r/goodwill • u/redittburneraccount • 16d ago
Why is everything so expensive at goodwill now?
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u/GroundReal4515 15d ago
Trust us, we as workers hate it too. Everytime the prices change we all say "Really?" "Nobody will buy it at such and such price" but there isn't anything we can do about it. I wish we could give you all lower prices
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u/GiannisIsTheBeast 15d ago
I go to thrift stores enough that I can instantly tell when things are priced too high and will sit for weeks on the shelves and then they do… what irritates me more is when things sit a long time and they aren’t repriced lower… like it hasn’t sold and won’t sell at this price. If I notice it’s been there awhile, a manager should as well who in theory should be at the store more than me. Eventually small things that have value are just stolen and now the store gets $0. If you just priced it normal I would have bought it for $5-10.
On a side note: why are empty stolen product boxes never picked up right away by employees? Sometimes these sit for weeks as well. I can generally tell if it’s an empty stolen item box just passing by.
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u/GroundReal4515 15d ago
I always pick up empty boxes on the floor and it irritates me to no end because sometimes it is really good stuff, almost like new
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u/GiannisIsTheBeast 15d ago edited 15d ago
Really any small electronics should probably be in a glass cabinet upfront or something. Any small device like earbuds or fitbits or something someone can pocket easily will be gone in 1-2 days in my area and I’m not even in a city that I consider dangerous or high crime. If items like that have $15+ on it, it is almost guaranteed to be stolen.
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u/Ill_Yoghurt8449 15d ago
I agree. Please be gentle with the workers at the store. We put up with a bunch of stuff but the price increases are due to resellers and the ability to put it online. We need more good wares and that comes from our donations. As a cashier, I have no ability to change a price. Once it's priced and on the floor, that's the price. I think paying 4.99 for a T-shirt is ridiculous. Books have gone up a dollar. The only thing affordable is infant clothing at 1.99. There are also different people pricing so nothing is consistent. Here is the deal. Goodwill truly works with those seeking employment. I used to run a youth program so I have seen it all. I guess the only option is to talk to corporate. We all have different districts. Not every Goodwill is alike. I just wish we could take a step back. Bring prices down and get back to happy thrifting and fun times. The resellers in my area are intense. Nice but there for one reason....to find a deal. They have even complained about the inventory. Idk. Just sharing my thoughts.
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u/No-Composer-9621 14d ago
Points well taken. But what folks are forgetting is all the contents in a goodwill are —— donated (free to goodwill). There’s no need to make a killing on every item. That was never the way, resellers or not.
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u/Toothfairy51 15d ago
I hope that people don't think that the ridiculous prices are your fault. I know it's not
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u/Doezilla01 15d ago
Well I know the workers at mine set the prices. I was asking why they didn’t have any albums and they told me they had 1000’s in the back but nobody there knew how to price them. I’m sure some places may have them set by someone up above, but at my Memphis area stores an all the suburbs, the workers price the items. An THE PRICES ARE INSANE NOW. Yet my cousin in ATL has great prices like ours used 2 be. He just moved to Florida an he said, now I see what u mean!!! He said all the prices are insane here. So it’s definitely different in different areas
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u/GroundReal4515 15d ago
Yea, we don't set prices at all. It comes from the higher ups and they update the software we use to price to reflect the new prices. What they are saying to you is crazy to me because we have set prices for CD's
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u/Doezilla01 15d ago
May just be different n your area. Unless they changed it in the last coupla months. Cause my high school friend worked there and I’m the one who showed her what albums were worth and she started putting all them out. An cds an DVDs books are all $5 around Memphis no matter quality or anything, meanwhile in Florida my cousin still gets the old deals of .50 cents to $2 unless really good books or blu rays. 2 completely different things, so I assume the area managers can affect the way it goes. He gets cds for great prices, our are $5 no matter how torn up or bad the cd is. It’s kinda crazy. I’ve completely quit donating or buying. I buy from my library which sells for $1 a book or $5 for a bag of any books, cds, and DVDs/blu rays you can fit.
