I paid Goodwill a visit today...

[KAZ]

So I walk in, and was amazed to find some Atari 2600 cartridges on a shelf at the front of the store.

 

Combat: $5.99

Pacman: $5.99

 

Hmm, who the hell prices these things?

 

So I'm like, where's the console that goes with this?

 

I find this box, it had some paperwork in it, a power adapter to the 2600, and some ratty controllers (one had the rubber part missing).

 

So I grab the four pieces of paperwork...a combat manual, a catalog (I now have 5,000 of these), a pretty neat warranty thing, and the manual to the Vader Atari 2600.

 

I took them to the front, and offered to pay $1. The guy actually had the nerve to try to get 69 cents for each manual. I would not have gone with that scenario, and I think he could tell that. So he let me have the stuff for a buck.

 

The vader manual was a neat find, and the buck I spent on it was relatively painless-and it goes to charity or something.

 

I was at Unique thrift store again, and the stack of Super Mario/Duck Hunts increased to like 8. I saw some other 8 bit games, all selling for $2.80. Way too much. Genesis consoles always sell for $20. Again, I think this is too much.

 

I like how they write on the cartridges with permanent marker. It would give my goo-gone a workout if I ever did buy them.

 

Since they use permanent marker on every single cartridge, they should price them at like 30 cents, since defacing them reduces their value. Irritating to me, and I don't know why.

[Stella'sGhost]

Since they use permanent marker on every single cartridge, they should price them at like 30 cents, since defacing them reduces their value.  Irritating to me, and I don't know why.

 

I know why, cause they see all of this stuff as junk.

 

Many of the employees that work at the places I frequent have no idea what this stuff is, at least thats the impression I get. Once a woman working at the cash recognized the Atari XEGS I had found on a back shelf (mint!), a rare find in my parts, but she thought it was a typewriter and that it was probably only a few years old... I told her that this was a actually an uncommon computer from the late 1980's ... an Atari, she blinked and didn't seem to know what Atari was.

 

Another time a rather pretty girl who worked there recognized the atari carts I had found in a box and she remembered playing atari when she was younger, but she thought no one played the old Atari anymore. I said, sure, people like me are still into this stuff, I suddenly felt like a giant geek.

 

Another time I saw a Venture for 18$... the horror, the horror....

 

I've told this one before, so what. Another time I saw a bunch of kids at a flea market looking at nes games, meanwhile I was looking through a box of atari games. Well these kids looked over at me and they started to look at me and gazing into my box and one of them asked me "what are those for?" I said, "these are games, like those nes games but for the Atari vcs." The kid looks at them and makes a weird face, "whats Atari?"..... the horror the horror...

[MegaManFan]

So I grab the four pieces of paperwork...a combat manual, a catalog (I now have 5,000 of these), a pretty neat warranty thing, and the manual to the Vader Atari 2600.

 

I took them to the front, and offered to pay $1.  The guy actually had the nerve to try to get 69 cents for each manual.

 

At the store I frequent, when I buy carts they throw in any manuals I have with them for free. That's how I ended up with 4 Combat manuals! Anybody want one?

[Sleep]

theres a really awesome video game store by my house that sells nothing but classic games. problem is the guy that owns the store is a jerk. and the store is all cluttterd, its hard to walk around. he also assumes you dont know anything and tries to get the most money he can out of you.

i think ill head down there with my new hobby in mind. ATARI!

[King Atari]

The kid looks at them and makes a weird face, "whats Atari?"..... the horror the horror...

 

Stupid little idiots. A big rock shoulf fall on them immediately. Little morons (sorry, I've had little sleep).

[oesii]

ok guys, let me know if I got this wrong. But I don't expect Goodwill workers to know everything about the stuff they have in the store, they may see everything as junk and the grease pencil marks they make on stuff isn't that important to most people looking to fix up old electronic junk. This isn't an antique store its a thrift.

 

Also, isn't Goodwill and many of these thrifts, a charity? People donate their old junk in order for the stores to make money to fund their charities. I'm not 100% sure what Goodwill does but I think it helps people and families get back on their feet with job training and support. So if a cart is priced $4 instead of the 50 cents you think its worth, maybe it's a good idea to see it as a donation? Go haggle with vendors at a flea market but these charity thrifts are doing a little more good in the community.

 

So what if a SMB or combat is priced at $5, I'm sure if someone picks up an Atari or NES system for 10 bucks at a store and they have no games, they can pick up the pack in game for the extra dollars and they're giving to a good cause instead of buying it from eBay. We would all love to get every game for $1 or less but I don't think our cheapness should make these charity thrifts change their practices.

[Treasure-Diver]

theres a really awesome video game store by my house that sells nothing but classic games. problem is the guy that owns the store is a jerk. and the store is all cluttterd, its hard to walk around.  he also assumes you dont know anything and tries to get the most money he can out of you.  

i think ill head down there with my new hobby in mind. ATARI!

