this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2024
392 points (95.6% liked)
Mildly Infuriating
35511 readers
749 users here now
Home to all things "Mildly Infuriating" Not infuriating, not enraging. Mildly Infuriating. All posts should reflect that.
I want my day mildly ruined, not completely ruined. Please remember to refrain from reposting old content. If you post a post from reddit it is good practice to include a link and credit the OP. I'm not about stealing content!
It's just good to get something in this website for casual viewing whilst refreshing original content is added overtime.
Rules:
1. Be Respectful
Refrain from using harmful language pertaining to a protected characteristic: e.g. race, gender, sexuality, disability or religion.
Refrain from being argumentative when responding or commenting to posts/replies. Personal attacks are not welcome here.
...
2. No Illegal Content
Content that violates the law. Any post/comment found to be in breach of common law will be removed and given to the authorities if required.
That means: -No promoting violence/threats against any individuals
-No CSA content or Revenge Porn
-No sharing private/personal information (Doxxing)
...
3. No Spam
Posting the same post, no matter the intent is against the rules.
-If you have posted content, please refrain from re-posting said content within this community.
-Do not spam posts with intent to harass, annoy, bully, advertise, scam or harm this community.
-No posting Scams/Advertisements/Phishing Links/IP Grabbers
-No Bots, Bots will be banned from the community.
...
4. No Porn/Explicit
Content
-Do not post explicit content. Lemmy.World is not the instance for NSFW content.
-Do not post Gore or Shock Content.
...
5. No Enciting Harassment,
Brigading, Doxxing or Witch Hunts
-Do not Brigade other Communities
-No calls to action against other communities/users within Lemmy or outside of Lemmy.
-No Witch Hunts against users/communities.
-No content that harasses members within or outside of the community.
...
6. NSFW should be behind NSFW tags.
-Content that is NSFW should be behind NSFW tags.
-Content that might be distressing should be kept behind NSFW tags.
...
7. Content should match the theme of this community.
-Content should be Mildly infuriating.
-At this time we permit content that is infuriating until an infuriating community is made available.
...
8. Reposting of Reddit content is permitted, try to credit the OC.
-Please consider crediting the OC when reposting content. A name of the user or a link to the original post is sufficient.
...
...
Also check out:
Partnered Communities:
Reach out to LillianVS for inclusion on the sidebar.
All communities included on the sidebar are to be made in compliance with the instance rules.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
This is a store where people GIVE away their stuff, out of the goodness of their hearts with the premise that it will be sold at a low price so that someone less fortunate can benefit. If goodwill has decided to sell the merchandise it gets for FREE at "fair market value" to the highest bidder in order to maximise profit then what's the point of goodwill? Might as well use a consignment store and get a cut.
The exchange in "Goodwill" is that you're donating in goodwill so your things can help others. That's what goodwill MEANS.
Okay, you misunderstand how retail charity works. These charities sell donated goods to generate revenue to fund their charity effort.
The "charity" isn't the cheap goods inside the store. It's using the profit they generate to run or give to that charity. This can be running food banks, animal shelters, jobs programs, etc. The more money they make, the more they can give to their causes.
Their social good works in 3 ways: provide that charity effort, provide inexpensive or less expensive goods to people, and act as free recycling centers for the environment. Most of what these stores receive is literal trash, flat out. They process this to the actual dump at no charge while sorting out any useful items.
You can disagree with this model, but it is the model. If you have real issues with it, then sure, sell the goods and keep the money or donate directly to a charity of your choice.
Goodwill specifically markets itself as a thrift store to help the working class while also helping homeless and disabled people get retail experience to get normal jobs.
Instead we've found out they get their product donated, they pay less than minimum wage (sometimes 22 cents an hour), and they sell at market prices. So that was all a lie. That's why people are mad. Changing what they say they do now isn't going to work without a massive PR campaign to show people the out of store projects they do. And then we're all going to ask where the money for that PR campaign came from. They are a shit company, and a shittier charity.
Can you link some of these ads you're talking about? I don't really see any ads for them ever.
I don't think they hide that they sell things that are donated, since they want people to donate. They also dont sell things at market prices, especially not from what I've seen personally. I bought a $600 snowboarding jacket there for $85 once. It wasn't $8.50, but 80% off for a coat in pristine condition is nowhere near "market" prices. I've got tons of things from years of thrifting there that were wildly under "market" prices. I still go regularly and think the prices are very solid for thrift, if occasionally bonkers.
It sounds like you have specific issues with Goodwill, which is fine, but the above is how all retail charities work. The store prices are not the charity. The charity comes from the profits from the stores, so all retail charities are incentivized to make a profit. The fact that the prices are much less than market, and that they do some great environmental things as well via recycling is the extra positive bits of retail charity like goodwill or habitat for humanity.
If you don't care to support the model that's fine, but that's why they price things the way they do.
https://www.goodwill.org/press-releases/goodwill-celebrates-national-thrift-shop-day/
It's literally their entire marketing scheme. And if the Goodwill near you is offering good prices still then that's great. But this is something people have noticed.
My local one has a banner up for Halloween costumes, but that's about it. There are some generic "feel good" images of people being happy to work inside on the walls, but it's not like it rotates or has ads or anything. Just generic cheerful "thank you's."
There is nothing about how the store is there to sell cheap things to the working class, just that their charity helps people get jobs.
That's just inside the walls too. I've never seen any kind of actual ad for Goodwill in print or online.
You can easily find video ads of goodwill on YouTube. And I linked you their literal strategy.
You said earlier that "Goodwill specifically markets itself as a thrift store to help the working class while also helping homeless and disabled people get retail experience to get normal jobs."
They certainly advertise the second part in that link, but I didn't see anything about the first part, which is what you seem to mainly be upset about.
They are pretty up front about selling donated goods to pay for their charity work of job training. They don't claim to be a "thrift store to help the working class" at any point.
Sounds like you're the one misunderstanding goodwill. Goodwill doesn't donate to ANY causes. Their ONLY contribution is employing disabled people and providing jobs/training. You can read it on their own website.
There well known for paying their disabled employees below minimum wage while paying local store CEOs hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.
So don't tell me about how the high prices I pay will support charities.