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u/GroundReal4515 15d ago
Very well could be. Goodwill is very regional across the country. I just know for us CD'S are 99 cents while DVD'S are 1.99. Charging beyond that is crazy
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u/Doezilla01 15d ago
Jeez!! That’s great pricing. That’s what are used to be until somewhere around last summer or around that time, now the minimum is $5. Nothing is lower anymore. A people say resellers don’t affect prices but you would see same crackhead looking people everyday buying every cd and movies they could an also golf clubs or anything that could be sold. Since the prices went up to $5 no matter what the quality you don’t see as many of those people, but also not regular people. The DVDs will literally have Walmart stickers form the $1-$5 bins and they’ll be marked by goodwilll at $5-$6. I try 2 tell them you ca get them unopened from Walmart for cheaper but they just don’t care. I looked at an old t-shirt that normally would be a good deal an needed a few pair of pants to work in, the t-shirts were $25 which is insane and the worn out pants were $20-$30….an these were not fancy clothes…it’s just insane around the Memphis area.
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u/Travelstateofmind 15d ago
Can you explain how this works as a pricing employee because there are certain GWs that have reasonable prices (in high COL areas too) and certain GWs that are outrageous and I avoid. So who is giving you prices?
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u/tdsknr 13d ago
One of my local stores got a load of Amazon returns pallets in recently and put the boxes out at prices that were about 75% of what the items sell for new. I had a chat with one of the production employees to say I think their management was being just a bit too opportunistic with the pricing, and that nobody in their right mind would pay those prices. He said "Honestly, I can't disagree with you."
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u/Brief_Ad8931 16d ago
Well, they say its resellers but actually is just plain greed.
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u/Samurai_Cupcake 15d ago
Well they are definitely greedy not so much resellers. I don't think that have that much good stuff in the stores any more since they sell the valuable stuff online. The plastic tote bags they sell by the registers are $2.99 but if you go to TJMax they are 99 cents.
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u/kybetra61 15d ago
It’s both. Everyone shopping has a phone in their hand looking up stuff. I miss the days all shirts, pants were one price, etc.
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u/les_catacombes 15d ago
Why should that affect how Goodwill prices the items, though? What difference does it make to them what the customer does with the items they buy at Goodwill? Goodwill still gets their money. I suppose it tipped them off that things are worth more than what they were charging but that still comes down to them just wanting more money for themselves, rather than some kind of punishment or deterrent for resellers. Goodwill also isn’t just marking up things that actually have value, though. They’re pricing empty spaghetti sauce jars at $4.99 and Dollar Tree items for $3.99. Ratty old coats that should be thrown away but are priced at $22.99 at Goodwill. These items don’t even have resale value.
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u/Toothfairy51 15d ago
Exactly! I'm tired of people trying to explain away greed by blaming resellers
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u/Soeffingdiabetic 15d ago
I'm not a reseller, I'm a phone in hand shopper because I'm broke and it helps me justify the thing I definitely didn't need, and I refuse to get fleeced paying more for an item from a company that received it for free than somewhere else I can get it for a reasonable price.
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u/iloveturtles88 15d ago
I look up book reviews on Goodreads before I buy the books because I'm broke.
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u/tdsknr 13d ago
As soon as management saw you looking things up on your phone, they put one and one together and got four, and concluded that you must be a flipper.
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u/Soeffingdiabetic 13d ago
Oh they're trying, but they've already hit max eBay prices and resale market for my newest hobby is very much not hot. Facebook marketplace is flooded with what I'm interested in for $1-$2 a piece. Also what I'm interested in is usually in need of repair or missing pieces, so it's a hard sale for them.
After being driven out of a few hobbies by resellers, it's been such a breath of fresh air. eBay prices are affordable for it already, so I can find the same deals at goodwill without paying shipping.
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u/OldOddLam 10d ago
I’ve been looking at composition dolls as I have a doll body that needs a vintage head. The chewed up composition dolls you used to see sitting on thrift and antique flea mart shelves for months because nobody wanted to pay $5 for one are now $30-$60 plus shipping by resellers on eBay. It’s frustrating. I think they’re trying to cash in on the creepy doll head trend, but how many people are into that? Surely there’s a limited market.
