About Shopgoodwill.com....

L0rd Raiden

CAG Veteran
WTF is with this place?!

When I checked it out a few years ago when it was created, it was kinda cool, having some games and stuff for low prices from all the goodwills around the nation.

Not anymore. I recently noticed a sudden and vast shortage in good games around me (there are a total of 4 goodwills within biking distance from me, and they all had good games in fairly often), and I couldn't figure out why. Then, I checked out shopgoodwill, and I understood.

It's ridiculous. Last week there was a boxed, complete, saturn, along with complete copies of Guardian Heroes :)bomb:) and several other sought after games. The auction had already turned into a rabid bidding war, driving the price to several hundred dollars.

Goodwill is a CHARITY. How can they not be profiting from this stuff?! They're sucking away everything from stores (and I bet this is why some of the people on here can't ever find anything at goodwills) just because (and I read an article saying this somewhere on the net) they don't like it that ebayers and resellers are buying their stuff and reselling it. They aren't a retail corportation, they're a used goods/charity business, they ought to expect that stuff.

Furthermore, if they are really a charity organization that caters to less fortunate folk, why are they selling that stuff on the INTERNET? I'm willing to bet that most poverty striken families don't have the internet if they can barely pay for food, yet goodwill is putting the expensive things that those families can't afford to buy anywhere else in a place that is mostly inaccessible to them.

Just my 2 cents.

What about the more experienced online/reseller people out there? Are you frustrated about this or do you even care?
 
Um...do you realize that the goodwill places where items are sold is to benefit their nonprofit organization?

Taken from goodwill's website...

Goodwill Industries is all about people working.

We are North America’s leading nonprofit provider of education, training, and career services for people with disadvantages, such as welfare dependency, homelessness, and lack of education or work experience, as well as those with physical, mental and emotional disabilities. Last year, local Goodwills collectively provided employment and training services to more than 1.1 million individuals.

We believe that work has the power to transform lives by building self-confidence, independence, creativity, trust and friendships. Everyone deserves a chance to have these.

Goodwill provides that chance.
 
Well seeing as I've been doing Job training and probably know more about this company than you guys I will try to explain the way things work there.

1st off the money they make from stuff like this goes to programs to help people with disabilities like myself find jobs or fund programs for to give them job skills for finding work. So they aren't making a profit and if they are it goes into the pay of the employees.
 
Goodwill uses its stores to sell items at low cost to assist low-income and unemployed people, but they can also recognize when certain donated items are of higher value and might be of better service if auctioned off. Besides, clothing and furniture are really what their customers need.

As seen pointed out, Goodwill provides many other social services besides their stores, and the money that comes from their auctions goes towards those resources. They're a nonprofit organization--don't even try to throw a low blow at them just because you're mad that you missed out on an item you wanted.
 
[quote name='seen']Um...do you realize that the goodwill places where items are sold is to benefit their nonprofit organization?

Taken from goodwill's website...

Goodwill Industries is all about people working.

We are North America’s leading nonprofit provider of education, training, and career services for people with disadvantages, such as welfare dependency, homelessness, and lack of education or work experience, as well as those with physical, mental and emotional disabilities. Last year, local Goodwills collectively provided employment and training services to more than 1.1 million individuals.

We believe that work has the power to transform lives by building self-confidence, independence, creativity, trust and friendships. Everyone deserves a chance to have these.

Goodwill provides that chance.[/quote]

Yeah, I do, but I'm starting to wonder how "nonprofit" they really are these days. I've seen a couple auctions (for various items, not just games) go up to several thousand dollars. Unless they were having problems paying their workers (which I haven't heard of), I think they were doing just fine with their earnings from retail.

Besides, you pulled that from their website, and if there's something that's wrong/flawed about shopgoodwill, it won't be there.

It's not that I'm trying to attack goodwill, it's that it seems that they are slowly and deliberately moving away from their original intent to make more money, and it's ruining my newfound hobby, along with other people.

here's an example:

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95635
 
[quote name='rapsodist']Goodwill uses its stores to sell items at low cost to assist low-income and unemployed people, but they can also recognize when certain donated items are of higher value and might be of better service if auctioned off. Besides, clothing and furniture are really what their customers need.

