A Redditor found a ridiculous price on "vintage" cocktail umbrellas and had to share it to r/ThriftGrift.
"Seen in an antique store, so possibly vintage?" wrote the original poster, alongside a photo of the $12 price tag. "Still this is one of the most ridiculous things I've seen in a second hand shop. And the pink one was ripped!"
It's quite easy to find foldable cocktail umbrellas for much cheaper than this from many different sources. Even if a shopper were dead-set on the umbrellas being vintage, a lot of 30 of them goes for $30 on eBay.
Sadly, this kind of behavior isn't unprecedented. Thrift stores have been known to overcharge for dresses, furniture, and jewelry, among other things.
Though this is an especially bad instance of a thrift store overcharging, in general, buying second-hand is a great practice. This depends heavily on being able to save money in the process, but if the price is right, thrifting saves items from going to a landfill. Once at the dump, garbage produces methane, which pollutes our atmosphere and exacerbates extreme weather patterns, which in turn cause lots of damage.
Items at the dump can also shed microplastics over time, which filter into the ocean through waterways, into fish populations, and eventually into the people that eat them. Once in the human system, microplastics could contribute to endocrine problems and infertility, according to scientific studies. Â
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Preventing all of that starts with rethinking how we treat the items in our lives. Giving them a longer life via thrifting and repair is a great start. It also prevents the need to manufacture new items, a process which comes with its own host of environmental costs.
The Reddit community was equally incredulous at the price of such a mundane item.
"This isn't even sanitary," said one commenter.
"These are actually 15th century Ming Dynasty umbrellas designed for aristocratic Gibbons. So you're actually missing out on a bargain," joked another.
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