♪ ♪
[Charlsie]
but I'm not going alone.
-Hey, Mercedes. -Hey, how are you?
So we're going to do some shopping.
You're going to hit the mall, and I'm off to Value Village.
Perfect. Let's find a deal.
Let's do it.
[Charlsie]
from CBC's
Many of you have been calling out Value Village
for its questionable pricing practices,
so we're putting that to the test.
Just minutes into our shopping trip,
I find plenty of price tags that don't add up.
So I've got a black three ring binder.
Value village price, $2.99,
but the original price is right beside it.
And check out this bento box.
It's priced at Dollarama for $4, and it's selling here at 3.99.
[Marcus] That's absolutely ridiculous.
[Charlsie]
with consumer sociologist, Marcus Geesler.
It's still got the original price sticker on, so $3.50.
And then, when you look over on the other side, $3.99.
Yes. Unacceptable and misleading for consumers.
So, what's the expectation that consumers have
when they're going into a thrift store?
The expectation is that they want a deal
that is better than the average deal.
[Charlsie]
when those cost comparisons aren't so clear?
Time for me and Mercedes to do a little digging.
[both] Hey!
[Charlsie]
[Mercedes] Does it look like this?
[Charlsie]
the same one at Dollarama.
This one been used.
It's selling for $4.49 here at Value Village.
-This is $2. -That one's $2.
[Charlsie]
with these similar milk jugs.
So, mine's $1.99. Can you find one at Dollarama?
[Mercedes] $1.50.
[Charlsie]
What do yours look like?
Mine have monkeys and rainbows.
[Mercedes] Okay, I don't have those,
but I do have another cute pattern.
[Charlsie] Okay. Mine are $2.99. How much are yours?
-$2.99? Mine are $1.50. -What?
[Charlsie]
This former Value Village pricer
is giving us an inside look at how they price products.
[woman] It was probably, like,
the most stressful job I've had.
[Charlsie]
because she fears professional repercussions for speaking out.
[woman] So, we have our system.
You would have to grade it based on the brand
and the condition of the clothing,
and then it would spit out the numbers for us.
[Charlsie]
and former employees,
many who say their supervisors pushed them
to price products higher.
[woman] They would always go through my racks
and just show me how I could have priced something different.
But it was always how I could have priced
something to be higher, even when it really wasn't worth
the amount that they wanted me to sell it for.
[Charlsie]
[woman] When they're selling things that come from Dollarama
and Giant Tiger and, like, cutting off those price tags
and making us price them higher than it actually is worth,
it's like you could go to the retail store
and buy it cheaper at this point.
Did you have a sense that this pricing system was working,
that it was fair?
[woman] No, definitely not.
[Charlsie]
bogus bargains extend beyond Dollarama
to big box stores, too.
Hey, Charlsie, we're at Walmart.
[Charlsie]
Here, it's $5.49.
-Mine is $5. -Really?
That's a 50 cent difference.
[Charlsie]
$2.49 at Value Village.
New at Ikea, you can buy this for a dollar.
Ridiculous. So, this is like, what,
2.5 times the original price for a used item?
Mm-hmm.
That's just the worst case of exploitation.
Consumers with a tighter budget need our support.
They need extra honesty,
-extra sincerity, -Yeah.
...and extra transparency and not this.
[Charlsie]
our Value Village finds are really worth.
-Can you spot a deal? -Yeah, I think so.
[Charlsie]
at Value Village for $5.49.
[woman] It's dirty.
-Used? -Yes, definitely used.
Now, what do you think that sells for new at Dollarama?
-Is the price higher or lower? -Lower. I don't know.
$5.50 for Dollarama seems like a lot lower.
-Lower. -Lower?
$4.75?
-No way. Yeah.
-That's crazy. -That's tough.
[Charlsie]
We got it from Value Village for $4.99.
What do you think it's selling for new at IkEA?
Higher or lower than $4.99?
I'm going to go with higher than $4.99.
Lower.
-Yeah. -'Ay.
But like, look at the price. It's still--
It's a dollar.
[Charlsie]
with this t-shirt from Walmart.
So, we paid $4.99 at Value Village.
What do you think the retail price is?
I'm going to go with higher.
I'm going to say higher. All right.
That's basically the same price.
I am surprised
because the way that they pitch it is like
Valley Village is where you're supposed to save.
It's better to go there than actually going to
the big box retailers.
You know, it doesn't make you feel like
you're getting your value out of your money.
Quite the opposite, actually, right?
Their name says it, right?
It should be value, not, you know, value for them, right?
Value Village does not respond to our emails,
but they've previously told
their goal is to provide great value and selection.
But they also say
that their staff might not always get it right.
So, if a customer thinks something's been mispriced,
they can always speak to a manager.
Should consumers be expected to do
the type of price comparisons that we did in store?
Consumers should not make those choices.
We are not supercomputers.
And what message does this send to consumers
when they can go and buy a new one
for less than buying a used one?
So, there are two messages here. Both are problematic.
Number one, I cannot trust value village.
Number two,
sustainability and the circular economy is marketing bull[bleep]
because this is the kind of
material experience that consumers have every day
where cynicism built up and they say, "You know what?
"Why should I care about sustainability
if I'm constantly being, you know, misled and deceived?"