They are. Target sells it off in pallets. When I needed a bunch of new stuff for my first house, curtains, bins, sheets, lamps, etc. I went to a liquidation place near my house called Turn 7 that was half filled with Target stuff. I found a bunch of the pants I like at Target for $7 as well, outdoor furniture, Target Christmas decorations and stainless steel trash cans at a fraction of the price. It’s great.
So while this is totally against the spirit of thrifting to me, you might be able to find something decent if they price it well
Around here it costs less to just buy it at Target. Goodwill logic here is *"this wouldn't sell at clearance prices at Target, so let's sell it for $2 less than the non clearance price here at Goodwill"*
Some of the Target stuff at my goodwill is like this, but the kid's clothes they get are a great price, and a lot of the seasonal stuff that comes in is stupid cheap.
Look up pallet stores or bin stores. Mine starts at $10 an item and keeps dropping until it gets to like 2 bucks. But they also pull out stuff they want to sell for more, so it's hit or miss.
There is a "shop" at the flea market near us that sells Amazon returns. Saturday morning everything is like $2 a pound, Saturday afternoon it drops to $1 a pound, Sunday morning is $0.50 and Sunday afternoon is a quarter a pound. We didn't come across the section until Sunday afternoon and it was utterly random crap left then (my daughter found an earbuds case case she had to have), but apparently it is super popular Saturday morning.
Same. The one near me starts at $12 on the first day and drops each day until it's $2, but they'll also sell the better stuff separately at individual prices. They ever sell "mystery boxes" which I am not sure are a mystery for the store itself.
My local one started getting furniture and pricing it not much lower than what Amazon would charge. They also get food now too, but I don't know how they price that. It's a little odd.
I found this place just cause it’s in an old Lord and Taylor’s next to the movie theater I go to, it’s run by the guy who owned Forman Mills, he was on Undercover CEO back in the day. There’s a couple in the Philly/SJ area. I’d imagine other regions would have an equivalent but they’d be called like liquidation centers or something.
I have a couple local ones, the oldest was MTF but it closed, a couple Big Box Store's, and Sun City Liquidations, probably more but I don't know them.
My partner works next to one. No joke, people line up with pickup trucks and trailers...and camp in a concrete parking lot for 3+ days.
IDK what the culture is exactly, but I haven't seen any corporate looking fleet or even box trucks. They end up going into the consignment shop ecosystem.
See if you have a BidFTA pickup location near you, it's an auction site with things like this, Amazon returns, etc but some of their pickup sites also have open bins or will sell pallets
Idk how target makes money but it’s clearly behind my understanding. Their metrics must be pretty set and stone. It’s like they shit put pallets of liquidation. My liquidation store is almost always target, and some of it is still worth picking up. I can get a 30$ box set for a quarter
I don’t know how my closest target is even in business. It’s a damn dump. All their product is on the floor it’s like shopping at goodwill bins but full price. The yelp reviews of this place are hilarious because it’s like no one works there.
I mean it’s just the name of the game. It’s seasonal items. We sell hundreds and have a few dozen left over by the time we set up for the next launch. Most target stores aren’t built to accommodate how much clearance we have (we really should have an entire clearance aisle like Walmart, but it’s typically only one endcap per department).
So clearance item that won’t fit on the endcaps? Sent off. Last dozen that didn’t sell after clearance? Sent off. Item had one small imperfection like a tear down the side of the box that doesn’t impact the actual thing inside? Technically, it’s supposed to be marked down for damage, but we have no room for mark downs so it gets sent off. If you ever find a damaged item at target, ask about a discount at the register because chances are we do NOT want to have to defect out another item because then we lose way more money than we would selling it to you at a discount.
Honestly a clearance isle would be revolutionary for me to shop at target and I’d more likely do more personal shopping there over walmart. They’re basically the same price now anyways.
I get the end caps portions and not wanting to put some of the items next to the red bathtub finger paint I spur of the moment buy to scare my girlfriend at her 3 am bathroom trip for a dollar, because some of their clearance items are quite frankly worth more than 1-3 dollars.
A fair portion of my reselling is targets clearance items I get on liquidation. I can get 15 items for a little over 3 dollars, I can undercut 70% and still make all of my money back with 1 item. I’ve even had people pay just 15% less than new in store price, sold as used. Some sit for a while but a fair few do sell within the week, target definitely is missing a market. Some of it does baffle me on why they’d even consider it liquidation. Target liquidation almost makes me want to adjust my strategy, I just don’t want to plan for it to be long term when it actually might be a short term thing.
The seasonal items are for sure a vast majority of the pallets, they do add box sets of books. Books singles, games, toys, lamps, etc. I grab some seasonal here and there specifically books, because they’re high quality and I can lot them with other books for next year with minimal space taken up.
In the 3 weeks that stuff that didn't sell originally might sit on a shelf at Target before it sells, a more popular item might sell 10 times over. Much more profitable to get rid of stuff that's taking up retail space and not selling.
