I have never been to the Goodwill store here in our town. After seeing everyone's posts here about the great finds they come home with, I decided to stop in when I was in town today. I DID NOT come home with anything. I couldn't believe the prices. I could have gone to Target and done as well. I took pics so you could see items and prices, and at the end, someone came up to me and asked me to stop taking pics. One I wanted to get a pic of was a shower curtain still in the package for $15.00. Ummmm...I just bought a shower curtain at Target for $9.99 and it was cute! Anyway....on to the pics I did get.

The first pic is of a formica nightstand that is all beat up and dinged. It was 25 bucks. Maybe these are going prices for crap in this condition, but personally I wouldn't give 5 dollars.

Next is 2 drawer filing cabinet for 40 bucks.

Next is a homemade table, rough, not sanded, written all over

I believe it! I've seen prices just like that at ours for junk.

and the best for last....a hideous elephant planter that was about knee high for $99.00

I hear you! I have had the same experience. I think they would do much better by lowering the prices and seeing the volume of sales increase. Who wants to pay these prices for this junk?

WOW.

I went to my local Goodwill yesterday- left in disgust at the prices- without buying anything. Today I went to a little thrift shop that helps fund a homeless shelter. I came away with 4 yards of good quality cotton fabric and 4 yards of seer sucker for $2.00. At that price I can afford to make some charity quilts.

The Goodwill here is more expensive now than they were just a year ago. There is a Salvation Army really close to where I live and their prices are just about as much as brand new. I have stopped shopping at either one of these places because the prices have gone up so much. We do however have a small thrift store here that I volunteer at. All proceeds go to a horse rescue ranch. Now their prices are really good. This is now the only "thrift" store I buy at any more.

I had to check and see where you were from, I thought you must have been at my local Goodwill. They are a little hoytie toytie in my opinion!

Wow! I've seen some unrealistic listings on Craigs List but these ones kinda take the cake. I bought a NEW file drawer like the one pictured for $29.99 (on sale).

OMG!!!!! How do they expect to be able to help ANYBODY

I have seen so much of this at our local SA and thrift shops, that I just had to ask today, WHY the prices were so high on donated items that are clearly NOT fixed up, NOT cleaned up, and in well used condition..

this very nice Christian lady(at the Christian run thrift shop) said to me: " well, we can get that price for it on ebay"!

I always knew that this particular store sold on ebay, especially vintage jewelry, good clothing, books, and all sewing machines,,,,but really....WE the general public are NOT ebay and when I donate something to a LOCAL charity, I expect my money to stay local!

Needless to say, I doubt I will donate anything there again much less shop there! Seriously thinking about writing an article the paper!

Our local charity store doesn't even price anything anymore. If you are interested in something you have to drag it to the checkout counter and after the clerk sizes you up, they make up a price to suit what they think they can soak you for. Definitely have different prices for different folks...

I used to donate nice clothes there a LOT, but the last time I was in the back (warehouse) part of the store where the bigger things are sold, I noticed this huge machine like a trash compactor-- it actually BALED UP loads of clothing into gigantic 'bricks'. I have no idea what they do with these (landfil?) but the back part of the warehouse was stacked to the roof with them. My guess is they don't even look at the clothes you donate... just throw it in the baler!

I go there to keep an eye out for used sewing machines and/or fabric, but they probably wouldn't sell it to me for what I could pay.

You have to be there right time...I got chaise loungers sells 150.00 at lowes..someone brought 6 in was price 10.00 each and then I got Senior Discount...all 6 or 8.00 each....48.00 plus tax....best find I ever FOUND! my sister got 3 so I can use her Pool....lol and I kept 3..!!!

they ship them off to 3rd world countries!

Ours is really high too, I am waiting for rummage sales!

Yikes!!!!!!!!!!!! What a bummer :(

You are right, their prices are way too high. I've noticed that around here too. Since there are more thrift customers due to unemployment and pay freezes, their prices are rising. I still look for fabric every time I go near one.

I always thought that because the items were donated, that they were very very cheap do that less unfortunate can afford something. I'm serious when I say that Target and Walmart have same prices but for brand new not all banged up and ugly. They had tons of VHS movies for 5.00. I just bought DVD's at Wally World for 5 bucks that were new. I don't get it. This is a non profit organization right? A 501c3? It just seems to me that the prices defeat the purpose. Of providing goods at a much lower cost.

I doubt this store could afford to do this. These bales are bigger than the old cotton bales that went by riverboat. The freight would be tremendous. From what I see piled high in their warehouse, they aren't being shipped anywhere. What a fire hazard.

