Thrifters and pickers: A dilemma
I love thrifts, on the giving and receiving end, ever astonished by how much our culture has and donates. With patience and luck, practically everything a person wears flows through there.
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| Ev's skirt |
We had to sneak because my father forbade shopping at thrifts. We would have a "long lunch" or "nice drive" and I'd smuggle her skirt into the house in my bag.
Lately I've been on the donor end, divesting all sorts of gear before moving day. I've consigned a few high-end items (original Halston, Ferre) to a designer secondhand store and given some to friends–but bags have gone to charity thrifts. One charity, Windfall, prepares women to enter the workplace, but takes only unworn contributions, less than 2% of my pile.
Charities with stores–Goodwill, Value Village, Sally Ann and the like–are picked by vendors who take the best things to mark up and resell in their hip vintage boutiques. One of my friend's daughters worked in Goodwill receiving and was well paid by a Queen St. secondhand shop to skim things before they hit the floor.
Anyone can buy; the vendors know when the racks are restocked. I've seen shirts and skirts I gave to Goodwill fluttering from a boutique rack more than once, and yes, I'm absolutely certain. In one case, the price tag was higher than what I'd paid.
Anyone can buy; the vendors know when the racks are restocked. I've seen shirts and skirts I gave to Goodwill fluttering from a boutique rack more than once, and yes, I'm absolutely certain. In one case, the price tag was higher than what I'd paid.I'd hoped my donation would end up delighting a woman who couldn't afford the garment in a boutique, or someone like Frugal Scholar (among others) who values conscious consumption and recycling. When vendors make a buck on my donation, it sticks in my craw.
Am I being unreasonable? Should I lighten up?
Wonderful moment: Le Duc put a personal flotation device (PFD) on the curb. That's his method for anything decent: offer it to the neighbourhood. Someone picked it inside ten minutes. That evening I answered the phone, and a young man asked for our son, Jules.When I replied that Jules was at work, the caller said he'd found the PFD and noticed Jules' name and number inked inside. He asked if we meant to give it away or was it lost?
I was touched by his considerate behaviour; we ended up offering him some camping gear.
I've also used our local Freecycle board to post office equipment; respondents have been friendly people who can use what we no longer want.
Giving feels good, but not so much when I'm stocking a for-profit shop.
I've also used our local Freecycle board to post office equipment; respondents have been friendly people who can use what we no longer want.
Giving feels good, but not so much when I'm stocking a for-profit shop.
Comments
Everything has to be brand new and we want it all: a huge house, the latest BMW model, a boat and exotic vacations and the list goes on. Unfortunately thrift shopping has no part in the main stream mentality. It so often reminds us of the hand me down clothes and the single pair of boots we had to wear while growing up.
Darla
Here, I have very wealthy friends whose 20-something children insist on shopping only at thrifts, as a kind of statement.
Darla: Many of my things would not be suitable for shelters (dry clean only), and some will take only baby clothes. But we gave them a lot of household items.
We have divested half of all our goods.
I don't blame you for not wanting the resellers to get your stuff. Resellers are bad for the shop because the shop ends up with less "good stuff" to draw customers.
I used to organize sales for charities and I would purposely not advertise online because if I did, we'd end up with resellers buying out all the quality items within the first few hours, and we'd be left with nothing but "junk" to sell for the duration of the event.
Just gave shopping bags of jewelery (most of it costume) to a church's spring rummage sale. We had a block party and invited neighbours to take a lot of items (if they wished)- that was fun!
We have a park across the street frequented by families on weekends, so used to put our outgrown baby stuff out on the curb with a sign indicating it was OK to take, and someone would invariably pick it up within hours.
I only go into one thrift here (it's near my streetcar stop) and occasionally find a fab thing, like the $5 Italian straw and leather bag I got last summer.
Good for you for divesting half your goods! Bravo! That's a lot of decision-making, no?
Now, he's 28 and lives in NYC and shops at regular stores--and still dresses nicely.
Yes, it would make me sad to see clothing I intended to go to people who would be delighted to find something really nice show up in a upscale consignment boutique.
Love the man who took the trouble to call and make sure the vest wasn't lost! How nice that you could reward him and get some more stuff out of your house at the same time.
Not only do I donate, I shop at thrift stores too on a regular basis. Obviously, I'm a big proponent of buying pre-owned goods. But these days I rarely find anything worth buying as all the good stuff has been already acquired by pickers.
