Clever tip I have to share

[flowerseverywhere]

I volunteer at a local thrift store for charity. One day a woman came in. She had a measuring tape and was measuring the width of clothes. I asked what she was doing and she told me she had measured her favorite blouses, jackets, dresses and pants and did a quick measurement to eliminate anything that would definitely not fit before entering the dressing room. This store is packed with top rate clothes and I thought it was genius


what is your best time or money saving tip?

[Float On]

Another good reason to measure instead of try on: I just watched a youtube video of a girl who worked for a well known thrift store chain for 3 years and talked about why she no longer works there. She recommended to never try on clothes in the dressing rooms, take them home and wash them a time or two before trying on. She talked about how gross it was going through clothing donations and things they'd find in the bags of donations (rat poo, people poo, blood, mold, mildew, etc). They do not wash or sanitize anything before it's put on the floor. Windex is the strongest cleaner they are allowed to use. Horror of horror they are not allowed to wear gloves while going through donations. She'd been stuck by straight pins and needles as well as touching poo and blood!

flowerseverywhere - sounds like your in a higher end area but do you have any donation odd stories???

[CathyA]

Why Would they not be allowed to wear gloves? That sounds totally unacceptable.

[JaneV2.0]

I worked at a thrift store for a couple of months, and the worst I saw was some broken items. Maybe I wasn't there long enough.
I never try clothes on, and I always wash them before wearing.

[Float On]

Why Would they not be allowed to wear gloves? That sounds totally unacceptable.

She said "Because gloves prevent you from feeling wetness. Anything damp or wet was tossed."

[Float On]

I worked at a thrift store for a couple of months, and the worst I saw was some broken items. Maybe I wasn't there long enough.
I never try clothes on, and I always wash them before wearing.

She said 3 times they found snakes in donated shoes! One was poisonous and then they got in trouble for killing it. She said employee rules changed by the hour and someone was always getting fired over a new rule.

[mschrisgo2]

OHGosh!! Snakes in shoes?!?!?! That just sounds like an all round nightmare of a place to work or shop!

[jp1]

Acck. Reading this thread makes me never want to go to a thrift store again.

[Lainey]

flowerseverywhere,
a similar tip is someone I knew who used to keep measurements of things like her window sizes, so if she saw blinds or curtains on sale then she could be sure they'd fit.

[Float On]

I don't think I'll give up thrifting. But I'll look inside things before tossing in the cart!