As seen pointed out, Goodwill provides many other social services besides their stores, and the money that comes from their auctions goes towards those resources. They're a nonprofit organization--don't even try to throw a low blow at them just because you're mad that you missed out on an item you wanted.[/quote]

No.

I'm not attacking them, it just looks a little questionable sometimes. If what you guys are saying is true, then nevermind, I'll leave it alone. That stuff I mentioned above seemed to be mirrored by several other gaming related forums, and I just wanted to know what some more experienced people thought about it.
 
shopgoodwill.com is a joke. You are paying ebay price with poor description and no information on quality.
 
[quote name='L0rd Raiden']Whine whine whine whine whine They're making ALL OF THE MONEY I should be making by buying stuff from their stores cheap and reselling it on Fleabay for myself. Whine whine whine boo hoo sob woe is me.[/quote]

I replaced your original post OP because that's exactly what it sounds like. You're just a pissed off little whiner who thinks that Goodwill should let YOU make all the money.

If I knew they wouldn't permaban me from the ShopGoodwill site, I'd add a few bids of my own to bump up the auctions that the idiot resellers seem to gravitate to and cost them more money to buy the shit and lessen their profit margin.

When I go to a thrift shop looking for a game or system to buy, I'm looking for myself to PLAY the fuckin' thing. That's probably WHY Goodwill started the auction site, was so they could make the money and not the reselling jerkoffs.

I say good for them.

[quote name='GogetaSS4']Well seeing as I've been doing Job training and probably know more about this company than you guys I will try to explain the way things work there.

1st off the money they make from stuff like this goes to programs to help people with disabilities like myself find jobs or fund programs for to give them job skills for finding work. So they aren't making a profit and if they are it goes into the pay of the employees.[/quote]

Having checked out some of the auctions from the Tacoma store before and having compared their shipping costs versus other stores with items from the West Coast, I determined that the people in charge of the Tacoma stores auctions are a bunch of fuckin' gougers. They wanted $30 to ship an Xbox with nothing BUT the console(untested no less), while the same item from a store in California was doing shipping for $10.

:roll:
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the money made from those auctions does go to support the unfortunate, correct? I really don't see why you would call them douche bags if that were the case. If anything, your just being sour grapes over not winning sought after merchandise.

Let me also point out that no family that's in severe poverty is going to want (much less need) a fucking Sega Saturn.
 
[quote name='L0rd Raiden']WTF is with this place?!

What about the more experienced online/reseller people out there? Are you frustrated about this or do you even care?[/quote]

I don't know, it seems like a stretch to be mad at the Goodwill for trying to make the most possible with the items they sell when they are a non-profit organization. Especially when the people who are mad are resellers wanting to make money off the stores.

I'm going to go raise hell at the local soup kitchen and homeless shelter!
 
[quote name='Dokstarr']I don't know, it seems like a stretch to be mad at the Goodwill for trying to make the most possible with the items they sell when they are a non-profit organization. Especially when the people who are mad are resellers wanting to make money off the stores.

I'm going to go raise hell at the local soup kitchen and homeless shelter![/quote]


:lol::lol: That's like the infamous billg "How Circuit City ruined my weekend" thread. It was epic. Essentially, he was pissed because he didn't get up early on Black Friday(actually, I think he went there on SATURDAY wanting the BF prices)and pissing and moaning about they should honor their prices.

He wanted them to discount some flash drive whose profits were to go to an Alzheimer's charity, since they didn't have any of the flash drives he was looking for.

All in all, it was a good read and quite hilarious. Everyone in that thread(just about) ripped him a new one for being a total tool.

Here's the link to that billg thread(STILL FUNNY, even after almost 2 years): http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161025&highlight=billg
 
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[quote name='Dokstarr']I don't know, it seems like a stretch to be mad at the Goodwill for trying to make the most possible with the items they sell when they are a non-profit organization. Especially when the people who are mad are resellers wanting to make money off the stores.

I'm going to go raise hell at the local soup kitchen and homeless shelter![/quote]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the money made from those auctions does go to support the unfortunate, correct? I really don't see why you would call them douche bags if that were the case. If anything, your just being sour grapes over not winning sought after merchandise.

