Boo on the Salvation Army!

Driving by a Salvation Army I'd never been to today, I saw several tall fake tropical plants in the windows. I'm always looking for cheep tall fake palms, bamboo, and cheesy looking fake plants for my living room. I have plenty real palms outside but always seem to kill my indoor plants.

Anyway, I did a U-turn, went in, and headed right for the coolest looking fake palm. My son and I searched for a price tag, but nothing. On to the next, a bamboo, no price tag, next a banana plant, again, no tag. They had at least 12 different plants along the front. Finally I asked an employee how much they are. She said they are only for decoration. They, clearly didn't all come from the same place or era, so I asked, "So, The Salvation Army purchased these for their stores or were these donations?" She said "Oh they were donations" I said "So, the Salvation Army keeps some of it's donations for decorations?" She said "Oh yes, we do!"

I don't know about you guys but I donate a lot of stuff to them. When I do I expect that these things will be resold (hopefully to people who can't afford retail-like me often) and the profits used for the needy. I don't go to thrift stores for the decor! Every donation should have a price tag on it!
God forbid they ever decide to "decorate" their stores in tiki decor-they'd keep anything tiki or Hawaiian! That may be an extreme idea but there were tons of fake plants in this store which were donated for sale and just kept by the company (or this store). I would have at least bought 4 of them. I think it's wrong!

While I'm at it, what's with the boutiques at many Salvation Armys? Most of the Orange County locations now have these gated off areas where everything is super expensive and most, not even a collectible! I've seen Payless shoes in there, priced higher that Payless prices their shoes! I have yet to find something good in a Salvation Army Boutique!

There, I feel better!

I too have felt your pain and not just at Salvation Army but also at many thrift stores and Goodwill. I always seen to come across the cool stuff with the "Not for Purchase" and have questioned it myself. What gets me is when it's a certain holiday and they have decorated the store with those items but do not offer to sell just floors me. Instead the broken pieces of crap are. Go figure, in the mean time they could have made some money from those donations.

Oh, so they're doing it everywhere?
About a year ago, our S.A. decided that it was not just a thrift store, but a purveyor of merchandise in the same league with stores such as Target. Not content with merely a "boutique" area, they were going to close down for a while to revamp their image. There was a huge article in the paper about it. I plotzed at that alone, but then the new store opened a few months ago, with brand new fixtures arranged in a Target-like floor plan, red neon all over the walls and zippy-keen "department" signage hanging from the ceiling. And though they are selling the SOS they always did, the prices have about quadrupled. But the most offensive thing about it? Industrial strength B.O smell assails you the second you walk in there!!!! I could barely stand to do a quick run through the glass and ceramics "department", holding my breath the entire time. Ya know, I don't remember Target merchandise ever smelling like it had been worn to run the bulls in Pamplona. And they now have a swishy little manager nancing about, enforcing their "Do Not Sit On Furniture. Please Ask for Assistance." edicts. Not only will I never shop in there, I'm sure as heck never going to donate anything to them again!

Around here Goodwill has been opening boutique-style shops in the more upscale neighborhoods. They sell better-quality and designer clothing, shoes, jewelry and accessories.

--cyn

Once drafted to the SA. They let me out due to mental illness! Screw'em Laney.

I, also, feel your pain. I haven't had THAT bad of an experience at the SA's here in Las Vegas, but I must admit, all the Thrift Stores seem to be getting a little carried away with their, "Boutique Sections." I do get a GREAT sense of satisfaction when I find something good for a buck or two that, obviously, got "missed" during pricing. How many times do we have to go into these places and look at over-priced fast food toys, beanie babies and high-quality-China-made items that are wrongly labeled, "Collectibles?" Often times, some decent items are priced, "by-the-book", and the worst part of this is someone actually comes in and pays these ridiculous prices for this stuff! Oh The Humanity!!!

I went to a thrift store the other day and I guess they all smell like BO because this place reeked! There was kind of an odd looking red sofa that I thought might have potential if I steam cleaned it and slipcovered it. Price tag? $500.00 -- I kid you not! I almost fell over! Needless to say, the sofa stayed, along with the stink.

All hail the freaky tiki!

[ Edited by: CruzinTiki on 2003-07-09 20:06 ]

S'bugged me for years. Junk shop displays of merchandise that's not for sale make no sense as there are not duplicates of the display items actually for sale. And gettin' the place all dolled up with plants is just dumb. However; many thrift shops do sell the plants but most people assume they're not for sale so the plants get overlooked and woofmutt snags them for 75% off the original price. So keep checking the fauxliage for tags.

