $7" sales, which have gotten me some nice clothes (admittedly possibly from the 70s or 80s judging by polyester content).
Thrift stores were intented to sell to low income people. Then came along collectors and re-sellers. I can write a book about all the back door deals that I've witnessed over the past twenty years. I'm from Ont. Canada and please research into the demise of Goodwill. All about greed right from the top. Corporate corruption. The Salvation Army is also guilty of this when truckloads of Christmas toys went missing. Let reality kick in as we are heading into hyperinflation and it will put an end to the resellers. Add in the fact that soon there will be a global digital currency...NO MORE CASH.
Goodwill is a "non profit" and the CEO makes over $700,000 a year. These places are getting ridiculous. I love thrift store shopping but with these people pricing these used items the same as new no one can afford to shop. I refuse to donate to these places anymore. I will give my stuff to people who don't have or can't afford it
I'm in the USA( Montana, close to you) and I have a news flash for you-the "Dollar Store" is no more. Example- their cheapo mouthwash is now $1.25, as are most items in Dollar Tree in Kalispell. Just another example of the inflation insanity that apparently is spreading to Canada as well.
My mom & I have been talking about this for years! We were raised on secondhand items due to poverty & as an adult who makes more than enough, I can't shop here. Ridiculous, dirty & the staff are almost always rude. I give all my kids clothes away to those in FB.
All thrift stores are asking outrageous prices these days. I no longer donate to any of them. I give my donations to people in need now like women's shelters or people who have had a fire.
This only shows how most businesses are now reacting outrageously to price gouging. Businesses know things will quell and prices will begin to settle but for now, everyone's greedy as possible raising prices as high as possible. BUT this is the American system. Charge as much as possible and it is legal. It's also about time people figure out all these charities don't help anyone but the people running the charity.
We have DAV thrift stores here. They have gone to new prices for stuff. We stopped going.
I won't buy anything at Goodwill unless it's that tags color day bc it's just ridiculous. Can't say how many times I've seen a store tag on an item and their tag is higher!!! Who does the pricing over there? And everything they get is donated so everything they make is pure profit! No reason to be doing this bull.
I do most of my shopping at thrift stores and I definitely would not shop there 😂
This is because its a "for profit" not a not for profit.
Even goodwill and savers are ridiculous, sometimes the prices are higher then brand new,they forget about dollar trees too
I honestly feel that companies are running and ruining the economy. Stop by giving them excuses....well the current value and the product exceed.....the price is this due to.....no just for once say no! Your prices are outrageous everywhere for everything. People need to stand and say enough is enough. We are being lead....you all really enjoy being told what everything is going to cost and where and what you can afford??
I bought the exact same mixer for $160 brand new. Also came with 5 different mixing attachments. They're actually charging more for used crap. That fan was broken and from the 70s too. Probably costs $70 a month in electricity.
This person is spot on with her comments. I see items I can buy brand new for cheaper than what thrift stores are asking. And do they really compare their prices to what items sell for on ebay OR what they are asking? Yes, I've had it with thrift stores. They are rip offs. The best way to combat this and send a message? Dont buy from them. Period.
I work at Dollarama. I've seen many things from there at V.V marked up AND used ..they literally get stuff for NOTHING, then charge for it. What a scam.
I stopped going to Goodwill altogether. They sell their "good stuff" on Ebay and just sell the "garbage" now. AND CHARGE TAX! I get better stuff for free cruising neighborhoods on garbage day! Flee markets, estate sales and garage sales are all that's left for the thrift seeker. Boycott them all.
I had a cashier explain why an item was priced so high and she said the people pricing look on ebay for what the items are worth but they're basing the item's price off of active listings, not the sold listings.
"Used" is the "in" thing right now. They think they can raise the prices so some princess will buy some used crap and flaunt the fact that she went "thrifting." We have the ARCs here in Colorado. They have a different colored tags and every day one is chosen to be 50% off. Well, guess what color tags are strangely missing? I've been there when they've opened. So, what I do is go on "Senior Tuesdays and say I'm 59. I'm 49. Seniors (55+) get half off everything. I don't s^%$, either.
