The official thrift/discount store bragging thread - Page 1785

Originally Posted by GHo 

which one of you guys from MN is zelda58?

Originally Posted by GHo 

holy cow. what are the odds.
I grew up in Fairbank, IA, which is about 30 min NE of Waterloo (around the Oelwein area).
How bouts you? I'm in Des Moines now. Are you around this area?

Originally Posted by Shiny 

Random thrifting thing that annoys me: There's only one other guy in the entire men's section and he makes a beeline to the rack of (pants/suits/shirts etc) where I'm at and starts looking there. Eventually we cross paths as we're shuffling through the hangers and either he or I moves around to continue the search. Sheesh!
Can't you go to another rack! There's no one over by the (shoes/pants/suits/etc...) I would happily extend that courtesy to you.

Originally Posted by pnutpug 


Not to be a school marm, but that's not courtesy, that's stealing. There was a cashier at GW who once did that for a relative (a recovered thrifter) and myself. I never asked, and I ultimately started avoiding him--I'd have thirty bucks worth of stuff and he'd ring it up for less than $3. My relative, on the other hand, looted GW with his help and held garage sales every three months or so. He was finally led away in handcuffs one day. I love a great deal as much as anyone, but we should all remember that GW, SA and a lot of other thrifts do good works.

Originally Posted by toscano_adottato 

New. With. Tags.
I know I'll have a ton of PMs on these so bid early and bid often.

Originally Posted by ATLjon 

Picked this up because it seemed nice. It is, of course, way too big for me

 

:

 

 

 

This raincoat will also be up for grabs. It's Canadian made, but it's still pretty cool and is in great shape:

 

 

 

Also picked up some nice trousers for MattR.

 

 

Originally Posted by GHo 

which one of you guys from MN is zelda58?

Originally Posted by valium 

actually less good then you think.the only real good they do is provide jobs for people.thats basically the only charity model.i have a few inside contacts and they tell me there is a LOT of shady shit going on.i think GW is even being investigated.the couple of stores iam very friendly with the managers they tell me that their stores regularly do more then 5 grand a day (up to 20 on sales) and a lot of it is cash.so do the math thats $150K a month and these its a regular sized store. their rent is $25K and over head around $30K (salaries,this place has like 12 employees) a month.
they get all their merchandise for free.so where is that extra 100K per month going every month.thats over a million a year per store and theres like 30 stores in my city.
oh yeah and i think its tax free,i dont see any signs where the money is going,i asked the manager of another store once and he had no answer for me.i asked him point blank,where are your profits going,as in my donations,and he said that its for jobs for teh people in the store
. i know SA is a little bit more transparent,and i know that VV dontates to the Diabetes  Fund but its only 10%.
yes i know 10% is better then nothing but there a re a lot of peopel that think  its a lot more and wouldnt donate to them if they knew the truth.
in my opinion the real charity shops here in canada anyway are Bibles For Missions,they are all volunteers no salaries and they only pay rent,everything else goes to the their "mission"     

 

Originally Posted by Shiny 

Random thrifting thing that annoys me: There's only one other guy in the entire men's section and he makes a beeline to the rack of (pants/suits/shirts etc) where I'm at and starts looking there. Eventually we cross paths as we're shuffling through the hangers and either he or I moves around to continue the search. Sheesh!
Can't you go to another rack! There's no one over by the (shoes/pants/suits/etc...) I would happily extend that courtesy to you.

Originally Posted by pnutpug 


No offense, but you are completely full of shit.
First off, SA is way less transparent than GW, which makes its tax returns a matter of public record so you can see how much they're taking in and how the money is spent, right down to the salaries of exec directors and other top employees. So, if you want to see how much your GW is taking in, from where and how that money is spent, look it up online instead of talking to clerks at the cash register. The website is guidestar.org, which lists the financials for every 501(c)3 in the nation. SA, OTOH, is considered a ministry under the tax code, and so its financials (aka 990s) are known but to God--and SA.
Secondly, I don't know about the GW where you live, but the GW in my community does a TON of good, from helping the developmentally disabled to helping the poor with power bills so their lights don't get turned off (and that ain't charity--in exchange for help with utility bills, they put in hours at GW) to job training, all without a nickel of my tax money aside from Medicaid for the DD folks. I'm in there every day, and I've personally seen folks rise from sorters to store managers, and so far as I've seen, good work, smarts and initiative is rewarded.
As far as investigations go, every GW is an independent chapter. There have been scandals in various GW's around the nation, most notably in Southern California, where the folks running a GW (I can't recall the chapter) were found to have been skimming hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is pretty easy when you think about it: The donated goods are, as you say, free, and so it's easy to manufacture records. Chalk that one up to lax oversight by top management and the board of directors. But that's on that one GW, not on the entire organization. Anyone who says that GW, as an entire entity, is under investigation does not understand how the charity is structured.
As you say, there are a lot of charities out there who lend their names to sharks who run thrift stores and get ten cents on the dollar while the sharks pretend to do good work and issue tax-deduction forms to folks who donate goods. That is an entirely different animal than GW or SA.
Lastly, GW, at least the one in my town, actually listens to customers and takes suggestions seriously. SA, by contrast, does not--you can complain till the cows come home and they still won't stop writing prices on shoes with permanent ink. That, along with transparency, is why the stuff I don't need and can't sell goes to GW instead of SA. GW takes care of my stuff on the front end, and I know that I can keep tabs on the back end to ensure that they're doing good.
If the GW in your community isn't doing the right thing, then call someone on the board of directors. They'll respond--at least, that's what happened when I called the president of the board of the San Diego GW (which is 2,000 miles from my house) after nothing came from complaints to the store about swastika candleholders being sold on shopgoodwill.com. He was a nice guy, and he took care of it. By contrast, you can't even find out who is on the board of SA, let alone call them--believe me, I've tried, and they still keep ruining shoes by writing prices in permanent ink..
If it sounds like I think you are completely out of line, you're right. Do your homework before you say stuff like what you said.