Let me also point out that no family that's in severe poverty is going to want (much less need) a fucking Sega Saturn.

STOP!!!

I was a bit agressive in my original post, but you misunderstood what I was saying.

Here it is, simplified:

- Is Goodwill making a profit from this? Are they allowed to do that?

- Why do they hate resellers? It isn't illegal to resell that stuff. Is it looked down upon?

- What is shopgoodwill's purpose supposed to be? Are they trying to give the same used goods to the less fortunate, or are they trying to better support themselves

- Why are they pulling all that merchandise away from stores? I'm willing to bet that one of their largest customer bases includes resellers and collectors of old electronics, and that physically going there is more convenient for that group.

I never said, or even implied, that I wanted to buy that saturn and resell it for a huge profit. In fact, I don't even have an account on ebay, nor any of the means to get into buying/reselling videogames or other items (I'm actually just the typical, perpetually near-broke college student looking to cut costs. I don't even have a car!) I just wanted Guardian Heroes because I really like that game and I never got a chance to play it myself, only watch others play it.

So, because it had been engulfed in a bidding war, my slight suspicions about shopgoodwill turned into frustration, which is what compelled me to post that.

If I knew you guys would react to a post like that in such a manner, I never would have posted it. In fact, being a n00b on these forums myself, I would appreciate it if you (or someone else of similar seniority) would maybe tell me some of the things I should avoid posting if I don't want to become unpopular, so something like this doesn't happen again.

I think you are confused about what a non-profit organization is. Read the paragraph under non-profit distinction from this link:

[URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-profit_organization[/URL]

I guess I was. I thought they couldn't make profit at all. Thanks for clearing it up.

shopgoodwill.com is a joke. You are paying ebay price with poor description and no information on quality.

Thats what I wanted to know. After shopgoodwill was created, a lot of people were bashing it, and I didn't know why because everyone seemed to have a different reason. Since I don't really do much online shopping/selling, (and I plan on getting into it soon), I wanted to know what more experienced buyers thought of the place. Thats ALL. I wasn't attacking them, I'm not an extortionist who uses goodwill to procure merchandise, and now that people have informed me about how goodwill actually works beyond their retail stores, I have no further questions.
 
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[quote name='L0rd Raiden']STOP!!!

I was a bit agressive in my original post, but you misunderstood what I was saying.

Here it is, simplified:

- Is Goodwill making a profit from this? Are they allowed to do that?[/quote]
yes. you answered this yourself. See below
[quote name='L0rd Raiden']
- Why do they hate resellers? It isn't illegal to resell that stuff. Is it looked down upon?[/quote]
nope, it isn't illegal, but they would like to make a little more money themselves


[quote name='L0rd Raiden']
- What is shopgoodwill's purpose supposed to be? Are they trying to give the same used goods to the less fortunate, or are they trying to better support themselves[/quote]
they are trying to make as much money as possible to support their job training programs.

[quote name='L0rd Raiden']
- Why are they pulling all that merchandise away from stores? I'm willing to bet that one of their largest customer bases includes resellers and collectors of old electronics, and that physically going there is more convenient for that group.[/quote]

And here you're just wrong. Having actually been to a goodwill, I can tell you that their largest customer base is there to either buy the clothes that they can afford (because they're poor) or get a bargain (because they're frugal).

[quote name='L0rd Raiden']
I never said, or even implied, that I wanted to buy that saturn and resell it for a huge profit. In fact, I don't even have an account on ebay, nor any of the means to get into buying/reselling videogames or other items (I'm actually just the typical, perpetually near-broke college student looking to cut costs. I don't even have a car!) I just wanted Guardian Heroes because I really like that game and I never got a chance to play it myself, only watch others play it.

So, because it had been engulfed in a bidding war, my slight suspicions about shopgoodwill turned into frustration, which is what compelled me to post that.

If I knew you guys would react to a post like that in such a manner, I never would have posted it. In fact, being a n00b on these forums myself, I would appreciate it if you (or someone else of similar seniority) would maybe tell me some of the things I should avoid posting if I don't want to become unpopular, so something like this doesn't happen again.



I guess I was. I thought they couldn't make profit at all. Thanks for clearing it up.