Value village stores in Arizona are rip offs too the owner is a disgrace. He makes millions off of people's donations and gives a tiny percentage to disabled children and the rest he pockets and goes on trips cheating on his wife
You could literally buy a nicer brand new coffee pot for less than $15... nicer photo frames from the damn dollar store for $1! ... you can get a brand new kitchen aid from eBay opened box with 4-6 attachments and 2 bowls for $300.. you can buy a brand new toaster at Walmart for $8... this place is bananas.
Unique (Savers stores in Chicago) remodeled stores which was nice. But later shut down stores. I don't live near one. Once I drove to a store and discovered that it had been shut down. I was furious because I had gone to the website before going and there was no mention of it. I called their customer service and gave them a piece of my mind. The employee acknowledged that was wrong.
Here at Goodwill same thing expensive garbage . I used to be a thrift shop aficionado and it's taking the fun out of it. Some things are more expensive than at Walmart Target t.j. Maxx it's just ridiculous and not even quality
You'd be amazed at the amount of items donated that are thrown into the compactor. I know because I've found brand new shower curtain liners and washclothes from Marshals amongst a whole array of items in perfectly good shape, some better than what's in the store . This was years ago and I spoke to someone in California only to say I was wrong and that they recycle and redonate to St.Vincent de Paul. Within 3 months or so that store was built next to the V.V. I had complained about. I also found out that Community Services For the Blind and Northwest Center for the R******d would call and ask for donations they would pick up only to sell donations to Value V. Goodwill throws massive items into their compactor also and then there's the store ( I can't name) ,that after my finding hundreds of items in dumpster , I talked with the manager about it. I then went everyday to get things before thrown away , cleaned , refurbished and took them to shelters , homeless camps and to anyone .
Yeah. There's a bunch of thrift stores jacking up their prices. The Christian thrift store by me was selling this specific couch set for 700 and it was clearly used, smelled like smoke, and was missing a leg. The EXACT SAME COUCH SET was at a Fred Meyer not a block away, not half a block away, but 2 BUILDINGS up the road... 300 bucks. I took a pick and brought it back to them. They said "We do things for the good of others in the community here. Wherever you found that must have been far away." So I walked back to the Fred's and took a vid of me at the couch and walked all the way back to the thrift store and showed them the entire vid. They just said "Oh! They don't have have the Christian people in mind." .....what? Just a few year prior I got my couch from that I use as a bed given it's odd shape and size... For only 20 bucks! I see a similar item about the same size... 380! Here for the people? Nope! Here for your wallets! The val vil by me isn't too bad. Goodwill's worse.
Thrift stores are out of control around where I am too, but thankfully not quite this bad. Why do some people think they can get brand new retail prices for dirty junk that’s missing pieces, or a premium, mint price for a collectible that doesn’t come with a box and is broken? And how much of it is ignorance and how much just trying to scam people?
I have raised two generations out of thrift stores praise God, but when goodwil started charging $6 and up for size 5 children clothes, and 6 to 20 for a pair of used shoes, and salvation merchandise went up I started going to Wal-Mart from toddlers to size 16 kids clothes top and bottoms range from $3 to four dollars brand new. Shoes 3 to 19.99. Household is cheaper at wall mart and decorations at dollar tree $1.25. If you got $400.00 to pay for a couch or stove or refrigerator or 10 - 15$ to pay for a pot or pan the you don't need the thrift stores. Only poor and low income used to frequent thrift stores. As far as habitat I used to purchase windows and doors and paint for my 105 year old house, now contractors and used good vendors buy everything donated and use the items either to cut cost or resale for outrageous prices. A poor person or low income don't stand a chance in America. I was told by car dealers that new cars are unavailable and hard to get, so used are up 5 to 10,000.