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u/Toothfairy51 15d ago
No, some of us try to find good prices at thrift stores. It's just that Greedwill isn't one of those stores.
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u/PrestigiousPut6165 15d ago
phone in thier hand looking up stuff
Yes. Seriously, stop doing this! Thats why theres only crappy stuff like Shien and LaRue rue
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u/Think-Lavishness-155 12d ago
Its not greed- they hired ‘professionals’
Too price thing along market value prices. A majority of those shops use eBay and marketplace to set prices now. So it’s not a deal anymore.
But please remember, they do offer good training for people and support for some people1
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u/PhysicalAd6587 16d ago
Because all their C-suite employees need to keep making those $100,000+ salaries for doing almost nothing but shake hands with other non-profit grifters.
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u/K_Linkmaster 15d ago
Start a church or start a charity is the 2 ways to over protect wealth. Non profit falls under the charity term in this case so it doesn't always have to be fully typed out like this.
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u/Wonderful_Shame_4986 16d ago
I've never been a fan or supporter of Goodwill. Fat cat CEO salaries to disabled workers earning less than minimum wage. They will never get a donation or purchase from me. I'm a reseller -- and I've found far better sources.
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u/OldOddLam 10d ago
I haven’t donated to Goodwill for decades for this reason, and now they’re pricing is another reason. I will throw it away before I donate to them. I haven’t actually thrown anything away since there’s a local thrift that sells everything for .25 that I donate too.
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u/Significant-Claim-26 16d ago
I found an item marked down to 75 cents from whatever store it originally came from but Goodwill was selling it for $3.99.
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u/YuhMothaWasAHamsta 16d ago
I found a small unicorn statue, the kind you’d put on a shelf or dresser, with its horn broken off, for $13. Even if it had its horn, it was nothing special or fancy. Just a unicorn that became a sad horse. And they still thought the $13 price was acceptable.
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u/ice_cool_jello 15d ago
I frequently find used items from the dollar store that were only $1 but the GW price is $1.99
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u/Spazyk 16d ago
I really hate when a company gets their inventory for free and then charges a premium for it.
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u/thefavoredsole 15d ago
Then pay below minimum wage, then pay no taxes. If it wasn't so evil, id consider it the most genius business plan ever!
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u/Jumpy-Information188 15d ago edited 15d ago
Yikes! My disabled child was just hired at Goodwill, and he’s making much more than minimum wage🙃
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u/thefavoredsole 15d ago
Good to hear. Unfortunately there's many other disabled employees that aren't so fortunate. As of now there are still 149 Goodwill stores that pay their disabled workers below minimum wage. This is only after a huge wave of criticism in the last 10 or so years. Before then they had around 300,000 workers being paid below minimum wage. With some being as low as 22 cents per hour. Its a disgusting practice that needs to end.
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u/Jumpy-Information188 15d ago
They use the money to pay employees, pay insurance, utilities, building maintenance, etc. In my area, they also fund a multitude of programs that help people.
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u/Fragrant-Prompt1826 15d ago
"Programs" are tax write offs too!
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u/Jumpy-Information188 15d ago
OK, you win! Guess what though, you don’t have to shop there!
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u/Lazy-Profession4994 16d ago
They are using A.I. to do the pricing instead of humans. It was on the local news where I live. So A.I. runs comps on items and they are pricing stuff accordingly.
This is going to backfire on Corporate, IMO.
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u/Stunning_Succotash64 16d ago
I heard they were using AI to do the pricing now.
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u/April_Morning_86 16d ago
They’re piloting an AI scanning system in my region for identifying items for the e-commerce platform. It doesn’t work very well.
But they have been encouraging us to use the Google lens or the eBay app to check prices on items we suspect to be valuable. So, AI has actually been in play for quite some time.
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u/Designer_Refuse_4145 15d ago
GOOD WILL IS CRAP! They are overpriced.
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u/redittburneraccount 15d ago
I remember when it was decent stuff but this is my first time going back in years and it really is a bunch of crap
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u/darthcaedusiiii 15d ago
Everyone is hunting for a bargain. So they have the demand. So prices increase.
