Thrift Store Question
 

Well, I have about decided that places like Goodwill take donations send them to a central location and then parcel them out to the stores based on what they think will sell at what store. This is partially from noticing that the local Goodwill has far more just plain trash and mores seldom has good stuff than most of them I have been in, and partially because I have seen nothing I have donated show up in the local store. Also while there has only been a store here for about a year there has been a Goodwill donation trailer setting in the K-Kmart parking lot at least since I move here in 2002.

I would be interested in others' opinion about this.

I am also guessing that the take anything with any real value and sell it before it ever makes it to the store.

A local CL flipper had a three wheel bike advertised, and someone placed another ad stating that they had tried to buy the same bike at a thrift store as it was being unloaded. Apparently, they sold it directly to the flipper and no one else had a shot at it, probably explaining why thrift stores aren't very likely to ever have decent bikes.

Our local Salvation Army and Goodwill price the bikes they do have way too high. Once they were trying to get $175 for a cheap Magna. I doubt it was that much new.

I have observed the same trend Rabid Koala. Though I think places like Value(Walmart)Village probably redistribute (and also sell walmart seconds-ever notice several pairs of the same shoes which appear to be brand new?). I don't think the local salvation army or st. Vincent de Paul (sp?) do. But I have noticed the prices, in vancouver they would be asking $80-120 for a department store grade POS (think CCM steel with oversides tubing and stamped steel road bike/BMX style calipers on a MTB). The last time I got a good deal is when I TALKED DOWN the price of a 10speed apollo mixte at salvation army c.2006 to $35 which I promptly dropped another $30 or so dollars on to convert to upright cruiser bars... it was low end, cottered cranks and all but still was within reason as a flip. I have not see a bike worth buying since then. I got a bunch of free bikes from my girlfriend's dad who picked them up at the dump and otherwise my flips during 2006/2007 were taken from deals on craigslist (like 3 road bikes which had been ravaged and attempted to be turned into SS -all failed attempts- for $100 which I promptly tripled my money on). In anycase I do not flip anymore. My last "flip" was a year ago when I bought a crescent for $60 from the community bike shop for the ideale 92 saddle, stronglight competition french threaded cottered crankset, and nuovo record headset I flipped the fameset for the price I paid and kept the parts (oh yeah a 27" wienmann rim laced to a tipo hub was included in that). Since then I have had nothing. You have to watch CL and used vic like a hawk for the unknowing person trying to clean out their garage. You rarely can snag a deal and the thrift stores don't even get decent donations because people have "caught on" and try and sell their 1970s freespirit in non-functioning condition for $150. These days I just stick to combing the used bike shops for parts since they usually sell most thing for nearly flat rate or a couple bucks more. That means my flips are only parts. I fond an NOS Coloral handlebar mount bottle cage for $10 and sold it for $80 on ebay. It's less work than overhauling and in recent months it has kept food in mouth as much as financed my bike projects which are never ending anyway so fliping complete is a thing of the past for me.

I've never scored inside a thrift store. (I did obtain one bike in the parking lot when Goodwill refused to accept it). I find 90% of the bikes I buy at yard sales. Church run yard sales are particularly good. The remainder from CL. I've only purchased 2 bikes from ebay, and only one can be called a flipper.

It varies from store to store as far as bikes are concerned. One Goodwill near me puts them on the floor as soon as they get them and they usually run between $10-$15. Another Goodwill across town doubles those prices for no obvious reason. The local Salvation Army puts ridiculous prices on theirs, usually above $30 even for the junk. Sometimes you can talk them down if there is some obvious work that needs to be done...

I agree thrift store prices are rising. See this 1972 Schwinn Varsity I bought for $30 at Salvation Army two days ago, posted in this thread: http://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.p...5&postcount=17

I think Goodwill does run everything through central places for sorting, fixing, discarding, whatever they do. For example, there are Goodwill stores all through this area, but Goodwill actually runs weekly auctions for certain items in downtown Dallas. They are trying to do whatever they can to generate the most revenue with what they get in.

You guys will annoy the communist with all this talk of flipping thrift store bikes.

Goodwills around here are hit and miss, you gotta be there on Tuesday when their bikes come in. Best deals I've found is yard sales and LOCAL church sales and thrift shops, they seem to want to move the merchandise quick and will come off the price somewhat.

About 4 years ago I got a Frejus (gaspipe) at Salvation Army for $60, but it looked so crappy they probably overlooked it. It had a nice second to last generation Gran Sport front and rear derailleur, some nice flat skewers and other misc. parts that cleaned up well. I made a nice profit parting it out.

Our local Amvets seems to be cheaper on bikes but I have yet to buy one there. When I was in looking for bikes I bought a really nice power mower for $40, and a Hitachi sliding miter saw also for $40.

