anybody work at a thrift store?

[Busie23]

I'm looking for some info on how the whole process works? Preferably from people who work there and see exactly what happens.

 

[ThisIsMatt]

Originally posted by: axiom
The process is just like any other merchant. You buy goods and mark up the price. Thrift stores are a lil different in that they buy their goods from their customers. Think of it as a Garage Sale inside a store.

Hrrrm? Most thrift stores get the items for free (many offer free pickup from your home) and then resell the items (possibly after testing/cleaning/etc) in order to serve some cause.

 

[Wolfsraider]

Originally posted by: ThisIsMatt

Originally posted by: axiom
The process is just like any other merchant. You buy goods and mark up the price. Thrift stores are a lil different in that they buy their goods from their customers. Think of it as a Garage Sale inside a store.

Hrrrm? Most thrift stores get the items for free (many offer free pickup from your home) and then resell the items (possibly after testing/cleaning/etc) in order to serve some cause.

only some items are cleaned(most thrift shops don't have the facilities to clean what is dirty gets scrapped ouyt and sold as rags)

shoes are polished to hide scuffs etc..

i worked for a company picking up donations for disabled vets for over 3 years (over 100 houses a day usually 200 miles a day)

all electronics are tested toys are checked for missing parts etc...

 

[Busie23]

I'm talking about the whole process, from collecting to tagging, to pricing, etc. How do they sort their clothing, what type of equipment if any is used, how do they go about collecting clothes, and so on. I have found a distributor of used clothing who claims he sells to thrift stores (1000 pounds for $200 of unsearched clothing), but I'm still interested in all other aspects. Who decides the prices, how much of the "good" stuff is taken by employees before it gets out on the racks, etc.

Wolfsraider, can I ask what the company was? Do you know if the resold the clothing in bulk.

Thanks,

Busie23

 

[Wolfsraider]

Originally posted by: Busie23
I'm talking about the whole process, from collecting to tagging, to pricing, etc. How do they sort their clothing, what type of equipment if any is used, how do they go about collecting clothes, and so on. I have found a distributor of used clothing who claims he sells to thrift stores (1000 pounds for $200 of unsearched clothing), but I'm still interested in all other aspects. Who decides the prices, how much of the "good" stuff is taken by employees before it gets out on the racks, etc.

Wolfsraider, can I ask what the company was? Do you know if the resold the clothing in bulk.

Thanks,

Busie23

collecting was done by the alliance of american vetrans whom i drove for,they called houses (telemarketing) each day to see who would donate.then recalled those addresses who said they would donate and gave them a pick up date.any time we were in the area they added those who called in to get picked up to the day we were there.

we then mapped out the houses by address and picked up the donations.usually at least 100 houses a day.

after we either filled up our trucks or finished the routes we headed to the store (shop and save) where we loaded the merchandise onto carts approx 6' x8'x3' .

cloth on one misc on another and furniture and electronics in a seperate area.

they then sorted the clothing by cleanliness and value ie names like levi etc got higher prices also they used a standard tagging system ie purple tags got a price of 15.99 blue was 12.99 green was 10.99 etc and the tag was stapled to the garment.

they were used to the names but did use ebay as a refrence for odd objects etc.

there can be a lot of loss but we were paid 11.75 hour +all the overtime we wanted.but if you have drivers an easy way to keep costs down is radio contact,we called in every hour etc
another is a thorough search of the vehicle as most theft is still hidden in the truck

almost all the stores had cameras that viewed the stores and loading/unloading areas and helped keep theft down as they pointed in to the trucks.

you will lose some but not as much also all items donated were in boxes or bags no loose items so the eye of the employees were off the merchandise.

we still had a few morons,one in particular comes to mind,he was selling to the swap meet in a different city, but all our trucks had our toll free number on the side in big numbers with the name,we got 12 calls in less than 10 minutes and i went out with a camera to the location and when he returned to the base i asked for his keys and radio.
he tried to deny it till i showed him the pics.

the only reselling in bulk on the clothing was the rag bin.cloth that was rejected for the racks were put in a compactor and baled .then loaded in to an 18 wheeler trailor

we were paid 250 for a cloth cart and 250 for misc carts but they redid the contract to pay 500 for a cloth cart and the misc was given free
cloth pays more because of the amount and resaleability,

i hope this answers some of your questions

check around with the churches in your area as most have a rummage sale or resale shop and can/will (usually) help you out

mike

 

[Analog]

Originally posted by: Busie23
I'm looking for some info on how the whole process works? Preferably from people who work there and see exactly what happens.

why?

 

[Busie23]

Because I want to open a thrift store