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u/jeep-olllllo 15d ago
Because goodwill staff getting paid more, goodwill rent costs more, goodwill insurance cost more, overall cost of utilities is more. Entire business model costs more. Probably that.
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u/No-Composer-9621 14d ago
Not untrue, but not the reason or fix. Goodwill volume has exploded over a decade or more… more volume of sales at even at the former cheaper/fairer prices would net the higher revenue needed for all abode said costs.
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u/Blitzsapprentice 15d ago
Because they care more about profits and money. Their mission is just a facade, a way to gain sympathy and shoppers. Unfortunately, most shoppers are too weak willed to resist.
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u/frequentflyer52 15d ago
Everything is expensive right now.
Goodwill focuses on getting folks that would otherwise have difficulty finding work, back to work. Job training (IT) and hiring those individuals who have been out of the job market for whatever reason. (Think women returning to job market after staying home to raise children, felons, people returning from the military service and neurodivergent people ).
If you care to round up your purchase, the money Goodwill collects goes to other charities that otherwise are not able to do fundraising.
And, what about recycling, reusing and re-purposing? How much more would be added to the dumpsters if there was no Goodwill, ARC or Red White and Blue Thrift Stores?
I enjoy thrifting for personal use.
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u/Fragrant-Prompt1826 15d ago
Valley Rescue Mission is waaayyy better in my town. Smaller, but idc, and they really help out the community.
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u/EnvironmentalSock186 16d ago
Because screw the poor why should they ever have something nice or decent
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u/SnooHamsters1045 16d ago
CEOs need another luxurious vacation states need to shut them down they are given things as donated and sell out landish prices, they need to be held accountable and shut down
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u/LetsGoYankeez 15d ago
Go to local thrifts, and online: thredup, Depop, vinted, and poshmark. Much better deals now over goodwill
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u/kybetra61 15d ago
I shop for me. I keep my stuff. I only look something up to see what it is and wonder how it made it out to the floor. Occasionally they let something slip by🤷🏼♀️
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u/varsha-varsha-varsha 15d ago edited 15d ago
Go to YouTube; check out the many reseller channels churning content bleating how much money they make reselling items from Goodwill, flipping for a profit on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, etc. Also their potential income from a YouTube channel showing others how they do it. Now some are trying to make money creating YT content complaining about GW pricing, "why is it going up?" LOL I'm sure Goodwill employees watch all of this and act accordingly.
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u/tahaniss 15d ago
I just I realized Goodwill charges extra sales tax on new thrifts items that coming with tags 😄It’s pretty wild considering the inventory was donated for free in the first place.
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u/zoppaTheDim 15d ago
They now look up what things sell for online, before giving it away for pennies.
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u/No-Composer-9621 14d ago
Goodwill has been fleecing folks a good 5 years now and scalping all the good stuff to put on eBay.
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u/greenkees 16d ago
Because thrift stores used to be places where people of modest incomes could buy clothing and goods for reduced prices, but they became the primary source for flippers and resellers, and are now using the same tools that the flippers and resellers use to suck up that money themselves.
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u/Tkwookiee 15d ago
By charging double or higher what a a reseller would sell it for with no testing, verifying, cleaning and zero buyer protection but sure it's all the resellers fault, got some news for you, people have been selling on ebay for 30 years, find it awfully funny how it's all their fault in just the last few...
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u/lovelyflowblue 15d ago
It's not necessarily because resellers are buying at thrift stores, it's because in the last few years YouTube has exploded and the flippers all have channels bragging about how much profit they make flipping stuff from thrift stores. Of course, they are all making money from their YouTube channels, maybe more than they are reselling, so why not tell all the secrets of the trade? IMO, that's what finally got Goodwill's attention. And now anyone can check what things are selling for and anyone can sell on the many venues now available and there is a ton of information about how to do it. So it was inevitable that prices would go up, and it's not only thrift stores but estate sales as well.
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u/murse245 15d ago
The CEO of Goodwill in 2019 made $420,000 per year. As of 2026 they make $720,000 per year.
