Anyone who knows me knows that I am a HUGE fan of thrift store shopping, maybe this explains why I love the Mackelmore song Thrift Shop, and I’ve always been a fan of Goodwill Industries. But year after year I continue to see Goodwill in the news for underpayment of employees, including the disabled, while their executives get paid six figure salaries and more. Non-profit my ass, these guys are living it up and paying themselves well with the funds generated from selling donated items and under a non-profit status.
It’s not a pretty picture of Goodwill painted by the media, however I continue to feel torn. Boycotting Goodwill is not a cut and dry issue for me. I have always shopped there, sometimes out of necessity but mostly because I love items that have been used, show age, are unique and are of course a good deal.
When this Goodwill issue comes up I see people coming out of the woodwork with stories about how overpriced their items are. I actually disagree and think this can vary from town to town. Here where I live Goodwill is one of the lower priced thrift stores and one that I can count on for pretty consistent prices on items I shop for often like kids clothes, womens denim and housewares.
I also have a hard time discounting the fact that people, lots and lots of people, shop at Goodwill out of necessity, for their kids back to school clothes, shoes, dishes, bedding, Halloween costumes, Christmas presents, prom dresses and more. I’ve personally found many many items over the years that I just LOVED and wished I could have thanked the person who donated the item to Goodwill so that it could later become MINE.
Yes there are people who don’t NEED to shop there and go there to find good deals on items they can resell. AGAIN though I am torn. I love that many of these items were made and probably sold in a big box store, used, donated, upcycled, repurposed, resold, donated again, resold again and so on. Talk about good for the economy and our planet!?
So I ask you, what is your opinion of Goodwill? Are you prepared to stop donating and stop shopping there completely? I’m not sure that I am.
I’m Julie, a former cloth diaper retailer who discovered a passion for the industry. Now, instead of selling cloth diapers, I advocate them and promote small businesses I love who sell and manufacture them.
I’m the wife of a fireman and mother of three. I have a daughter and identical twin sons.
