Shop Goodwill: Online, Store, Outlet

BXMurphy brought up a good point recently, which he got from dabrownman, about shopping for basic stuff at thrift stores.

I'd like to riff on that idea.

Goodwill now has their own online auction site,  https://www.shopgoodwill.com/

They now employ pickers who pick out the more valuable stuff from among the donations, take photos, and put it online for auction.

And of course they still have regular brick-and-mortar stores.

Another type of Goodwill store is the "Outlet" store. Where there are no shelves, just big bins on wheels.

This is the stuff that was passed over by the pickers, and did not sell at the regular stores.  It is mostly sold by the pound.  Books and shoes being exceptions.

You have to do your own picking. So wear latex or nitrile gloves as you pick/sort through the stuff in the bins. And it's the same stuff as the stores, it just didn't sell for the asking price.

They take away the bins and bring in new ones every 2 or 3 hours. There is competition from other customers who buy things to sell at yard sales and flea-markets, or even e-bay. For some, this is their full time job, and they spend all day there.  

You have to "back off" and go to the waiting area when they rotate out the bins and bring in new ones.

Except for books and shoes, it is mainly sold by the pound. They have scales at the  check-out registers - a small scale on the counter, and one on the floor to weigh your whole cart.