2016 Thrift Store Thread -- Share Your Findings Here

Narukami

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New year means it's time for a new thread. Being the group of cheapassgamer's that we are, it's only natural that thrift stores would be one of our main areas to hit up. Go ahead and use this thread to show off all of those juicy finds you've had for the 2016 year.

The TC of the last thread has been AWOL for a few months, so I'll take the honor of making this year's new thread. I've only got a few thrift stores near me, but I do on occasion find some fairly decent stuff.

That being said, thrifting requires a lot of persistence, I can't tell you the amount of times that I have come home with nothing. In order for it to be worth your time you really do need to expand past just video game items.

Here's last year's and the year before last's thread if your looking for some motivation. Quite a big number of great finds to be seen there.

https://www.cheapassgamer.com/topic/340892-2015-thrift-store-thread-share-your-findings-here/

https://www.cheapassgamer.com/topic/325584-2014-thrift-store-thread-post-your-finds-here/

Start posting!

 
Thanks for the new thread, I was going to create one myself but didn't get around to it.  Not much to kick off the new year, but I did find this for $1.50 yesterday:

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Haven't found anything really worthwhile for CD based games in a while (low quantity), the DVD style games tend to be bought out quickly, so I continue buy what I can find.

 
Missed out one some good stuff today (A stack of Gamecube games topped by Smash Bros). To make it even worse, it was to a cherry picking employee.  It was 2pm and he just got off and came out from the back room in his street clothes with a hand basket with them in it.  I ended up asking the manager (that I'm on a first-name basis with) about it and he said he would look into it.  It's not the first time I've seen him come out from the back in his street clothes with merchandise, so maybe they were already suspicious.

When he went to check out, both the manager and assistant manager went up front (since only one manager is needed for an employee purchase, two must have meant something).  I was on the other side of the store so I missed what happened, but a few minutes later the manager came up to me and told me "thanks" and went in back.  I don't know what that meant, but hopefully they shitcanned that cherry picking jackass.

 
Missed out one some good stuff today (A stack of Gamecube games topped by Smash Bros). To make it even worse, it was to a cherry picking employee. It was 2pm and he just got off and came out from the back room in his street clothes with a hand basket with them in it. I ended up asking the manager (that I'm on a first-name basis with) about it and he said he would look into it. It's not the first time I've seen him come out from the back in his street clothes with merchandise, so maybe they were already suspicious.

When he went to check out, both the manager and assistant manager went up front (since only one manager is needed for an employee purchase, two must have meant something). I was on the other side of the store so I missed what happened, but a few minutes later the manager came up to me and told me "thanks" and went in back. I don't know what that meant, but hopefully they shitcanned that cherry picking jackass.
Probably going to pull up past purchases. Maybe the employee is ticket switching?

 

$3. Pretty good price for what it is. Brings me back to when I used to collect Sonic Children Books and Comics when I was a kid.
 
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Update to the cherry picker saga:  

I went in today and the manager (the one I'm good friends with who wasn't there on the day it happened) wanted to talk to me.  He thanked me for letting them know what was going on, because they had been suspicious he had been up to something for months but could never catch him in the act.

What happened, as it turns out, is those games came in with a gamecube, so they were to be sent out to the warehouse as a bundle to be put up on shopgoodwill.  It had already been tagged and binned with the outgoing stuff in the back of the stockroom, so he had gone in to the bin and pulled, priced and stashed the games until the end of his shift.  When he went to check out, the managers refused to sell him the games and when they took them in the back, one of the other pricers confirmed that the games were already marked as outgoing.

The manager told me the guy has two options: resign voluntarily or be reported to loss prevention, face possible theft charges, etc and he was waiting to hear back from him.  While I don't like being responsible for people losing their jobs, anyone who steals from their company for their own personal gain can blame only themselves when they eventually get caught.

Too bad they didn't give me a gift card or something for helping them finally catch the guy... 