OVERPRICED & RUDE supervisor's a Lisa from Ontario canada was very rude to my son & i before xmas 2021 she yelled cuz we shop with our deaf cat its on my youtube the video of my talking my channel- Sega Girl adventures **(i would like to make a video of overpriced stuff at VV) also asked her about a teddy bear that was priced up at 7.99 i wanted to get for my kid, a arthur plush and i said its over priced she lowered it to 6.99 then the other time i re asked her on another price and she got angry and said she can no longer lower anything and she know im a single mom not working at that time. She didnt care she was RUDE i told her prices are too high but she didnt care! Another example a sweater thin material it had the picture of the nightmare before Christmas cartoons on it and it was do thin but my son knew i love this movie anyways it was priced up at $15.99 CAD so i rip tag asked my son to ask for price & they priced at $3.99 for my kid so why was it 16 before! LOTS overpriced!
Found an extremely obvious dingy old fake Gucci Tshirt at VV that was priced at $20. Got to be joking.
I have seen bags and dresses at Salvation Army in Australia for 100+ dollars, just because someone donates a nice cocktail dress they no longer need, does not mean that someone going to the salvos can afford 100+ dollars for that dress, it could be they are trying to get something for a school formal and do not have the funds, or want to repurpose it to wear out when the need arises, they have honestly all lost the plot.
Finally!!! Someone called them out!!! ... Yes, Goodwill is doing it too! They're practically tax exempt as well :/
Having worked retail for many years, we always had to give the customer the lower price if it was double tagged. Unless it was a gross error. Electric stove priced at $2K with a 2nd price tag at $500. My best friend argued with the sales manager & got the $500 price. But then she's relentless. Stores can be charged if they don't give you the lowest price. Not sure how or if this would work at Value Village. Try to hold them accountable but don't act like a "Karen". Polite, courteous & firm will get you further. I live in Ontario, Canada. Other countries/provinces/States may have different laws or restrictions. Check it out. Google can be your friend.
I was wondering if others noticed this. I go to a savers every once in awhile. A lot of same types of items as your pictures these things are way to much. You can but brand new cheep clothing at job lots for 3 to 5 bucks for shirts. Used kitchen stuff that's looks very used for almost refurbished items at another outlet. I was wonder about the finances of SAVERS. Who is it owned by. They say the profits go to helping communities in need. What does that mean exactly. Is the owners getting filthy rich. There every where. So your rent a big building pay utilities hire a crew. And people come and give you stuff to sell. Pretty good scam. Everything you sell your make 100%.
I've noticed the increase price trend at the VV in my area for several years now, so I can;t be told that it's due to recent inflation of wages or operating costs. And they are getting picky about what they will accept at the donation centres too so you know its being run to make profit. I suggest sticking to Salvation Army and Mission Thrift. They still seem to be about the charity work.
There are quite a few fake "charity thrift" stores that take free donations and sell them for profit. Some take the goods overseas where many locals see them as higher status, fashionable products from the USA, and charge more than the products cost new in the USA. Always, "caveat emptor"....buyer beware.
Value village is such a racket, there's no rhyme or reason to the pricing, people in the back just decide. I've found identical t-shirts, one will be 6.99 the other $13, all shirts should be one price, all pants one price etc. Kids tights shouldn't be $11
Thrift stores are junk collectors. For years I have shopped thrift stores and have lots of nice things for not a lot of money. Now everything is price so high you can actually go to a target or walmart and get new for less. And the thrift store shelves are bursting with junk they can't sell because it's priced too high.
1. I think a lot of the old, nonfunctional items have value to people who want vintage/retro decor. They'll pay more for a genuine artifact than a new, working item because they have no plans to use it for the original intended purpose. 2. Shows like Antiques Roadshow and American Pickers have also convinced some people that any of piece of junk they have might be worth a lot more than they might think, and they price things higher in case that plastic ice cube tray they had since the 80s might be worth something to a collector.
$30 for a coffee maker that you can't literally get for $10 is just stupidity but people don't realize goodwill and all the rest of those thrift shops have been robbing people for years now and people really didn't complain until recently. Worst part is most don't even care that their being robbed especially if the store is in a more convenient area. These stores won't ever go away unless you sue them because a petition isn't gonna do a thing other than rally the people who already know about the price gouging.
