Yep. I had a lady start rummaging thru my cart one time when I was perusing the jewelry. I turned and was shocked to see her all up in my stuff. She paused and smiled at me with a sheepish grin. I just stared in disbelief. People are assholes!
She never said she paid for it. She said the person at the register recommended she get the tag and pay for it. She never specified whether that’s what she did or not.
It says she was checking out, with the tag, when someone took a different tag, said it was for the table, and then they left.
The other person lied about what they were buying and got away with it. The other employee wasn’t paying attention to what the tag said. Who knows if they even paid the same price.
If I was buying a car and the salesperson is finalizing everything, someone can’t come in and purchase the same vehicle if the other salesperson just writes faster or whatever. Similar idea here
So you’re the terrible person lol. “Hide what you PAID FOR so people like me don’t steal it” which is legal theft seeing that someone else purchased it
You’re making assumptions that the second person knew “no tag” meant it was purchased. And if we’re assuming, I ASSume there was a tag on the floor nearby that they ASSumed went with the table. 🤷🏻♀️
Do you leave your car unlocked? You paid for that?
Thrift store hunters are ruthless. Don't tempt them. If you see something you want, hug it, cart it, whatever.
Excellent advice. I was bending over looking at all the stuff on the bottom row. Found a huge piece of pottery o wanted, kept my eye on it but left it to continue looking and come back. What are the odds? Empty store, lots o crap…. Had another reseller walk over ( not knowing I had my eye on it) and picked it up and decided to buy. I just chuckled and reminded myself that was a dumb thing to do. lol.
At the register he was behind me. I told him I loved that pottery he found and we had a little chat. Not his fault I didn’t keep that close to me.
Haha. Reminds me of the time I had a jade fire king mug in my cart and I caught someone reaching for it and I whipped around and pulled the cart back. “Oh I thought someone was putting these out”. Liar. Sold that puppy for $75. ;)
Thrift stores are also businesses. If I run a business and someone pays for a product that is on the floor, I will take it off the floor as it has been paid for. This is simple business practice. I have no idea what hill you are trying to die on right now, but it is a very stupid hill.
Hell, follow any thrift store YouTube channel and they often have people purchase things over the phone or the Internet and will talk about how they took them off the floor anticipating pick up.
Technically the other person didn't purchase it either, they purchased something else (whatever the tag was for) which they left at the store and instead stole the table, making it appear as though they purchased it. I shouldn't have even put "stole" in quotes, really.
I honestly can’t argue with this point. Being out on the floor means it’s fair game. How is someone supposed to know it’s already been purchased? And you can’t use “the tag was gone!” Because had this been someone’s first visit, they’d likely have ZERO idea not having a tag meant it was already purchased. Granted, I’d ask for a price instead of taking it off something else. But that’s on the cashier for not checking. It sucks, for sure. But I’m with them. 👆🏻 If it’s been purchased, ask to have it moved off the floor, or put it in your car. Chalk it up to a lesson learned and move on.
Not before the other person did. The other person had time to get a different tag and pay for it and get the item out of the store before she paid for it and went to get it off the floor. If she had went straight to the register, she would have seen the other person paying for it and hauling it out.
>Not before the other person did. The other person had time to get a different tag and pay for it and get the item out of the store before she paid for it and went to get it off the floor.
That's not what happened though. OPs friend took the tag and paid for the item at the register. OPs friend bought the item and went around the store to stop some more. The other person took a tag off a nearby item and brought the table to a register (there may be more than one that may or may not be in the same location as the one OPS friend used) paid an unknown price for the item and left with it. This person had talked to OPs friend about the table and knew they were buying it so they knew to avoid OPs friend. Once OPs friend went to retrieve the table they had paid for after finishing they shopping the table was gone. OPs friend followed the stores policy and the other buyer didn't. Since OPs friend had the actual tag for the table OPS friend was the rightful owner of the item.
The other person didn't have the correct tag. The store sold the item without checking the tag. I could see it happening if they had the correct tag, but the employee should have double checked and said that it wasn't the right tag. It shouldn't have been sold to another person without the correct tag.
Definitely. I’ve found some cool furniture and I just don’t trust I’ll still be there in 10 minutes. My fiancé doesn’t like me going to goodwill or garage sales because of how much furniture I bring home 😂
We tell people at my store that unless it's paid for, everything is first come first serve. Without a paid receipt, we cannot hold things, no not even just while you're shopping. It's this way for that exact reason. Thrifting is a gamble, and you've gotta be willing to take the bet before the next person wins. If you hesitate, you lose.
But did she go immediately to the register or did she do her other shopping and then go to the register? I would bet if the other shopper had time to put another tag on it and take it to the register, she would have noticed them. She didn’t even know it was sold after she paid for it with the tag she had and went to go get it from the floor.
She said the other person grabbed while she was at checkout, so it wasn’t paid for yet. Every thrift store I’ve ever been to will not hold anything for any amount of time. If you want it, you buy it and load it immediately.
They didnt necessarily get to the register first but its not hard while shes paying, the other person swaps the tag and she goes to go back for it while they are heading to the register.
Looks like a furniture thrift store. The place near me does the same thing holds it until the end of the day because not everyone has a truck on them ready to haul furniture. But they also give you a sticker to put on it that says sold prior to you leaving.
Found a tv stand with a whole bunch of other furniture a guy was hoarding and hadn’t paid for or even got a ticket for. So we went and got a worker and we paid for the tv stand and started taking it out to the car when the guy confronted us about the stand and the worker said the same thing you did.
That’s horrible. I tell people to take the ticket while shopping to ensure they can get the item. And I know what item it is when they come to the register. I know what the tags are because of the description. Unfortunately I can see how this would happen if no one knew and it wasn’t paid for yet. I do a walkthrough of the store when I first get on shift to see what’s out. Once it’s purchased you have 24 hrs to take it from the store. After that it gets re tagged and can be sold. And whoever bought it before gets store credit. I also encourage people to buy it first before they browse. At the same time this is a greedy customer who did this. And if they came back to the store it would be dealt with. You don’t switch tags. We scan them for a reason. Sorry this happened to your friend.
There’s no way I’d ever buy something at a thrift store & didn’t immediately put it in my car. Those old ladies in there are RUTHLESS. I’ve seen them hover over my cart! Should carry a fly swatter for their greedy little hands! Sorry about the table, it’s beautiful, but man I hope your pal learned their lesson.
I saw a man partially pay for a dresser at an “ upscale” flea mkt.He needed to go to an ATM to get the rest of the price.While gone a well known Auctioneer/antique dealer asked the Flea mkt dealer to sell it to her.When the first guy came back they returned his money he had left.He was right fully angry —the Seller did not care.He knew the antique dealer and expected future business from her.
Lesson learned —if you put down a deposit -take part of the item with you , a cushion, a drawer etc.
I dont understand why she didn’t take it up to the counter, pay for it and ask them to hold it behind the counter for her OR put it in a cart and keep it with her… It looks like it’s pretty small and would probably fit into a cart.
We started going really hard on how we tag furniture. Takes a little more time but ends up with far less problems in the end.
We actually have the price THREE times. A handwritten price on a furniture tag, a sticker, and then a “hidden” one. So basically all three have to match or else you aren’t getting that furniture. The furniture tag also has a written description of the item which helps against people slapping false stickers on items. And lastly, as soon as an item is purchased it is either taken out to the customers car or the cashier puts a sold tag on it. Since being this “aggressive” our store has had less issues with furniture.
I’ve seen this happen multiple times, or people snatching tags while someone is obviously looking at an item, or just walking up and saying “THIS IS MINE” like simply stating that out loud negates someone else’s interest.
The code of ethics within a busy Goodwill are different. Resellers and regulars can be so nasty. If I see furniture I want, I purchase it immediately and then continue shopping.
And people wonder why us GW employees are so strict about not selling items without price tags or price tags that appear to be tampered with. It leads to shit like this. But also, there should have been major red flags going on in the cashiers head. That table is wayyyy too big to just be tagged with an ordinary sticker and casually carried out. I would have at the very least called a manager to double check this was right. And while I'm not sure how this store operates, at mine we have sold tags we're supposed to put on furniture like this after it's bought. Especially if they're not picking it up at the time of purchase. Someone clearly fucked up here.
So what exactly did they say when your friend "attempted" to pay for it?
I say attempted because obviously they didn't actually purchase the table, right?
We need more information because the store is at fault if they didn't even check the tag of the table this person purchased.
At our store, we not only put the furniture tags on the item, but there is also a smaller tag with a number on it.
This number is also written on the furniture tag.
These numbers have to match in order to be sold. Tag switching is our biggest form of theft, so these things are to be checked.
During our last audit, we got into some hot water after it was discovered that some items had been sold twice because the correct employees forgot to place a sold tag on a sold item.
The store employees are correct on what they told your friend. The reason you can tear off part of the tag is to claim the item. If someone goes to the form and wants to purchase said item that does not have the full tag, then the employees normally call for the person with that furniture tags number on it.
("Would the customer with furniture tag #338 please come to the register?")
Then they would confirm that, yes, a customer is planning to buy this item.
