Goodwill Shutting Down Some Area Thrift Shops

WASHINGTON POST ^ | 4/12/02 | Jacqueline L. Salmon

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

Where once a cavernous warehouse hummed with conveyor belts moving tens of thousands of donated items, and where a busy thrift store operated, there is now silence...

[McGruff]

Something odd locally is that they are building a brand new store near me,
when there are plenty of existing buildings they could lease or buy.

[Post Toasties]

I was really disappointed when Goodwill & the Salvation Army closed down their local drop boxes about ten years ago. Now, I had to save or throw away all the stuff I didn't really want to do either to, knowing that nobody in the US was poor enough to want this mostly perfectly serviceable stuff of mine.

[clintonh8r]

Sometimes those drop-off facilities are closed because a lot of people dump their trash in them, and also because the landlords don't want them on the property. Also, many municipalities now have ordinances against these types of facilities. I'm on the board of the local Goodwill. All of our collection sites are manned during business hours and any trash left during the night is picked up every morning.

I personally believe that Goodwill and the Salvation Army are the two best charities to support, although I give my cash donations to the Boy Scouts now that so many United Ways and school districts have defunded them. (By the way, our Goodwill takes NO United way funds).

[Nitro]

That is a uniquely American disease, which I too suffer from...

it is called pride!!

Haven't most of us kept something far beyond the time when we feel comfortable throwing it out?

[boothead]

I quit going to the local Yokefellows store after I observed the employees taking and giving goods away. They also let an area Antique dealer go through donated items to put on ebay and split the profits with them. Goodwill is not like this. They have a sign on the door that employees do not receive or can not buy from the store.

[Scully]

I'm not so sure it's pride that keeps us from throwing serviceable stuff away. My parents and grandparents, having lived through the Depression taught us, "Waste not, want not".

But it does get a little riduculous. Now, all of our storage space is loaded with boxes of things from the last several generations. Some I need to save to pass along to my children, but most could probably be gotten rid of without trauma.

[Nitro]

I too am a grandchild of the depression and I have inherited what we call the "pack-rat" gene!!

The thing I was talking about is usually a mattress or a couch, something that most people would/should notice wear and tear, but for some reason they refuse to acknowledge it (usually it is too damn comfortable)...

thereby keeping it well past the point of proudly chucking it...

in other words it is so used you are almost ashamed to throw it away!!

My main point being, 90% of what Americans throw away most other people would be abso-f*cking-lutely tickled to own!!