Conversations at Goodwill

[tz101]

So there is this GW store that I frequent, and the one skinny clerk knows I scout for gaming items. Last week he informed me that he picked up a SNES and a few games from that store a couple days prior on "employee discount". I asked him why I had not seen these out for sale and he told me that they were only out for a short while before he nabbed them for his own.

 

Fast forward to today, and the same GW clerk tells me that he scored a Saturn and six games yesterday for himself. Having Never seen a Saturn ever in the wild in my area, I was a little envious. I asked him how much he paid, and all he would say (with a sheepish grin of course) was that he got a good deal because he had a "coupon".

 

Am I the only one who this strikes as wrong? It looks like all the good gaming donations never see the public sales shelves in the stores, but get taken by the employees. What do "employee discount" and "coupon" mean exactly?

 

I have a feeling that some of this stuff leaves the stores without so much as a cent being paid by the employees.

 

This is why it is never advisable to donate games and/or systems to GW.

[atarian63]

So there is this GW store that I frequent, and the one skinny clerk knows I scout for gaming items. Last week he informed me that he picked up a SNES and a few games from that store a couple days prior on "employee discount". I asked him why I had not seen these out for sale and he told me that they were only out for a short while before he nabbed them for his own.

 

Fast forward to today, and the same GW clerk tells me that he scored a Saturn and six games yesterday for himself. Having Never seen a Saturn ever in the wild in my area, I was a little envious. I asked him how much he paid, and all he would say (with a sheepish grin of course) was that he got a good deal because he had a "coupon".

 

Am I the only one who this strikes as wrong? It looks like all the good gaming donations never see the public sales shelves in the stores, but get taken by the employees. What do "employee discount" and "coupon" mean exactly?

 

I have a feeling that some of this stuff leaves the stores without so much as a cent being paid by the employees.

 

This is why it is never advisable to donate games and/or systems to GW.

Not only that but they sell on ebay,pay huge saleries to thier execs. I never ever have found anything of value there. I think thier value as a "charity" is dubious. I wonder how much of each dollar actually goes there. My guess is something less than 10%

[Atari_Bill]

So there is this GW store that I frequent, and the one skinny clerk knows I scout for gaming items. Last week he informed me that he picked up a SNES and a few games from that store a couple days prior on "employee discount". I asked him why I had not seen these out for sale and he told me that they were only out for a short while before he nabbed them for his own.

 

Fast forward to today, and the same GW clerk tells me that he scored a Saturn and six games yesterday for himself. Having Never seen a Saturn ever in the wild in my area, I was a little envious. I asked him how much he paid, and all he would say (with a sheepish grin of course) was that he got a good deal because he had a "coupon".

 

Am I the only one who this strikes as wrong? It looks like all the good gaming donations never see the public sales shelves in the stores, but get taken by the employees. What do "employee discount" and "coupon" mean exactly?

 

I have a feeling that some of this stuff leaves the stores without so much as a cent being paid by the employees.

 

This is why it is never advisable to donate games and/or systems to GW.

Not only that but they sell on ebay,pay huge saleries to thier execs. I never ever have found anything of value there. I think thier value as a "charity" is dubious. I wonder how much of each dollar actually goes there. My guess is something less than 10%

 

I'm totally convinced that retro gaming items rarely see the light of day at local thift stores. I used to score things all the time (10+ years ago), but haven't found so much as a Combat at a local thrift in the last 4 years. Of course several of my local thrifts are in Toledo, OH and I know that there are several competitors around. I believe at least a few on this board

[video game addict]

He's probably paying something. Maybe if he's friends with someone who does the pricing or who can adjust the pricing, he's getting 'better' deals than most. But to simply take stuff home without so much as paying a thing, I wouldn't think that would go over very well even in a thrift store. Usually Goodwill offers discounts if you are a student. At least when I was enrolled & had student ID cards I got like 10% off, maybe 20% off on some days. Not a coupon per say, but they can reduce the price of stuff like that. I'd ponder a guess and say if you found a Saturn in a Goodwill the price would be $19.99-29.99 easily, but a co-worker might price it for $10 and that would be a steal with 6 games..

 

I think there are probably perks to any job.. Some better than others, but in retail environments I've always looked for deals on clearance items. I work in a home improvement store, and just last month I purchased a new in box 25 gal 2-stage compressor for $150 it retails for over $500 online, it was $400 in the store. But I had a manager mark it down for me. Last week I purchased a pair of Bosch 18V Litheon batteries & a charger, all new, retail probably around $300 on these individually but even on ebay I could sell them for around $150ish.. I paid $5! I get deals all the time. It's ridiculous some times. But that's part of the job!