 

The very unorganized place downtown? Ive bought quite a few games from him, and I made sure to check every single one right when I got home. Luckily they all worked.

[Mot]

One thrift here prices the carts at $5 but then they have the 1/2 off on them so they come down. I paid 2.50 for 1 that I didn’t have yet.

 

I once found 5 7200 carts with no price on them and Super Skate Boarding was the best one. I was very bumbed because this store always put about $5 on carts. So I go to the back and ask them how much and lady asked what are they? I say very very old video games. So then she comes back with a big sticker said $5 for all 5.

 

But guess where she put the big sticker….

RIGHT ON THE SUPER SKATE BOARDING LABEL!!!!!!

 

I got it off but it took some of the black off with it!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

 

Kid today barely know NES let alone Atari. I know HS kids here I say I got a Sega Master System. What’s that? Is that a Genesis? When at my house they mostly play Genesis and a little NES for the light gun and duck hunt.

 

Even “The Video Game Bibles” is “from the NES through the Saturn”[/url]

[Atari Master]

I beat all of you so far. In good and bad situations.

 

I went to Goodwill one day since it was close to the movie theater. I was about to go and see that Adam Sandler movie that came out a few months ago (not the love story one). I went in only to find Crazy Climbers! I was like "WHOO HOO!", untill I lokked at it and noticed there was a hole in the lable, the top lable was in very bad shape. All of this wouldn't have made me mad but I looked at the bottom and noticed somthing very bad...

 

THE WHOLE FRIGGEN CHIP WAS GONE! THE GAME WAS A SHELL!!!!

 

A few weeks later Goodwill got a load of games for 2.00 a piece. I got some (the ones I had never heard of) and went to the counter to buy them. A young lady came up to me and I asked the price. She said "Hmm... 50 cents each", I was like "I thought they were 2.00 each". She said she was allowed to jack down the prices. I got almost 14 games for less than 5 bucks.

 

That included a Sears Super Man Rarety 5 and some 4s.

[moycon]

I once got Quadrun, Glib, Video Life, Crazy Climber, Q*Bert Qubes, Springer, and Chase The Chuckwagon at a flea market for $2.00 a piece....

 

Then I woke up....

[Mindfield]

I keep going into my local Humane Society thrift shop in the hopes that they'll one day get some Atari stuff in. Thus far the only thing even remotely Atari-related is a box of tangled joysticks, about half of which are 9-pin DIN type. One of them was a VCS-style (but not an Atari) stick. I did manage to get a Wico NES stick for $2 there, though. And the old guy there that deals with the electronics stuff (forasmuch as he knows what it all is) has a box of NES and SNES stuff. He said he'd been holding them back hoping he'd get a power adapter for the one NES and one SNES console he had there (apparently not realizing any 9v/850-900mW adapter will do). I asked if he'd just sell the lot as is -- one SNES deck, one NES deck, and a box of games (mostly NES). He said he was gonna sell the games for $5 apiece -- but he'd give me the whole box for $20.

 

Can't pass that up. :-)

[SS]

ok guys, let me know if I got this wrong.  But I don't expect Goodwill workers to know everything about the stuff they have in the store

 

I don't expect them to be good looking young girls! That was the most surprising part of the story, IMHO.

[Sleep]

The very unorganized place downtown? Ive bought quite a few games from him, and I made sure to check every single one right when I got home. Luckily they all worked.

 

yup, thats the place!

[Happy_Dude]

I dont know if I'v mentioned this before but one of my local thrift stores had a boxed intellivision and a stack of games.

I saw it but had no Yen I went in to buy it the next day and the whole lot was gone.

 

Im like the only collector in my town so i have the old ladies at the shop down the road hold all things game related.

Im also thinking of doing voulentry work on the dock there so i know when the games come in

 

I personaly found all my Atari stuff at this thrift shop!

 

Actually i found a boxed Calafornia games at the pawn shop (around the corner)

Also, isn't Goodwill and many of these thrifts, a charity? People donate their old junk in order for the stores to make money to fund their charities. I'm not 100% sure what Goodwill does but I think it helps people and families get back on their feet with job training and support. So if a cart is priced $4 instead of the 50 cents you think its worth, maybe it's a good idea to see it as a donation? Go haggle with vendors at a flea market but these charity thrifts are doing a little more good in the community.  

I give to charity but as a consumer i dont want to get ripped off.

I call it Karma, if your nice,you find boxed rare game for $1, if you not so nice, you get stung by wasp.

[candiru]

I usually hit the thrifts looking for Atari stuff on my way home from work. Depending on which route I take I can go to as many as 6, but I don't usually make that many stops. I've got to say that it must really suck to be poor around here because most of their prices on everything are way out of line.

 

$300 for an "as is" 486 with a 15 inch monitor, what a great buy! Hey this ice cube tray looks like the last thing it held was human waste, but it's 25 cents cheaper than the new one I could buy at Wal-Mart. And let's not get started on the pre-owned undergarments.

 

This concludes my thrift store rant.