I believe it. About 3 years ago, I went into a goodwill store and found a couple handmade 100% cotton pillowcases, with no price, so I took them up to the register to see how much they were, $1.98 EACH, I said, no thank you and haven't been in there since. I think that Good Will has gone "up scale". I was in a different one than the above, and they had a decent looking hutch, $1700.00. People this is a thrift store, I think the head of the company is forgetting what a THRIFT store is.

Here a lot of the larger thrift stores are getting really expensive too....sometimes it is cheaper to by new tops/shirts than to pay their prices. The smaller ones, church groups, Country Women's Association etc. have the best deals...and their stuff is clean and undamaged. I picked up a beautiful Janome 610 in it's case with accessories for $15.00.

Gosh, I thought for a moment you were talking about the one in my town. We also have a more reasonable St. Vincent de Paul's here, plus one real good thrift store, the owners of which I've never been able to find out and keep forgetting to ask. But the prices are terrific, half price on Saturdays and some other days, so I keep on going back there.
In Modesto is a Salvation Army store that has reasonable prices, I stop there every time I'm in town. Usually find something that I love, need/and or will use some day or other.

I believe the Goodwills overprice so when they have half price days - they at least get the lower price.

I've found 'better deals' at church or school run resale shops.

Bottom line is that if the price is too high - don't buy it or ask for a lower price - see if they'll work with you.

Goodwill is just a bussiness[spelling?] . Not like it used to be. Just a money maker off of people's unwanted stuff.

I admire the work that Goodwill/The Salvation Army does for the poor and disenfranchised in our communities and do not object to paying a fair price for an item I desire or might find useful. I am not adverse to offering what I consider a reasonable price for an item, and will negotiate if the manager is willing. If there is nothing in the store I find appealing...I leave, and return another day.

I just bought a double 100% cotton sheet to use for quilt squares for 3.50 didn't think that was bad from Goodwill.

When I went to the one here the parking lot was full of shoppers. I didn't find any great fabric like people here have found. The Hospice thrift store here has better prices and the ladies that work there are very nice.

Yep ;ours is that way too. And now they have so many new items that the used stuff is sometimes just tossed.

The bales of clothes are used. They are sent to different agencies or missions to be sorted. They are then sent on to - as someone said - "Third world countries" or they are used right here in the good old U.S.of A.

I have a friend who spends part of her summer somewhere in the mountains of West Virginia or Virginia sorting donated clothes.

I haven't been in a good will for a long time. The last time I did, they had $5 and up for shirts. I won't pay that for a used shirt. My grandma shops at Goodwill and a few other thrift shops and has found some great items. Pots and pans that new and for a couple dollars and then she will laugh and tell us how much they cost at stores(really expensive). So you really have to know what you are looking for and know your prices going in there.

Prices are way high here too!

Those bales of clothes are sold to foreign buyers and you see them often at stores near the border towns. They are sold by the pound.

I guess it just depends. I was at a local thrift store yesterday and got a brand new formal gown that had the original tag on it, $118. It was marked $18.95 and it was reduced I guess because she charged me $8.15. The 2 Good Will stores I go to are not rock bottom, but so far nothing like what y'all are finding. Maybe the prices will go up here too.

Yeah you're right. And I'll even top that....our local GW sells shirts for $4.99 each, yes used shirts for $4.99....last weekend Macy's had a sale on their clearance, I bought 'big name' brand shirts for $1.99 and a couple at $2.99 each, and yep, they were brand new! Sometimes you can find a 'deal' at the thrifts, but you have to hunt hard. My biggest chuckle last week was the 3qt crock pot that was well used and had a broken 'leg' so it wobbled, the GW wanted $15.00 for it....Walmart had a brand new model of that crock pot for $9.99...go figure!

WOW! I have been to a few goodwill stores in the state of colorado and talked with a few of the volunteers at these stores, and they say that they hire a person to be the designated pricer. Looks like the one there is a little over ambitious <spelling>

No, they actually sell them for scrap.

Ditto on that!!! My DH & I worked at a factory that got bales of those clothes in them and they were for cleaning machines. I hated using the clothes for a clean-up(on weekend maintenance), but would have rather used the fabrics in a quilt. The city where I used to live has a non-profit bldg. that hires "mentally" challenged people and they got thru the clothing from the Goodwill's and remove the buttons, zippers, snaps or other items and then bundles them and SELLS them to factories for cleaning rags.
Our Goodwill is also too HIGH priced for me too. I can go to WalMart, Target, TJMaxx, Ross, Marshall's, Steinmart and Beall's and pay alot less money for NEW items.

I bought a large oval table and chairs at a garage sale last year for $100. I walked into Goodwill last week and saw the exact same table and chairs for $250! All the furniture was high...didn't price the clothes.