Thrift Shop Peeves

[MikeysGrrrl]

There is a thrift store near me that has the neatest bags of toys the only problem is they are full of live bugs.  From what I can tell it looks to be mostly roaches.  I can't even shop in there anymore it grosses me out so much.  I have even seen water at the bottom of the bags. My guess is a toy was full of bathtub water and leaked out in the bag.  Its just filthy, germy, disgusting ooze.  Sadly, this is the store I find the best G1's at.  I have even found Sundae Best barrettes in bags there.  Lately though the whole bug thing is just tooo much for me.

EWWWWWWW! Gross, that makes me skin crawl just reading your post

[Bellevi]

There's a thrift shop nearby that always smells like pee.

Some thrift shops just aren't that clean, organized, or sanitary. I mean, I wash toys that I get from them, but I just don't like them coming to me feeling like they need to be washed.

[BlondePonyTail]

My daughter and I walked into a Thrift store last weekend and the first thing she said was " Mom, it smells like pee in here!" No pony luck on that particular stop... I guess its a good thing ponies are washable though

[scarlettkitty81]

I totally agree with the bag thing

I tend to visit one specific thrift shop that has several location 2 of which I frequent the most mainly because the other 2 overprice the ponies. You would think that prices would be the same.

I am not going to pay 4.99/bag for 3 G3's when I can get them at your other location for 2.99. WHAT? I have also noticed that individual G3's will be priced for 1.99$ which is not worth it when you can get a bag of them for 1$ more!

About the naked barbies... do the thrift shop workers take the clothes off to sell individually?

I do have to say that my mom worked at a thrift store back in my hometown as a seasonal job for extra money a year or so ago and the policy where she worked stated that employees could not set items aside for themselves to buy at the end of the shift. So hopefully most stores do this to be fair to everyone.

[katieklassified]

WHEN THE EMPLOYEES WRITE THE PRICES DIRECTLY ON THE TOY.

Luckily, the Sharpie comes off (mostly) with acetone, especially if its fresh. But it's HORRIBLE.

The naked dolls bother me, too. I've never seen Barbie clothes just laying around...where do the clothes go? Do people really donate that many naked dolls? I've never donated a naked doll to a thrift store. So weird.

When they only let you bring 3 things in a dressing room at Goodwill (a policy that they've literally only enforced like twice in all the times I've been there). Oh, and rude employees/managers. And I HATE when they don't put prices on stuff. I'm plus size, and they don't ever put prices on the clothes, and I hate bringing them to the cashier because I just KNOW they're going to be like twice the price of the "normal" sized clothes. And they're rude about it sometimes, too.

The overpriced furniture at Goodwill really gets me mad, too. I've found some cheap and awesome things before, like my $7 TV stand and my $5 nightstand, but most of the prices are RIDICULOUS. Especially since they got the items FREE.

[MikeysGrrrl]

WHEN THE EMPLOYEES WRITE THE PRICES DIRECTLY ON THE TOY.

Luckily, the Sharpie comes off (mostly) with acetone, especially if its fresh. But it's HORRIBLE.

The naked dolls bother me, too. I've never seen Barbie clothes just laying around...where do the clothes go? Do people really donate that many naked dolls? I've never donated a naked doll to a thrift store. So weird.

When they only let you bring 3 things in a dressing room at Goodwill (a policy that they've literally only enforced like twice in all the times I've been there). Oh, and rude employees/managers. And I HATE when they don't put prices on stuff. I'm plus size, and they don't ever put prices on the clothes, and I hate bringing them to the cashier because I just KNOW they're going to be like twice the price of the "normal" sized clothes. And they're rude about it sometimes, too.

The overpriced furniture at Goodwill really gets me mad, too. I've found some cheap and awesome things before, like my $7 TV stand and my $5 nightstand, but most of the prices are RIDICULOUS. Especially since they got the items FREE.

Completely agreed, as far as the clothing goes and not having prices, I hate when stores do that, it's like they just make up the prices.