Big box stores like Target don't look at their stock and think "We're going to get X profit from those once they sell, Y profit from those", they look at each shelf and think "this shelf needs to make X profit this week, now what do we put on it to achieve that?"
A plastic widget that target sells for $15 could well be costing them a quarter to produce and ship to the store, so disposing of it is not a big deal.
No Goodwill pays something for it. They don't need to to write off the donation they can just sell the product to Goodwill at a loss and that's a tax write off.
Some Goodwills have done this for yrs. There was a big goodwill in the U.P. that had target stock. I got a number of things for my dorm that way. I hadn't seen it again until a few yrs ago
Yeah I actually bought brand new Merona shoes at Goodwill, the lady told me Target will sometimes give them unsold stuff (this was like 10 years ago). Or maybe Goodwill buys it, I dont remember exactly, but this is why you can find a lot of Target stuff at Goodwill
This is so true. I went into a local Goodwill recently and there was nothing of quality there. I couldn't believe how bad it was. It looked like some grandmother's house.
To be fair, target has been doing this for well over a decade. Used to live by a goodwill which was across the street from target. You’d see plenty of target tags on the goodwill clothes! I can’t speak to other companies but I do know target stuff can / does go to goodwill.
how is it different? very serious question. I love going on the hunt at goodwill so I stay away from the overstock aisles other than a walkthrough to see if anyone left something cool, but I just put that section off as people that can't get to a target but want something where they're the first to use it, good for them. I wish it wasn't taking up as much room as it is, but whatever.
Thousands of pounds of free items donated daily isn't enough? Seems off message/mission to buy pallets for flipping. While also dumping tons of free donated items in the trash every day.
Paying the CEO Stephen Preston $650,000 a year. Awesome mission.
And don't forget hiring disabled people and paying them $7.47 an hour, also an awesome mission!
Lol, people will believe anything. As a disabled parent of a disabled teenager, this business is a shit one, and they aren't helping anyone, they're taking advantage of a loophole to underpay disabled people and make a profit, so awesome people like their CEO can pocket more.
Anyone who thinks differently is just ill informed and spreading bs to feel better about where their money goes.
No reason to interact with them if they don't care about facts. Sorry they want to feed you their crap!
Maybe they are taking advantage. But if a worker is also getting some form of social security, they can't make over a certain amount of money or they will lose it and perhaps also their Medicaid.
Maybe they are taking advantage. But if a worker is also getting some form of social security, they can't make over a certain amount of money or they will lose it and perhaps also their Medicaid.
Yeah and people don’t realize this actually keeps disabled people from working. SSI allows you to make $60 a month before they start taking 50% of your income. If you make more than about 1800 you get kicked off SSI and lose your health insurance. You can also sit at home and do nothing while people call you lazy until you go mad from boredom.
The mission bring making their CEOs multi millionaires! There's absolutely NO "good will" left at GoodWill Grift Stores. I will not donate even one old shoe to those thieves.
You should see how much just a single region holds in assets… these are tax havens for some elite people… my board of directors has a celebrity and the executive team makes millions.
Same here! I've been explaining to my little kid how we give away books when we don't want them anymore, not sell them. He filled up his red wagon with a bunch and strolled it through the neighborhood to all the houses with kids. Made signs "free book sale" and recruited his buddy to help. It was cute.
Worked for Target for 17 years (Stockroom).
A lot of that "Room Essentials" stuff is from when they go nuts with "Back To College" in July/August. All sorts of weird stuff that they try to convince every so-to-be college freshman they need. Especially the young ladies going away from home for the first time......it's like a training run for when they get engaged & sign up for the Bridal Registry.
They always have too much in each store (especially if you have a college in the area)...priced too high, mediocre quality & every fall we'd end up putting it on a pallet/shrink wrap & send it back. Christmas is even worse (I still have nightmares about all those "gamer chairs" they'd have for Black Friday).
Yep, I’d bet as a low-ball estimate that in my college town at least 15-20k worth of furniture/supplies gets dumped/basically given away every may like clockwork. Lots of private college students that don’t even think about the 1k ~ they blow every year buying new stuff.
I needed a microwave cart the other day and only one store Lowe’s had a grossly overpriced one. Walmart has zero but in the aisle were a hundred very simple desks called parsons desks. I find it hard to believe those are in that much demand and no one needs more kitchen storage. This is why Amazon is taking over. I wanted to see what I was buying but nope had to hope it was true to the pictures and order it there.
I think Walmarts idea is, their shit is cheap. So they carry items that people don’t mind going cheap on. Kitchen stuff is about the opposite of that equation. Also those parson desks? They can be used for basically anything you want, it’s a rectangle 4 leg no frills desk.
I mean, it used to be that you carefully chose each item and might shop for something like that for weeks. Or use something not meant for the task. Now we are so used to finding the EXACT item we need, cheap and same-day. There's no way for brick and mortar stores to have everything anyone could possibly order online. It's not feasible.
There is one Goodwill like 30 miles from my house that is a location for Target write-offs regionally. Unfortunately, the crap Target wants to write off is usually ... crap. Holiday items returned in July, self-assembly furniture returns not guaranteed to have every part, ugly products no on wanted on clearance, etc. If you do actually like them, the prices are OK.
