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I would rather donate usable items I no longer need to Goodwill, instead of just throwing them away. And oterhere is right; private sales would be a lot of work.
There is so much false information out there and people will believe anything they read on the internet. There is one article claiming that a man named Mark Curran is CEO and no such person exists. When people read something like that, they don't feel compelled to go seek out a confirmation. The truth is much more complicated.
It is false to state “Goodwill makes million” since the company is not owned by one person, but in fact, it is locally owned and operated. North America has 165 Goodwill organizations. Each organization is an independent nonprofit organization. According to Goodwill CEO, the board is independent and elected by the local community.
The Goodwills in my community do a lot to support people who would otherwise not be employable. I used to run an assembly line and I had quite a few Goodwill folks working for me. These people had special challenges and needed someone to advocate for them. They were paid a fair wage.
It's frustrating to me when I hear people say they won't donate to Goodwill because of some notion that isn't true without checking the facts. I urge anyone who has ever thought about donating or contributing to Goodwill - or any charity for that matter - to do the homework and see where the money goes and how well it benefits the local community.
The current CEO is Steve Preston. You can google his salary, which is somewhat generous.
Most CEOs don't earn minimum wage - not even Goodwill's. That doesn't dissuade me from either shopping there or donating there.
I spent some time on our local "Buy Nothing" page. Not only is it a lot of work, I think it's a weird vibe there. They don't give to the first to respond, but rather the person with the best sob story. There's also an awful lot of asking for stuff (stuff you could find at Dollar Tree or local Goodwills or even church-run clothes closets) accompanied by sob stories. I don't really like encouraging people to whinge; it reminds me of every Go Fund Me I've ever read. Then there's a post complaining because someone who got something wasn't really "in need." I didn't realize that was a requirement... I thought a person just had to need/want the item? I used to do Cheapcycle and Freecycle; there wasn't all this drama...
Now it seems people get stuff for free there, then turn around and sell it online. Not cool.
All in all, I think I prefer Goodwill. It's good enough for me.
I think all of the higher corporate people in these organizations make a pretty penny.
Not much can be done about it. Just like me not shopping at Walmart is not hurting their bottom line much, the same applies to Goodwill, et al.
But dropping stuff off despite being something the organization cannot or will not accept (broken stuff, non-working stuff) certainly DOES affect the day to day operations of these places. You may think it’s just a matter of them throwing your trash out, but you may not realize that they have to pay, usually pretty good money, for dumpster rental. Not to mention paying the hourly guy who has to move it to and then toss it into the dumpster.
Right; I'm not encouraging anyone to donate worthless junk. I'm just saying the specialty thrift stores don't take everything, so I take the rest to Goodwill. For instance, ours doesn't take clothing, media (books/VHS/DVD/CD) or exercise equipment, for whatever reason.
I donate to local charities where I can see what they are doing with the money they generate. I'm not seeing what Goodwill spends their money on, except for big new fancy office buildings for their headquarters. They aren't hiring any handicapped people. The only place around here that hires the handicapped and hard to employ is Walmart, with their greeters program.
Nor to Salvation Army because I don't donate to other people's churches. Which is hypocritical because I donate to St Vincent DePaul because I can physically see exactly where that charity money goes and it goes to low income people right in my area when they need a bit of a hand up. I don't know where Salvation Army money goes except to feed the homeless after the homeless listen to one of their religious sermons, and that appears to only happen in the biggest cities. I don't feel the need to support Christian missionary work.
It seems like almost every day (I guess people are decluttering as their New Year's resolutions) I see posted on Facebook or NextDoor, "Where can I donate things that ISN'T Goodwill?" Why all the hate? I've heard the rumor that the higher ups are greedy and don't pay employees enough (whatever), but to me, it's like "I won't set foot in Walmart because of slave labor." Well, okay, justice warrior, but you're only hurting your OWN pocketbook there. Personally, I love my Goodwill and - although prices have increased, like everywhere else - I still find great stuff there and save tons over buying new. It's like it's become the thing to announce that you won't support them. I also notice that "free" sites on social media seem to be gaining ground, and I worry that this will hurt not only Goodwill but local thrift shops on which needy charities depend for their contributions.
I love Goodwill! I donate and shop there. I've found some amazing things there and sometimes with the original price tags still on the item. Right now, I have 3 different Goodwills that I rotate with. I think one of my favorite finds was a Kenmore canister vacuum cleaner that looked like new, I got for $12. Works awesome. Someone else's junk is someone else's treasure! I could easily afford a new vacuum cleaner, but I'm still frugal with my money.
We don't have a Goodwill in our area, but we have 4 different thrift stores in the nearest small town. I LOVE going through them.
$5 coffee pot (I bought because our last was $140, and died after 2 years), excellent hard cover books (sewing, embroidery, quilting) couple dollars each, cheese knives (4) $3 exactly when I needed them, ramekins with lids (8) $7 when I was needing ramekins... bunch of clothes.
I love a bargain.
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So, if Goodwill isn't hiring "the handicapped" (I mean, they do have to be able to run a cash register and handle merchandise), who are they hiring? Because I see signs advertising getting "a second chance" with Goodwill. I actually think it'd be fun to work there; most of the customers seem to be having a great time picking through all the "treasures."
Last edited by otterhere; 01-16-2023 at 04:51 PM..
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