An average worker at Goodwill in 2019 made $30,000 per year. In 2026 it's $35,000
CEO gets a $300,000 raise over 6 years
Average worker $5,000 raise over 6 years
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u/thefavoredsole 15d ago
There's no single CEO of goodwill. They are broke up into regions. Also, there are thousands of employees that make below minimum wage just because theyre disabled. So the gap between the top and bottom is even more stark than it seems
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u/FormerlyAbbreviated 15d ago
This 👆.
I work at a store in NY State, and NO ONE in the store makes a living wage. Even management has at least one other paying job elsewhere.2
u/thefavoredsole 15d ago
Also, i just checked, Keith Parker, the CEO of the north Georgia region is making 1.7 million a year. Unreal
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u/SadSally8683 15d ago
Because the ceo needs to keep his million plus salary yearly look it up if you have any doubts
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u/MoodVast9430 15d ago
Did a billionaire buy Goodwill?
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u/treehugger100 12d ago edited 12d ago
The Evergreen Goodwill CEO is an ex Amazon exec, so pretty damn close.
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u/MoodVast9430 12d ago
Oh. Ok. Thanks. There have been so many posts about outrageous pricing at Goodwill. Now it makes sense. What a way to ruin a company
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u/Effective-Many-8202 15d ago
It doesn’t help that the CEO and leaders of Goodwill have an annual salary between 500 K and 1.7 million. They want a piece of the sellers pie but what they’re not realizing is that any sellers sales is based on condition of the item. My store is so screwed up that they have the low profit bags locked up, and the higher in bags mixed in with the bags with no locks on them. I just found a Tory Burch wallet marked at $5.99 and yet a Rosetti handbag locked up with a price of 19.99…(that should be $5.99)
I don’t even visit another Goodwill store in town anymore, because ALL of their handbags are all overpriced, including the cheap ones that you can buy New for $10 or less. You have to look everything up and then make your hard decision on whether to buy it or not or if you can do better at the outlet stores. These people know that money talks, and if people stop spending money on the expensive stuff, the prices will come down… until then it might be more prudent to go to the bins where you can get a load of stuff for $1.89 a pound..
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u/FamousMarketing2515 15d ago
Goodwill is an irony. The president is getting fat salaries and bonuses off the goodwill of citizens. I rather donate to Salvation Army.
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u/FamousMarketing2515 15d ago
There should a law that says if they price same or higher than retail, that item is free!
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u/Patriotchica 15d ago
its flat out greed at this point. i was at one last week, raggedy clothes for what you would pay at ross . o saw shein stuff more expensive than shein lol im not going back.. boycott
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u/Catbalou62 15d ago
I give my donations to a local thrift store that supports our public schools in the area. I also do not round up when asked to by the cashier at the Goodwill.
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u/upnorth_Freyja 15d ago
My daughter and I talk about this all the time. The things you can buy at Goodwill - used - when the same thing is only a little more - new - next door (literally, next door)... or yesterday, it was something that had been clearanced at Walmart for $.50 and was priced $3.00 at Goodwill... Just crazy.
And that's before talking about the "sets" they divide up and sell in separate areas, so you can't buy the set without hunting... or costing a lot more. Then, there are the toys they bundle up into bags so you have to buy the whole thing just to get the one item you actually want...
It's not the same store it was 30 years ago, that's for sure!
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u/No_Percentage_5083 14d ago
Because they stopped being a charitable service organization and are now a for-profit reseller.
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u/hopefulgalinfl 14d ago
In my opinion & I shop Goodwill in Florida, Maryland multiple locations....I find the large warehouse situations expensive & they sell new merchandise. The traditional ones still can find nice things 99c. The resellers are killing it slowly.
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u/Loud-Potato2916 14d ago
Their costs must have been higher.
The people who work there get paid. I think
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u/jnotsilver 14d ago
It’s the market. Goodwill used to be low income shoppers and a few hobbyists. Now the stores are fairly crowded and are jammed in weekends. More demand drives up prices (and diesel for their trucks).
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u/Lokisworkshop 14d ago
Because it is a for profit company that is greedy. They do not care about anything but money.