I live in Maryland, USA and they are the same here. Goodwill is also another retailer with out of control prices. The items they get for free....they don't overpay thier cashiers....so who is trying to get rich here? I want to give a shout out to the Salvation Army ....they are keeping it real and the people I encounter that work there are awesome. The Army has real good prices...sales and specials. Because I shop there...its the only place I donate too also!
It's the same with Goodwill, I just stopped shopping there. But the prices are probably ridiculous because people are dumb enough to think they are getting a good deal. Most of the stuff shown here you can buy at the dollar tree for $1 brand new. There used to be really good thrift store that actually had good prices where I live, but unfortunately they moved. It was a privately owned thrift stores. Don't trust the large corporations.
I am so glad to hear somebody calling these stores out! The prices have gotten outrageous and I rarely will buy anything unless it has a percentage off (as in the specials most stores will have daily). This crap is donated. DONATED!!! And they have the nerve to charge, as she pointed out, more than you can get it for at The Dollar Store or Walmart. I will not donate to any of them. I would rather give it away. Greed, pure greed!!
There's on of their sister stores savers in my area. I can't remember I've ever want to know when they first open but one of their about a month ago and definitely the same over Priced garbage. Tons of items that have been broken by kids and other customers. They have items out there that should not even be put up for sale because of safety issue. Saw a battery back up (UPS) for the outer case was cracked around when the outlets and where's the electrocution and fire hazard. Probably had a bad battery to that cost just as much to replace it it would be to buy a new safe unit. Items marked with wrong category. Items missing parts or items that belong together price separate like no one working there has any clue to what items are and if they belong together.
https://www.invw.org/2019/11/08/value-village-rebuked-by-judge-for-deceiving-consumers/
I love to shop at thrift stores and found great deals over the years. My general rule of thumb, I NEVER shop at Goodwill, no way, or any for profit vendor. Church shops, St Vincent de Paul, Grace Centers of Hope yes, and Salvation Army shops and Volunteers of America stores also are where I go. I've found shops in high priced socioeconomic areas sell at higher prices, so I avoid them mostly, but I also avoid slums too for obvious reasons. This village place, I would avoid like the plague. Js... and I advocate the boycott. Definitely.
Goodwill is a not for profit, they keep enough to pay for payroll, property rent and store cost. Any extra goes to they're job training program, which is not just for Goodwill employees, literally anyone can take job training through goodwill and not have to work there. They are not for profit they do not keep extra money.
Load More Replies... Nothing new under the sun here. Used to work there as a floor manager back in the mid 2000's and prices were already out of control. One of the problems has to do with how the company works. There is an assessor in each store and the guidelines are very loose, non existant to say the truth. The price for the same item can vary enormously from one store to another. I remember items from the Dollarama being sold for more at value village or items being cheaper brand new at the Walmart.
Value village in Vancouver Washington got ran out of town for this very same thing where they would charge extraordinarily high amounts of money when something was already ticketed from a store target usually so it'd be $7.99 from Target clearance down and then they would put it on the shelf for like $12 I don't even shop there there a total waste of space as far as I'm concerned
A lot of charity shops in the UK are getting ridiculous too. They pay no business rates (tax that shops have to pay) and have staff costs that are low or non existent as most are run by volunteers. But I see fast fashion pieces in them for high prices all the time. My local one rarely has tshirts below £6. They're overflowing with donations and don't price anything to sell. If you're broke or looking for project pieces, it's really hard to shop.
I hate Value Village. Everything they have is donated to them, yet they charge high prices for everything. I will never go there again.
I just stopped by there today at London, Ontario's value village because it's senior's day 30% off but their prices are ridiculously high for a used clothing,Mission Services Thrift Store 8snstill the best place to shop.They have kept their prices low and no tax
Something is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. The only.way to stop this greedy policy is to stop buying AND stop donating to them. The only one I have found that seems to be as concerned with being a service to community is Red,White.and Blue.