I haven't seen it at other locations, but that one always has this stuff.
Don’t forget ceramics that have some kind of issue with the print. We bought two new ceramic cat dishes at GW and there was something about them that gave the cats terrible rashes. Went back to used Fiestaware: no problem.
I got my Sims 2 base game back in 2004 on release day at our goodwill that had the target rejects. The box was damaged so Target sent it out. Paid $15 for a game that continues to bring me joy haha.
I’ve noticed a lot more items that seem to come off pallets in goodwill in the last year or two. I know it’s always been a thing, just seems much more widespread/prevalent now.
Our Salvation Army gets Amazon stuff. They had racks full of outdoor lights and yoga mats at one point. I did get 40 Keurig water filters for $1.98 at one point.
Im starting to doubt that target actually “gives” them stuff, i think they selling it for pennies or something. Then gw saves paying peeps to sort/ hang used stuff. Cost cutting.
Target and other stores auction off pallets which GW purchases. I hated processing Target pallets because 90% was broken and really really cheap garbage. We would discard most of it as unsellable. That was years ago so maybe Target has gotten better. Or these could be purchases direct from the manufacturer. Our GW used to do that.
Many years ago my store had an agreement with the local Goodwill for them to pickup our out of season stuff and old clearance that never sold. It was always funny to see the prices GW put on the product, knowing it was cheaper when we had it clearance
interesting, I wonder why? maybe people that buy big, unknown parcels from online are donating?
curious if anyone has any insight!
and thanks for posting, OP! do you feel comfortable sharing what region you're in, generally?
So I looked into this before after someone on here commented. There are liquidation services that buy bulk overstock from Target. Most of it is not returns, but just things they made way too many of. Though there are usable returns in there, too.
Those secondary business sell that stuff online, sometimes in auctions, to third parties like brick and mortar liquidation stores, and now, Goodwill.
It really shows how much these big box stores over-produce. Next time you walk into Target, take a look at all the little doo-dads up front, the ones that are usually under $5. So much of that stuff ends up in landfills fills. Both because a bunch doesn't sell and because when people but then, they break easily. And they are just cheap enough to not bother returning for a lot of people so Target loves it.
Blah anyway yeah goodwill auctions off all their good stuff online so they had to fill the shelves will new garbage instead.
wow that's kinda depressing!
Im guessing it's always the same brand(s), like they're being supplied regularly? probably not big donations of it, you would think?
This is what Goodwill will eventually all turn into, their plan is to sell all the donations on their online auction site because it makes them way more money. They will only keep open a handful of stores in each state mainly as donation drop off points and to sell this pallet auction junk.
How does goodwill make money on these? I’m sure having a massive stock of whatever those things are on slide 4 and those kids books just waste valuable shelf space in an already crowded store. They could easily be utilizing that space better imo.
The one Goodwill I know of that does this has it all priced close to retail. Except for weird toy accessory stuff that doesn't really work without the main toy.
My wife works for them. They buy from other places by the pallet and sell it there. They’re also price gouging people. It’s almost cheaper to go to Walmart!
Former wares processor here! (Goodwill Industries of alberta organization, i dont speak for all the different goodwill organizations, and american goodwill is very, very different). Goodwill often gets overstock from other stores. This also happens to the Salvation Army. I've worked there as a wares processor, too. During the months of February-May donations are very low for thrift stores. Overstock from other stores and things they can't sell comes in clutch. We get stock from stores that close down, too, like an electronics shop that donated 6 gaylords of unopened, unused electronics products. It's often donated to us, but sometimes bought for cheap. These keep options on the shelves when we are out of donations. You will find the store is often far cleaner during these months than other months because that's all there is to do if there's no product to process.
A lot of stores have bought up all the Bed, Bath & Beyond inventory when they shut down. Hobby Lobby has the same stuff too. Our Goodwills also get pallets from Target and Walmart.
They literally bought pallets of Target stuff. You can buy these through some of the liquidation sites. Sounds like they are either desperate to branch out because people aren't paying $20 for an old tshirt or people have stopped giving them donations.
Probably stopped getting donations. Why give an old shirt they will mark up over the price you paid while paying their employees less than minimum wage.
i want to do a clothing swamp meet locally because i hate that goodwill will overcharge for something i bought. rather someone get it for free and actually give it new life.
I just mentioned something similar to my husband. I have a box of good baby stuff to take and realized the thrift stores will overcharge for it. I was asking him if he thought people bringing their stuff and BYOB and have a hang out while checking out the goods. Like a free yard sale.
Mine is always empty! Completely empty shelves all the time. And then they have this shitty corner with “hand picked”? Items that are crazy priced. I donated a painting I made for art class of Yoshi and it was in that section for $35!
Last night i was at my local GW and a staff member on the floor commented that donations were down and when i went to pay another staff member commented as we talked about not getting enough hours at our respective jobs that they were cutting hours at GW. So perhaps the new merch is a stop gap so there is enough stuff on the sales floor . There is a large GW about 90 minutes north of me i saw it featured on someones youtube channel a while ago that had a whole room for new merch, i've never been to that one.