Thats what I wanted to know. After shopgoodwill was created, a lot of people were bashing it, and I didn't know why because everyone seemed to have a different reason. Since I don't really do much online shopping/selling, (and I plan on getting into it soon), I wanted to know what more experienced buyers thought of the place. Thats ALL. I wasn't attacking them, I'm not an extortionist who uses goodwill to procure merchandise, and now that people have informed me about how goodwill actually works beyond their retail stores, I have no further questions.[/QUOTE]
 
There's got to be some shill bidding going on on shopgoodwill.com

There's no way ppl are willing to pay $30 + shipping for an untested N64. Has no one heard of ebay?
 
[quote name='jlew']There's got to be some shill bidding going on on shopgoodwill.com

There's no way ppl are willing to pay $30 + shipping for an untested N64. Has no one heard of ebay?[/quote]

I don't know, they do now advertise on Hulu...
 
If I knew you guys would react to a post like that in such a manner, I never would have posted it. In fact, being a n00b on these forums myself, I would appreciate it if you (or someone else of similar seniority) would maybe tell me some of the things I should avoid posting if I don't want to become unpopular, so something like this doesn't happen again.

First of all, I don't think you should be so concerned about your standing in the CAG community. Everyone's going to say something stupid once and a while... you will get called an idiot, and then everybody moves on, no big deal. You can't walk out of a forum unscathed, there's always going to be a disagreement, a misunderstanding or even someone who just want to pick a fight with you(don't sell short the number of miserable people on a message board)... don't go thinking that saying one silly thing is going to leave a permanent mark on your account, and don't worry about being in everyone's good graces.

Secondly, if you want to avoid problems like this next time then you should take a moment and look before you leap. Your initial post starts out as a question of sorts("does goodwill make money off of these auctions"), but as it goes on it turns into less of a question and more of an accusatory remark("they MUST be making money off these auctions, the bastards!"). It would be best in the future not to mix the questions with the rants.
 
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I don't think goodwill could be any worse than the SA here, which overprices on clothes and things people actually need on purpose. With the insane surplus of clearance clothing here at prices less than SA prices I am not sure why people even bother to shop at the SA for used clothing that costs more than new clothing does. Although it would help if people didn't buy so much stuff there, obviously this stuff is selling or else they wouldn't overprice it, the place is packed all the time even though I feel that most stuff inside is overpriced.

The SA obviously isn't helping the poor with these prices, and my city has a ton of poor people, they do price the electronics low but the clothes are more expensive than the electronics! They may charge 8.99 for a used 17 inch CRT TV but they charge 9.99 for a pair of worn to the pulp jeans from the 1990's.
 
[quote name='L0rd Raiden']WTF is with this place?!

When I checked it out a few years ago when it was created, it was kinda cool, having some games and stuff for low prices from all the goodwills around the nation.

Not anymore. I recently noticed a sudden and vast shortage in good games around me (there are a total of 4 goodwills within biking distance from me, and they all had good games in fairly often), and I couldn't figure out why. Then, I checked out shopgoodwill, and I understood.

It's ridiculous. Last week there was a boxed, complete, saturn, along with complete copies of Guardian Heroes :)bomb:) and several other sought after games. The auction had already turned into a rabid bidding war, driving the price to several hundred dollars.

Goodwill is a CHARITY. How can they not be profiting from this stuff?! They're sucking away everything from stores (and I bet this is why some of the people on here can't ever find anything at goodwills) just because (and I read an article saying this somewhere on the net) they don't like it that ebayers and resellers are buying their stuff and reselling it. They aren't a retail corportation, they're a used goods/charity business, they ought to expect that stuff.

Furthermore, if they are really a charity organization that caters to less fortunate folk, why are they selling that stuff on the INTERNET? I'm willing to bet that most poverty striken families don't have the internet if they can barely pay for food, yet goodwill is putting the expensive things that those families can't afford to buy anywhere else in a place that is mostly inaccessible to them.

Just my 2 cents.