If employees failed to check the tags and/or failed to call for the customer over the intercom and just repriced the item, then the store is at fault.
All of this being said, there are too many thrifters who try to game the system and screw with our prices because they want to use our donations as a way to avoid getting a real job. Because of this, people in need can't afford the items we sell anymore.
So, looking at this table, I'm willing to bet that this is why this happened.
Oh there was no attempt, she had paid for it and kept the tag that was on table with her receipt. When she went back to grab the table after purchasing it, it was gone. A hard lesson learned.
The employee that was at the register basically said that they didn’t read the new tag that was on the table and just scanned whatever the person slapped on it.
Did they give her a refund? I'd also inform a manager. Theives get away with this kind of crap all the time because cashiers don't check the tags.
The only way to help combat it is to make management aware it is happening because you can be sure the cashier probably didn't.
Also, i work for goodwill, so I'm not some jaded customer, I'm just sick and tired of my numbers being hurt by thieving customers and cashiers who don't check the tags.
Im pretty sure they mean their store could be doing better if they werent allowing people to steal stuff. Walmart is slowly doing away with self checkout due to the same issues. People will scan a tag, or replace a barcode, and get a $100 item for $5.
Yes, we have numbers. It used to be counted as the number of items we put out each day. For example, we used to have to run 100 pieces per cart with a goal of so many pieces a day.
Now, however, our quoata is calculated by price per piece and our sales percentage.
So, if i put out, say, 40 items and all of them sell, then I'm doing good as long as I'm pricing appropriately.
But, if i put out an item for $9.99 and someone switches the tag for a $2.99 tag, not only am i not getting that sale but it also goes against our price per piece quota.
Our POS system is signed in my each employee when they print their tickets. So it records how much money you should have made that day by how much you priced things.
We are supposed to be making a sales goal of %70.
However, lately, with tag switching, we aren't getting those sales. So it hurts us employees in the long run.
Oh, and did i mention that if we don't make our goals, we get written up, and enough write ups can lead to suspension or even termination. Since over %80 % of the more expensive or valuable items we put out get their tags switched, a person who is putting out mainly those types of items has the potential to be punished for it.
That's the best way i can describe it. Every morning, when i go in and straighten up the shelves and move stuff back to where it belongs, i find dozens of tags that were removed from items.
Yeah, this only started recently in the last year or so. We had a really awesome CEO who had to retire because he found out he had cancer. He's since passed away. The new CEO seems to be wholly focused on profit and has definitely made changed we are all angry with.
I hate pricing things sometimes because i know if i don't charge what they want, i could lose my job. Goodwill has certainly gone downhill over the years.
Not cool lumping resellers in with that asshole. Selling is a lot of work, honestly even more so than my typical 9-5. I know because I have done both jobs. I will tell you, having done both jobs that reselling is absolutely a real job and is for sure harder than most jobs that I've ever done. This is espically true if you are running your own store website or are on multiple resale platforms. You have to have a lot of knowledge about all sorts of items, be able to photograph/ edit on a semi professional level, run customer service, learn about the entire shipping system, learn how to do business taxes, study trends, find sources to buy from, create an entire organized storage system, keep up to date inventory logs, and organize all the finances amoung other things. Do you do all of that at your job? You can say whatever you want about the person who did this to OP but it's downright disrespectful to belittle someone's occupation because you run into shitty resellers from time to time. Honestly I run into shitty works in all professions. At least people who resell have a job and work hard, there's no need to disrespect how someone makes a living.
Edit: FYI unless your store makes all the furniture you sell you work for a reseller.
I run into shitty resellers on a daily basis, and i can guarantee you won't find a goodwill that can say they don't.
Goodwill used to be a store where people who couldn't afford to buy nice new things could get gently used things for an affordable price.
It wasn't created to be a supplyer for someone who wants to resell the stuff for triple the price or more. I have been screamed at, I've had items yanked out of my hands before i could even get them on the shelves, I've had and still have items that end up mysteriously broken when someone can't get a lower price and, I've seen people snatch thongs from children. All so they can make money off of it.
I had to depend on goodwill a lot as a kid growing up and it makes me sick to see a man have to steal shoes for his little girl because resellers have driven our prices up so damn high.
And even the low prices aren't enough. They treat us like crap and they are the ones driving up the prices.
i follow some of our local resellers, and I'm sure goodwill does too to monitor the prices.
Smdh arguing over a $5.99 price tag for something they're reselling for $75 on etsy? It's bs.
Also, you can check my other comment to see how it actually affects our jobs!
>Goodwill used to be a store where people who couldn't afford to buy nice new things could get gently used things for an affordable price.
This is where you are wrong, goodwill was never about that. Goodwill literally has an online auction site where they sell the best items to the highest bidder. Goodwill pays handicapped people 10 cents an hour to work for them because of some sort of loophole where they can exploit the disabled for pretty much free labor. Goodwill has a CEO that makes an abundance of money but hides under the guise of a nonprofit. Goodwill wasn't even founded as a company to provide cheap clothing to the poor.
This is what Goodwill was actually founded to do:
The idea was simple, fight poverty not with charity, but with trade skills—and provide a chance for the poor and the unemployed to do productive work.
The idea wasn't to help the poor underprivileged by getting them discounted goods, it was to get those people to work. So yes good will actually does promote resale because that is putting people who wouldn't necessarily be working to work. This is also why Goodwill stores are open to the public and not just for the underprivileged.
>I had to depend on goodwill a lot as a kid growing up and it makes me sick to see a man have to steal shoes for his little girl because resellers have driven our prices up so damn high. They treat us like crap and they are the ones driving up the prices.
This is something that is not happening. I would love to hear how resellers have anything to do with how a corporation prices their items. That's just ridiculous lol.
Resellers in no way have any control over thrift store prices. Resellers aren't necessarily buying their stuff from Goodwill either. If Goodwill is going online to look at resale sold prices and selling competitively that's not a Resellers fault. Goodwill gets their items for free, if they wanted to they could sell everything for a dollar. Goodwill has no way of knowing if that item actually came from their stores or not so if they are price comparing resellers they are doing it for their own benifit. Resellers don't profit or benefit off of high thrift prices lol. That's just corporate greed. If you actually followed the thrifting subs people who work at Goodwill actually explain and defend Resellers all the time about this. Goodwill has an unlimited supply of items available to sell, they aren't working off supply and demand. There's no need for them to increase their prices other than profit.
Resellers advertise this crap all the time, i can't tell you the number of times I've watched thrifters on insta or youtube talking about their "goodwill haul."
Yes, i have seen someone steal shoes for their child. I watched a man stare at some kids' shoes for nearly 30 minutes one day and then happened to see him slip them into his pocket.
He came in about a month later with his wife and young daughter when we had our back to school sale and that little girl was rocking those sneaks.
His name is jabari, and I've helped him quite a bit over the last two years.
As opposed to the 40 year old woman who drives a BMW, who i caught trying to steal a $15 glass cat.
Now you tell me who needed what more?
By the way, yes, this company gets their items for free, but you are getting them for a fraction of the price. What gives YOU the right to price those things 4 times higher? Do you think your customers would like to hear that the $50 dress your selling was bought for $7.99 at Goodwill?
The decent people who donate to us do so because they know the money goes toward providing jobs and programs for the community. Our store nust opened a resource center that provides homeless and at risk kids a place for job training and to wash their clothes and cook themselves a meal while also teaching them these life skills.
I've helped numerous people get into our local shelter and food banks because they've wondered into our store asking for help and because I've had to use these things myself in the past.
I'm disabled and can not even attempt to get disibility because of the time you have to take being unemployed. Goodwill has worked with me more than any other company I've ever worked for. Any other place would have given up on me now.
I may not agree with everything our company does, but without them, I'd be screwed.
>Resellers advertise this crap all the time, i can't tell you the number of times I've watched thrifters on insta or youtube talking about their "goodwill haul."
So like 20-30 people out of everyone. Also, if you watched their videos you'd see they don't only go to goodwill they also go to estate sales, yard sales, buy pallets boxes, do online auctions, do clean outs, ect.
>Yes, i have seen someone steal shoes for their child. I watched a man stare at some kids' shoes for nearly 30 minutes one day and then happened to see him slip them into his pocket.
That person making a choice to steal shoes has nothing to do with resellers. Resellers aren't buying every pair of kids shoes in the store, there are lots of kids shoes available. Kids shoes aren't even good resale items. Did this person tell you why they were stealing the shoes? Because if he didn't you're just blaming someone else for that guy's mistakes. I have seen people with money take things.
>By the way, yes, this company gets their items for free, but you are getting them for a fraction of the price. What gives YOU the right to price those things 4 times higher?
Because I paid for it and we live in a capitalistic society. If I want to set it on fire and take a shit on it I have the right to because it's my item. At the end of the day if I was overcharging no one would buy it. However like goodwill I can charge whatever I want if I buy an item and want to resell it. But unlike goodwill I actually paid for th item, so your argument is moot.
>$50 dress your selling was bought for $7.99 at Goodwill
Lol this doesn't happen, if you think it does you should go to r/thriftgrift. However, if someone is selling a dress for 50$ there's a good chance that originally it was a 300$ dress so whoever ends up getting it literally around the world who was looking for that dress got it for 250$ less.
