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I was looking around on a Friday(5 for 5 dollar) sale and one of the more friendly honest workers told me I should have come earlier and that the "management" tells them to start removing the sale color tags from the rack two or three days before Friday. If you do show up on Friday, good luck finding 5 items of the sale color.

I know longer waste my time knowing this is what they are doing. Some of the prices are ridiculous for used merchandise. Don't tell me they have to compete with retail. Retailers compete by LOWERING their prices.

Don't tell me about overhead. They are getting FREE donations from some of the very people who shop in their stores. The poor people who HAVE to shop their ARE being fleeced. USED t- shirts for 5 and 6 bucks?

Then hope the tag is the sale of the day. The people of means who shop there to support the SA just look at the jacked up prices and figure they may as well go to Macys for new merchandise.

Its the people that DEPEND on the SA who gets jilted. If they lower the prices, they may move more merchandise, poor people can afford clothing, everyone benefits.

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Location: Rochester Hills, Michigan

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Guest

The prices are ridiculous, I saw a old plastic doll with matted hair priced at $12.99 in Leominster Massachusetts, That's one of many overpriced items.

Guest

I think that customers who come into the Salvation Army Thrift Store and provide proof that they are on SSI should receive 75% off all of their purchases, since their "income" is usually only around a quarter of what someone with a normal income has for their income. Someone on SSI could only afford to pay $1.25 for that $5 t-shirt, or $2 for that $7.99 pair of jeans.

Guest

You are an ignorant fool to believe that OVERHEAD doesn't play a part in pricing. The space the store is in is not FREE space, the electric company doesn't donate free electricity, and the people who work there don't do it for FREE.

So think before you open your ignorant mouth about OVERHEAD. All that can cost nearly 80-90% of their income.

Further, most non-profits operate retail or thrift stores to generate money for their mission. So that paltry 10%-20% they manage to hold on to is given to the mission to help people in their communities. It isn't about YOU or how cheap you can buy something that you can't afford elsewhere.

Going on, a well managed thrift store retail operation is always bringing out new product. Not all the product they put out sells, that would be commonsense. So if there is no room, of course they are going to pull color of the week. It's been there and it hasn't been purchased (even at half off) so better put out new stuff that has a chance of selling.

$5 for a t-shirt that retails anywhere else for $50 is a bargain - no matter how you slice it.

Same for a $80 pair of jeans for $6.99.

Yes they have a right and an obligation to ensure their donors are getting the best use of their donation. If I donated a $80 pair of jeans and saw it for $3.50 - I'd quit donating to that place - they obviously don't value what I gave them.

For one minute, just one, consider everything other than your selfish miserable self.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1316914

Condescending *** Get off your high horse and remember that for that finger you're pointing there are four more pointing back at you

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1316914

P. S.

You don't even have the courage to post your name.

Just what i would expect from a 'bible thumping so called Christian'. Paul

Genessa But
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1316914

Disgusting

Guest

Yes. I used to belong to the Salvation Army church on Maui n the the minister n wife ran the store.

I just came out of the one in wahiawa n they're selling old black pots for $15. I wanted to buy some for my daughter, but u can get new ones in Walmart or Ross's for cheaper n newer.

Compassion turned to greed. Just like whn missionaries canes to Hawaii to preach the word but in the end, they were preaching the word on Sunday n stealing the land mon - Thur.

Guest

Im not donating anymore n refuse to go to lahaina thrift shop and told friends they should give their donations to the church or to kidney foundation. They give free to the needy n poor.

Plus employers n employees should have training in good behaviour.

Treat customers with trust, respect, n gratitude. Thanks to the customers they work.

Guest

In lahaina thrift store, salvation army, prices increased, poor people go there can't afford the used clothes. New management, unfriendly.

Old workers mistreated. Got rid of volunteers, one worker who worked there for years quit cause of harassment. Long time Customers mistreated accused of stealing. Many refuse to go there because of this bad behavior.

They need good behavior(respect, trust, gratitude)training. Salvation means save the needy

Guest

Even the really destitute people know the difference between a $5.00 t-shirt and a $50.00 one and most of them are willing to pay more for the name. Like I said in my previous post compare the prices in other thrift stores in your town.

I never once said anything comparing the SA Thrift Stores to retail stores. Where I live there are thrift stores that charge $1.00-$2.00 for a used paper back book that originally was $3.00-$4.00. Hard cover used books start at $5.00 on up. When my girls were little I would sort through the listed yard sales and pick the ones that I know would have expensive girl's clothes.

I didn't hesitate to spend $5.00-$6.00 on a kid's dress because I knew the stores where the people shopped. They were stores I couldn't afford to shop in, but I could afford to pay $5.00-$6.00 for one of the dresses. Different people thought it was awful that I would spend that much on a kid's dress bought at a yard sale. If the SA Thrift stores don't take enough in to pay their overhead, who do you think is going to do it?

Some of you people have to get a grip and do a little investigating.

According to my dictionary "retail" is the selling of goods in small quantities to the consumer.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-795283

I went to a SA store and some new items were donated. They still had the stores clearance price on it.

The SA was charging more than the clearance price from the original store . Can you please explain that?

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1672550

Greed. Pure & Simple Greed!

Genessa But
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1673618

Yep

Guest

What any thrift store charges for an item will depend on the brand of the item. They do have to consider the cost of overhead.

They have rent/mortgage, utilities, insurance, wages, etc. that has to be paid on a monthly basis. How do you expect any thrift store to survive, if they can't meet their overhead? The SA thrift store where I live closed recently because they weren't taking in enough to cover their expenses.

They had been taking money out of their general funds for at least a year to cover their overhead, and by doing that, they didn't have as much in the coffers to help the needy with food, etc. Are you aware that people can go to the SA office and tell them they need some clothes and they will be given a voucher to take to the thrift store and get to pick out some clothes? The same applies for basic furniture. Granted the things that they sell are donated, but the donations don't cover overhead.

They have to sell the items for enough to meet those expense. Do you expect them to sell a t-shirt that was in the $30.00-50.00 price range, depending on the brand, for 25 cents? Prices are going up all over, and that includes thrift stores. Check some of the other thrift stores in your town and you will see prices are about the same and in some cases higher than at the SA stores.

They all sell donated merchandise. Where I live the SA had the lowest prices of the many thrift stores.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-795181

The Salvation Army is NOT a RETAIL store. It is a SECOND hand store getting FREE items from the public.

They DO NOT have to buy the items so their "wholesale" = FREE. Brand names should not even come into play. They are not a DISCOUNT RETAILER. They are suppose to be a CHARITY.

There IS a difference. When they get into the "brand" mark-ups, they are no better than the retailers. They are WORSE because they get their merchandise FREE. A 50.00 tee shirt should NOT be seen as a 50.00 tee shirt once it hits the SA.

They also try and charge high prices for fake designer bags. Not giving truly poor a chance to have something nice. The SA should NOT operate like a retailer. Corporate greed under the guise of"overhead" should not come into play.

They are getting a lot of tax breaks also from the federal government. They have to run that logic by uneducated poor consumers, which is exactly what they are doing. Just ask the honest employee who works there. And they volunteered this info to me.

So you can tell that BS to someone who doesn't know better. I once donated a blouse and came back to find it marked at a price higher than what I actually paid.

I will take my many donations to a charity that TRULY operates as a charity. And my donations aren't cheap.

Like I said you can tell that corporate BS to someone who doesn't know better.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-795199

Agreed! Thank you.

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