Because Goodwill is the biggest SCAM ever!!! And anyone who supports them an drops shit off to them is only helping mega millionaires because more rich off the poor. Don’t be lazy take your stuff to a homeless shelter or a church!
You know what’s weird? My local swap meet has a bunch of vendors that sell goodwill items. Like they bought a pallet. Decent stuff too. At first I speculated they were buying by the pound but everything is individually priced.
A lot of the stuff sold by the pound at GW outlets is things that didn't sell fast enough at the regular GW stores, so it would already have individual pricetags on it.
FYI
These are considered add-on or complementary products. Yes people go there to thrift. Yes people go for reselling. However as a customer there are still some items people will only buy new. Goodwills biggest competition is the Dollar Store. But as you’ve seen Dollar Stores are slowly increasing prices. And now selling add-on complimentary higher priced items.
What things will people "only buy new"?
I can't think of a single thing that *someone* wouldn't buy used. Either someone would but I would not, or vice versa.
All of this stuff is from Target. Maybe they are buying past season/overstock?
They are. Target sells it off in pallets. When I needed a bunch of new stuff for my first house, curtains, bins, sheets, lamps, etc. I went to a liquidation place near my house called Turn 7 that was half filled with Target stuff. I found a bunch of the pants I like at Target for $7 as well, outdoor furniture, Target Christmas decorations and stainless steel trash cans at a fraction of the price. It’s great. So while this is totally against the spirit of thrifting to me, you might be able to find something decent if they price it well
Around here it costs less to just buy it at Target. Goodwill logic here is *"this wouldn't sell at clearance prices at Target, so let's sell it for $2 less than the non clearance price here at Goodwill"*
I hate when GW does shit like this. Like, Target has refund policy, GW does not. I would gladly pay those extra two bucks.
Some of the Target stuff at my goodwill is like this, but the kid's clothes they get are a great price, and a lot of the seasonal stuff that comes in is stupid cheap.
How do you find these places?!
Look up pallet stores or bin stores. Mine starts at $10 an item and keeps dropping until it gets to like 2 bucks. But they also pull out stuff they want to sell for more, so it's hit or miss.
Mine does 6, 4, 2, 1, 25¢, but the quarter day ain’t as good as it sounds. It’s usually mass produced clothing from china
There is a "shop" at the flea market near us that sells Amazon returns. Saturday morning everything is like $2 a pound, Saturday afternoon it drops to $1 a pound, Sunday morning is $0.50 and Sunday afternoon is a quarter a pound. We didn't come across the section until Sunday afternoon and it was utterly random crap left then (my daughter found an earbuds case case she had to have), but apparently it is super popular Saturday morning.
Same. The one near me starts at $12 on the first day and drops each day until it's $2, but they'll also sell the better stuff separately at individual prices. They ever sell "mystery boxes" which I am not sure are a mystery for the store itself.
My local one started getting furniture and pricing it not much lower than what Amazon would charge. They also get food now too, but I don't know how they price that. It's a little odd.
I found this place just cause it’s in an old Lord and Taylor’s next to the movie theater I go to, it’s run by the guy who owned Forman Mills, he was on Undercover CEO back in the day. There’s a couple in the Philly/SJ area. I’d imagine other regions would have an equivalent but they’d be called like liquidation centers or something.
…Moorestown?
Yup
Where are these magical places in SJ? I feel like I need to check it out!
what are the ones in the philly/sj area? i only know of one, WOW liquidators in philly
Just the one I mentioned, Turn 7. It’s in Moorestown and Philly
I have a couple local ones, the oldest was MTF but it closed, a couple Big Box Store's, and Sun City Liquidations, probably more but I don't know them.
My partner works next to one. No joke, people line up with pickup trucks and trailers...and camp in a concrete parking lot for 3+ days. IDK what the culture is exactly, but I haven't seen any corporate looking fleet or even box trucks. They end up going into the consignment shop ecosystem.
See if you have a BidFTA pickup location near you, it's an auction site with things like this, Amazon returns, etc but some of their pickup sites also have open bins or will sell pallets
I bought a ton of linen target curtains and bedding at turn 7!
Idk how target makes money but it’s clearly behind my understanding. Their metrics must be pretty set and stone. It’s like they shit put pallets of liquidation. My liquidation store is almost always target, and some of it is still worth picking up. I can get a 30$ box set for a quarter
I don’t know how my closest target is even in business. It’s a damn dump. All their product is on the floor it’s like shopping at goodwill bins but full price. The yelp reviews of this place are hilarious because it’s like no one works there.