Reminds me of catholic"charity" store, where people donated their things and they sold it. Money were for people in need, they said. Everything they had was ridiculously overpriced, and over 40% of all earnings went to store owner. Officially. Who knows how much they took.
This is what happens when "Thrifting" becomes trendy. Middle class people buying up stuff that is intended for the poor. You can't blame a for profit store from trying to turn a profit, and you can't blame a charity store from trying to raise as much as they can for their respective charities. If you really want to help make this stuff affordable, stop shopping there, and donate more.
There was a thriftshop I used to go to that was really all charity, I believe it was actually run by a church. Profits went to projects in Africa. Then, for some reason unknown to me, the ownership changed. Prices doubled, a lot more trash and I doubt any money ends up at projects nowadays. It took the fun out of going there. Thrift = big business, also in Holland.
wow, i am admittedly cheap when it comes to most things. I rarely pay $10 for t-shirts (unless it's at a concert); I love thrift stores, but this is one I'd quickly pass up! good job calling them out
I used to shop at Value Village when i lived in Michigan and the prices were good, better when every other month they had a coupon for 50% off entire purchase. Then everything was a great price. I just moved to Texas and was thrilled to see one close to home. Shopped and yes i did see a significant price jump. Michigan T-shirts were $1.99...Texas t-shirts $3.99-4.99. Used T- shirts! My friend liked a reprinted painting in a frame. The frame was scratched plastic, the picture on cardboard...$65.00. Target had very similar pictures in a wooden frame and it was $39.99. I went to them last week when i got a text from them saying that they were having a 50% off sale. Great!! i went there and was charged full price...when i questioned why, they said to read the fine print...it was for the store that is in a part of Houston that no one goes to for safety reasons only. Value village has seen the last of me.
I've noticed this at Value Village. Okay, so it's not only my location!
I arrived in Canada about 6years ago and with a $100 I got a couple a things for the kitchen, toaster, coffee pot and sandwich maker and bought work jeans and shirts. These days I can buy sweatpants at Costco is cheaper that Value Village
a toaster costs €20 in ireland how is a second hand toaster costing $30 in the US?
Not everywhere in the US is a second-hand toaster $30. This place is an exception which is why there is a petition out there that people are signing in an entire post about how they are prices are sky high.
Load More Replies... This is ridiculously sad. I worked at SAVERS which is the same as VALUE VILLAGE here in IL. I loved that place so much, was there pt for 3 years. To hell with inflation, those are lazy azz workers and back management is not checking the inventory. Theses are people who get to have jobs and don't want to do them properly. I totally agree with what you're doing. I pray you get more signatures than needed.
Those mixers don't even cost that much brand new from big box stores.
USE YOUR BRAIN and do some RESEARCH before you slam charities or perpetuate rumors and falsehoods. Most of them are in it to make money to serve various segments of our society! And they DO. Most people don't realize all the good they do,all they have to deal with. There are unethical, even criminal people working or volunteering everywhere, even for charities. MOST are decent people. People donate c**p. Prices are set to maximize the people they can help. Sometimes volunteers/employees misprice items (no one complains when they're not asking enough) You can still find deals, things either not or no longer sold in retail stores. Bottom line, DON'T GO THERE if you want something for free. Or if you can't see the forest for the trees!
I think anyone who still has a Value Village nearby to shop at should be happy. The one near me closed b/4 the pandemic and I miss it every day! It was my favorite place to shop. It is clean & well organized. No other thrift store offers what they offer. Now I have to drive many miles to get to one. I would dearly love it if it would come back.
Good god, what a sad life this woman leads...has it ever occured to her that even thrift stores are feeling the squeeze from inflation? And what kind of cheap c*nt is this obsessed with buying second hand c**p? In all seriousness, f*ck this broad and all her "calling out " Go to Walmart instead.
Part of the problem is that you’ve all allowed yourselves to be called “consumers” (i.e., that which consumes). You are not a goddamned unit of consumption. You are a valued CUSTOMER, and it’s about time that these shitty companies begin to treat you as such again. Stand up for yourselves!