[elvenwine26]

Goodwills and Salvation armies not stocking or accepting toys anymore.  The past 5 thrift stores I went do didn't even have a toy section and if they do it's all stuffed animals.  Sometimes they smell like pee. And that peeeeves me. lol

[Eluluu]

the bagged toy conspiracy for me... with one G3 per bag if ponies are in at the time... and the kids are forever tearing the bags open so if I find a loose pony on the shelf im still SOL, cause this particular thrift store has a STRICT policy about loose toys. they WILL NOT sell them even if youre desperate, waving cash in their face, and if its covered in dust and cobwebs from where you found it wedged under a shelf in a corner... so annoying. =[

and that goodwills near me practically NEVER have regular toys in the store itself. a little bin of stuffed animals and a thin shelf above the kids clothes with baby junk on it or boxed junk toys (like the stuff kids would never buy from the dollar store) not a Barbie, action figure, or pony in sight usually. I lucked out ONCE and found a  G1 princess on the shelf of coffee mugs for .99 =D and the whole toys on goodwill online thing kind of rubs me the wrong way... sure the profits (hopefully) get put to good use... but I thought the whole point was to have a nice walk-in store where people could buy stuff cheap... instead of taking the juicier items to sell online at auction... youre not ebay goodwill!

*steps off soapbox*

[MikeysGrrrl]

the bagged toy conspiracy for me... with one G3 per bag if ponies are in at the time... and the kids are forever tearing the bags open so if I find a loose pony on the shelf im still SOL, cause this particular thrift store has a STRICT policy about loose toys. they WILL NOT sell them even if youre desperate, waving cash in their face, and if its covered in dust and cobwebs from where you found it wedged under a shelf in a corner... so annoying. =[

and that goodwills near me practically NEVER have regular toys in the store itself. a little bin of stuffed animals and a thin shelf above the kids clothes with baby junk on it or boxed junk toys (like the stuff kids would never buy from the dollar store) not a Barbie, action figure, or pony in sight usually. I lucked out ONCE and found a  G1 princess on the shelf of coffee mugs for .99 =D and the whole toys on goodwill online thing kind of rubs me the wrong way... sure the profits (hopefully) get put to good use... but I thought the whole point was to have a nice walk-in store where people could buy stuff cheap... instead of taking the juicier items to sell online at auction... youre not ebay goodwill!

*steps off soapbox*

You tell em!

[kakenterprise]

I can't stand it when they write on the toys....

They always make sure to write it someplace where it doesn't want to come off..


As for the epidemic of nude barbies I've contributed to that in my area.  I get them and strip them, I really don't need an army of barbies.  It was really creepy once because there was a talking one that someone had programmed and she said my name...


I have a bigger pet peeve with people who let there kids go hog wild in those stores.  They open all the bags and make it so you can't buy the toys.  I almost missed out on a lovely bag of vintage barbies but if you get the right employee they don't care if it's ripped opened. 

[StoryDreamer]

Ugh they wrote on a box of a 1967 board game I bought.. like.. not on a tag on the box.. the actual box.

[kakenterprise]

Ugh they wrote on a box of a 1967 board game I bought.. like.. not on a tag on the box.. the actual box.

They are good at that.

I love it when its across a dolls face.  How does one remove that and not take the makeup off..

[MikeysGrrrl]

Ugh they wrote on a box of a 1967 board game I bought.. like.. not on a tag on the box.. the actual box.

They are good at that.

I love it when its across a dolls face.  How does one remove that and not take the makeup off..

Writing on the box is terrible, but who in the world writes a price across a dolls face? Seriously? That's sad.

[MiRaja]

The not keeping an actual toy section is because there are a lot of parents today who do nothing to contain their children and their children just tear through.  There are parents who will treat the thrift store like a day care, play area, etc, etc. . .  The lady who runs one of the better thrift stores is hoping to open a second thrift store and keep the toy section across from the counter.  She said she had to remove the one from her first store because of thieving and destructive 'heathen' children.  Ahahahaha.  But yes.

Clothing off of barbies and barbies being nude is a similar issue.  It's a liability.  The clothes are a choking hazard, apparently, and if they swallow something because their idiot parents aren't watching them. . . Yes.

The thing about the thrown away clothes really depresses me.  There is some incredibly valuable doll clothing.  Tagged doll clothing that goes for oodles.  Seriously, if ya'll ever find anything tagged Cissy, you get ahold of me, okay? 

[Bow Tie]

When they pack one thing you want in a bag with a bunch of useless stuff. (especially when it is a bunch of toddler pretend play crap)

THIS!
Especially when they may have like, 3 ponies... and they put them all in separate bags... with really misc junky stuff. (Couldn't ya just put all the ponies in 1 bag?)

Agreed! I can't stand that! It's really bad at Savers.