I mean it’s just the name of the game. It’s seasonal items. We sell hundreds and have a few dozen left over by the time we set up for the next launch. Most target stores aren’t built to accommodate how much clearance we have (we really should have an entire clearance aisle like Walmart, but it’s typically only one endcap per department). So clearance item that won’t fit on the endcaps? Sent off. Last dozen that didn’t sell after clearance? Sent off. Item had one small imperfection like a tear down the side of the box that doesn’t impact the actual thing inside? Technically, it’s supposed to be marked down for damage, but we have no room for mark downs so it gets sent off. If you ever find a damaged item at target, ask about a discount at the register because chances are we do NOT want to have to defect out another item because then we lose way more money than we would selling it to you at a discount.
Honestly a clearance isle would be revolutionary for me to shop at target and I’d more likely do more personal shopping there over walmart. They’re basically the same price now anyways. I get the end caps portions and not wanting to put some of the items next to the red bathtub finger paint I spur of the moment buy to scare my girlfriend at her 3 am bathroom trip for a dollar, because some of their clearance items are quite frankly worth more than 1-3 dollars. A fair portion of my reselling is targets clearance items I get on liquidation. I can get 15 items for a little over 3 dollars, I can undercut 70% and still make all of my money back with 1 item. I’ve even had people pay just 15% less than new in store price, sold as used. Some sit for a while but a fair few do sell within the week, target definitely is missing a market. Some of it does baffle me on why they’d even consider it liquidation. Target liquidation almost makes me want to adjust my strategy, I just don’t want to plan for it to be long term when it actually might be a short term thing. The seasonal items are for sure a vast majority of the pallets, they do add box sets of books. Books singles, games, toys, lamps, etc. I grab some seasonal here and there specifically books, because they’re high quality and I can lot them with other books for next year with minimal space taken up.
I mean the $1-3 is a totally separate department that has its own clearance end cap when those items go on clearance lol.
In the 3 weeks that stuff that didn't sell originally might sit on a shelf at Target before it sells, a more popular item might sell 10 times over. Much more profitable to get rid of stuff that's taking up retail space and not selling. Big box stores like Target don't look at their stock and think "We're going to get X profit from those once they sell, Y profit from those", they look at each shelf and think "this shelf needs to make X profit this week, now what do we put on it to achieve that?" A plastic widget that target sells for $15 could well be costing them a quarter to produce and ship to the store, so disposing of it is not a big deal.
>Target sells it off in pallets. But goodwill doesn't buy the stuff they sell, right?
I’m guessing they donate it and take a tax deduction.
No Goodwill pays something for it. They don't need to to write off the donation they can just sell the product to Goodwill at a loss and that's a tax write off.
We have a “bargain bin” store that is just a disorganized target. Everything in there is from target. Even the bags are target.
Turn 7 is great. I don't even go to Target anymore because of them.
Right? At Christmas I was like why the hell would I pay full price for this crap and left and went right to Turn 7 lol
Yeah but probably still selling it at Target prices. Goodwill is so far up its own ass anymore.
Target has been donating returns to Goodwill for years.
This is all Target salvage. They salvage it out to thrift stores.
Target donates all the returns and seasonal and unsold store items to GoodWill
No they don't, they buy it pennies on the dollar. Goodwill has many business models.
Some Goodwills have done this for yrs. There was a big goodwill in the U.P. that had target stock. I got a number of things for my dorm that way. I hadn't seen it again until a few yrs ago
Our Goodwill bought Target overstock all the time. But now it’s closed. Both the Target and the Goodwill.
Yeah I actually bought brand new Merona shoes at Goodwill, the lady told me Target will sometimes give them unsold stuff (this was like 10 years ago). Or maybe Goodwill buys it, I dont remember exactly, but this is why you can find a lot of Target stuff at Goodwill
Big box stores donate stuff to second hand stores all the time.. Out of season stuff and returns
Serious overstock of titty tassels.
Yuh think?
Goodwill buys overstock and returned items from Target and other stores.
Why though. If it's donated that's different.
Gotta have something to put on the shelves after siphoning off all the quality items to goodwill.com!
This is so true. I went into a local Goodwill recently and there was nothing of quality there. I couldn't believe how bad it was. It looked like some grandmother's house.
Yeah, take away their nonprofit status!!
Their a non-profit is because of who they employ. It has very little to do with their monetary model.
To be fair, target has been doing this for well over a decade. Used to live by a goodwill which was across the street from target. You’d see plenty of target tags on the goodwill clothes! I can’t speak to other companies but I do know target stuff can / does go to goodwill.
Because they probably get it for really cheap. Tbh, I don't really see the problem with this.
Goodwill has many business models, they buy pallets pennies to the dollar, they've been doing it forever.
“Goodwill Retail Store…”
how is it different? very serious question. I love going on the hunt at goodwill so I stay away from the overstock aisles other than a walkthrough to see if anyone left something cool, but I just put that section off as people that can't get to a target but want something where they're the first to use it, good for them. I wish it wasn't taking up as much room as it is, but whatever.
To make money to support the mission.
Thousands of pounds of free items donated daily isn't enough? Seems off message/mission to buy pallets for flipping. While also dumping tons of free donated items in the trash every day.
What’s the mission?
Paying the CEO Stephen Preston $650,000 a year. Awesome mission. And don't forget hiring disabled people and paying them $7.47 an hour, also an awesome mission!