PS: Speaking of Goodwill and Target...Here in the Puget Sound region the Goodwill gets Target's non sold clearance stuff and then sells it for a lot more than it sold for on clearance at Target.

[ Edited by: woofmutt on 2003-07-09 21:22 ]

The Salvation Army has pretty rotten ulterior motives of getting people hooked into a self-deprecating christianity while they're down. A friend of mine used to be a director of the New England Salvation Army until the other year when he finally couldn't take it any more... they do good, but certain institutions in this country, like the Salvation Army and the Red Cross, should be forced to excise their religiosity so long as the Government is pawning off its work on them. How humane is it to kick someone when they're down?

DEUS - the Natural Philosophy Forum
http://deus.org

This topic hits a nerve w/ me. The SA is the only thrift store in town here(Newport OR). It is run by a couple of wacky old ladies that think that everything old and used is collectible. The prices in this store are ridiculous. Occaisionally I get suckered in to stopping when they put something interesting out on the sidewalk (they are right on Hwy 101) and every single time I check to see if they've come to their senses, I walk out completely disgusted. I don't know about all of them, but this store is a total rip-off joint. I can go down the street to Wal Mart and buy the same item New for less than what these idiots are trying to get for junk. Most people who shop here just assume they are getting a fair price because it's the Salvation Army, and hey, they're Christians, right? Riighhttt..... With no competition in town they're free to screw all the folks who think they can't afford to shop at the expensive boutiques like Wal Mart !!! Shame on the Salvation Army. Shame shame shame.

Seamus,

Sounds like opportunity knocking to me! Show 'em how to do it right by opening your own place. Seriously.

-JTD

I was at a Sal's in NE Penna and they had a great 2 foot tiki but it was not for sale, under the reasoning that it was a display. I begged whined and cried but they would not sell it. I gurantee you none of the customers were impressed with the "display." Most were too busy combing the used underwear rack...
Plus the Sal's prices are getting out of control! I thought their motive was to sell stuff poor people can afford, but evidently not. Now I give my old clothes to a soup kitchen that gives them away for free to the indigent. I feel so much better about this.

Oh boy, now you've opened a can of worms. This once great charitable organiztion is now rife with corruption and greed. Most of the good stuff is sent out the back door to "dealers" (I know this as I know many antique dealers and this is common practice in the thrift stores in Detroit), the mediocre stuff is overpriced. Most of the clothing they put on the floor isn't fit for wiping oil off the garage floor. They expect the poor to wear holey rags? I just don't go any more, it's just not worth the pain and dissapointment.

Matt

[ Edited by: DaneTiki 2009-08-30 19:21 ]

...I was in the American Council for the Blind in Detroit and saw a pair of Red Riding Hood S&P Shakers marked at over $250...I'd say that's fairly overpriced for a thrift store...

Matt

I used to goto SA alot, before I discoverd other thrift shops in the area. I remember this Sa in particular had a "Grandma's Boutique" where all the "antiques" would wind up at higher prices. At the time I didn't care for many of the antiques, and just figured they did that to help get more money for their cause. They long since removed it from the store and when back to a regular style. I did how ever score 5 white Benihana mugs of various styles for about $1.99 each.
There is a small charity chain in my area called "Soul's Harbor" that just makes up their prices on the quanity of your items and/or your items. I bought a nice homemade 7ft bar with isolated cabinets for $100, an Al Harrington mug for .50 cents, a (working)Dr. Pepper machine for $50, and other tiki/polynesian itmes over the years. I go during my lunch break and I've been able to scour the place for what I'm looking for in 30 mins, and that includes rummaging, and come back with a trunk load for about $5-$15. See everything is donated to them, everything from unwanted garage sale items to unwanted 50's -60's items great-aunt Ester had untill the day she died. Well I have a nemesis, this blond b**** and her mother. They go everyday and buy junk. She started following me around and observing what i would pick up so she could get it next time, hopeing i would come to her booth in some antique mall and pay more for it. Well I bold faced caught her doing the most insane thing in the world. She's been telling the manager that he can get "X amount" of money for this item or that on eBay. Well the guys that run it are not bright people, so they start putting stuff to the side and ask her what she would charge. This infuriated me to the fact that I almost confronted her to tell her to "shut her ass, this place is a bargain hunter's dream". I kinda felt bad at first for getting these deals for so cheap, but they get so much stuff It doesn't matter how much they sell it for, they will get more the next morning. To make myself feel alittle better, I usually pay a few more dollars for something if I write a check.