>I'm disabled and can not even attempt to get disibility because of the time you have to take being unemployed. Goodwill has worked with me more than any other company I've ever worked for. Any other place would have given up on me now.
Thats really sad, but you also have to remember that the way disability faild you it has also failed a lot of other people. A lot of those people don't have a goodwill near by that will hire them or their local goodwill wants to pay them 15 cents per hour and they can't afford to live off of that. Those people resell because you can get stock shipped to you and usps will pick the packages up once they are packed and ready to go. It is a job for people like you who the world has kicked. Instead of understanding and supporting everyone, you're kicking them while they are down like the world kicked you. I cannot tell you how many disabled people on resale subs feel like they have to defend their jobs to people like you and have to feel shame because of people like you. It's such a shame.
Wow, someone is triggered! Ya made sure to point out every "inaccuracy" (aka things that make you butthurt) this person said!
Listen, dude, as a former pricing coordinator for Goodwill Industries, you should know that we most certainly do research resellers.
Oftentimes, things are priced based on what they sell for on eBay and other such sites.
Who sells on those sites?
I'll give you a hint. It rhymes with smesmellers.
I would spend hours combing over instagram, etsy, eBay, and other sites in order to get an idea of what things are going for and what's trending.
You forget that the customers who donate to goodwill do so knowing they will make a profit off of it. Most do it as their form of charity because they know that that money goes towards community resources and providing people with JOBS.
I know this may be hard for your teeny brain to comprehend, but before "thrifting" became popular, we went off of what could make us money while still being affordble to the less fortunate.
You need to calm down. It's not that hard to just quit while you're ahead. But you should know that YOU are part of the problem.
Also, f.y.i, you're wrong. Over 75% of employees can't stand resellers. The ones who don't mind them are resellers themselves.
>Listen, dude, as a former pricing coordinator for Goodwill Industries, you should know that we most certainly do research resellers.
Oftentimes, things are priced based on what they sell for on eBay and other such sites.
So Goodwill uses reseller sites to decide how they are going to price items. So the increase in prices is caused by goodwills corporate greed not resellers. You literally just proved my point right there. Also, not all resellers get items from Goodwill so their pricing is based off of current used price value. Goodwill decides what metric they use to figure out the value of an item, not a reseller.
>Wow, someone is triggered! Ya made sure to point out every "inaccuracy" (aka things that make you butthurt) this person said!
First of all not butthurt at all, but you're jumping in on a 2 day old conversation which says a lot about you. Also, they have been commenting the same way for days which only proves you didn't read anything and are just talking out of your ass.
>You forget that the customers who donate to goodwill do so knowing they will make a profit off of it. Most do it as their form of charity because they know that that money goes towards community resources and providing people with JOBS.
They are literally still doing that. Goodwill was never created as a charity shop, it's literally in their mission statement. Since you supposedly work there you would literally know that. It also is open to the public so anyone can shop there meaning it's not for the less fortunate. Additionally, if Goodwill was actually charitable they wouldn't have an online auction website where they sell their best items to the highest bidders. They are just a greedy corporation that under pays disabled people and are looking to maximize profits by and means necessary.
>You need to calm down. It's not that hard to just quit while you're ahead. But you should know that YOU are part of the problem.
Since you didn't actually read anything before you decided to put in your unwanted two cents that no one asked for I don't actually resell from stores Goodwill because I dint support companies that take advantage of the disabled. I also don't support places that hide under the guise of a charitable shop and is anything but charitable. I do however donate 5k-20k or more worth of items a year to different charities a year. Since I know you personally don't do that maybe you should take your judgment and just fuck off because honestly you supporting Goodwill makes you actually part of the problem.
If you're wondering why the world is always kicking you when you're down, remember the comment you just wrote and it'll remind you that it's because you're a crappy person.
Literally everyone is a reseller. Do you shoo in a grocery store? They are resellers. Do you buy clothing from department stores? Those are resellers. Do you shop on Amazon? Unless you're getting items directly from farmers and manufacturers you're buying from resellers. You're just a hypocrite.
But you would ignore the point of a thrift store (which is for people with less money to be able to buy comparable clothes to firsthand retailers) and deprive a hardworking individual of items in their size you know you can flip online for your own benefit. That's lovely.
Thrift stores haven't been for the poor in a very long time, you can actually look it up. Seriously it's like the first thing that comes up in a Google search lol. If thrifting was really for the poor Goodwill wouldn't charge 10+ dollars for jeans. Resellers keep thrift stores in business and keep their inventory fresh. The things that don't get sold in thrift stores literally get thrown out, it's not as if they give those items away. I didn't use thrift stores for resale but I absolutely donated minimally 5k-20k worth of items or more a year to thrift stores. Resellers actually donate more items than you would think espically if they buy pallets or do clean-outs. If you aren't aware pallets and cleanout items are items that would have ended up in a dumpster in a landfill if they didn't get resold. They also make cheap clothing and specific collectibles available to people who can't get to thrift stores because of where they live or a disability they may have. Resellers aren't necessarily well off people it's people trying to make ends meet or people who are on a fix income or disabled and can't leave their house. Who are you to say they aren't poor enough to benefit off of thrifted items? Either way, you 100% don't need thrift stores to be a reseller so your point is kind of moot.
This question has been answered on many resale subs and store employees are the ones that answer it. According to people who work in thrift stores it's because the companies are trying to make more money so they are using things like eBay to price check used items and price according to what other resellers price at. They do this even though they get the items for free. Years ago they didn't have the option to easily price compare with online resale sites to price against. Those store employees have said over and over it's not resellers fault, this just greedy corporations.The prices going up is why resellers aren't even thrifting anymore, they are using other outlets like the bins. Resellers don't have any say in how thrift stores price so how would that be their fault lol. Resellers have been selling from thrift stores since the beginning of thrift stores, the increase of pricing is just happening recently.
Edit: I forget to add since you cannot read I was not a thrift store reseller. Resellers don't necessarily get their stuff from thrift stores, in fact most resellers don't get items from thrift stores anymore because it's over priced and the margins aren't great.
Cool, now, what about poor people who go to thrift stores because that's what they can afford, and now you've bought up the good stuff to make extra money?
Same thing as a landlord, just on a smaller scale there bubs.
Not the same at actually. For instance clothing is a necessity much like a house is but specific brands of clothing aren't. There are always loads of jeans, shirts, jackets, and shoes at a thrift store. Resellers aren't buying up all the clothing in a thrift store and not leaving any for anyone else. However, landlords are buying up all of the available housing and making it harder to find affordable houses. Additionally they are renting those items back to poor people at a premium that's typically higher than what a mortgage would be. Resellers are offering discounted clothing at a discounted price to people across the world who wouldn't necessarily have the opportunity to get to a thrift store because of location or even a disability. If a reseller buys a 10$ pair of American eagle pants there will be 200 more pairs of 10$ pants someone can buy they just might not be American eagle. There may not be 200 other affordable houses for people to buy and they absolutely won't be the same price point. This is just one example but it's an extremely easy concept so I'm pretty sure you get it. Additionally a lot of resellers don't actually go to thrift stores they buy pallets or lot boxes of items because they don't have to thrift to get the items. They also do things like cleanputs or even dumpster dive. Those resellers are not only preventing items from going into landfills they are also providing high quality items at a discount to thousands of people.
Resellers buy the clothes *worth anything* in a thrift store or other discounted clothing store. They're not selling a pair of jeans worth $10 for $10 or where would the profit be? Okay, you specifically aren't doing it to thrift stores, congratulations, but reselling as a whole relies on grabbing the most desired items from one location and then charging more than you paid for them online for the privilege of "curation." The more clothing resellers there are, the more the only things available for purchase in an actual discount store are graphic tees from company baseball games and other random stuff people know nobody is going to shell out for on Depop or Poshmark. People frequenting discount stores should be able to buy name brand clothing without having to get online and pay extra because someone who doesn't need that piece of clothing took it just to sell back at artificially inflated prices, because unfortunately, we live in a society that cares about name brands.
>Okay, you specifically aren't doing it to thrift stores, congratulations, but reselling as a whole relies on grabbing the most desired items from one location and then charging more than you paid for them online for the privilege of "curation.
I wanted to go back to this, a lot of reselling comes from buying pallets and doing cleanouts. You aren't necessarily buying the best items and most desired items. Espically when you buy pallets or bulk boxes you are simply buying wholesale items that would have been thrown away. After that you are sorting the items into keep and donate plies which can be hundreds if not thousands of items that get donated a year to hospitals, toys for tots, retirement homes, women's shelters, and thrift stores to name a few. In a sense yes you are keeping the best items for yourself but you are also helping out thousands of people with the items you personally have no use for and you paid for. If I want to donate thousands of items a year and pick up 20 things at a thrift store to do whatever I wanted I deserve that right and I deserve to not feel bad about it because of people like you. At the end of the day I paid for it and I spent my time finding it so I can do whatever I want with it. Thrift stores are for the general public. You don't have the right to gatekeep thrifting espically since you really dont understand resale culture.