 
Update to the cherry picker saga:

I went in today and the manager (the one I'm good friends with who wasn't there on the day it happened) wanted to talk to me. He thanked me for letting them know what was going on, because they had been suspicious he had been up to something for months but could never catch him in the act.

What happened, as it turns out, is those games came in with a gamecube, so they were to be sent out to the warehouse as a bundle to be put up on shopgoodwill. It had already been tagged and binned with the outgoing stuff in the back of the stockroom, so he had gone in to the bin and pulled, priced and stashed the games until the end of his shift. When he went to check out, the managers refused to sell him the games and when they took them in the back, one of the other pricers confirmed that the games were already marked as outgoing.

The manager told me the guy has two options: resign voluntarily or be reported to loss prevention, face possible theft charges, etc and he was waiting to hear back from him. While I don't like being responsible for people losing their jobs, anyone who steals from their company for their own personal gain can blame only themselves when they eventually get caught.

Too bad they didn't give me a gift card or something for helping them finally catch the guy...
What company do u work for and what is your position? Depends on company, LP has a reward program if it leads them to a case.

If its your manager, they should at least buy u lunch. They dont have to, but they should be good role models

 
What company do u work for and what is your position? Depends on company, LP has a reward program if it leads them to a case.

If its your manager, they should at least buy u lunch. They dont have to, but they should be good role models
I'm just one of their regular customers (I shop at that store almost every day) that happened to see this guy pull something shady and informed management.

 
Too bad they didn't give me a gift card or something for helping them finally catch the guy...
did the employee trying to steal them or was he trying to buy it? If the games was not be meant to sell to the general public at your store, why can't this employee get to buy them. wasn't this a perk to work for this shitty company? You can't buy it anyway.

 
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Finally got something good after a few weeks of nada. A Playstation Move controller and Navigation controller for $4 altogether. They bundled them up. Happy with that as it fetches a nice price on the Bay. If it's a first-party controller. I am not familiar with Move controllers so I don't know if any third-party ones were made.

 
Finally got something good after a few weeks of nada. A Playstation Move controller and Navigation controller for $4 altogether. They bundled them up. Happy with that as it fetches a nice price on the Bay. If it's a first-party controller. I am not familiar with Move controllers so I don't know if any third-party ones were made.
I dont think so. How much is it going on ebay?

 
did the employee trying to steal them or was he trying to buy it? If the games was not be meant to sell to the general public at your store, why can't this employee get to buy them. wasn't this a perk to work for this shitty company? You can't buy it anyway.
He was trying to buy them (five games or so, tagged at $1.99/ea), but they were already binned to be shipped out and sold on shopgoodwill.com, where they'll likely sell for $100+ as a bundle with the gamecube. That's still theft.

And no, why would theft be a perk? Their perk is a discount. Up until last year, employees weren't even allowed to shop on the days they worked because of shit like this. Employees would stash good stuff until they got off and then buy it themselves.

But like I said, I'm friends with most of the managers there, so if I see one of their people pulling some shady shit, I'm gonna let them know.

 
Got a Sony alarm clock/music player/image viewer/iPod dock for about $8. It was marked $9.55 but there was a 25% discount that day, bringing the price down. I'm using it right now... it's not perfect but it's easily the most high-tech alarm clock I've ever owned. It's got a seven inch color LCD display, man!
 
He was trying to buy them (five games or so, tagged at $1.99/ea), but they were already binned to be shipped out and sold on shopgoodwill.com, where they'll likely sell for $100+ as a bundle with the gamecube. That's still theft.

And no, why would theft be a perk? Their perk is a discount. Up until last year, employees weren't even allowed to shop on the days they worked because of shit like this. Employees would stash good stuff until they got off and then buy it themselves.