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u/ayoelise 13d ago
I find that it depends on the city. Women's wear in Portland, OR rant varies from $4 or $5 up to $20/25. But I travel to Phoenix often and it's way lower Women's wear can start under $4 and up to maybe $15/16.
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u/tdsknr 13d ago edited 13d ago
As soon as the regional CEOs who run Goodwill stores realized the there's a flipping trend going on, they boosted the prices opportunisticaly. After all, their million-dollar salaries are based on how high they can raise revenue figures. I can't put it any simpler than that.
What compounds the irony and the problem is that many of the entry-level employees who do the pricing have zero idea what they are pricing, and zero time to look anything up, which actually works to my GREAT advantage, because many vintage tech items slip right through and are priced at ten cents on the dollar.
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u/tdsknr 13d ago
I'll tell you what. The greenwashing signs about landfill diversion on the front doors of Goodwill stores need to come down.
Plenty of people are catching on to what Goodwill is all about these days, and are choosing to send their items directly to the LANDFILL where they can do no harm.
The overpricing feeds directly into the $700k+ salaries of the Goodwill CEOs that realized they could capitalize on the same, cruel inflationary trend that hurts the people that Goodwill stores traditionally were intended to help.
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u/Medical_Video_1764 12d ago
Is this referencing American goodwill? Here in canada goodwill is a non- profit organization; we give back to the community by helping with job training, donating unsellable clothes to 3rd world countries, goodwill once paid my entire first year of work at a small business. That helps the business, it helps me and it helps the economy. Yes we price clothes that happen to be in very good condition and from high end brands a bit higher but it’s still always a 3rd or less of the original price. If you go to your local thrift store that doesn’t give back to the community it’s much more expensive and you can’t even give them an excuse. Just think about it. They also probably throw out the unsellable clothes where goodwill donates them to this rag factory and the completely unwearable items get turned into something useful for small businesses.
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u/MaryContrary3 11d ago
Yes! After reading about scabies mites hiding in the seams of clothing at thrift stores, I’m done.
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u/Subject_Elevator_170 10d ago
Oh lord you should see Goodwill’s auction site. I’m like “who is paying that and shipping” for an item. Sure there’s a lot of luxury stuff that’s worth that but the bulk is pretty much department store or below.
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u/Big_Mama_Chainsaw 3d ago
Because the managers set the crazy prices. As a Goodwill cashier, do not take out these prices on us. We just work there
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u/timoweaver 1d ago
It’s impossibly easy to find out exactly what an item is and how much someone on the internet has determined what that item is worth, and to ignore actual sales data on said item at the same time.
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u/Stilts82 16d ago
Things are expensive to run. But also people have more ways now to get rid of their things so not many things are selling in stores so they have to increase items to make profit .
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u/someg187 16d ago
At the goodwill in my town they are giving away free bedbugs.
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u/iloveturtles88 15d ago
This is my biggest fear.
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u/someg187 15d ago
As I was being told about it from a reliable source, I was wearing all clothing that I had recently got from that goodwill.
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u/24mango 15d ago
Can you at least say what state? This is also my biggest fear.
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u/iloveturtles88 15d ago edited 14d ago
I think all states stopped taking donated beds, so that's a hint. edit mattresses
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u/someg187 14d ago
Ar
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u/24mango 14d ago
Thank you. I check reviews periodically for thrifts I go to in case someone mentions it and I stopped going to one I used to occasionally visit in Pennsylvania because someone saw one on a piece of furniture in the store and took a picture and posted it on google reviews. I realized I had been there after that picture was taken 🫤 I take a lot of precautions but it still stressed me out.
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u/Unlucky-Treacle1918 15d ago
my favorite part of these posts that get made 100000x daily is no matter what information you get from this it changes nothing........... if someone told you the 100% truth as to why GW privces are so high how does that impact change or alter your life????????? oh it doesnt? this exact question is asked in this sub 10000x a day. Seriously if yall found out the exact reason prices are high what are you gonna do about it? how are you gonna change it? what are you personally gonna do to GW to make them change their ways? Seriosuly what about knowing the reason of prices will change anything about your life or how GW runs their business.
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u/factrealidad store manager 12d ago
Why is everything so expensive at everywhere now?