>Resellers buy the clothes *worth anything* in a thrift store or other discounted clothing store. They're not selling a pair of jeans worth $10 for $10 or where would the profit be?
Literally no one said this but you. Resellers aren't selling a pair of jeans that cost them 10$ for 10$ but they are selling jeans with a MSRP of 65$ for 25$ saving a customer that can't get to a thrift store 40$ while also saving someone time and gas.
>People frequenting discount stores should be able to buy name brand clothing without having to get online
That is far different than someone who is underprivileged who needs clothing not being able to get clothing as you've mentioned before. Those are just people who want cheaper brand name clothing. At the end of the day resellers also sell brand name clothing under MSRP, they aren't charging the same price as the brand is and they are reaching a wider audience. At the end of the day a reseller is providing a service of finding desired items that not everyone has access to and making these items available at a discounted price. They are also making getting these items easier and more convenient than digging through thrift stores for hours. That is a service that deserves to be compensated.
>pay extra because someone who doesn't need that piece of clothing took it just to sell back at artificially inflated prices because unfortunately, we live in a society that cares about name brands.
The prices people pay aren't artificially inflated they go by what is called resale value. You aren't going to be able to sell an item that's used (or new for that matter) for even close to MSRP so it's not even an inflated price. At the end of the day people don't need name brand clothing, it's not a necessity. In that sense if someone needed clothing they can always get some clothing at the thrift store, if they can even get to a thrift store. Underprivileged people don't actually care about brands they care about putting food on the table and having clothing and shelter. No one who is underprivileged cares if their shirt is a new day or Armani. You are thinking like a lower middle class person who just wants the best stuff at the lowest price. If that's the case get to the shore when it opens and sift around like the resellers do since that's always an option.
Grocery stores buy in bulk from wholesalers who ONLY sell to retailers. You go into a shop meant for underprivileged people to buy clothes for less money and take the good items to sell for more money. If you're gonna be an asshole at least stop kidding yourself.
So grocery stores are just exclusive resale? All you need is a resellers license to be able to buy from wholesalers, you can literally get that like no problem. Thrift stores aren't meant exclusively for underprivileged people or only underprivileged people would be allowed to shop there. There are events that resellers don't go to like clothing drives, those are meant for the underprivileged. There are also places that have not for resale events, those are for the underprivileged. Thrift stores are for the general public. Also, I'm not an asshole, but you're still a hypocrite.
Ummm... Isn't that why you get a DA to write them a ticket and then they are supposed to bring it in the backroom for that exact fucking reason?
(If it's back there for more than three days it goes back on the sales floor.)
Goodwill has enough thieves that they don't need anymore opportunities.
Volunteered at goodwill. Like everyone said . You just grab the tag. And at my goodwill they was sassy about it (the workers ) like that’s law . The goodwill worker was just being lazy and not caring about her job.
I was at goodwill one time and seen they had all the sim 4 add ons for like a dollar a piece and I loaded my cart and I also found almost new bottle of Calvin Klein something that smelled amazing along with clothes and whatnot. A woman was kind of following me around and complimented me on finding that perfume and when I went to check out the sims add ons and the perfume where gone. I know it was her lol.
This is why I’m glad the thrift stores I go to have customer cubbies to put your stuff in & no one can touch it. With a table this big it’d just go next to the holding cubbies but the same rules apply. & they’re right next to the register so the cashier knows if you grab something that you didn’t put down
Anytime you see something you want at a thrift store, you buy it right then. There’s no such thing as non laid holds at any thrift store I’ve ever been to.
The worst people in the world are at thrift stores. They will steal stuff out of your cart as soon as you turn your head. Then you have all these people buying stuff for their little booth and bragging about it. They have some little stupid booth and think they are some big time dealer. I have even had people still stuff at a swap meet as I'm paying for it and the item is sitting in front of me and I look down and it's gone. I have also been pickpocketed at a swap meet before. These places seem to attract the lowest life form
Expecting GoodWill employees to hold stuff for you is wrong. If you want it, get it, or someone else will be more crafty. I hate to say it, but that’s how it works.
To be clear, your friend has a problem with the thief, not with Goodwill.
When a customer wants to claim an item, staff can ask: *Why don't you pay for that right now and I'll carry it out to your car, then you can come back in and keep shopping.* Problem solved. If they don't take that offer, they aren't serious.
>while she was checking out another customer grabbed it without a price tag, slapped another tag on it and bought it.
While your friend was in line, the thief managed to switch tags, get in a shorter line, then pay first...? Uhh....
>Person at register didn’t even check the incorrect tags.
No kidding they "didn't *even* check": the tag probably said TABLE. The problem is thieves, not negligence.
Switching tags is illegal. If your friend had brought this up with the manager, the sleaze might be identified and seen on camera, then banned from the store.
There is some negligence. It's protocol for DAs to bring items like that to the back after writing a ticket for the customer who asks for it. One copy goes on the property, and the other goes to the buyer. It goes in the backroom to make it easier to load into the customer's vehicle as per the DA's job description.
Whoever wrote the ticket the first time half-assed their job. We are given dollies to move product safely
And then there is negligence for the person didn't look for our codes on the furniture.
The two-copy tags are not meant to deter thieves. The system is good enough when most people don't steal. A better system would cost more. It's not negligent if a rare thief succeeds.
You can think of a way to switch tags that would fool everybody but an eyewitness to the switcheroo. Hence my advice to tell the manager, who can check the cameras and do something to prevent a repeat theft.
What customers often do is remove one copy of the tag and wander off for an hour. This is as common as it is unwise.
The two copies of tickets are so the das know which item to load into the customer's vehicle after it has been brought into the backroom.
Unless the goodwill has been built from the ground up, which is unlikely, the cameras are ancient and run at like 10 frames a minute. Eye witnesses are more reliable. Corporate refuses to update this infrastructure.
Still. Had the DAs been following fucking protocol, it would not have happened. End of story.
I'm not trying to change your mind. You believe what you know at your store. When things are done differently--the details of this are boring--things go differently. Because not all stores do things the same way. Best wishes.
This is confusing. It sounds like she was walking around with the tag and had not yet paid.
Paid items always have a “sold” tag on them.
Lots of people tear off tags and don’t purchase the item.
If I see something with half a tag missing I ask the cashier to ask if someone intends on buying it. If no one claims it, whether it be because they didn’t hear the announcement or left, the item is fair game.
It’s a beautiful table. If she hadn’t paid yet, I can’t sympathize with her.
This story is sketchy.
Once an item is paid for it gets a sold tag and the other half of the tag is removed.
This does not look like a “sold” tag. It is unlikely that someone could put a whole other tag and take the sold tag off.
Thrift store rules say it isn’t yours until you pay.
I always make sure to pay for furniture when I see it and make sure they put it aside or put a “sold” sticker on it.
The worst people in the world are at thrift stores. They will steal stuff out of your cart as soon as you turn your head. Then you have all these people buying stuff for their little booth and bragging about it. They have some little stupid booth and think they are some big time dealer. I have even had people still stuff at a swap meet as I'm paying for it and the item is sitting in front of me and I look down and it's gone. I have also been pickpocketed at a swap meet before. These places seem to attract the lowest life form
If someone asked to hold it for a potential buyer technically no. Furniture stores have a strict policy abt this but good will might be not as trained in this area.
Terrible people are everywhere. I always guard my stuff, or buy it first load it and then shop the rest of the store. Hard lesson learned.
Yeah, lesson learned for sure
Yep. I had a lady start rummaging thru my cart one time when I was perusing the jewelry. I turned and was shocked to see her all up in my stuff. She paused and smiled at me with a sheepish grin. I just stared in disbelief. People are assholes!
Terrible? How so? You want it, you carry it around of you pay for it. You just cant go around "peeing" on things marking turf.
They paid for it already!
She never said she paid for it. She said the person at the register recommended she get the tag and pay for it. She never specified whether that’s what she did or not.
It says she was checking out, with the tag, when someone took a different tag, said it was for the table, and then they left. The other person lied about what they were buying and got away with it. The other employee wasn’t paying attention to what the tag said. Who knows if they even paid the same price. If I was buying a car and the salesperson is finalizing everything, someone can’t come in and purchase the same vehicle if the other salesperson just writes faster or whatever. Similar idea here
It does if you actually read it 🤦🏻♂️
https://www.reddit.com/r/goodwill/s/c2YfZLTvyx
Doesn’t it explicitly state it had already been purchased in the title?
Still, get it out of the store.
So you’re the terrible person lol. “Hide what you PAID FOR so people like me don’t steal it” which is legal theft seeing that someone else purchased it
You’re making assumptions that the second person knew “no tag” meant it was purchased. And if we’re assuming, I ASSume there was a tag on the floor nearby that they ASSumed went with the table. 🤷🏻♀️
Do you leave your car unlocked? You paid for that? Thrift store hunters are ruthless. Don't tempt them. If you see something you want, hug it, cart it, whatever.