But like I said, I'm friends with most of the managers there, so if I see one of their people pulling some shady shit, I'm gonna let them know.
I can't say I agree with any of that. Matter of fact, the thrift store that I "worked" at last encouraged cherry picking. I told them to hold on to video games and accessories for me and they did. While I worked, if I found something I wanted, it was okay to put it in the back to buy at the end of the shift. And if they brought in something recently and didn't even put it on the floor yet, I had first access to that too. Why wouldn't that be okay? Are employees exempt from being able to purchase something? Are they not valued customers too? Give me a break. Honestly, it just sounds like sour grapes to me that you had some competition that worked in the store, resulting in him being able to get dibs on the good stuff so you got him fired so you'd have a better chance to get stuff.

 
I can't say I agree with any of that. Matter of fact, the thrift store that I "worked" at last encouraged cherry picking. I told them to hold on to video games and accessories for me and they did. While I worked, if I found something I wanted, it was okay to put it in the back to buy at the end of the shift. And if they brought in something recently and didn't even put it on the floor yet, I had first access to that too. Why wouldn't that be okay? Are employees exempt from being able to purchase something? Are they not valued customers too? Give me a break. Honestly, it just sounds like sour grapes to me that you had some competition that worked in the store, resulting in him being able to get dibs on the good stuff so you got him fired so you'd have a better chance to get stuff.
Think what you want. Just because the one thrift store you "worked" at allowed it, doesn't mean every thrift store does. Smaller thrift stores have different policies, where some don't give a shit as long as someone buys the stuff. Besides, if they let employees cherry pick the good stuff, what incentive is there for the regulars to keep shopping at that store? Do Gamestop employees get first crack at rare amiibos? Do Best Buy employees get first crack at game consoles when they're hard to find?

Back on point, did you even read the story? Those games weren't even meant to be put on the floor to begin with. He was fired because he was stealing, whether or not you agree with that. He knew the policies when he was hired, he broke the policies in an attempt at personal gain and got caught. There is nobody to blame but himself and it was only a matter of time until he got caught. But because a customer caught him coming out of the back with the stuff in hand and questioned it, it's sour grapes and I got him fired? :roll:

 
Think what you want. Just because the one thrift store you "worked" at allowed it, doesn't mean every thrift store does. Smaller thrift stores have different policies, where some don't give a shit as long as someone buys the stuff. Besides, if they let employees cherry pick the good stuff, what incentive is there for the regulars to keep shopping at that store? Do Gamestop employees get first crack at rare amiibos? Do Best Buy employees get first crack at game consoles when they're hard to find?

Back on point, did you even read the story? Those games weren't even meant to be put on the floor to begin with. He was fired because he was stealing, whether or not you agree with that. He knew the policies when he was hired, he broke the policies in an attempt at personal gain and got caught. There is nobody to blame but himself and it was only a matter of time until he got caught. But because a customer caught him coming out of the back with the stuff in hand and questioned it, it's sour grapes and I got him fired? :roll:
Gamestop and Best Buy are very different from thrift stores. You're comparing apples to oranges. The thrift store I worked at was mostly a clothes one, so regular customers are always flooding the store, whether or not I cherry pick.

As for the second paragraph, my first response was only towards what I bolded in your quote. Yes, taking the stuff that wasn't meant to be sold in the store was wrong. I'm not denying that. I agree that he deserved to be fired. I'm not arguing that. But you can't tell me that you did it merely to protect the store. You still wanted to get rid of the cherry picker.

 
He was trying to buy them (five games or so, tagged at $1.99/ea), but they were already binned to be shipped out and sold on shopgoodwill.com, where they'll likely sell for $100+ as a bundle with the gamecube. That's still theft.
One more question...why is this going out to shopgoodwill.com? These are kids games and kids don't shop at shopgoodwill.com. If I donate something I wanted my items to stay within MY community.

 
Besides, if they let employees cherry pick the good stuff, what incentive is there for the regulars to keep shopping at that store?
And also What is the difference between an employee cherry picking the good stuff and the manager cherry picking the good stuff to sell at shopgoodwill.com?