What about the more experienced online/reseller people out there? Are you frustrated about this or do you even care?[/QUOTE]

Did you really think you were going to get Guardian Heroes really cheap. I think it's a great idea for goodwill to do this. At least, they can make more for charity instead of getting raped by collection hunters. If you really wanted the game than you should put up the money. Complaining only makes you look silly. It's kind of funny that didn't complain about them selling games online when you were getting them cheap.
 
[quote name='dan13l858']Did you really think you were going to get Guardian Heroes really cheap. I think it's a great idea for goodwill to do this. At least, they can make more for charity instead of getting raped by collection hunters. If you really wanted the game than you should put up the money. Complaining only makes you look silly. It's kind of funny that didn't complain about them selling games online when you were getting them cheap.[/quote]

Enough already!

I get the picture! I made a stupid post! Read my last post and stop telling me what I already know!
 
Shopgoodwill's auctions do get crazy out of hand like someone stated above 40 for an untested n64 with madden 64 that's nuts.
 
I noticed around here that the goodwill general has poor quality merchandise, i think the employees keep the good items for themeselves but still pay the store for them.
 
I think this is why the salvation army and the goodwills near me never have jack. Not even an NES controller. Not a single gaming thing but some old windows 95 poker game. They send it all off to this ebay-thrift-store-clone site. (Yeah, I call it that).
 
Here's where I feel like I do have to jump in and kick the bee's nest, as it were. I hold the same feelings towards Goodwill about their complete lack of stock in store compared to online. I understand the valid points made earlier in the thread and yes, they can obviously make more money online then they can by selling Dreamcast games for $3.99 off the shelf, but as a whole Goodwill has certainly gone downhill in the last few years. But the lack of video games isn't the only beef I have with the company; if it was I'd feel stupid for posting this.
Now the policy for returns is well known and if you're buying something along the lines of a TV or CD player they usually tell you if it doesn't work, refunds will be given as Store Credit only. You can try something out before you buy it in most stores as there's usually a power strip by the electronics section, but sometimes you'll get a DVD player home and find out it only reads CDs, or the left channel on that record player doesn't work. It sucks, but you knew this going into it and that's what you get. But if they truly are making that much more bank on shopgoodwill.com, you think they'd be able to hire one more disadvantaged worker/ felon/ or mute old lady to test them before posting them. And to do the simple task of digging around to see that that 'sega with games and pad' is actually an N64 with NES games and a Master System controller.
On that note: the Goodwill closest to me on 164 in Waukesha has the worst assortment of employees I have ever seen. I know every job has bad apples that spoil the bunch, but this bunch is 99% rotten. The list includes:
An old woman who has, as far as I can remember, been crying every single time I have been there. One mentally challenged person whom, when I asked where the bathroom was, covered his ears and ran into the back room. Two cashiers who were bragging about how many CDs their boyfriends stole just that morning. One very loud woman who looked like Queen Latifah who screamed at me that I was stealing an Ipod that I had walked in wearing and obviously left with. A man who smelled like a Summerfest bathroom absolutely reaming out a poor retarded guy for dropping something glass on the floor until this guy cried. There are plenty more like this but hopefully, the point is conveyed.
If they truly want to help these people, or "provide vocational opportunities to people with barriers to employment", they are doing a damn poor job of it. Having never worked at a Goodwill I can only assume the level of 'training' based on the conduct of the employees - atrocious. The main barriers to someone getting a job are going to be mental disablitlity, criminal records, or just plain laziness.
I am very in favor of helping people with disablities as I have a family member who has DS and works very hard, but when their training for a job in the real world stops and starts with sticking them on the floor putting items on a shelf from a cart, they're not learning anything that will help them outside of that job. On their main site you find this blurb: "Local Goodwills often help people earn a paycheck while they’re getting ready for permanent jobs by placing them in temporary jobs or in jobs at Goodwill. Many job seekers find work in Goodwill retail stores, or at one of their many business or government contract work sites.". I'm sorry, but exactly what part of cashiering makes someone eligible to work on a 'government contract work site'? The sad thing is that for most mentally disabled people Goodwill provides nothing but a dead end minimum wage job and a useless credential to an application. Furthermore, simply placing someone in another job via a temp agency is going to be even more worthless; it may be sound in theory, but if you want a comparison, there's a reason W2 didn't work and 99% of those people went right back to sucking up welfare.
Next up: criminal records. Yeah, here's a pretty damn big barrier to employment. Not quite sure why I should feel good about (this is in general, by now you should have figured I don't use SGW.com) paying out the ass for an item online that A- isn't what it claims to be and B- doesn't work, to help someone who can't get work because he beat his wife or a recent parolee who committed armed robbery in 1994, or some 17 year old girl who has 26 charges of shoplifting. Sorry, but if you make the bed you have to sleep in it. Finding a job with that kind of record certainly is possible, part of it is luck, but the other half is the doggedness and reslience to put yourself out there and look for a job after being shot down time and again. Which leads us to...
Laziness. I'm not talking about the poor laid off construction worker who obviously can't find another job paying $42 an hour right now, but the people who's only job prospect is minimum wage at Goodwill because they simply don't want to put forth the effort anywhere else. Even working at McDonalds or a movie theater pays minimum wage but you have the chance to move up if you show hard work and possibly, if that is what you'd like, make enough money at a position in a company like McDonalds or Marcus to live a comfortable life. But the only person at Goodwill who seems to have that kind of money is...
The CEO of said 'non-profit' company who makes over $500,000 a year - so much so, in fact, that the company was investigated by the IRS in 2003 for just that. The members on the board of GW all make over 100k. So your money from Shopgoodwill.com is going somewhere and yes, to answer the OP, they are making tons of money, just doing little constructively with it.
 