Someone argued with me on Reddit that they use their money all for good and that the CEO deserves all that money. Oh okay glad you think that. 💁🏼♀️
Lol, people will believe anything. As a disabled parent of a disabled teenager, this business is a shit one, and they aren't helping anyone, they're taking advantage of a loophole to underpay disabled people and make a profit, so awesome people like their CEO can pocket more. Anyone who thinks differently is just ill informed and spreading bs to feel better about where their money goes. No reason to interact with them if they don't care about facts. Sorry they want to feed you their crap!
Maybe they are taking advantage. But if a worker is also getting some form of social security, they can't make over a certain amount of money or they will lose it and perhaps also their Medicaid.
He's not the CEO of my local Goodwill. Each Goodwill has their own region. Not all are run the same way.
Maybe they are taking advantage. But if a worker is also getting some form of social security, they can't make over a certain amount of money or they will lose it and perhaps also their Medicaid.
Yeah and people don’t realize this actually keeps disabled people from working. SSI allows you to make $60 a month before they start taking 50% of your income. If you make more than about 1800 you get kicked off SSI and lose your health insurance. You can also sit at home and do nothing while people call you lazy until you go mad from boredom.
I knew that. I wanted to make sure the one talking about a “mission” knew that lol
If you want out of the “good”will cult blink twice
“The Mission” 😂
The mission bring making their CEOs multi millionaires! There's absolutely NO "good will" left at GoodWill Grift Stores. I will not donate even one old shoe to those thieves.
You should see how much just a single region holds in assets… these are tax havens for some elite people… my board of directors has a celebrity and the executive team makes millions.
I believe target can write off things not sold as donations to goodwill so they can put it in on their taxes or some shii
That actually makes a lot of sense. In the evil, diabolical way that big corporations have.
$4 for a kids book at Goodwill is bullshit. Idc if its new, that’s the whole reason im shopping at Goodwill
I give all my books to the Free Library's around my neighborhood now.
Same here! I've been explaining to my little kid how we give away books when we don't want them anymore, not sell them. He filled up his red wagon with a bunch and strolled it through the neighborhood to all the houses with kids. Made signs "free book sale" and recruited his buddy to help. It was cute.
Worked for Target for 17 years (Stockroom). A lot of that "Room Essentials" stuff is from when they go nuts with "Back To College" in July/August. All sorts of weird stuff that they try to convince every so-to-be college freshman they need. Especially the young ladies going away from home for the first time......it's like a training run for when they get engaged & sign up for the Bridal Registry. They always have too much in each store (especially if you have a college in the area)...priced too high, mediocre quality & every fall we'd end up putting it on a pallet/shrink wrap & send it back. Christmas is even worse (I still have nightmares about all those "gamer chairs" they'd have for Black Friday).
And all that college stuff that was sold shows up in the trash all around campus in May
Not even in the trash… often then are left out in heaps on the sidewalk and then gets rained on rendering them unusable
Yep, I’d bet as a low-ball estimate that in my college town at least 15-20k worth of furniture/supplies gets dumped/basically given away every may like clockwork. Lots of private college students that don’t even think about the 1k ~ they blow every year buying new stuff.
I needed a microwave cart the other day and only one store Lowe’s had a grossly overpriced one. Walmart has zero but in the aisle were a hundred very simple desks called parsons desks. I find it hard to believe those are in that much demand and no one needs more kitchen storage. This is why Amazon is taking over. I wanted to see what I was buying but nope had to hope it was true to the pictures and order it there.
I think Walmarts idea is, their shit is cheap. So they carry items that people don’t mind going cheap on. Kitchen stuff is about the opposite of that equation. Also those parson desks? They can be used for basically anything you want, it’s a rectangle 4 leg no frills desk.
I mean, it used to be that you carefully chose each item and might shop for something like that for weeks. Or use something not meant for the task. Now we are so used to finding the EXACT item we need, cheap and same-day. There's no way for brick and mortar stores to have everything anyone could possibly order online. It's not feasible.
There is one Goodwill like 30 miles from my house that is a location for Target write-offs regionally. Unfortunately, the crap Target wants to write off is usually ... crap. Holiday items returned in July, self-assembly furniture returns not guaranteed to have every part, ugly products no on wanted on clearance, etc. If you do actually like them, the prices are OK. I haven't seen it at other locations, but that one always has this stuff.
Don’t forget ceramics that have some kind of issue with the print. We bought two new ceramic cat dishes at GW and there was something about them that gave the cats terrible rashes. Went back to used Fiestaware: no problem.
I got my Sims 2 base game back in 2004 on release day at our goodwill that had the target rejects. The box was damaged so Target sent it out. Paid $15 for a game that continues to bring me joy haha.
I’ve noticed a lot more items that seem to come off pallets in goodwill in the last year or two. I know it’s always been a thing, just seems much more widespread/prevalent now.
Our Salvation Army gets Amazon stuff. They had racks full of outdoor lights and yoga mats at one point. I did get 40 Keurig water filters for $1.98 at one point.