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A petition to stop a business from charging what they do, for non essential items no less, is the most entitled thing ever. You will NOT like Vancouver if this hurts your wallet this much. VV owes you nothing. Yeah they charge insane prices now which is why I don't go to it anymore. The end. I'm not crying about it as if the world revolves around me.
Those Kitchen Aid mixers are that much used. Otherwise, go to Goodwill.
Do YOU donate 17% of YOUR net income, Les?? woman-call...d__700.jpg
I get the argument that thrift stores need low prices to keep the garbage out of landfills but let's be honest. All of the items you buy are just going to end up in them eventually anyways, you don't stop the problem but instead delay it for a few months until you realize your pre used garbage bin smells like a dumpster fire.
In all seriousness if you can find better prices on non-used products why not just buy them instead of complaining about preused garbage cans being 5 whole dollars.
Honestly if you can find a better price on a non preused garbage can perhaps stop complaining about their prices and just buy an actual new one.
The pricing at thrift stores is based on what the original price of the item was when new and deducted by how much the price can decrease based on taxes in the region and the price is also based for the perslcentage that goes to the charity that the thrift store benefits
Bruh this woman do be Karen 10 DOLLARS FOR A COFFEE MAKER MY MOM PAID 100 DOLLARS YALL ARE FINE THOSE PRICES ARE EVERYWHERE SO SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUP
Still horrific but nothing tops goodwill. They even have goodwill blue a so called boutique to sell even more higher prices on s**t they got for free. Don't get me started on the online part. They have a huge board in the back room with name brands. The more higher brand like gucci prada etc goes on a table to be posted online. The sorters know this. It is b******t.
Is I see it, you schould not go to shop before you have some idea of what the product you are after should cost. That goes both for thrift stores and ordinary markets, because the latter likes to advertise, that the item is on sale, while stille asking the ordinary price.
Do you all not realize that these stores are just fallowing the American dream. Now I do go to these types of stores but I price hunt. I walk around many types of these stores and only walk out with one thing. It is a business and the goal is to make money. If you don't want to see the company thriving then don't shop at them. Use your ability to search for better deals and don't support these companies if it's that big a problem. No one is making you spend your money. If no one spends money at these places they will go out of business.
I have always found Value Village to be random in their pricing but nothing to get bent out of shape over. So you dont like the prices go to the Salvation Army. Oh and that whine about the $200 Kitchen Aide mixer too bad it sells new for over $800 so a quarter of the price is pretty good as far as I am concerned. Value Village is over priced but hey guess what there is no law against charging stupid prices for junk.
A mixer with no bowl and only one attachment? And it could be broken. Lmao.
Load More Replies... I know why these prices are this way! It's because of all of you with your cellphone out checking the price of what it sells for on eBay! Thrift store want eBay prices for there items because of you all! Why sell cheap just so you make all the money off the item. They want money too! That's why the prices are so high!
Don't "Call them out." Just quit shopping there. Eventually the message will be received.
LOL ...shopping advice for dummies .. ...you don't like the prices ??? ...SHOP SOME WHERE ELSE ..problem solved
Way to miss the point, just like every other man in the comments.
Load More Replies... I work at a Savers, we barely have the 50 off color anymore. My manager has raised the prices too high. When i called out my supervisor for pricing a pair of Walmart farm boots for 17usd- she got mad. They have us put stuff out for higher prices to cater to ppl tht resell stuff. Its r******d. Foolish. Unkind.
I used to work for a chain of thrift stores. When I read a comment like "and they got it for free" it makes my blood boil. We had to pay employees to greet the people making donations and then sort it into many categories (and mostly jump in the dumpster to compress dumpsters - people who handle the clothing actually have to do "sniff tests" with each bag to see if they are worth opening or not. Then sort out according to category. Hang and tag. Electronics all have to be tested. housewares and miscellaneous has to be sorted, cleaned and tagged. Toys sorted to see what is safe to sell, and then cleaned. Don't get me wrong, it is a very rewarding job because we supported a particular program which helps thousands of people. But that free donation goes a long way before making it to the floor. That said, I agree that this VV is overpriced!
