Thrift stores can be an incredible resource for the community to donate items or buy them cheaply. However, as one Redditor discovered, they can sometimes miss the mark.
"My local Goodwill is currently selling loose tampons for 50 cents each," the Redditor said.
They also included a photo for evidence. It shows a wire bin full of what looks like hundreds of individual Playtex tampons. They've been removed from their boxes, and each is labeled with a green Goodwill sticker with a barcode and a price of $.50.
Fifty cents might not sound like much, but for a single tampon, it's quite high. At that price, a box of 20 would cost $10 — but you can find full boxes of the same Playtex tampons in grocery and convenience stores or online, often for less than half of that. By selling them individually, Goodwill is disguising that it has applied a ridiculous markup.
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Not to mention, Goodwill got them for free to begin with.
"That's just wrong on every level," said one user.
"This is just Goodwill," another commenter pointed out, shielding other thrift shops from getting caught in the crosshairs.
At Goodwill, there are often incredible deals on clothes, toys, kitchen appliances, and more. The trick is to know the value of what you're buying. Smartphones make it easy to look up competitors' prices right in the store, although frequent thrifters get a sense of what's worth looking at and what isn't. You can check out thrifting communities like r/ThriftStoreHauls for tips.
Meanwhile, if you have hygiene products or other small, disposable items to donate, a thrift store may not be the best place. Give your clothes, shoes, purses, furniture, household goods, books, and unneeded electronics to thrift stores, and donate your hygiene supplies to a local women's center, shelter, food bank, or church that will distribute them to those in need for free.
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