[video game addict]

 

I'm totally convinced that retro gaming items rarely see the light of day at local thift stores. I used to score things all the time (10+ years ago), but haven't found so much as a Combat at a local thrift in the last 4 years. Of course several of my local thrifts are in Toledo, OH and I know that there are several competitors around. I believe at least a few on this board

 

 

I still see lots of retro items, just not very much Atari. Mostly NES, Genesis, N64, PSX, DC, PC, etc.. I don't buy much these days, but I do go hunting every now & then. No since in buying if I don't have the system to play them with. But not all the thrifts are dry.

[jeremysart]

 

I'm totally convinced that retro gaming items rarely see the light of day at local thift stores. I used to score things all the time (10+ years ago), but haven't found so much as a Combat at a local thrift in the last 4 years. Of course several of my local thrifts are in Toledo, OH and I know that there are several competitors around. I believe at least a few on this board

 

 

I still see lots of retro items, just not very much Atari. Mostly NES, Genesis, N64, PSX, DC, PC, etc.. I don't buy much these days, but I do go hunting every now & then. No since in buying if I don't have the system to play them with. But not all the thrifts are dry.

 

I dont trust good will too much, and even Value World gives emplyees "discounts" (although I did find Warlords for the 2600 last week).

 

Salvation Army is the best in my experience, as their workers are not allowed to take dibs on things, they have to wait until their shift is over to make a purchase.

[fiddlepaddle]

I find most Salvation Army stores are honest this way... employees have to take a back seat to walk in customers. SA also gives stuff to local people who need things, like clothing, blankets, coats, etc. This is where I donate my stuff.

 

Goodwill, on the other hand, pulls a few tricks that put a bad taste in my mouth: employees often take items before they get displayed (like you said), they ship certain items to "speciality" stores or sell them online, or even have "in store auctions" with minimum bids, and if no one bids, they mysteriously disappear before they are marked down. This is all in addition to the fact that they price things at generally unreasonable levels to begin with, I guess hoping that some schmuck will overpay, which happens. They apparently work to sell for the maximum price possible, and to heck with supporting the local community where the items came from in the first place. I know they take clothing that hasn't sold in a couple weeks and pack it up and send it off for recycling rather than mark it down ("too much work"). I never donate there anymore, and I suggest the same to my friends as well.

 

Other thrift stores (non- GW or SA) can be all over the board, but are generally more honest about the way they run the business and how they discount unsold items over time.

[Atari Joe]

i agree with you tz101 this is bullsnap!

[zylon]

The used game stores are just as bad. We used to have a Funcoland (Gamestop now) that fired the manager and 3 employees because they were buying the good trade-ins themselves instead of for the store. For the store credit trade-ins, they'd hide the good ones under the counter and buy them later.

[Zwackery]

Gee, this bitching about Goodwill sure sounds familiar.

[PsychoKittyNet]

The thrifts in my area seem to be largly inhabited and run by little old ladies, so I usually do good. That being said I do not think they place everything out at a time, like I have seen NES parts show up sporadicly over the weeks, even cords but no console. Seems odd.

[Tempest]

We used to have goodwill around here but they all went under. Now it's only Salvation Army stores which don't seem to have gaming stuff at all. I haven't found anything in a thrift store in years.

 

Tempest

[Jimmy Yakapucci]

I have found a number of things over the years at my local Goodwill including a complete copy of Intelligent Qube for the PS1 for $2. For a while they had a sign in the front of the store stating that out of fairness for the customers, employees were not allowed to hold items for others or to even shop in that store.

 

JY

[Tempest]

For a while they had a sign in the front of the store stating that out of fairness for the customers, employees were not allowed to hold items for others or to even shop in that store.

That's bullcrap though. I remember finding a Colecovision lot at a SA years ago (system and about 30 games). When I got up to the register and the woman starting ringing it up the guy running the next register (a 20 something guy) runs up and goes "Where did you get that? They weren't supposed to put that out on the floor!" So I'm guessing that he saw it in the back and decided to snag it and was annoyed that they actually decided to put it out for the public to get at.

 

Tempest

[jhd]

A former co-worker of mine briefly worked at Goodwill and she was shocked at the amount of things that never made it onto the sales floor, e.g. jewlery, art, etc. She told me that higher management would go through the more valuable/nicer donations before even the line-staff.

