Why are thrift stores so greedy?
In my journey of trying to save money, I have been frequenting thrift stores. I'm not looking for anything in particular, but I've found that when I feel the need to spend money, I try to go thrifting first instead. Hopefully, that settles the feminine urge to gather. If it doesn’t, then I simply try Target or Fred Meyers, go where the deals go! However, as I stand in the aisle of a dozen racks filled with second-hand sweaters and jeans, I notice the absurd price tags. 10$ starting price on every clothing item in the shop? I look down at the price tag and back up to gauge everyone else around me; are they seeing the same thing? It seems the thrift stores have caught up to, if not surpassed, the prices at Fred Meyers and Target. But the store was filled with middle-aged women searching for the holy grail piece. Mostly mothers, probably getting out of the house, away from the screaming children at home. It seems like we all have something in common. Distraction. Sometimes it's nice to go to a store and immerse yourself in the racks of mystery, looking for a new piece for the house or the closet. But with these prices? Absolutely not.
Thrifting originally started as a charitable organization and a social reform. In the early 2000s, it was originally frowned upon to wear something “second-hand”. These stores were created to provide clothing and essential goods to the less fortunate. I’m sure we are all familiar with organizations like “The Salvation Army”. This organization hired people to go source goods and refurbish them for a profit. This employed people with disabilities and also provided goods for people who couldn't afford brand-new ones. It seems like some organizations lost the plot, for lack of better words. Writing about the upbringing of thrift stores reminds me of a memory I had at a local church funded thrift store.
About three years ago, a church opened up a secondary location of its thrift store downtown. It was quickly recognized as one of the “top tier” thrift stores in the area, due to the interior design and an impressive selection of clothes, along with baby items and toys. It seemed to cater towards mothers and women, considering the men’s section was unfortunately as small as the smallest option at a storage locker facility. The first few months this thrift store has been open, I really enjoyed going there, despite the already high prices, they did have some specialty pieces that I really enjoyed. On a nice summer day, a friend and I decided to go thrifting for some jeans. I thought I could embroider and repropose some to pass the time. While we were trying to figure out what thrift stores to visit, I was raving about this specific thrift store, saying we have to at least stop by! We make the right-hand turn into the driveway and park right in front of the store. It seemed to be a busier day today, as the parking lot was filling up quickly. Volunteers were pulling racks from the inside and outside to make a clearance section. I thought this was a cute idea. When I stepped out of the car, I noticed something different with the after-hours drop-off box. This box was always unlocked, in the event that people wanted to donate on the weekends or after 5 PM. It was very convenient; I’ve used it a couple of times when I was doing some spring cleaning on a Sunday, and you just drop off your items yourself. You don't even have to talk to anyone; it was great. However, I noticed that there was a lock on the door. “Hm weird,” I thought as I glanced to the side of the lock. There was a picture of a pregnant woman, with a very beat-up 2008ish minivan, with a few kids in the back seat. Besides her children in the car, it seemed like she was alone. The sign read “Reward for information on this woman who stole baby clothes, toys, and women's clothing. Due to recent activity of stolen goods, we have closed the after-hours drop box”. I was utterly disgusted reading this. For an organization that seems to pride itself on donating proceeds to charitable organizations. This seems like the complete opposite of what they stand for and their mission statement. Very interesting that this thrift store, which is owned by a church, is so protective over goods that were donated to them at zero cost.
Now, don’t get me wrong, this specific locally owned thrift store is not the only one that is comfortable doing this. Goodwill Industries is especially known for the same acts, just in a different font.
Goodwill, like some other organizations, really likes to use Section 14C of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which allows employers to pay disabled workers far less than the federal minimum wage, provided they have a special certificate from the Dep of Labor.
This practice enables the exploitation of disabled workers.
Former Goodwill employees have reported being paid “penny wages”, as little as 22 cents an hour. How gross is that?
Forbes investigations have revealed that some disabled workers were made to compete in a “race against the clock”, with their wages cut for failing to meet quotas on tasks like sorting, buttoning, and handling garments.
There are claims that Goodwill sorts through donated items, removing higher value items for online sale, rather than making them available in stores.
This practice is criticized for potentially denying the public access to quality items at reasonable prices and for not fully utilizing the donated goods for the benefit of the community, which is the whole point.
After this experience and the amount of research I did on this topic, I realized two things: thrift stores, at the end of the day, are businesses, and number two, just because someone stands behind an organization that claims to do good, doesn’t automatically make them a good person, or organization.
