Once you learn the tricks of the thrift store shopping trade, you can find plenty of gems
for a fraction of their original cost. But there are a few things you'll want to keep
in mind before you dive in. This is the dirty truth about thrift stores.
Some of the biggest thrift stores are nonprofit organizations, but it's a common misconception
that all thrift stores are nonprofits. As it happens, many thrift stores are for-profit.
If you're looking to support your community, it pays to pay attention.
Kristen McCormack, director of Boston University's nonprofit management program said that while
for-profit companies are beholden to their shareholders,
"Most nonprofits are pretty proud of their mission, and their financial data is generally
pretty transparent too."
Nevertheless, some for-profit thrift stores donate to charity. Beacon's Closet, a for-profit
New York City thrift store chain, donates clothing they are unable to sell to various
charities. According to the company's site, Beacon's Closet has donated over $100,000
to charity as of August 2019. Your local thrift store may donate to charity more, less, or
not at all, so you may find it beneficial to do some digging.
In 2015, The Seattle Times reported that Value Village thrift stores were sued for being
misleading about what percentage of donations actually went to charity.
In late 2019, a judge ruled that the organization had indeed violated the law and misled its
customers into believing the stores were not for profit.
These sorts of laws help protect consumers, of course, but it's important to note that
even bona fide nonprofit thrift stores don't donate all of their money to charity or use
all of it on their programs, though the Better Business Bureau stipulates that at least 65%
must go towards those programs. This means there are a lot of variables in how nonprofits
can use the rest of their revenue.
"Who's buying the booze?"
"You are!"
"Who's buying the food?"
"You are!"
Goodwill reportedly spends almost 90 percent on job training and sustainability, with
11 percent set aside for administration costs and a small remainder for fundraising. The
Salvation Army, on the other hand, spends 75 percent on programs, according to Charity
Navigator.
Goodwill is very charitable, but wage disparity is an ongoing issue plaguing this particular
nonprofit thrift store. Citing federal tax records, The World-Herald reported that Goodwill
Omaha paid CEO Frank McGree nearly $1 million combined in salary and various bonuses in
2014.
Oh, and a membership to a country club. Additionally, 13 other executives and managers received
yearly salaries of over $100,000 that same year.
Considering Goodwill is a $6.1 billion company, you may reason that they simply pay their
employees well. Not so fast.
While some higher-ups were making bank, many disabled employees were earning well under
minimum wage according to Forbes, due to the legal loophole in the Fair Labor Standards
Act.
"Loophole!"
In the end though, the incident resulted in McGree stepping down as CEO.
Whether you shop at Goodwill, The Salvation Army, or any other thrift store, there are
bound to be some less than pleasant finds. Thankfully for customers, most of these are
caught before making it out onto the floor.
Of course, this still royally sucks for the employees. Having to cycle through people's
junk, they come across things that are in such deplorable condition that they may actually
damage other donations. So before donating anything, maybe give everything a courtesy
glance so that you don't accidently ruin someone's day.
Many thrift stores publish their do's and don'ts about donating. Goodwill, for example,
doesn't accept large appliances like stoves or old-style televisions. It may go without
saying, but thrift stores also don't want to be burdened with hazardous materials, sometimes
banning entire categories of items. However, this isn't exactly full-fool proof.
If you hit up your local thrift stores on a regular basis, you've probably seen some
items that caused you to turn your head. Other times, though, you may not even realize when
something for sale poses a health hazard.
Major Jerry O'Neil, who assists in overseeing the The Salvation Army Stores in Minnesota,
revealed in an interview:
"What many of our donors don't realize is that we have strict rules to follow. Breaking
these rules can result in costly fines or lawsuits.
The Salvation Army further revealed that federal inspectors often pay visits to their stores
to make sure the organization isn't selling anything that's been deemed hazardous or has
been recalled.
Nevertheless, recalled items do have a way of winding up on thrift store shelves from
time to time. Of the thrift shops examined by the United States Consumer Product Safety
Commission , 69 percent of those visited contained at least one hazardous product. This varied
from certain children's clothing with drawstrings, bad cribs, and old hair dryers that did not
have the mandated safety plug. So it might just be best to avoid buying certain things
when at thrift stores, especially when it comes to baby items.
If you're a collector of vintage items, a secondhand store can be a goldmine. However,
there are plenty of risks lurking in the aisles of your favorite thrift shop.
According to researcher Laurel Sharmer of the State University of New York at Potsdam,
since used items are not regulated as strictly, it's more possible to bring home items that
contain lead.
As part of a study on secondhand items purchased from thrift, junk, and antique stores in Virginia,
New York, and Oregon, Sharmer and her team found that many of the items contained surface
lead concentrations some 700 times higher than the federal limit.
So if you plan to buy vintage items from your thrift store, you shouldn't assume they're
safe.
Even if every donor takes care to donate responsibly, thrift stores can't sell everything. At times,
this is because the condition of the donation isn't deemed fit for resale, or it could be
that the store simply doesn't have the floorspace.
Stacie Morrell, manager of a thrift store in Oregon, said the store where she works
has a system for such donations. She told Mental Floss that the best items are taken
to a consignment store whereas items that were displayed but didn't sell are sent to
a larger thrift store. Any clothing that doesn't meet the store's guidelines are given to local
homeless shelters or a recycling facility.
According to Morrell, who also worked at Goodwill, the large nonprofit works a bit differently.
The items that don't sell or are deemed unfit for resale are sent to Goodwill Outlets, where
customers can then buy items by the pound.
Things that don't end up selling at thrift store outlets then hit the Goodwill auctions.
Next, items that weren't able to find homes with lucky bidders are sent to a textile recycling
organization.
According to the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association, that 30 percent of what
their organization receives gets processed into industrial rags, 20 percent is shredded
into soft fiber filling for furniture and other items, and 5 percent is sent to the
landfill.
However, approximately 45 percent of the clothing that ends up with the organization is either
re-sold within the United States' clothing industry or shipped overseas. While this may
sound better than getting sent to the landfill, the publication pointed out that it can lead
to clothes being perpetually cycled through, and sending clothes overseas can hurt developing
countries' economies.
When you venture into a thrift store, you get a whiff of a very distinctive smell.
"Hey what's that?"
"What?"
"That smell, what's that smell?"
"What smell?"
Incidentally, scientists actually analyzed the molecules that make up this quintessential
scent and found that the vast majority were from body oils like sweat. Eek. The remaining
scents were various compounds of perfume, food, gasoline, and other everyday contaminants.
A thrift store smell may be fine for, you know, a thrift store, but you may not desire
to wear that scent. However, dry-cleaning isn't always going to solve the problem, so
give some serious consideration to whether looking good is more importantly than smelling
funky.
Okay, so thrift store clothes may have an odd smell, but thrifting connoisseurs still
recommend trying on secondhand clothes before buying.
Trying on clothing at a thrift store may give you the heebie-jeebies, and quite rightfully
so. Tamarind Tidwell, general manager of a chain of thrift stores in Massachusetts, admitted
that most thrift stores don't wash clothing donations before they're put up for sale.
"Ewwww!"
Hmm, it's no wonder they hold on to their scent. So please be sure to give your clothes
a good laundering before boxing them up, and especially wash them after buying.
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