[Kripto]

Yeah, this just sickens me, not only because we as consumers are being denied things to buy there, which is key to the success of their supposed charity, but those who donate surely didn't do so thinking they would be "helping out" the greedy employees of GoodWill.

 

I was at a Salvation Army one day when I spotted an old Casio sampling keyboard behind the register and asked if it was for sale. The cashier called out to the security guard at the door and asked him if he still had it on hold and he said "No!" in a very denying way, as if he thought I might there to bust him or somesuch. Someone should do a hidden camera investigation on those lowlife parasites.

[Video]

That's fairly standard for any job like that. They may or may not have rules in place, but it's still essentially up to the employees to enforce it. If they have the rules and do enforce it, there won't be as much of that crap going on (but even still, it's to easy to fiddle with the "system" (IE, I want that, have a friend buy it and give them a discount LOL ETC )) If there aren't rules in place, and/or they aren't enforced, then your SOL.

[Jimmy Yakapucci]

I remember a number of years ago I was talking to a guy working at a local Game Crazy. I asked him if they ever held back stuff that people traded in for themselves. He told me that they were not supposed to, but if someone brought something in that was on the list of stuff that the store no longer took in trade, they might go outside and make a personal offer to buy it if they were interested. As I recall, at the time he wasn't real happy since I had just bought the Sega Nomad that they had put out in the case that morning and he was going to buy once it had been out long enough.

 

JY

[Rev]

For a while they had a sign in the front of the store stating that out of fairness for the customers, employees were not allowed to hold items for others or to even shop in that store.

That's bullcrap though. I remember finding a Colecovision lot at a SA years ago (system and about 30 games). When I got up to the register and the woman starting ringing it up the guy running the next register (a 20 something guy) runs up and goes "Where did you get that? They weren't supposed to put that out on the floor!" So I'm guessing that he saw it in the back and decided to snag it and was annoyed that they actually decided to put it out for the public to get at.

 

Tempest

 

 

 

This is why i never get anything at goodwill. damn crooks work there.

[+LS650]

Hey, YOU could make those big scores... If you're willing to work at the thrift...

 

Me, I'm glad I have a decent job where I don't have to deal with other folks' stinky dirty used stuff. Personally I think you should pity those poor bastards!

[tz101]

I am guessing that the practice of employees getting first picks on the goods is an unspoken perk at many charity thrifts. Maybe they pay the workers so little, they figure they have to give them a "bonus" once in a while. I just think that if that is unspoken policy, then they need to post a notice on the front door of each and every store along with the collection bins notifying the general public of such practices. My guess is the donations would drop off alarmingly. Be honest and truthful, that's all I am after.

[JerryTerrifying]

Most of the video game related stuff is sold on www.shopgoodwill.com so I don't know if its on shelves and listed online or if its all just posted online. But I buy a lot of game stuff from their online store and get great deals.

 

It sucks that the employees get first dibs on stuff but I'm sure he did pay and I'm sure there is an employee discount. It just sucks that he's there to get first picks on stuff. IF you're looking for deals I suggest craigslist and garage sales.

[GregadetH]

A lady who works at my local Goodwill said they throw out anything that's not Sega, Nintendo, Sony, XBOX or Atari 2600 because they know they can charge whatever they want for the stuff people recognize the most. Yeah they THROW IT OUT. She claims she's seen them trash Jaguar, Intellivision and Texas Instruments consoles. She also said they trash receiver dongles for wireless controllers as well because it's "too hard" to match them with the correct controller. This explains the abundance of wireless controllers that I find without receivers. My girlfriend thinks we need to go dumpster diving behind the Goodwill and I'm inclined to agree.

Edited July 28, 2010 by GregadetH

[jmetal88]

My local Goodwill hasn't had any good gaming stuff in ages. The last gaming item I picked up at any thrift store was actually Ms Pac Man for Genesis at Employability (formerly ARC).

 

Shopgoodwill.com has some interesting auctions from time to time, but I haven't tried bidding on there yet.

 

I've had the best luck at pawn shops actually. When I lived in Fargo, I picked up a Sega Master System with two gamepads, one arcade stick, one light gun, and 10 games at a local pawn shop for, IIRC, $10 (could have been $20 or $25, I guess, but I think I remember it being less).

[Jimmy Yakapucci]

My girlfriend thinks we need to go dumpster diving behind the Goodwill and I'm inclined to agree.

 

At my local Goodwill they actually have a security camera near the drop-off point. Also, their Dumpster is located inside the building. But here is the kicker: It is not a regular Dumpster, but a COMPACTOR!! So anything they chuck out not only gets trashed, but crushed in the process.

 

JY