[quote name='Marshal_Medan']Here's where I feel like I do have to jump in and kick the bee's nest, as it were. I hold the same feelings towards Goodwill about their complete lack of stock in store compared to online. I understand the valid points made earlier in the thread and yes, they can obviously make more money online then they can by selling Dreamcast games for $3.99 off the shelf, but as a whole Goodwill has certainly gone downhill in the last few years. But the lack of video games isn't the only beef I have with the company; if it was I'd feel stupid for posting this.
Now the policy for returns is well known and if you're buying something along the lines of a TV or CD player they usually tell you if it doesn't work, refunds will be given as Store Credit only. You can try something out before you buy it in most stores as there's usually a power strip by the electronics section, but sometimes you'll get a DVD player home and find out it only reads CDs, or the left channel on that record player doesn't work. It sucks, but you knew this going into it and that's what you get. But if they truly are making that much more bank on shopgoodwill.com, you think they'd be able to hire one more disadvantaged worker/ felon/ or mute old lady to test them before posting them. And to do the simple task of digging around to see that that 'sega with games and pad' is actually an N64 with NES games and a Master System controller.
On that note: the Goodwill closest to me on 164 in Waukesha has the worst assortment of employees I have ever seen. I know every job has bad apples that spoil the bunch, but this bunch is 99% rotten. The list includes:
An old woman who has, as far as I can remember, been crying every single time I have been there. One mentally challenged person whom, when I asked where the bathroom was, covered his ears and ran into the back room. Two cashiers who were bragging about how many CDs their boyfriends stole just that morning. One very loud woman who looked like Queen Latifah who screamed at me that I was stealing an Ipod that I had walked in wearing and obviously left with. A man who smelled like a Summerfest bathroom absolutely reaming out a poor retarded guy for dropping something glass on the floor until this guy cried. There are plenty more like this but hopefully, the point is conveyed.
If they truly want to help these people, or "provide vocational opportunities to people with barriers to employment", they are doing a damn poor job of it. Having never worked at a Goodwill I can only assume the level of 'training' based on the conduct of the employees - atrocious. The main barriers to someone getting a job are going to be mental disablitlity, criminal records, or just plain laziness.
I am very in favor of helping people with disablities as I have a family member who has DS and works very hard, but when their training for a job in the real world stops and starts with sticking them on the floor putting items on a shelf from a cart, they're not learning anything that will help them outside of that job. On their main site you find this blurb: "Local Goodwills often help people earn a paycheck while they’re getting ready for permanent jobs by placing them in temporary jobs or in jobs at Goodwill. Many job seekers find work in Goodwill retail stores, or at one of their many business or government contract work sites.". I'm sorry, but exactly what part of cashiering makes someone eligible to work on a 'government contract work site'? The sad thing is that for most mentally disabled people Goodwill provides nothing but a dead end minimum wage job and a useless credential to an application. Furthermore, simply placing someone in another job via a temp agency is going to be even more worthless; it may be sound in theory, but if you want a comparison, there's a reason W2 didn't work and 99% of those people went right back to sucking up welfare.
Next up: criminal records. Yeah, here's a pretty damn big barrier to employment. Not quite sure why I should feel good about (this is in general, by now you should have figured I don't use SGW.com) paying out the ass for an item online that A- isn't what it claims to be and B- doesn't work, to help someone who can't get work because he beat his wife or a recent parolee who committed armed robbery in 1994, or some 17 year old girl who has 26 charges of shoplifting. Sorry, but if you make the bed you have to sleep in it. Finding a job with that kind of record certainly is possible, part of it is luck, but the other half is the doggedness and reslience to put yourself out there and look for a job after being shot down time and again. Which leads us to...
Laziness. I'm not talking about the poor laid off construction worker who obviously can't find another job paying $42 an hour right now, but the people who's only job prospect is minimum wage at Goodwill because they simply don't want to put forth the effort anywhere else. Even working at McDonalds or a movie theater pays minimum wage but you have the chance to move up if you show hard work and possibly, if that is what you'd like, make enough money at a position in a company like McDonalds or Marcus to live a comfortable life. But the only person at Goodwill who seems to have that kind of money is...
The CEO of said 'non-profit' company who makes over $500,000 a year - so much so, in fact, that the company was investigated by the IRS in 2003 for just that. The members on the board of GW all make over 100k. So your money from Shopgoodwill.com is going somewhere and yes, to answer the OP, they are making tons of money, just doing little constructively with it.[/quote]