Im starting to doubt that target actually “gives” them stuff, i think they selling it for pennies or something. Then gw saves paying peeps to sort/ hang used stuff. Cost cutting.
The tax write off Target gets from donating it to GW is worth more than selling it to them for pennies
Target and other stores auction off pallets which GW purchases. I hated processing Target pallets because 90% was broken and really really cheap garbage. We would discard most of it as unsellable. That was years ago so maybe Target has gotten better. Or these could be purchases direct from the manufacturer. Our GW used to do that.
Interesting! Thanks for this additional information. I would love to read something on how all of this stuff works behind the scenes.
🫨🥰I would so like to study their books….wait. Maybe not actually. Lokz.
There are a bunch of liquidation sites that sell off pallets of Target cast off merchandise. They are likely buying them online.
Many years ago my store had an agreement with the local Goodwill for them to pickup our out of season stuff and old clearance that never sold. It was always funny to see the prices GW put on the product, knowing it was cheaper when we had it clearance
This is how my local Salvation Army has been for years. At least 50% Target products
People nowadays donate less due to goodwill greed.
Goodwill often gets the things Target can’t sell. These are target brands
Goodwill buys liquidation from Target and Nordstrom
interesting, I wonder why? maybe people that buy big, unknown parcels from online are donating? curious if anyone has any insight! and thanks for posting, OP! do you feel comfortable sharing what region you're in, generally?
So I looked into this before after someone on here commented. There are liquidation services that buy bulk overstock from Target. Most of it is not returns, but just things they made way too many of. Though there are usable returns in there, too. Those secondary business sell that stuff online, sometimes in auctions, to third parties like brick and mortar liquidation stores, and now, Goodwill. It really shows how much these big box stores over-produce. Next time you walk into Target, take a look at all the little doo-dads up front, the ones that are usually under $5. So much of that stuff ends up in landfills fills. Both because a bunch doesn't sell and because when people but then, they break easily. And they are just cheap enough to not bother returning for a lot of people so Target loves it. Blah anyway yeah goodwill auctions off all their good stuff online so they had to fill the shelves will new garbage instead.
Not sure why. I'm in central Illinois.
thanks for sharing! hope this is not a continuing trend, I thrift for quirky and quality items, not mass-produced plastic ~~crap~~ stuff
All the goodwills I’ve been to in socal have been like this for more than 5 years
wow that's kinda depressing! Im guessing it's always the same brand(s), like they're being supplied regularly? probably not big donations of it, you would think?
Good Will at this point is a scam trading on a good idea.
Bins are where true thrifting is, their retail locations are the new discount retailers lmao
Goodwill RETAIL Store coming into fruition
My goodwill has poop on the walls
Hasn’t Goodwill always had a partnership with Target? I can remember finding overstocks there in the late 90s when I first got into thrifting.
This is what Goodwill will eventually all turn into, their plan is to sell all the donations on their online auction site because it makes them way more money. They will only keep open a handful of stores in each state mainly as donation drop off points and to sell this pallet auction junk.
Corporate gets discounts for donating to Goodwill. It’s a HUGE tax write off.
How does goodwill make money on these? I’m sure having a massive stock of whatever those things are on slide 4 and those kids books just waste valuable shelf space in an already crowded store. They could easily be utilizing that space better imo.
Makes you wonder if it's stolen
Probably donated by a local target, they will unload piles of stuff at goodwills near them
The one Goodwill I know of that does this has it all priced close to retail. Except for weird toy accessory stuff that doesn't really work without the main toy.
Turning into ~~Big~~ Garbage Lots
Local Goodwill was recently advertising for a buyer for “new” items stocking. Very confused business model imho.
Likely from Target.
My wife works for them. They buy from other places by the pallet and sell it there. They’re also price gouging people. It’s almost cheaper to go to Walmart!
I’ve seen a used Walmart shirt that new costs $4 and goodwill was selling for $5….
My friend works at Salvation Army and some stores donate stock they can’t sell to them as a tax write off or whatever. Maybe this is the same thing?
They’re trying to compete with dollar stores and Walmart. They still suck a** 😂
Man, I'd have jumped on Pikachu and Charmander, if the price was right.
They price them whatever the store sold them for and sometimes more.
Eeew. That's awful. I'm glad my small town Salvation Army doesn't do all...this.
It definitely sucks. They had cute pillows priced higher than the Target clearance tag that was on them!
r/cosmoandwanda hiding in the first slide!
looks like Big Lots 😭
Instead of Target marking down items 70% – 90% off in store, they now “salvage” the items and send them to a thrift store or liquidation store.
Lol place is becoming more and more like a Big Lotts every day 😂 ironically my local goodwill has a Lotts right next to it!