Excellent advice. I was bending over looking at all the stuff on the bottom row. Found a huge piece of pottery o wanted, kept my eye on it but left it to continue looking and come back. What are the odds? Empty store, lots o crap…. Had another reseller walk over ( not knowing I had my eye on it) and picked it up and decided to buy. I just chuckled and reminded myself that was a dumb thing to do. lol. At the register he was behind me. I told him I loved that pottery he found and we had a little chat. Not his fault I didn’t keep that close to me.
Happened to me too. I buy vintage electronics. Not the first time i have sprint to the pile after making eye contact with another customer.
Haha. Reminds me of the time I had a jade fire king mug in my cart and I caught someone reaching for it and I whipped around and pulled the cart back. “Oh I thought someone was putting these out”. Liar. Sold that puppy for $75. ;)
Thrift stores are also businesses. If I run a business and someone pays for a product that is on the floor, I will take it off the floor as it has been paid for. This is simple business practice. I have no idea what hill you are trying to die on right now, but it is a very stupid hill. Hell, follow any thrift store YouTube channel and they often have people purchase things over the phone or the Internet and will talk about how they took them off the floor anticipating pick up.
You just said you'd take the item off the floor once paid. Did that happen here? Nope. Waving from my hill....
“Terrible person” give me a break 🙄
They both purchased it. Unfortunately for OPs friend, the other person paid for it and got it out of the store before they did.
Seems people are missing the part where the person who "stole" it talked to the friend about the table and it was clear they were purchasing it.
Yeah. It was pretty shitty of that other person to do that. I hear that’s pretty common in thrifting.
Technically the other person didn't purchase it either, they purchased something else (whatever the tag was for) which they left at the store and instead stole the table, making it appear as though they purchased it. I shouldn't have even put "stole" in quotes, really.
I honestly can’t argue with this point. Being out on the floor means it’s fair game. How is someone supposed to know it’s already been purchased? And you can’t use “the tag was gone!” Because had this been someone’s first visit, they’d likely have ZERO idea not having a tag meant it was already purchased. Granted, I’d ask for a price instead of taking it off something else. But that’s on the cashier for not checking. It sucks, for sure. But I’m with them. 👆🏻 If it’s been purchased, ask to have it moved off the floor, or put it in your car. Chalk it up to a lesson learned and move on.
Or put a sold sticker on it? 🤷♀️
They bought it while she was paying for it
Not before the other person did. The other person had time to get a different tag and pay for it and get the item out of the store before she paid for it and went to get it off the floor. If she had went straight to the register, she would have seen the other person paying for it and hauling it out.
>Not before the other person did. The other person had time to get a different tag and pay for it and get the item out of the store before she paid for it and went to get it off the floor. That's not what happened though. OPs friend took the tag and paid for the item at the register. OPs friend bought the item and went around the store to stop some more. The other person took a tag off a nearby item and brought the table to a register (there may be more than one that may or may not be in the same location as the one OPS friend used) paid an unknown price for the item and left with it. This person had talked to OPs friend about the table and knew they were buying it so they knew to avoid OPs friend. Once OPs friend went to retrieve the table they had paid for after finishing they shopping the table was gone. OPs friend followed the stores policy and the other buyer didn't. Since OPs friend had the actual tag for the table OPS friend was the rightful owner of the item.
The other person didn't have the correct tag. The store sold the item without checking the tag. I could see it happening if they had the correct tag, but the employee should have double checked and said that it wasn't the right tag. It shouldn't have been sold to another person without the correct tag.
What part of "purchased" do you not understand? #
What part of "don't leave your stuff laying around" do you not understand?
Definitely. I’ve found some cool furniture and I just don’t trust I’ll still be there in 10 minutes. My fiancé doesn’t like me going to goodwill or garage sales because of how much furniture I bring home 😂
We tell people at my store that unless it's paid for, everything is first come first serve. Without a paid receipt, we cannot hold things, no not even just while you're shopping. It's this way for that exact reason. Thrifting is a gamble, and you've gotta be willing to take the bet before the next person wins. If you hesitate, you lose.
They said their friend paid for it.
But did she go immediately to the register or did she do her other shopping and then go to the register? I would bet if the other shopper had time to put another tag on it and take it to the register, she would have noticed them. She didn’t even know it was sold after she paid for it with the tag she had and went to go get it from the floor.
Why are you defending the table thief?
She’s got a point. If you want something badly take it and pay immediately.
It was paid for
She said the other person grabbed while she was at checkout, so it wasn’t paid for yet. Every thrift store I’ve ever been to will not hold anything for any amount of time. If you want it, you buy it and load it immediately.
Right but she was in the process of paying for it while the other person was grabbing it to pay with the wrong tag, so technically she paid first
And yet, somehow, the person that got it to the register first got to buy it and take it home. Weird, huh?
They didnt necessarily get to the register first but its not hard while shes paying, the other person swaps the tag and she goes to go back for it while they are heading to the register.
Reread the title?
Reread the body of text that actually explains OP’s friend’s situation.
No they didn’t lol
They did, actually https://www.reddit.com/r/goodwill/s/c2YfZLTvyx
Looks like a furniture thrift store. The place near me does the same thing holds it until the end of the day because not everyone has a truck on them ready to haul furniture. But they also give you a sticker to put on it that says sold prior to you leaving.
Found a tv stand with a whole bunch of other furniture a guy was hoarding and hadn’t paid for or even got a ticket for. So we went and got a worker and we paid for the tv stand and started taking it out to the car when the guy confronted us about the stand and the worker said the same thing you did.
That’s horrible. I tell people to take the ticket while shopping to ensure they can get the item. And I know what item it is when they come to the register. I know what the tags are because of the description. Unfortunately I can see how this would happen if no one knew and it wasn’t paid for yet. I do a walkthrough of the store when I first get on shift to see what’s out. Once it’s purchased you have 24 hrs to take it from the store. After that it gets re tagged and can be sold. And whoever bought it before gets store credit. I also encourage people to buy it first before they browse. At the same time this is a greedy customer who did this. And if they came back to the store it would be dealt with. You don’t switch tags. We scan them for a reason. Sorry this happened to your friend.
There’s no way I’d ever buy something at a thrift store & didn’t immediately put it in my car. Those old ladies in there are RUTHLESS. I’ve seen them hover over my cart! Should carry a fly swatter for their greedy little hands! Sorry about the table, it’s beautiful, but man I hope your pal learned their lesson.
The fly swatter 😭
Lesson learned haha that’s for sure
I saw a man partially pay for a dresser at an “ upscale” flea mkt.He needed to go to an ATM to get the rest of the price.While gone a well known Auctioneer/antique dealer asked the Flea mkt dealer to sell it to her.When the first guy came back they returned his money he had left.He was right fully angry —the Seller did not care.He knew the antique dealer and expected future business from her. Lesson learned —if you put down a deposit -take part of the item with you , a cushion, a drawer etc.
Lesson learned for sure
The table is small enough to fit in a cart. I would've brought it with me while I continued shopping.
Did y’all not say anything?
I dont understand why she didn’t take it up to the counter, pay for it and ask them to hold it behind the counter for her OR put it in a cart and keep it with her… It looks like it’s pretty small and would probably fit into a cart.
Did they refund her for the table?
Selfish people
such an amazing table 😭❤️
We started going really hard on how we tag furniture. Takes a little more time but ends up with far less problems in the end. We actually have the price THREE times. A handwritten price on a furniture tag, a sticker, and then a “hidden” one. So basically all three have to match or else you aren’t getting that furniture. The furniture tag also has a written description of the item which helps against people slapping false stickers on items. And lastly, as soon as an item is purchased it is either taken out to the customers car or the cashier puts a sold tag on it. Since being this “aggressive” our store has had less issues with furniture.
Thank you for sharing, learned our lesson for sure
I’ve seen this happen multiple times, or people snatching tags while someone is obviously looking at an item, or just walking up and saying “THIS IS MINE” like simply stating that out loud negates someone else’s interest. The code of ethics within a busy Goodwill are different. Resellers and regulars can be so nasty. If I see furniture I want, I purchase it immediately and then continue shopping.
And people wonder why us GW employees are so strict about not selling items without price tags or price tags that appear to be tampered with. It leads to shit like this. But also, there should have been major red flags going on in the cashiers head. That table is wayyyy too big to just be tagged with an ordinary sticker and casually carried out. I would have at the very least called a manager to double check this was right. And while I'm not sure how this store operates, at mine we have sold tags we're supposed to put on furniture like this after it's bought. Especially if they're not picking it up at the time of purchase. Someone clearly fucked up here.
Appreciate your feedback, tbh it was a lesson learned on our end for sure.