Not to be mean or anything, but hitting enter every so often wouldn't kill ya, would it? I mean, for fuck's sake, that's a giant wall o'text. :roll::roll: I'll try n read it, but DAMN....everything is just jumbled together.

Moreover, don't use words that you can't even spell properly. It's resilience and the word is THAN, not THEN. I see so many people misuse words anymore and while I'm far from perfect when it comes to usage, at least I spell check my shit before coming off as preachy and self serving.
 
Wow. I got way more than I expected when I clicked into this thread. That wall of text is awesome for it's wall-of-textiness. I thought it was fake at first but I ventured in to read a few words and it appears to be typed by a real human being.

BTW Charity Navigator has Goodwill broken out by regions. I'm not sure why that is, but they give my region a pretty high rating: http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3766
I have no qualms about donating stuff there.
 
Here let me FIX this post so everyone can read it better.

[quote name='Marshal_Medan']Here's where I feel like I do have to jump in and kick the bee's nest, as it were. I hold the same feelings towards Goodwill about their complete lack of stock in store compared to online. I understand the valid points made earlier in the thread and yes, they can obviously make more money online then they can by selling Dreamcast games for $3.99 off the shelf, but as a whole Goodwill has certainly gone downhill in the last few years. But the lack of video games isn't the only beef I have with the company; if it was I'd feel stupid for posting this.

Now the policy for returns is well known and if you're buying something along the lines of a TV or CD player they usually tell you if it doesn't work, refunds will be given as Store Credit only. You can try something out before you buy it in most stores as there's usually a power strip by the electronics section, but sometimes you'll get a DVD player home and find out it only reads CDs, or the left channel on that record player doesn't work. It sucks, but you knew this going into it and that's what you get. But if they truly are making that much more bank on shopgoodwill.com, you think they'd be able to hire one more disadvantaged worker/ felon/ or mute old lady to test them before posting them. And to do the simple task of digging around to see that that 'sega with games and pad' is actually an N64 with NES games and a Master System controller.

On that note: the Goodwill closest to me on 164 in Waukesha has the worst assortment of employees I have ever seen. I know every job has bad apples that spoil the bunch, but this bunch is 99% rotten. The list includes:

*An old woman who has, as far as I can remember, been crying every single time I have been there.
*One mentally challenged person whom, when I asked where the bathroom was, covered his ears and ran into the back room.
*Two cashiers who were bragging about how many CDs their boyfriends stole just that morning.
*One very loud woman who looked like Queen Latifah who screamed at me that I was stealing an Ipod that I had walked in wearing and obviously left with.
*A man who smelled like a Summerfest bathroom absolutely reaming out a poor retarded guy for dropping something glass on the floor until this guy cried.

