Have thrift shops gotten too trendy?

Is that why the prices have gone up? Or is it because their overhead went up with the minimum wage increases, the cost of insurance thanks to the CPSIA, and reduced inventory, also thanks to the CPSIA? Or both?

Some of this is an excellent illustration of the economic concept of supply and demand, of course. I understand that the purpose of most thrift shops is to use the money they make for other programs, so the more money they can make, the more money for their other programs- rehab, job training, and so forth. And if the local market can bear fifty dollars for a broken end table and twenty bucks for a dress (and if there are trendy yupppies in your area feeling virtuous about repurposing, then they will pay those prices), then that's what a good thrift shop manager will charge. If enough people will not buy at those prices, eventually they'll come down (or the shop will stop taking those sorts of goods, or an employee or two will be let go, or the store will go out of business...). I also understand that it's really actually costing them money to sell some underpriced items- yesterday we were out of town and found a thrift shop where prices are still shockingly low- I bought a great stuffed rhinoceros yesterday for just sixty cents, and if that had been all I bought, it would have cost them more to sell it to me than it would have for them to just toss it. In fact, I also found a pair of Ecco Shaker shoes for a dollar, and shoes were half price so they were fifty cents!) But I do not know how they could actually afford to sell the things they had for so little and pay their staff and pay overhead (the building rent or mortgage, utilities, insurance, etc) So then you bag up multiple similar items and make it a two dollar bag, or whatever you judge it takes to pay an employee to price the item, put it out on the shelf, and then ring it up when somebody buys it (and if the customer pays with a charge card that takes another percentage out of your income).

But still, some things are insultingly over-priced.

Our local thrift shop exists for the purpose of helping mentally disabled adults, and (bearing in mind I am the mother of the Cherub, who is a mentally handicapped adult), I think they let their clients, as they call them, price the goods. There are still good bargains to be found at ours (I think because it's not a chain), but there are also things there from the dollar store with their original one dollar price tag still on them that are priced from 3-5 dollars- and quite often it's some item a customer could still go to the dollar store and buy for a dollar. I've seen wicker baskets priced for five dollars when I know they came from the local Wally world which still has them in stock and is selling them for five dollars.

BonnetTip to Frugal Homemaker

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