I get what you're saying, but the comment refers to the fact that the companies did not have to pay for the products they are selling. They dont have to shell out anything to obtain those items. Paying their employees is part of their overhead and would happen whether they had an automated sorting system or not. Bottom line, they dont have to pay for shipping, or have contracts with other companies/brands to have their stuff in the store. Its freely given to them. Hence the anger
Load More Replies... Maybe if people would stop buying things at thrift stores and reselling them for 20 or 30x markup the thrift stores could continue to do business as usual. It’s unfortunate that the capitalist market has made it this way.
Um... how 'bout you just don't shop there? A KitchenAid Artisan mixer was $275 at Walmart last time I priced them, and a piece of broken plastic on a fan housing doesn't mean the fan won't work; it just means you shouldn't stick your finger in it while the power's on. If the prices are too high (I'm not saying they're not), the market will sort it out... no need for a jihad.
I guess you all are forgetting that Any Brick and Mortar store has a Tremendous amount of Overhead? They have to pay the salaries of the employees, the light bill, the water bill, the gas bill, insurance, taxes, not to mention the Exorbitant Monthly Lease Fees to the Corporate Landlords. Most of the folks posting here are Probably in their 20's or so and don't have experience with the responsibility of owning a business and having to pay big bills like this.
That is not a justification for why the prices are more for broken junk that it is for new items. If the items are not worth the cost then they are not worth the cost, plus, isn't value village the same as other thrift stores that have items all donated? The biggest cost of products is gone. Sure you need to make enough money to pay for staff, taxes, and utilities but can get a new coffee maker for around the same price at my grocery store. They sell them for $30-$35. No amount of overhead is going to justify that they stuff they are selling is simply not worth what they are charging.
Load More Replies... Lol funny to see someone on TikTok bitching about thrift store prices, when TikTok videos play a large part. You've got all these c*nts showing these great deals and of course every c*nt with a TikTok is gonna see that. At least I can feel better knowing that TikTok is more then likely stealing it's users personal info, and I will likely buy that info on the dark web in the future, and ruin some TikTok users credit score and chances of getting a loan
I DO WANT THAT STONE KNICK KNACK! To me it is pricelessIt looks exactly like one my grandmother had. I've NEVER seen one ever. I dont even k ow what happened to hers. Please go back. I will compensate you. Please.
If you don't like a price at a store, then don't spend your money at said store, simple as that. BS Karen-y Tik Toks will not get the corporate suits attention, but loss of revenue will.
Firstly, Value Village and Savers are NOT non-profit companies. So I don't understand why people are hating them for doing business. Secondly, based on the comments so far, it seems most people don't know how Value Village works. Value Village and their parent company Savers get their products from two sources. Primary: open box items, bulk sales from warehouses, items from stores with damaged packaging; and Secondary: donations which make up the MINOR part of where most of their products come from. For donation related sales, most people here get it wrong. A non-profit like Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Canadian Legion, etc, will align itself with Value Village for a contract amount of time. Whatever is donated will be sold to Value Village in bulk based on weight. The amount sold to Value Village will be donated to the aligned non-profit organization. This is why it seems for a company that has made a billion in sales, it only donated $170 million.
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Complaining about the prices at a THRIFT STORE? She can just f**k all the way off.
Dollar Tree in Biden's economy is now Dollar Twenty-five Tree. No, Terry haven't renamed, but they should. As far as thrift/secondhand stores, FOR SHAME charging more than the original price.
If only we had a system like capitalism where if you dont like store and its pricing you could go elsewhere.
If they overpriced, they won't sell. If they sell, they aren't overpriced. Just because a seller sits a price higher than what YOU are sold to pay doesn't make it overpriced.
Just go to Wal-Mart you get for what you pay for Value Village is just a dammmmmm SCAM B******T
Mrsniceguy probably voted for the Communist Biden now shes complaining about thrift store prices, get over it you ignorant person. What about gas, food and everything else that's skyrocketed its prices?