 
Gamestop and Best Buy are very different from thrift stores. You're comparing apples to oranges. The thrift store I worked at was mostly a clothes one, so regular customers are always flooding the store, whether or not I cherry pick.
If it means that more good stuff will start hitting the floors again, then yes. But that wasn't my sole intention. I know the store's policies as I've been shopping there for close to 10 years. Anything for sale hits the floor first. I had been walking around for about 45 minutes and there were no games out anywhere, and seeing an employee walk out from the back with a basket full for himself is a red flag. Like I said before, they already suspected he had been shoplifting as well but never caught him in the act.

One more question...why is this going out to shopgoodwill.com? These are kids games and kids don't shop at shopgoodwill.com. If I donate something I wanted my items to stay within MY community.
Um, Gamecube games are collectibles, some valuable and highly sought after. If the company can make more money selling them online, they are going to. Some Goodwill stores sell on Amazon as well. If you have a problem with it, and want everything you donate to stay local, don't donate to them.

And also What is the difference between an employee cherry picking the good stuff and the manager cherry picking the good stuff to sell at shopgoodwill.com?
Cherry picking stuff to sell on shopgoodwill.com benefits the company. An employee cherry picking stuff for himself only benefits him.

 
I'm not even sure why there is a debate about the employee shopping policies.  I see those signs posted on all the walls at every Goodwill I visit about making it a fair shopping experience, which benefits you as a shopper and when donating.

A quick google check shows an Ohio Goodwill Employee Handbook stating their employee shopping policies very clearly (section 10 page 5 if you want to read it), I'm sure this is similar for their other regions.

The policy makes sense if you think about it on a larger scale.  One employee in violation doesn't make that much of a difference, but if all employees took part (all with different tastes and target items), the shelves would be closer to dumping grounds than they already are.

 
"Cherry picking stuff to sell on shopgoodwill.com benefits the company." And by company you mean the higher ups that can make 6 figures a year. Theyre suppose to be a nonprofit thrift store yet they cherry pick valuable items that they didnt even pay a penny for to sell on their own auction website.......for as much PROFIT as they can get! Not to mention the fact that they dont clean or test anything and the shipping prices are crazy.

I use to go into GW everyday and probably purchase something from them because they marked stuff cheap just to move inventory. Now I go maybe 4 times a month......same junk sitting there. Only thing new is whatever Target treasures they got sitting in the cases up front.

That being said I wouldve called out the employee as well because I know employees were buying that stuff up around here before they started sending stuff to SGW. Turns out my competition around here was employees and that website.

 
"Cherry picking stuff to sell on shopgoodwill.com benefits the company." And by company you mean the higher ups that can make 6 figures a year. Theyre suppose to be a nonprofit thrift store yet they cherry pick valuable items that they didnt even pay a penny for to sell on their own auction website.......for as much PROFIT as they can get! Not to mention the fact that they dont clean or test anything and the shipping prices are crazy.
Yeah, the higher ups do make obscene amounts of money, but to this day they still claim (and back it up) that 83 cents of every dollar of the average $5 billion annual income goes to programs and services to help people. 83% efficiency is pretty good when compared to other charities.

The shopgoodwill stuff has gotten out of hand, I'll agree there. Some stores around here, instead of shipping stuff out, will special price anything remotely valuable or looking of value.

The store I frequent is one of the few that doesn't overprice and have actually lowered set prices in the past year: CD's are .99, DVD's and games are a flat 1.99, TV series are 2.99-4.99 with very little deviation from there. All were $1 higher a year ago.

They are only sending some stuff out because the DM is pressuring them to.

 
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Yeah, the higher ups do make obscene amounts of money, but to this day they still claim (and back it up) that 83 cents of every dollar of the average $5 billion annual income goes to programs and services to help people. 83% efficiency is pretty good when compared to other charities.

