Goodwill themselves take the "best" stuff and sells it in boutiques in higher end neighborhoods and online. Which is one of the reasons it is harder to find flips- the sorters are being trained to weed out the "good stuff". Years ago you could find American Girl dolls and Coach bags in stores, now it is quite rare because they get pulled for online sales.
This is true - and it is the reason why I think that Goodwill is crossing a line, from how I expect a non-profit to operate, this smacks of pure capitalism to me and is not providing a service to the "poor" in the community.
The GW in my immediate neighborhood is always busy to the point of being overrun. You would have to shop/look every day to find even one item worthy of re-sale - so yeah, it is still possible to do, if you are willing to put in the time and there are quite a few people obviously trolling for items to resell.
It is also quite obvious that GW is culling the nice items, but if you like the hunt, you can still get lucky.
Their prices border on the ridiculous for used furniture, but you can haggle with them:) No true poor person could afford what they are asking for a "refurbished" mattress or a nice set of dining furniture. The clothing, well they have plenty of it and it flies out the door especially on mark down days.
GW is just not my world for clothes shopping, but I did buy a like new pair of fabulous red leather gloves there once, but in general, their nice clothing is priced higher than at the outlets and the fleamarkets that abound in my area.
Tip: Buy your wintercoat there while you are on vacation:) - they are dirt cheap, because we don't need winter coats in Florida.
As a matter of observation:1. The "well to do" often furnish their condos and beach houses via GW - I'm always torn on that one, because I have to grin and think to myself this is how they came to own a condo or beachhouse in the first place - more power to them. I've even seen some come with their decorator for a shabby chic look, which takes the cake - slumming are we?:)
On the other hand, it irks me, because yes, that drives up the prices and keeps a genuinely poor person from finding a nice piece of furniture at a bargain.
2. I can't control that, but I can control the places I do or do not donate to.
Trust me, around here in old people heaven, you are better off to go to garage sales put on by the relatives from out of state so they can close out the estate. They are in a time crunch ...
3. Believe it or not - the tourists shop our thrift stores. WTH - who does that on their vacation? A few months ago I listened to a German couple who bought a complete silver service, rummaging through the 25 cents per item silverware mangled mess.
They are taking it back to sell it at a nice profit in Germany - damn clever way to pay for your vacay.
So it is what it is,
Goodwill has become an evil empire and there is a lot going on behind the scenes ... the few things I know about are drivers taking their pick of the furniture for free for instance. I don't even want to know about the shenanigans their managers are engaged in, which I have been told about from people who have worked there - so it is hearsay only, but the local papers and TV stations recently reported on salaries and perks and well, shenangans.
The idea behind it is good, the execution is becoming a bit too muddled for comfort, too many hands in the pie including local politics and kick backs at least here in our area - they get away with murder, because they can.
They are practically the only game in town dealing with addicts - they are sorely needed, so while far from perfect, it is a much needed community resource.