It's so simple. If you don't like a price, make an offer or just leave. Making an online spectacle of yourself condemning a business that did nothing wrong over a price you disagree with is just plain r******d. Just move on and buy from someone else.
r-word.org And first day on the internet for you?
Load More Replies... Why sign a petition? If a store has too high, just don't go to that store. Prices would eventually change.
The pricing is done by people doing their best... If items don't sell, they will drop just like any other store... The world is not perfect people ..wake up... If you don't wanna pay for something just walk away.
You sound like a spoiled brat! Don’t go there! There are plenty of other places to go! Damn! Quit bitching! They gotta stay in business dome how with the b******t in this world.
I understand some thrift stores charge crazy prices. But you just have to know the original value of things. I pretty much only buy my clothes at goodwill I often buy jeans worth 100$ for 12$ in slightly used condition. Most 20-30$ items I find for 6-7$. You just have to know what you're looking for. Also to those who say "oh I can get it cheaper at Walmart.." you can get Walmart brands for cheaper at Walmart yes...but you can't name brands ( express, van huesun, Ralph Lauren) at Walmart. So my thoughts: 1. Don't get your Walmart s**t at a thrift store, of course it's gonna be cheaper at Walmart. 2. Look for name brands and know how much they cost (you can often get it for 1/10 the price of the original item) 3.chain thrift r like McDonald's they are owned by different people/ have regional owners. 4. Don't buy things that are priced more than they are worth. 5. Talk to a manager if things r priced to high, complaining to a cashier won't do, ppl need to b trained better
Blame Resellers. They complain the most but do the same thing VV is doing. Just watch all the thrift hauls on YouTube. VV and all the other places are getting wise to the game. Why do you think the thrift shops hire pricers and authenticators now??
14 whole entire items, wow! Out of how many are in the store? This person most likely also expects the store to pay employees 50 bucks an hour! Ignorance at its finest! I have no doubt some items will be a little more than this business challenged lunatic expects, but maybe she can balance the books for a year or two and we can all watch as the store goes bankrupt.
FFS, it is a FOR PROFIT store. If they charge too much, ummm - DON'T SHOP THERE! This is so stupid, everybody all self-righteous over the prices.
Nobody says you have to BUY there. If the price isn't right, take your business elsewhere. Have you tried p**n shops? Same thing. Stuff that came over on the Mayflower priced like new.
Clearly a bored panda. The store doesn't hide the fact they are for profit. I love the fact I can roll up and drop of our junk with no questions asked. There is marketplace and varagesale apps. I mean there are alot people who over charge but then i guess you bored pandas can call out people by name when you don't like the asking prices.
You can boycott Value Village all you want, but I assure you the prices won't change, as sure as the sun will set and rise. I get that people think prices are rising up, but prices are rising on everything, and at this point it's the nature of the beast. I've been to all types of thrift stores where it use to be less expensive, but they are all rising in price, more so cause cost of operation. A lot of people don't want to work, go out on any day and you'll see store's and restaurants are full by 11am, cause people who don't need it are riding financial assistance instead of working. Store's are having to pay overtime to employees who will work to keep stores operating at full hours, and I get thrift stores are supposed to be cheap, but right now it's just how it is, as it is every where else.
I don't agree. It may be free but the money the stores make from "free donations" actually goes the people with disabilities and disabled veterans. They get a percentage of the sales. Please look up the facts before assuming. Yes most of these prices are wrong but did you bring into fact the thieves that switch tags? Also if it looks high, bring it up to store associates before posting negative stuff. They could be willing to help...Again stop assuming. I've been on both sides and I have facts!!!
Those prices wouldn't seem too unreasonable to me if the condition was much, much better. That fan looks like it was owned by a smoker for several decades.
These prices wouldn't be unreasonable if they didn't get the stuff for free and it was new.
Load More Replies... Bed Bath and Beyond has 20% off coupons that you can use on a kitchen aid mixer or any other item in the store. So why would someone pay 200 for a used item when they can get it brand new around the same price if not less?
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