As for the b****... Well I've tricked her into buying junk. I would wait untill she was looking in my direction, pick up an item, examine it for a while, then either put it down (sometimes pause then pick it back up, then back down) and walk away. I swear that cave she lives in must be getting pretty tight by now.

[ Edited by: SES on 2003-12-27 22:56 ]

The problem can be said in one word, EBAY. The SA here in KW is a joke! It is so well picked over by the local artsy crowd that all there is left is truly junk.

BTW most of the used clothes is sold by the pound to exporters that send it overseas. I see old event promo t-shirts all the time in 3rd world countrys.

I hear Martha Stewart is coming out with a new line of Salvation Army Armoire, in Target' :)

Pricing at thrift stores has always been a touchy issue. If I donated an item that was worth $200 to a thrift store, I would hope that they would get as much as that $200 as possible, since that money generally supports charity, rather than seeing it sell for $10, and all the additional profit going to the person who found it and then sold it on ebay.

Is the purpose of the thrifts to raise money for their charities, or is it to provide low cost goods for those with limited income who live in the community?

I used to volunteer at the big Goodwill in Washington DC, helping them sort the donated LP records. When I started, they had HUGE bins, 5 foot wire frame cubes, filled with donated LPs, and there were perhaps 3 or 4 similar bins, waiting to be sorted. We would set all LPS in near mint or better condition, or obvious collectibles (i.e. early 60's James Brown LPs) aside, where they would be individually priced for a big annual sale they held each November. The rest would be sent to the individual thrifts, where they were priced at $1 each. I was able to get first choice of those $1 LPs, but I had a self-imposed rule that I would buy only 20 per day -- it was more important for me to feel that I was helping Goodwill out, than trying to scam off them.

I don't doubt that there are many who have back-room deals to profit off thrift store donations. But my experience has shown that there are plenty of honest people who donate their time, and help out by doing their best to set the real value of the donated items.

Vern

[ Edited by: SES on 2003-12-27 22:57 ]

Believe it or not, Bong, yes Bong, donates quite a number of valuable items to Good Will.

Typically, its bicycles my girls HAD to have one year, toys still in the box, Furniture, etc.

Good Will provides employement for those that otherwise might not find it. And as with any human endeavor, some scamming happens, but overall the Good Will is just that...

I usually visit DAV, Disabled American Veterans. They have better prices & I know they help vets.

DAV in Oceanside is cheaper (except for books) put it is very poorly run, I get a headache just looking into that store.

Finding the good thrift stores is part of the "hunt". There are many charity thrift stores around, they come and go but can be the source of great deals because of the relative ignorance of the volunteers.

I am a thrift store fanatic, go to my local Goodwill twice a day!!! They hae gotten ridiculous in pricing, but I always find great deals (for resale).

Best deals are still the yards sales and the swap meets.

The S.O. is not a charity or "non-profit" organization as they would like to call it. They people they hire are recovering addicts and so forth that can't get a job elsewhere. I had a friend that use to work for the S.O. and she only did so for 1 week. She couldn't take the fact that the whole organization is a joke! What happens is all the donation are taken to a central wherehouse. There I kid you not, your donations are there for the picking of the employees! They pick whatever they want, pay a couple of cents for it, then they ship off your goods to stores. They think just because they use the word "collectible" it makes the item a collectible hence EXPENSIVE! I was at a S.O. last year and saw this sofa that was identical to the one I had in my house! When I bought the sofa brand new it cost me $600. Why is it that the S.O. had a $800 price tag on it? Maybe they charged extra for all the added stains!

All the receiving and sorting at the Goodwill stores here is done by people on probation doing their community service hours.

That's OK with me, because that means they're rotating in and out regularly and it's harder for the junk pros to bribe someone to set the good stuff aside. That means I have a better crack at finding something good on the shelves.

a (working)Dr. Pepper machine for $50

Is that the same machine you've got for sale on your website for $300?

On 2003-10-28 07:14, mattfink wrote:

a (working)Dr. Pepper machine for $50

Is that the same machine you've got for sale on your website for $300?

OOPS!.. heh just kidding.
No the $50 machine was something I bought for a friend's game room. It was an "Ice Chest" style.
The machine I have on my site is a different one.

...just curious...

On 2003-10-28 08:44, mattfink wrote:
...just curious...

that's cool.

I re-read what I posted above, I should have pointed that out. It sounded like I was trying to resale something from the thrift store. The machine on my website was bought from a collector who was moving out of town to a new job.