To be honest, complaining about goodwill stores feels a bit wrong. I'm sure they're doing a great thing, and I've made some amazing finds there - but still: I really really wish they woudn't split up sets! Sometimes I wonder if they do it on purpose. You know: put the jacket on one Ken doll and the pants/shirt combo on another and hope that people buy both? (Spoiler: I won't, because I'm kind of poor.) Or when they package random doll furniture into bags, maybe the're just trying to portion similar amounts of good stuff/meh stuff into each one, regardless of whether it fits together or not? That would explain how Sindy's bathroom sink ended up with the patio furniture and the bath tub with the Sears Beauty Salon (which is missing the floor section that has the power sockets for the battery-operated hairdryer. That piece doesn't look much on its own, and I'll be forever wondering whether it got lost somewhere in the sorting process).
The weirdest thing is when stuff gets split up over larger distances in time and space: weeks apart, in different stores. There's a certain goodwill organization that has at least 5 stores in different parts of town, and whenever I'm near one I try to take the chance to pop in.
Today I when I visited one of them, I found:
- 1 brown Bratz Kidz boot (found the other one at another of their stores last week, but left it after having spent 10 minutes digging through the crate in vain for the other one),
- the top from 1990 Babysitter Skipper's outfit (found the skirt two weeks ago in yet another of their stores)
- a 5cm (2'') strip of white fabric. Doesn't sound like much, I know - ecxept I'd bet my head it belongs to the slightly mutilated Hollywood Hair Barbie outfit worn by one of the dolls I bought three weeks ago from yet another store.
So then you're standing there in line with
one tiny boot or
one single piece of doll clothing, wondering whether they'll insist they're only allowed to sell a complete set, and if they do what will become of those odd bits and bobs (thrown out at the end of the month?). Also, I have a sneaking suspicion lately they sometimes simply cut up doll's clothes when they're too small to fit (like putting a Barbie shirt on a babydoll), or cut a dress in two and split it between dolls just so you can sell it as a dressed doll. (And then there's the parents who let their kids play with all they toys until they break and then leave them strewn all over the shop for others to step on/trip over, but the staff are probably more annoyed at that than I am.)
Yeah, I know: I can't really complain. Honestly, if it weren't for goodwill stores, my doll collection would be a rather meagre affair indeed. But all my doll photos lately have come out looking like grainy garbage, so I'm frustrated
and have no content of substance to post! So instead, you get moaning. And I guess in a way these little annoyances are a part of what makes thrift store shopping interesting. It's like a carefully designed quest in a video game: that little neon pink polka dot skirt will be worth much more to you after you've had to spend weeks searching for it all over town.
Your regional Goodwill is insane.
ReplyDeleteThere's just no getting around it.
They seem to differ a lot by region. Here in the Phoenix, Arizona, area, Goodwill's are big, clean, organized, and don't appear to do anything weird with splitting sets. BUT -- stocking of the toy department comes in weird waves. Today was all stuffed animals, and I've learned that if one Goodwill is all stuffed animals, every other Goodwill within a reasonable trek will be the same. There will be months with no fashion dolls anywhere.
Where my parents live, Goodwills are ghastly, gray, meager places where you're lucky to find anything, ever. The dominant thrifts are other brands.
Yours is insane, though.
Haha, maybe I should clarify I wasn't referring to Goodwill specifically but thrift stores run by charities in general. I may have used the wrong word - I certainly don't want to point a finger at any specific organization!
DeleteBut yeah, the stock varies wildly between seasons and stores.
Lol, and here I am with two used LPS pets found on flea-market after TWO years of finding on second market only chewed-naked-fugly-legless clones of chinese clone of barbies. Also known as less than attractive toys :)
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong, I can understand your pain and difficulties you have with getting nice dolls/clothes etc, but I literally DROLL when reading your and Muff's haul posts. I have worst possible luck when it comes to thrift stores :)
Fwiw I drool over Muff's posts too! We actually mostly get legless clones too - I think the main reason I manage to find anything good is I live in a big city and I spend way too much time looking for it...
DeleteYasss, she is the best, love her dolls' hauls :) It was just funny that the very day I found those LPS pets adn was over the moon about it (and for two years really couldnt find ANYTHING doll related at thrifts) you wrote this post. It was like making jokes of my misery (I know it wasn't but... you know XD)
DeleteI really like your haul posts (that's how they are called on youtube, right?), you always pick so many types of dolls and your clothes are usually so adorable and vintage. More, more, I say!
Our thrift stores sell only clothes (for people)! Our flea markets are the same as MajorMistakes's. Seriously, stop complaining and love your country.
ReplyDeleteYou're probably right. I don't want to sound ungrateful, it's just sometimes I don't understand their choices.
DeleteYour stores sound interesting and like a bit of an adventure. Some of what is happening may be because the people doing the bagging are not doll people and have no idea what goes with what or what things are worth. I used to work as a volunteer in an Op shop and people would just bring in big garbage bags with everything they were donating all jumbled up together. We were serving so we would put it all out the back to be sorted by others whenever they had time so it would be really jumbled by the time it was sorted so I'm not surprised that things get separated or mixed up.
ReplyDeleteI can definitely see that. Maybe in a perfect world sets would be sold together, but I realize that probably isn't top priority if there's too much to do. It still feels like a waste if parts of a single toy gets split up, though. They may not be useful on their own and just get thrown away.
DeleteI have two Goodwill stores and a Salvation Army nearby. I don't shop at them enough to tell how the Goodwills sort out their toys, though. I keep thinking I should go, but I never have time.
ReplyDeleteI think most of mine are Salvation Army too, plus a couple of others. No actual Goodwill stores - I was using that as a blanket term, sorry for any confusion.
DeleteI think the sorters just don't care and don't understand how important it is to keep sets together. Or maybe they hope you will keep shopping until you find what you need. I just wish more people would donate their doll items...for me. :-)
ReplyDeleteWell, I donate (and re-donate) stuff all the time, but unfortunately probably not in your area. :)
DeleteThe truth is, donations are taken as they are donated to each store. Once donated, the staff "tries" to make matches with what has been donated AT THEIR STORE. If items are separated or appear in separate stores, it's because they were donated to separate stores.
ReplyDeleteTrust me, there is no conspiracy to make us run around; that is just the nature of the beast.
I live in the Philadelphia area and shop in Pa. NJ and Delaware Goodwills as well as many other thrift stores and the same is true for all. Just had to chime in....btw, love your blog!!
Thanks, I'm glad you like it!
DeleteMaybe it differs between organizations/cities/countries, because I'm fairly certain I've seen stuff I've donated in a different store than the one I left it at. Last week I saw parts of a pretty unique doll clothing set in two different Salvation Army stores. Of course someone might have donated stuff at different stores - or the sorters were busy, as Carrickters suggested above.
(Also, I may have confused things unncessary by referring to all charity thrift stores as goodwill stores.)
Facts are facts and you know what you experienced. Their policies need to be tweaked, regardless of the organization.
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