One place that my husband and I stop at alot is the local Good Will stores.

One of the things that I have noticed is that the prices on the same things at different stores are different.

Take for example. I love to collect Jackson China, while the Good Will store here in my home town will have the cups at .49$ n the plates at .59$, the Good Will store in the next town over will have the same items priced at .99$ n $1.99!! I cant understand how they can get away with doubling the price on the same item, while its cheaper at another store.....

Can anyone tell me how they can get away with this??

Also 2yrs ago T-shirts were .99$ now their $1.99. Jeans went from $4.99 - $9.99.

Every stop in to go look at their bargin bins?? I know 1/2 the time their packing the stuff up and you cant find the so called bargins. Like their 60%off tages, good luck looking for them, cause 9 times out of 10 their packing them up too.

Somtimes Im able to find stuff at the 60%off sale but mostly I end up finding the stuff when its 50% off.

Go Figure...

I've noticed this, too.  I asked a manager once, & he told me that whoever brings an item into the store, among the employees, is the one who prices the item, & that is why there is such discrepancy. 

I hate GW and rarely shop there. The pricing system IMO is outrageous. My main complaint is that all like items are priced the same. All jeans are $4.98, tops are $3.98, etc. It doesn't matter if it's a Wal-Mart brand or Talbots. For general-purpose thrifting -- saving money on clothes and housewares for your family -- it doesn't pay.

 Now on the other hand, I've found Tommy Bahama pants there for $3.98 that I've sold on ebay for $30-$40. And Gymboree clothes are the same price as Kmart clothes, but Gymbo has resale value. When I find a true bargain, I'll snatch it up. But overall, clothes for my family are much cheaper at the Salvation Army.


 

It is exactly the opposite way in San Francisco.  Salvation Army is the most expensive thrift shop in town (except on their half-off occasioanl sales -- they were at every holiday weekend up to this year, but then the policy changed).  In contrast, Goodwill runs a circleling run of colored tags, & one tag color each week is half-price.  You just have to scout around to find that color.

Same in our area, Deb. 

GW is much better organized, has multiple sales thru the week and is waaaay cleaner.  When you drive around back with your drop-offs, they literally come running out the door with a big blue cart and unload while you just sit there in your car.  Much better than SA, where they always give me and my stuff the evil-eye, making sure I'm not dropping off too much junk work for them, and pretend to be busy while I'm heaving my bags up onto their loading dock (only place you can leave it...).  Liz

I also have good things to say about the Goodwill stores in Pittsburgh.  They are the biggest thrift stores, always have dressing rooms and a huge selection.  The Salvation Army is much smaller and I usually get in trouble with the staff for trying on too many items (?)  I find the pricing at SA to be sproadic while it is more stable at the GW.  One thing that has changed is the pricing of shoes.  Seems that they are individually priced where they used to all be the same (I think it was 3.99)  I went with DH a few days ago. I found two pairs of shoes for me - both never worn - $5.99 and $4.99, 8 tops for DH and two books. 3 of the tops where half price (color of the week.)  I think we ended up with Eddie Bauer, Abercrombie, Ralph Lauren.  My shoes were Nine West and East - something (they look like Timberlands.)  Spent $42 total.  I was very pleased as DH is very difficult to shop for and he needed more clothes for school/work.  This time, the pants were actually all labeled with the size and somewhat organized by size (we were there at the end of the day on a Saturday, so they probably started out organized.)  We also have Red, White and Blue stores in Pittsburgh which is part of Vietnam Vets of America, but they don't have any changing rooms, so I don't shop there.  Shopping at thrift stores has saved me so much money over the years - if anyone out there has not tried it, I encourage you to give it a shot.  You can find brand new stuff and stuff in really good condition - lots of brand names.  You just have to be patient and plan to spend some time there to do a good search.  My former work friend turned me on to it and buys lots of gifts there as well as items for Ebay which she usually does very well with.

Alison

I find it difficult to shop at the Goodwill stores here in Madison, Wisconsin because the clothing is all arranged by color, not by size! I'm uncommonly short, so it's just not worth it for me to sort through so much stuff. And infant clothing is just thrown into a large bin.  I prefer Saint Vincent DePaul and the Salvation Army because everything is better arranged, and the prices are lower.

     Where I lived before, SA was so picky about taking furniture.  I had an upholstered chair and they would not take it because it had a couple pin-pointmildew spots.

There is a vast difference in the pricing of books.  At one store near me, they have an actual book shop section, and they charge 1/4 of the original price of a PAPERBACK.  The hardbacks are priced according to their popularity, desirability, whatever, and are a better bargain than the paperbacks.

 In the very town I live in, books WERE cheaper than there, but they got a new policy or person and I saw an older Stephen King hardback for FIVE DOLLARS, which is outragious.  Now I don't even cross their threshhold and get my books ar yard sales, very cheap.

 However, when traveling on a route on the very same latitude, I find books cheap at another Goodwill.

 I do believe that the good, collectible stuff goes home with the people who work in the back, but that is hardlyl a belief that is original, is it?

 They've raised prices on books here, too. It used to be a dollar for a hardback and 50 cents for a paper back, now it's a dollar for a paperback and two dollars for hardback. They have a lot of books, though, and sometimes have some very good ones for the price, so it's still worth it to me to go through them now and then.

I think, with the wages they pay, getting the "good stuff" can be thought of as sort of a perk. After awhile, though, it seems like you'd be overwhelmed with things.