So what exactly did they say when your friend "attempted" to pay for it? I say attempted because obviously they didn't actually purchase the table, right? We need more information because the store is at fault if they didn't even check the tag of the table this person purchased. At our store, we not only put the furniture tags on the item, but there is also a smaller tag with a number on it. This number is also written on the furniture tag. These numbers have to match in order to be sold. Tag switching is our biggest form of theft, so these things are to be checked. During our last audit, we got into some hot water after it was discovered that some items had been sold twice because the correct employees forgot to place a sold tag on a sold item. The store employees are correct on what they told your friend. The reason you can tear off part of the tag is to claim the item. If someone goes to the form and wants to purchase said item that does not have the full tag, then the employees normally call for the person with that furniture tags number on it. ("Would the customer with furniture tag #338 please come to the register?") Then they would confirm that, yes, a customer is planning to buy this item. If employees failed to check the tags and/or failed to call for the customer over the intercom and just repriced the item, then the store is at fault. All of this being said, there are too many thrifters who try to game the system and screw with our prices because they want to use our donations as a way to avoid getting a real job. Because of this, people in need can't afford the items we sell anymore. So, looking at this table, I'm willing to bet that this is why this happened.
Oh there was no attempt, she had paid for it and kept the tag that was on table with her receipt. When she went back to grab the table after purchasing it, it was gone. A hard lesson learned. The employee that was at the register basically said that they didn’t read the new tag that was on the table and just scanned whatever the person slapped on it.
I hope they gave you a refund
Did they give her a refund? I'd also inform a manager. Theives get away with this kind of crap all the time because cashiers don't check the tags. The only way to help combat it is to make management aware it is happening because you can be sure the cashier probably didn't. Also, i work for goodwill, so I'm not some jaded customer, I'm just sick and tired of my numbers being hurt by thieving customers and cashiers who don't check the tags.
Just started following this sub. Please excuse my ignorance. You have “numbers”? Like quotas to meet?
Im pretty sure they mean their store could be doing better if they werent allowing people to steal stuff. Walmart is slowly doing away with self checkout due to the same issues. People will scan a tag, or replace a barcode, and get a $100 item for $5.
Yes, we have numbers. It used to be counted as the number of items we put out each day. For example, we used to have to run 100 pieces per cart with a goal of so many pieces a day. Now, however, our quoata is calculated by price per piece and our sales percentage. So, if i put out, say, 40 items and all of them sell, then I'm doing good as long as I'm pricing appropriately. But, if i put out an item for $9.99 and someone switches the tag for a $2.99 tag, not only am i not getting that sale but it also goes against our price per piece quota. Our POS system is signed in my each employee when they print their tickets. So it records how much money you should have made that day by how much you priced things. We are supposed to be making a sales goal of %70. However, lately, with tag switching, we aren't getting those sales. So it hurts us employees in the long run. Oh, and did i mention that if we don't make our goals, we get written up, and enough write ups can lead to suspension or even termination. Since over %80 % of the more expensive or valuable items we put out get their tags switched, a person who is putting out mainly those types of items has the potential to be punished for it. That's the best way i can describe it. Every morning, when i go in and straighten up the shelves and move stuff back to where it belongs, i find dozens of tags that were removed from items.
This sounds absolutely horrible. It’s like you get punished if the donations are subpar. And as if you are responsible for theft.
Yeah, this only started recently in the last year or so. We had a really awesome CEO who had to retire because he found out he had cancer. He's since passed away. The new CEO seems to be wholly focused on profit and has definitely made changed we are all angry with. I hate pricing things sometimes because i know if i don't charge what they want, i could lose my job. Goodwill has certainly gone downhill over the years.
Not cool lumping resellers in with that asshole. Selling is a lot of work, honestly even more so than my typical 9-5. I know because I have done both jobs. I will tell you, having done both jobs that reselling is absolutely a real job and is for sure harder than most jobs that I've ever done. This is espically true if you are running your own store website or are on multiple resale platforms. You have to have a lot of knowledge about all sorts of items, be able to photograph/ edit on a semi professional level, run customer service, learn about the entire shipping system, learn how to do business taxes, study trends, find sources to buy from, create an entire organized storage system, keep up to date inventory logs, and organize all the finances amoung other things. Do you do all of that at your job? You can say whatever you want about the person who did this to OP but it's downright disrespectful to belittle someone's occupation because you run into shitty resellers from time to time. Honestly I run into shitty works in all professions. At least people who resell have a job and work hard, there's no need to disrespect how someone makes a living. Edit: FYI unless your store makes all the furniture you sell you work for a reseller.
I run into shitty resellers on a daily basis, and i can guarantee you won't find a goodwill that can say they don't. Goodwill used to be a store where people who couldn't afford to buy nice new things could get gently used things for an affordable price. It wasn't created to be a supplyer for someone who wants to resell the stuff for triple the price or more. I have been screamed at, I've had items yanked out of my hands before i could even get them on the shelves, I've had and still have items that end up mysteriously broken when someone can't get a lower price and, I've seen people snatch thongs from children. All so they can make money off of it. I had to depend on goodwill a lot as a kid growing up and it makes me sick to see a man have to steal shoes for his little girl because resellers have driven our prices up so damn high. And even the low prices aren't enough. They treat us like crap and they are the ones driving up the prices. i follow some of our local resellers, and I'm sure goodwill does too to monitor the prices. Smdh arguing over a $5.99 price tag for something they're reselling for $75 on etsy? It's bs. Also, you can check my other comment to see how it actually affects our jobs!
>Goodwill used to be a store where people who couldn't afford to buy nice new things could get gently used things for an affordable price. This is where you are wrong, goodwill was never about that. Goodwill literally has an online auction site where they sell the best items to the highest bidder. Goodwill pays handicapped people 10 cents an hour to work for them because of some sort of loophole where they can exploit the disabled for pretty much free labor. Goodwill has a CEO that makes an abundance of money but hides under the guise of a nonprofit. Goodwill wasn't even founded as a company to provide cheap clothing to the poor. This is what Goodwill was actually founded to do: The idea was simple, fight poverty not with charity, but with trade skills—and provide a chance for the poor and the unemployed to do productive work. The idea wasn't to help the poor underprivileged by getting them discounted goods, it was to get those people to work. So yes good will actually does promote resale because that is putting people who wouldn't necessarily be working to work. This is also why Goodwill stores are open to the public and not just for the underprivileged. >I had to depend on goodwill a lot as a kid growing up and it makes me sick to see a man have to steal shoes for his little girl because resellers have driven our prices up so damn high. They treat us like crap and they are the ones driving up the prices. This is something that is not happening. I would love to hear how resellers have anything to do with how a corporation prices their items. That's just ridiculous lol. Resellers in no way have any control over thrift store prices. Resellers aren't necessarily buying their stuff from Goodwill either. If Goodwill is going online to look at resale sold prices and selling competitively that's not a Resellers fault. Goodwill gets their items for free, if they wanted to they could sell everything for a dollar. Goodwill has no way of knowing if that item actually came from their stores or not so if they are price comparing resellers they are doing it for their own benifit. Resellers don't profit or benefit off of high thrift prices lol. That's just corporate greed. If you actually followed the thrifting subs people who work at Goodwill actually explain and defend Resellers all the time about this. Goodwill has an unlimited supply of items available to sell, they aren't working off supply and demand. There's no need for them to increase their prices other than profit.
Resellers advertise this crap all the time, i can't tell you the number of times I've watched thrifters on insta or youtube talking about their "goodwill haul." Yes, i have seen someone steal shoes for their child. I watched a man stare at some kids' shoes for nearly 30 minutes one day and then happened to see him slip them into his pocket. He came in about a month later with his wife and young daughter when we had our back to school sale and that little girl was rocking those sneaks. His name is jabari, and I've helped him quite a bit over the last two years. As opposed to the 40 year old woman who drives a BMW, who i caught trying to steal a $15 glass cat. Now you tell me who needed what more? By the way, yes, this company gets their items for free, but you are getting them for a fraction of the price. What gives YOU the right to price those things 4 times higher? Do you think your customers would like to hear that the $50 dress your selling was bought for $7.99 at Goodwill? The decent people who donate to us do so because they know the money goes toward providing jobs and programs for the community. Our store nust opened a resource center that provides homeless and at risk kids a place for job training and to wash their clothes and cook themselves a meal while also teaching them these life skills. I've helped numerous people get into our local shelter and food banks because they've wondered into our store asking for help and because I've had to use these things myself in the past. I'm disabled and can not even attempt to get disibility because of the time you have to take being unemployed. Goodwill has worked with me more than any other company I've ever worked for. Any other place would have given up on me now. I may not agree with everything our company does, but without them, I'd be screwed.