There are plenty more like this but hopefully, the point is conveyed. If they truly want to help these people, or "provide vocational opportunities to people with barriers to employment", they are doing a damn poor job of it. Having never worked at a Goodwill I can only assume the level of 'training' based on the conduct of the employees - atrocious. The main barriers to someone getting a job are going to be mental disablitlity, criminal records, or just plain laziness.

I am very in favor of helping people with disablities as I have a family member who has DS and works very hard, but when their training for a job in the real world stops and starts with sticking them on the floor putting items on a shelf from a cart, they're not learning anything that will help them outside of that job.

On their main site you find this blurb: "Local Goodwills often help people earn a paycheck while they’re getting ready for permanent jobs by placing them in temporary jobs or in jobs at Goodwill. Many job seekers find work in Goodwill retail stores, or at one of their many business or government contract work sites.". I'm sorry, but exactly what part of cashiering makes someone eligible to work on a 'government contract work site'?

The sad thing is that for most mentally disabled people Goodwill provides nothing but a dead end minimum wage job and a useless credential to an application. Furthermore, simply placing someone in another job via a temp agency is going to be even more worthless; it may be sound in theory, but if you want a comparison, there's a reason W2 didn't work and 99% of those people went right back to sucking up welfare.

Next up: criminal records. Yeah, here's a pretty damn big barrier to employment. Not quite sure why I should feel good about (this is in general, by now you should have figured I don't use SGW.com) paying out the ass for an item online that A- isn't what it claims to be and B- doesn't work, to help someone who can't get work because he beat his wife or a recent parolee who committed armed robbery in 1994, or some 17 year old girl who has 26 charges of shoplifting. Sorry, but if you make the bed you have to sleep in it. Finding a job with that kind of record certainly is possible, part of it is luck, but the other half is the doggedness and reslience to put yourself out there and look for a job after being shot down time and again. Which leads us to...

Laziness. I'm not talking about the poor laid off construction worker who obviously can't find another job paying $42 an hour right now, but the people who's only job prospect is minimum wage at Goodwill because they simply don't want to put forth the effort anywhere else. Even working at McDonalds or a movie theater pays minimum wage but you have the chance to move up if you show hard work and possibly, if that is what you'd like, make enough money at a position in a company like McDonalds or Marcus to live a comfortable life.

The only person at Goodwill who seems to have that kind of money is... the CEO of said 'non-profit' company who makes over $500,000 a year - so much so, in fact, that the company was investigated by the IRS in 2003 for just that. The members on the board of GW all make over 100k. So your money from Shopgoodwill.com is going somewhere and yes, to answer the OP, they are making tons of money, just doing little constructively with it.[/QUOTE]
 
He makes valid points. It's one thing to whine about losing out on the deal of the century because Goodwill thinks they should be the ones to profit and it's another to point out how they shouldn't be automatically cleared because they're a charity.

He discussed problems in general with thrift shops. With all the delinquent workers, atleast one of them should take the time to be reasonable about anything but clothes. At the thrift stores near me, anything with multiple parts is sold separately. Nevermind that the power adapter you're getting will probably fry your equipment, it's extra. You might be getting a remote that isn't the same brand or even universal, but you gotta pay extra. You can't play that game system without the controllers but pay up. Even phones (not corded for some reason) of all kinds are charged by part.

Stuff like that happening is a part of the bigger problem. Good concepts in theory (whoa we can make money off of more parts, we can say we're helping all of the world's underdogs, etc.) but they generally fail in practice without any forethought.
 
The Tacoma, WA store is STILL gouging on shipping on shopgoodwill. I mean, wtf, it costs more than the auction itself to ship 9 lbs worth of PS2 stuff($32 and change)?

Gimme a fuckin' break.

Yet, most of the other stores with auctions listed ship out the same items for $10-12. I think someone at that store has done the Ebay thing before and was one of the assholes overcharging on shipping to make up for a possible low final bid on their auctions.
 
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