The shopgoodwill stuff has gotten out of hand, I'll agree there. Some stores around here, instead of shipping stuff out, will special price anything remotely valuable or looking of value.

The store I frequent is one of the few that doesn't overprice and have actually lowered set prices in the past year: CD's are .99, DVD's and games are a flat 1.99, TV series are 2.99-4.99 with very little deviation from there. All were $1 higher a year ago.

They are only sending some stuff out because the DM is pressuring them to.
What? DVD are $2.99, TV series for example smallville $12.99.

 
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One more question...why is this going out to shopgoodwill.com? These are kids games and kids don't shop at shopgoodwill.com. If I donate something I wanted my items to stay within MY community.
This. This is one thing I really hate about GW...too bad the Salvation Army stores in my neck of the woods suck.

 
Stopped by 3 thrift stores didn't see much but I picked up New Super Mario Bros Wii CIB for $7.41 after tax and store wide 30% off. Almost picked up NSMB2 3ds until I saw the $20 price tag
 
Found a black DS3 controller today for 2.99.  Sticky buttons, but nothing 15 minutes and some alcohol couldn't fix.  Now my $8 320gb slim PS3 from a few weeks ago is complete with a good controller.

 
Found a black DS3 controller today for 2.99. Sticky buttons, but nothing 15 minutes and some alcohol couldn't fix. Now my $8 320gb slim PS3 from a few weeks ago is complete with a good controller.
What? $8 for a PS3? Really? Was this at a yardsale or like a goodwill store?

 
At the same goodwill.  It dawned on me earlier today that it was probably the work of the cherry picker that I happened to find before he got off work to grab himself.  It was hidden behind a bunch of stuff and I almost missed it, so who knows...

 
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At the same goodwill. It dawned on me earlier today that it was probably the work of the cherry picker that I happened to find before he got off work to grab himself. It was hidden behind a bunch of stuff and I almost missed it, so who knows...
But $8? No way they would price it like that. Probably someone that was going to buy it and priced it that low. Saw a phat ps3 with 4usb in the front for $80

 
That's literally what he said... The cherry picker priced it $8 and hid it for when he got off work, but sp00ge found it first...

 
That's literally what he said... The cherry picker priced it $8 and hid it for when he got off work, but sp00ge found it first...
Yep. I mentioned it to the manager today and he said that was most likely what happened. He didn't ask me to bring it back, though, so I'm in the clear there. With consoles with hard drives, they are supposed to ship them out to get formatted. I had to pull out the HDD and format it in my PC anyways, since it was stuck in an update loop.

And the manager also told me that there's an investigation that's happening next week when someone from corporate shows up over the issue. The guy never called back to voluntarily resign, so they're most likely charging him. They also think he may have had someone else working with him, so who knows what's going to happen,

On the finds front, I picked up Resident Evil 4 and Excitebots for the wii for 1.99/ea, and a rock candy PS3 controller (sticky buttons just like the DS3) for 1.99. I also avoided trouble for being out all morning (without the kids for once :D/ ) with a brand new 4.99 pair of converse all-stars for the fiance.

 
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so i went to goodwill today, found a copy of xenoblade chronicles x! for 29.99, but it was opened with a seal from the store closing it. I asked the lady to open it and make sure it was in the case, she told me of course, as it's brand new. I get home, upon further inspection, it is a cd-r with  printed paper artwork glued to the disc...  fuck

 
so i went to goodwill today, found a copy of xenoblade chronicles x! for 29.99, but it was opened with a seal from the store closing it. I asked the lady to open it and make sure it was in the case, she told me of course, as it's brand new. I get home, upon further inspection, it is a cd-r with printed paper artwork glued to the disc... fuck
You should have opened it right after buying it to be safe. When in doubt as they say...

 
"Game Over: Press Start to Continue" book for $0.99. Wish it was in a little better condition, but wasn't going to pass it by for that price.
 
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