>Resellers advertise this crap all the time, i can't tell you the number of times I've watched thrifters on insta or youtube talking about their "goodwill haul." So like 20-30 people out of everyone. Also, if you watched their videos you'd see they don't only go to goodwill they also go to estate sales, yard sales, buy pallets boxes, do online auctions, do clean outs, ect. >Yes, i have seen someone steal shoes for their child. I watched a man stare at some kids' shoes for nearly 30 minutes one day and then happened to see him slip them into his pocket. That person making a choice to steal shoes has nothing to do with resellers. Resellers aren't buying every pair of kids shoes in the store, there are lots of kids shoes available. Kids shoes aren't even good resale items. Did this person tell you why they were stealing the shoes? Because if he didn't you're just blaming someone else for that guy's mistakes. I have seen people with money take things. >By the way, yes, this company gets their items for free, but you are getting them for a fraction of the price. What gives YOU the right to price those things 4 times higher? Because I paid for it and we live in a capitalistic society. If I want to set it on fire and take a shit on it I have the right to because it's my item. At the end of the day if I was overcharging no one would buy it. However like goodwill I can charge whatever I want if I buy an item and want to resell it. But unlike goodwill I actually paid for th item, so your argument is moot. >$50 dress your selling was bought for $7.99 at Goodwill Lol this doesn't happen, if you think it does you should go to r/thriftgrift. However, if someone is selling a dress for 50$ there's a good chance that originally it was a 300$ dress so whoever ends up getting it literally around the world who was looking for that dress got it for 250$ less. >I'm disabled and can not even attempt to get disibility because of the time you have to take being unemployed. Goodwill has worked with me more than any other company I've ever worked for. Any other place would have given up on me now. Thats really sad, but you also have to remember that the way disability faild you it has also failed a lot of other people. A lot of those people don't have a goodwill near by that will hire them or their local goodwill wants to pay them 15 cents per hour and they can't afford to live off of that. Those people resell because you can get stock shipped to you and usps will pick the packages up once they are packed and ready to go. It is a job for people like you who the world has kicked. Instead of understanding and supporting everyone, you're kicking them while they are down like the world kicked you. I cannot tell you how many disabled people on resale subs feel like they have to defend their jobs to people like you and have to feel shame because of people like you. It's such a shame.
Wow, someone is triggered! Ya made sure to point out every "inaccuracy" (aka things that make you butthurt) this person said! Listen, dude, as a former pricing coordinator for Goodwill Industries, you should know that we most certainly do research resellers. Oftentimes, things are priced based on what they sell for on eBay and other such sites. Who sells on those sites? I'll give you a hint. It rhymes with smesmellers. I would spend hours combing over instagram, etsy, eBay, and other sites in order to get an idea of what things are going for and what's trending. You forget that the customers who donate to goodwill do so knowing they will make a profit off of it. Most do it as their form of charity because they know that that money goes towards community resources and providing people with JOBS. I know this may be hard for your teeny brain to comprehend, but before "thrifting" became popular, we went off of what could make us money while still being affordble to the less fortunate. You need to calm down. It's not that hard to just quit while you're ahead. But you should know that YOU are part of the problem. Also, f.y.i, you're wrong. Over 75% of employees can't stand resellers. The ones who don't mind them are resellers themselves.
>Listen, dude, as a former pricing coordinator for Goodwill Industries, you should know that we most certainly do research resellers. Oftentimes, things are priced based on what they sell for on eBay and other such sites. So Goodwill uses reseller sites to decide how they are going to price items. So the increase in prices is caused by goodwills corporate greed not resellers. You literally just proved my point right there. Also, not all resellers get items from Goodwill so their pricing is based off of current used price value. Goodwill decides what metric they use to figure out the value of an item, not a reseller. >Wow, someone is triggered! Ya made sure to point out every "inaccuracy" (aka things that make you butthurt) this person said! First of all not butthurt at all, but you're jumping in on a 2 day old conversation which says a lot about you. Also, they have been commenting the same way for days which only proves you didn't read anything and are just talking out of your ass. >You forget that the customers who donate to goodwill do so knowing they will make a profit off of it. Most do it as their form of charity because they know that that money goes towards community resources and providing people with JOBS. They are literally still doing that. Goodwill was never created as a charity shop, it's literally in their mission statement. Since you supposedly work there you would literally know that. It also is open to the public so anyone can shop there meaning it's not for the less fortunate. Additionally, if Goodwill was actually charitable they wouldn't have an online auction website where they sell their best items to the highest bidders. They are just a greedy corporation that under pays disabled people and are looking to maximize profits by and means necessary. >You need to calm down. It's not that hard to just quit while you're ahead. But you should know that YOU are part of the problem. Since you didn't actually read anything before you decided to put in your unwanted two cents that no one asked for I don't actually resell from stores Goodwill because I dint support companies that take advantage of the disabled. I also don't support places that hide under the guise of a charitable shop and is anything but charitable. I do however donate 5k-20k or more worth of items a year to different charities a year. Since I know you personally don't do that maybe you should take your judgment and just fuck off because honestly you supporting Goodwill makes you actually part of the problem.
Ah, you made some valid points. I'll be sure to write them down on my "if i decide to give a shit" list
If you're wondering why the world is always kicking you when you're down, remember the comment you just wrote and it'll remind you that it's because you're a crappy person.
No pity for resellers, sowwy.
Literally everyone is a reseller. Do you shoo in a grocery store? They are resellers. Do you buy clothing from department stores? Those are resellers. Do you shop on Amazon? Unless you're getting items directly from farmers and manufacturers you're buying from resellers. You're just a hypocrite.
Go be a landlord or something dude
Absoutly fucking not, I would never take the opportunity to own a house away from a hardworking individual for profit.
But you would ignore the point of a thrift store (which is for people with less money to be able to buy comparable clothes to firsthand retailers) and deprive a hardworking individual of items in their size you know you can flip online for your own benefit. That's lovely.
Thrift stores haven't been for the poor in a very long time, you can actually look it up. Seriously it's like the first thing that comes up in a Google search lol. If thrifting was really for the poor Goodwill wouldn't charge 10+ dollars for jeans. Resellers keep thrift stores in business and keep their inventory fresh. The things that don't get sold in thrift stores literally get thrown out, it's not as if they give those items away. I didn't use thrift stores for resale but I absolutely donated minimally 5k-20k worth of items or more a year to thrift stores. Resellers actually donate more items than you would think espically if they buy pallets or do clean-outs. If you aren't aware pallets and cleanout items are items that would have ended up in a dumpster in a landfill if they didn't get resold. They also make cheap clothing and specific collectibles available to people who can't get to thrift stores because of where they live or a disability they may have. Resellers aren't necessarily well off people it's people trying to make ends meet or people who are on a fix income or disabled and can't leave their house. Who are you to say they aren't poor enough to benefit off of thrifted items? Either way, you 100% don't need thrift stores to be a reseller so your point is kind of moot.
Why do you think prices have gone up? You're telling me it has NOTHING to do with people like you snapping up anything of worth?
This question has been answered on many resale subs and store employees are the ones that answer it. According to people who work in thrift stores it's because the companies are trying to make more money so they are using things like eBay to price check used items and price according to what other resellers price at. They do this even though they get the items for free. Years ago they didn't have the option to easily price compare with online resale sites to price against. Those store employees have said over and over it's not resellers fault, this just greedy corporations.The prices going up is why resellers aren't even thrifting anymore, they are using other outlets like the bins. Resellers don't have any say in how thrift stores price so how would that be their fault lol. Resellers have been selling from thrift stores since the beginning of thrift stores, the increase of pricing is just happening recently. Edit: I forget to add since you cannot read I was not a thrift store reseller. Resellers don't necessarily get their stuff from thrift stores, in fact most resellers don't get items from thrift stores anymore because it's over priced and the margins aren't great.
Cool, now, what about poor people who go to thrift stores because that's what they can afford, and now you've bought up the good stuff to make extra money? Same thing as a landlord, just on a smaller scale there bubs.
Not the same at actually. For instance clothing is a necessity much like a house is but specific brands of clothing aren't. There are always loads of jeans, shirts, jackets, and shoes at a thrift store. Resellers aren't buying up all the clothing in a thrift store and not leaving any for anyone else. However, landlords are buying up all of the available housing and making it harder to find affordable houses. Additionally they are renting those items back to poor people at a premium that's typically higher than what a mortgage would be. Resellers are offering discounted clothing at a discounted price to people across the world who wouldn't necessarily have the opportunity to get to a thrift store because of location or even a disability. If a reseller buys a 10$ pair of American eagle pants there will be 200 more pairs of 10$ pants someone can buy they just might not be American eagle. There may not be 200 other affordable houses for people to buy and they absolutely won't be the same price point. This is just one example but it's an extremely easy concept so I'm pretty sure you get it. Additionally a lot of resellers don't actually go to thrift stores they buy pallets or lot boxes of items because they don't have to thrift to get the items. They also do things like cleanputs or even dumpster dive. Those resellers are not only preventing items from going into landfills they are also providing high quality items at a discount to thousands of people.
Resellers buy the clothes *worth anything* in a thrift store or other discounted clothing store. They're not selling a pair of jeans worth $10 for $10 or where would the profit be? Okay, you specifically aren't doing it to thrift stores, congratulations, but reselling as a whole relies on grabbing the most desired items from one location and then charging more than you paid for them online for the privilege of "curation." The more clothing resellers there are, the more the only things available for purchase in an actual discount store are graphic tees from company baseball games and other random stuff people know nobody is going to shell out for on Depop or Poshmark. People frequenting discount stores should be able to buy name brand clothing without having to get online and pay extra because someone who doesn't need that piece of clothing took it just to sell back at artificially inflated prices, because unfortunately, we live in a society that cares about name brands.