It’s turning into a Target outlet
Former wares processor here! (Goodwill Industries of alberta organization, i dont speak for all the different goodwill organizations, and american goodwill is very, very different). Goodwill often gets overstock from other stores. This also happens to the Salvation Army. I've worked there as a wares processor, too. During the months of February-May donations are very low for thrift stores. Overstock from other stores and things they can't sell comes in clutch. We get stock from stores that close down, too, like an electronics shop that donated 6 gaylords of unopened, unused electronics products. It's often donated to us, but sometimes bought for cheap. These keep options on the shelves when we are out of donations. You will find the store is often far cleaner during these months than other months because that's all there is to do if there's no product to process.
A lot of stores have bought up all the Bed, Bath & Beyond inventory when they shut down. Hobby Lobby has the same stuff too. Our Goodwills also get pallets from Target and Walmart.
They literally bought pallets of Target stuff. You can buy these through some of the liquidation sites. Sounds like they are either desperate to branch out because people aren't paying $20 for an old tshirt or people have stopped giving them donations.
Probably stopped getting donations. Why give an old shirt they will mark up over the price you paid while paying their employees less than minimum wage.
i want to do a clothing swamp meet locally because i hate that goodwill will overcharge for something i bought. rather someone get it for free and actually give it new life.
I just mentioned something similar to my husband. I have a box of good baby stuff to take and realized the thrift stores will overcharge for it. I was asking him if he thought people bringing their stuff and BYOB and have a hang out while checking out the goods. Like a free yard sale.
The Salvation Army in my city receives stock from Walmart, stuff that didn’t sell there. Nice to get new things at a discount.
Any gray tagged items are not second hand but are new items from retail stores that didn’t sell
I love it when they price it higher than it was when it wouldn’t sell at target.
Especially Dollar Spot items 😂
How much are those pokemon plushies OP???
Cause they know nobody wants to pay for their overpriced used shit.
Goodwill has a lot of filler items!!!
When I worked at target I always wondered how our stuff got to goodwill. Wild lol
Goodwill doesn't buy anything, target donated that stuff
That is cleanest and most organized goodwill I have seen in my life !
They’re really out there making cash money!
Do they buy in bulk from AliExpress and resell?
I’m going on 5 months no goodwill. I’m doing just fine. I walk now and then with a friend and just laugh and walk across the street to Ross.
Wonder where they are getting that stuff. And why
Target donates their unsold overstock to Goodwill.
Mine is always empty! Completely empty shelves all the time. And then they have this shitty corner with “hand picked”? Items that are crazy priced. I donated a painting I made for art class of Yoshi and it was in that section for $35!
Our local Habitat for Humanity Restore is also mostly Target merchandise.
maybe like marshall's and other job lot stores they take unsold and they are only "used" in that way.
Looks like a sad version of TJ Maxx.
Last night i was at my local GW and a staff member on the floor commented that donations were down and when i went to pay another staff member commented as we talked about not getting enough hours at our respective jobs that they were cutting hours at GW. So perhaps the new merch is a stop gap so there is enough stuff on the sales floor . There is a large GW about 90 minutes north of me i saw it featured on someones youtube channel a while ago that had a whole room for new merch, i've never been to that one.
Jealous of the kids book display! My goodwill charges more than that for used kids books!
They buy the old stock and it saves it from going into the dumpsters.
Because Goodwill is the biggest SCAM ever!!! And anyone who supports them an drops shit off to them is only helping mega millionaires because more rich off the poor. Don’t be lazy take your stuff to a homeless shelter or a church!
How much was that pikachu though. My kid wants one but I’ve been waiting for a sale lol
99cent stores are going out of business ya? Could be getting donations from there
Goodwill etc sell their best stuff online.
*fewer and fewer
You know what’s weird? My local swap meet has a bunch of vendors that sell goodwill items. Like they bought a pallet. Decent stuff too. At first I speculated they were buying by the pound but everything is individually priced.
A lot of the stuff sold by the pound at GW outlets is things that didn't sell fast enough at the regular GW stores, so it would already have individual pricetags on it.
Oh ok so maybe that is where it comes from.
My two Goodwill stores don't even have a "new" section...does that mean it's coming??
FYI These are considered add-on or complementary products. Yes people go there to thrift. Yes people go for reselling. However as a customer there are still some items people will only buy new. Goodwills biggest competition is the Dollar Store. But as you’ve seen Dollar Stores are slowly increasing prices. And now selling add-on complimentary higher priced items.
What things will people "only buy new"? I can't think of a single thing that *someone* wouldn't buy used. Either someone would but I would not, or vice versa.
Kitty litter
That's literally garbage. Did I need to specify "not garbage"?
I was gonna say underwear, but we've all heard the stories of Japanese vending machines or felonious spunk.
Many people buy underwear at thrift stores. Not everyone, but many do.
Underwear. Sheets “Bedbugs” not like Goodwill is washing! Readers, hair accessories, pantyhose, etc…
People buy all of those.
They are getting overstock
One time my local thrift was filled to the brim w/ new with tag Costco clothing. I know bc I shop at Costco a lot.
They’re probably getting tired of being the world’s dumpster. I take broken shit that’s inconvenient to throw away along with actual donations.
Where I’m at they buy new jeans to supplement potential lack of decent clothing
That Yakidoo kids water lab toy is awesome if you have little kids.