If you have something worth money--and have some time--I would suggest selling it yourself and then donating the cash to your charity of choice.
Otherwise, worn stuff gets picked up by Big Sisters. I support the work they do, and don't mind what happens once it's gone.
I also put things out on the curb for giveaway - not clothing, but household items, books, etc. They are usually gone by dusk. And I do use craigstlist free, too. I have used freecycle in the past but I found it a little more difficult to use than craigslist.
Usually when I post something for free on craigslist, I immediately get 5 or 6 responses saying, "I'll take it! When can I come get it?" and then one or two asking me for intricate details, multiple photos and can I deliver it to them? After I finish rolling my eyes, I use the delete key. :)
OneWeird: Those are some finds, and I'm so happy they made it on the racks.
Susan: I think men can dress especially well from thrifts as the items do not date so rapidly.
Murphy: That's right, the charities still get their price. Maybe I should look at it as the cup half full, two entities make money.
Northmoon: Yes, I do have to let go. But grrr, when the stuff gets picked without even hitting the floor so 'ordinary people' have a chance at it, I don't like it.
Belle: I sold just one thing on eBay, a lot of dozens of Hermes boxes. I had dinner last night with a friend, a glamourous woman who told me she buys all her clothes second hand, and she's one of the best-dressed women you'd ever want to know. Being a small size helps, though.
Frugal: I don't have the time to list, pack and ship; I'm spending the few days left seeing friends and managing the move.
Couture Vintage: While I have not seen the owner, I have seen their staff there. (Lived in this city 31 years and know them by face and sometimes by name.) The pick and resell to consignment thing also happens but I know exactly who picked my stuff. The girl was likely acting against policy, a broke and resourceful 18 year old.
Rubi: Was offered $30 for my suede and alligator Prada heels by a high end consignment store owner; sold them on eBay for $130.
rb: Had one of those delivery requests too, and was stunned. Love looking at consignment stores, but as a 14-16, not many things there for me.
We've tried that same thing, of putting quality items at the curb that get picked up within 10 minutes. I love that!
I had no idea that "vendors" pre-pick through donated items for higher end boutiques. In that case maybe you could offer the nicer pieces for sale to your readers.
I don't have a problem with that, given how time-consuming a process it is.
I do have a problem with someone "skimming" the Goodwill goods before they go out on the floor, though.
No doubt I've purged a few things I'll miss later, but by now am kind of punchy: out, out, out.
Jean S.: I guess that business is fair (and does sound like major work). I'm still struggling through my perhaps Pollyanna-ish wish that someone who could not afford the garment gets a find. I know how I've felt to find something great.
Scooping the good stuff before it hits the floor, or phoning friends who leap on it by prearrangement (to protect the spotter) is a fairly common practice.
Anon on Tueday
I've also given a few antiques, unwanted by my sons, to friends who wanted them.
I often set out things that are too big for the trash and not "good enough" to call the Salvation Army for. Everything has been taken by the end of the day. Who knows where it goes?? I hope someone gets some good out of the stuff.
DUCHESSE: Yes, I feel quite ill when I drop off items and know that the many of them will be "picked" instead of reaching the hands of the students and the working poor I would love to see get them. However, I've had a few friends who worked at these thrift stores and they all tell me that at least half of all donations end up in the dumpster; the stores just aren't big enough to hold everything that is donated. So, I convince myself that the "picking" is good as it allows the stores to make easy money on the higher-end items and throw out a bit less.
Sewing Librarian: Curbside donation has resulted in things being taken within the day- sometimes within a few minutes! Recently a Canada Post truck stopped to pick up something.
Otherwise I have sold stuff, but it takes a lot of time and effort, and I've used consignments. At this point I am just happy to be rid of it. This decluttering makes for incredibly light spirits and I keep finding more and more that I don't need to hang on to.
I've freecycled a lot of household stuff, and fabrics to the quilters too. I love Freecycle, and the idea that something of mine is going directly to someone who wants/needs it. I live in a very small rural neighborhood, so putting things out on the street doesn't work, but it did when I was in town.
Delightful to see the men scoring your husband's things.
I have been using freecycle recently to clear some stuff out and it is nice to see the people who take the stuff and know why they want it. I also had a good laugh watching from my bedroom window as the man who collected my very ancient upright piano wheeled it down the hill to his house - just 100 yards away!