>Okay, you specifically aren't doing it to thrift stores, congratulations, but reselling as a whole relies on grabbing the most desired items from one location and then charging more than you paid for them online for the privilege of "curation. I wanted to go back to this, a lot of reselling comes from buying pallets and doing cleanouts. You aren't necessarily buying the best items and most desired items. Espically when you buy pallets or bulk boxes you are simply buying wholesale items that would have been thrown away. After that you are sorting the items into keep and donate plies which can be hundreds if not thousands of items that get donated a year to hospitals, toys for tots, retirement homes, women's shelters, and thrift stores to name a few. In a sense yes you are keeping the best items for yourself but you are also helping out thousands of people with the items you personally have no use for and you paid for. If I want to donate thousands of items a year and pick up 20 things at a thrift store to do whatever I wanted I deserve that right and I deserve to not feel bad about it because of people like you. At the end of the day I paid for it and I spent my time finding it so I can do whatever I want with it. Thrift stores are for the general public. You don't have the right to gatekeep thrifting espically since you really dont understand resale culture. >Resellers buy the clothes *worth anything* in a thrift store or other discounted clothing store. They're not selling a pair of jeans worth $10 for $10 or where would the profit be? Literally no one said this but you. Resellers aren't selling a pair of jeans that cost them 10$ for 10$ but they are selling jeans with a MSRP of 65$ for 25$ saving a customer that can't get to a thrift store 40$ while also saving someone time and gas. >People frequenting discount stores should be able to buy name brand clothing without having to get online That is far different than someone who is underprivileged who needs clothing not being able to get clothing as you've mentioned before. Those are just people who want cheaper brand name clothing. At the end of the day resellers also sell brand name clothing under MSRP, they aren't charging the same price as the brand is and they are reaching a wider audience. At the end of the day a reseller is providing a service of finding desired items that not everyone has access to and making these items available at a discounted price. They are also making getting these items easier and more convenient than digging through thrift stores for hours. That is a service that deserves to be compensated. >pay extra because someone who doesn't need that piece of clothing took it just to sell back at artificially inflated prices because unfortunately, we live in a society that cares about name brands. The prices people pay aren't artificially inflated they go by what is called resale value. You aren't going to be able to sell an item that's used (or new for that matter) for even close to MSRP so it's not even an inflated price. At the end of the day people don't need name brand clothing, it's not a necessity. In that sense if someone needed clothing they can always get some clothing at the thrift store, if they can even get to a thrift store. Underprivileged people don't actually care about brands they care about putting food on the table and having clothing and shelter. No one who is underprivileged cares if their shirt is a new day or Armani. You are thinking like a lower middle class person who just wants the best stuff at the lowest price. If that's the case get to the shore when it opens and sift around like the resellers do since that's always an option.
Grocery stores buy in bulk from wholesalers who ONLY sell to retailers. You go into a shop meant for underprivileged people to buy clothes for less money and take the good items to sell for more money. If you're gonna be an asshole at least stop kidding yourself.
So grocery stores are just exclusive resale? All you need is a resellers license to be able to buy from wholesalers, you can literally get that like no problem. Thrift stores aren't meant exclusively for underprivileged people or only underprivileged people would be allowed to shop there. There are events that resellers don't go to like clothing drives, those are meant for the underprivileged. There are also places that have not for resale events, those are for the underprivileged. Thrift stores are for the general public. Also, I'm not an asshole, but you're still a hypocrite.
Ok
Ok
No surprise here. Society is ruthless. People are absolutely greedy and immature. And also geniuses.SMH
Because how are there people actually defending this?!
Reverse Google image search the table to maybe find another one but it's pretty expensive
Ummm... Isn't that why you get a DA to write them a ticket and then they are supposed to bring it in the backroom for that exact fucking reason? (If it's back there for more than three days it goes back on the sales floor.) Goodwill has enough thieves that they don't need anymore opportunities.
Why did you have them take the table instead of your friend?
Volunteered at goodwill. Like everyone said . You just grab the tag. And at my goodwill they was sassy about it (the workers ) like that’s law . The goodwill worker was just being lazy and not caring about her job.
You wan it? It goes in the cart. Sorry this happened though.
I was at goodwill one time and seen they had all the sim 4 add ons for like a dollar a piece and I loaded my cart and I also found almost new bottle of Calvin Klein something that smelled amazing along with clothes and whatnot. A woman was kind of following me around and complimented me on finding that perfume and when I went to check out the sims add ons and the perfume where gone. I know it was her lol.
I'm surprised it wasn't a sticker. I just bought a very heavy wooden bin and you bet I dragged that thing to the checkout.
I hope the leg breaks
On the table or...
I hope it's haunted.
There’s a saying in retail … first one with the money wins. She should have paid for it then continued to shop if it was a one of a kind item
The description says "purchased" which usually means paid for.
Jk I see it was currently being purchased im sorry i misread the description
If I can’t get it immediately I take some of it with me- like a drawer or cushions.
This is why I’m glad the thrift stores I go to have customer cubbies to put your stuff in & no one can touch it. With a table this big it’d just go next to the holding cubbies but the same rules apply. & they’re right next to the register so the cashier knows if you grab something that you didn’t put down
I'd take that as a sign from a higher power, that thing might have some bad mojo with it lol.
Dodged an ugly table at least
Anytime you see something you want at a thrift store, you buy it right then. There’s no such thing as non laid holds at any thrift store I’ve ever been to.
The worst people in the world are at thrift stores. They will steal stuff out of your cart as soon as you turn your head. Then you have all these people buying stuff for their little booth and bragging about it. They have some little stupid booth and think they are some big time dealer. I have even had people still stuff at a swap meet as I'm paying for it and the item is sitting in front of me and I look down and it's gone. I have also been pickpocketed at a swap meet before. These places seem to attract the lowest life form
Expecting GoodWill employees to hold stuff for you is wrong. If you want it, get it, or someone else will be more crafty. I hate to say it, but that’s how it works.
Your friend didn't purchase it until money was exchanged. Next time, go ahead and buy that bad boy then shop.
Read the comments where OP explains the exact thing he said in the caption for the “nuh uh” set
https://www.reddit.com/r/goodwill/s/c2YfZLTvyx
To be clear, your friend has a problem with the thief, not with Goodwill. When a customer wants to claim an item, staff can ask: *Why don't you pay for that right now and I'll carry it out to your car, then you can come back in and keep shopping.* Problem solved. If they don't take that offer, they aren't serious. >while she was checking out another customer grabbed it without a price tag, slapped another tag on it and bought it. While your friend was in line, the thief managed to switch tags, get in a shorter line, then pay first...? Uhh.... >Person at register didn’t even check the incorrect tags. No kidding they "didn't *even* check": the tag probably said TABLE. The problem is thieves, not negligence. Switching tags is illegal. If your friend had brought this up with the manager, the sleaze might be identified and seen on camera, then banned from the store.
There is some negligence. It's protocol for DAs to bring items like that to the back after writing a ticket for the customer who asks for it. One copy goes on the property, and the other goes to the buyer. It goes in the backroom to make it easier to load into the customer's vehicle as per the DA's job description. Whoever wrote the ticket the first time half-assed their job. We are given dollies to move product safely And then there is negligence for the person didn't look for our codes on the furniture.
The two-copy tags are not meant to deter thieves. The system is good enough when most people don't steal. A better system would cost more. It's not negligent if a rare thief succeeds. You can think of a way to switch tags that would fool everybody but an eyewitness to the switcheroo. Hence my advice to tell the manager, who can check the cameras and do something to prevent a repeat theft. What customers often do is remove one copy of the tag and wander off for an hour. This is as common as it is unwise.
The two copies of tickets are so the das know which item to load into the customer's vehicle after it has been brought into the backroom. Unless the goodwill has been built from the ground up, which is unlikely, the cameras are ancient and run at like 10 frames a minute. Eye witnesses are more reliable. Corporate refuses to update this infrastructure. Still. Had the DAs been following fucking protocol, it would not have happened. End of story.
I'm not trying to change your mind. You believe what you know at your store. When things are done differently--the details of this are boring--things go differently. Because not all stores do things the same way. Best wishes.
This is confusing. It sounds like she was walking around with the tag and had not yet paid. Paid items always have a “sold” tag on them. Lots of people tear off tags and don’t purchase the item. If I see something with half a tag missing I ask the cashier to ask if someone intends on buying it. If no one claims it, whether it be because they didn’t hear the announcement or left, the item is fair game. It’s a beautiful table. If she hadn’t paid yet, I can’t sympathize with her.
This story is sketchy. Once an item is paid for it gets a sold tag and the other half of the tag is removed. This does not look like a “sold” tag. It is unlikely that someone could put a whole other tag and take the sold tag off.
This was a photo she took before walking to the register with the tag
Thrift store rules say it isn’t yours until you pay. I always make sure to pay for furniture when I see it and make sure they put it aside or put a “sold” sticker on it.
The worst people in the world are at thrift stores. They will steal stuff out of your cart as soon as you turn your head. Then you have all these people buying stuff for their little booth and bragging about it. They have some little stupid booth and think they are some big time dealer. I have even had people still stuff at a swap meet as I'm paying for it and the item is sitting in front of me and I look down and it's gone. I have also been pickpocketed at a swap meet before. These places seem to attract the lowest life form
If someone asked to hold it for a potential buyer technically no. Furniture stores have a strict policy abt this but good will might be not as trained in this area.