Originally Posted by pnutpug 

No offense, but you are completely full of shit.
First off, SA is way less transparent than GW, which makes its tax returns a matter of public record so you can see how much they're taking in and how the money is spent, right down to the salaries of exec directors and other top employees. So, if you want to see how much your GW is taking in, from where and how that money is spent, look it up online instead of talking to clerks at the cash register. The website is guidestar.org, which lists the financials for every 501(c)3 in the nation. SA, OTOH, is considered a ministry under the tax code, and so its financials (aka 990s) are known but to God--and SA.
Secondly, I don't know about the GW where you live, but the GW in my community does a TON of good, from helping the developmentally disabled to helping the poor with power bills so their lights don't get turned off (and that ain't charity--in exchange for help with utility bills, they put in hours at GW) to job training, all without a nickel of my tax money aside from Medicaid for the DD folks. I'm in there every day, and I've personally seen folks rise from sorters to store managers, and so far as I've seen, good work, smarts and initiative is rewarded.
As far as investigations go, every GW is an independent chapter. There have been scandals in various GW's around the nation, most notably in Southern California, where the folks running a GW (I can't recall the chapter) were found to have been skimming hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is pretty easy when you think about it: The donated goods are, as you say, free, and so it's easy to manufacture records. Chalk that one up to lax oversight by top management and the board of directors. But that's on that one GW, not on the entire organization. Anyone who says that GW, as an entire entity, is under investigation does not understand how the charity is structured.
As you say, there are a lot of charities out there who lend their names to sharks who run thrift stores and get ten cents on the dollar while the sharks pretend to do good work and issue tax-deduction forms to folks who donate goods. That is an entirely different animal than GW or SA.
Lastly, GW, at least the one in my town, actually listens to customers and takes suggestions seriously. SA, by contrast, does not--you can complain till the cows come home and they still won't stop writing prices on shoes with permanent ink. That, along with transparency, is why the stuff I don't need and can't sell goes to GW instead of SA. GW takes care of my stuff on the front end, and I know that I can keep tabs on the back end to ensure that they're doing good.
If the GW in your community isn't doing the right thing, then call someone on the board of directors. They'll respond--at least, that's what happened when I called the president of the board of the San Diego GW (which is 2,000 miles from my house) after nothing came from complaints to the store about swastika candleholders being sold on shopgoodwill.com. He was a nice guy, and he took care of it. By contrast, you can't even find out who is on the board of SA, let alone call them--believe me, I've tried, and they still keep ruining shoes by writing prices in permanent ink..
If it sounds like I think you are completely out of line, you're right. Do your homework before you say stuff like what you said.

Originally Posted by valium 

so if i cant speak for all of them to be corrupt,HOW CAN you say that all of them are on the up and up.its the same argument just the other side of it.i guarantee you that the one being investigated is not the excepiton but the norm.i did my homework trust me.i dont know where you live but where i live the GW does sweet FUCK ALL for the homeless or anybody else for that matter.like i say the only good is that they provide jobs for people who have difficulty finding work (which is noble but in no way accounts for the shit load of money they are raking in!!!).

also in canada,where im from each GW is NOT a individual chapter.

as far as reporting income,yeah i report my income too but that doesnt mean thats how much i make knwo what i mean.this is a cash busines,i guarante you theres shady shit going on.

as far as the swastika candle holders,you do know the swastika is a symbol of luck that originated in asia right?

it just so happens one of the designers who worked for the nazi party liked it and used it,maybe you should do your homework.  

 

Originally Posted by evandb 


I'm glad you wrote this so I don't have to. My local GWs and SAs do a lot of good.