My local Goodwill always has crap. Typically the tires are flat so you can't test ride them. I discovered there's a reason for that! Because there's some other major problem!! (Shimano 333 IG hub trashed- it worked in 2nd/direct- fortunately, I bought it for the shifter- I hadn't noticed, but it even had a 559mm front wheel instead of a 590)
If it has air in the tires, it'll be a Roadmaster or similar for $40-50.

I have three local Goodwill stores to check out. I have not ever seen bike stuff in two of them. At the third store I once saw a rusty Schwinn Suburban but they always have some tattered kid's BMX bikes and old helmets.

But, because you never know, I keep checking...

Goodwills do not run them through a central processing area, at least in this area. Watch donations you make yourself as a guide. I donate items regularly, and they are on the shelf within a few hours. The stores in crappy areas have crappy goods, the stores in nicer areas have nicer goods.

The best store for me is one in the more affluent area. They get nice donations and stuff moves fast (like immediately). There are several professional pickers at this store (people that stand by and wait for every item to come out). These pickers spend are in the store every day, for several hours, picking up items for their flea market booth and ebay stores. And there is a line out front to get in the store when it opens. Fortunately the pickers are focused on clothes, toys, knicknacks and furniture. I have seen them descend on a rack of coats and grab them four or five at a time right off the sorters rack (this is the rack they roll out to stock the store racks). The clothes don't make it to the regular rack. In talking to some of these pickers, they don't even go to another thrift store. They know this store gets the best items, so they just camp out there.

This is one reason if you want to be a serious thrift store bargain hunter, you have to visit a lot of them to figure out which ones get the decent goods, and price them right. And then it is best to stop often, if at all possible. I have picked up about 30 bikes at thrift stores in the past year. But be prepared to do some work on them: tires, cables, lube, rust, missing pieces.

As far as flat tires, its the condition the bikes arrive in. A bike sits in someone's basement, shed, or garage, the air leaks out over time, and the tires are flat. 90% of the flat tires I find in thrift stores hold air when I pump them up. I have not seen any connection between flat tires and general mechanical condition (other than the cables will be frozen, basic neglect, that kind of thing).

I did pick up a bike once that had flat tires, and they were pretty nice tires. A quick look and I noticed there were no valve stems. In fact, someone had removed the tubes, and yet the tires were mounted. Wierd...

Even though I am finding bikes, 99% of the time, I come up empty.

Best thrift store deals in the last year: $16 Lotus Classique, $14 Schwinn Super Sport, $36 Schwinn Tempo, and $18 Trek 330.

YMMV.

If it's decent here, it never hits the floor of a thrift shop. The people working there skim that stuff first. At least here they do.

Thrift stores are obviously hit and miss. A lot seem to be selling items elsewhere these days (internet mostly). Anything that gets put out on the floor needs to go through the hands of the workers so I imagine some nice stuff is snatched up by employees before ever seeing the sales floor.

In my area there are four thrift stores I got to on a regular basis. All four have yielded flipper bikes in the past and even one or two I have kept for myself. The pricing is all over the map even at the same place. The one on the west side of town (Value World) is generally the lowest priced of them all, but hardly has bikes more than a few kids bikes and an occasional dept store adult. The other three are around the corner from each other and differ greatly. One is a Salvation Army, the other is a city owned Reuse/Recycle, and the third is the PTO shop run by the school district maybe? I have found bike stuff at all of them. The PTO I have only found small accessories (pedals, shoes, bags), but they are usually a few bucks only. I have never bought a bike there. The Salvation Army now has a fleet of kids bikes and not a single adult even department store bike. I have found some very good deals there. Most of the bikes a few years ago I would find for under $20. I guess they got a smarter (saw the $$$), and started pricing bike higher. There isn't a rhyme or reason to their pricing. Last year I picked up a Miyata road bike for $20 with a rear rack, trunk bag, and frame bag. Next to it was a Varsity priced at $120 and a Collegiate priced at $150 guess which one I bought. The Reuse/recycle center has been my best source always. But, I go there a few times a week even multiple times in the same day. They were for a period overpricing their bikes. They have been a lot more reasonable lately. Right now they have a Peugeot US.Express MTB in decent shape and it is $35. The only problem is they haven't been getting many bikes of any size/shape lately being winter here in Michigan. I picked up a road bike a month or so ago from their that was $10. It had all Shimano 105 and 600 parts on it. I parted it out and sold a few items so far and have made a few hundred bucks in profit already on it.

Ebay and CL have got me a few bikes at decent prices with probably a few more coming from CL. Generally the Ebay bikes I buy are for myself and are more expensive than the average flipper I get. Garage sales have always been my best source, but this summer was very tough for that working Thursday-Monday every week. I would search CL garage sale ads and try to stop at a few on my way to work. I did end up with a number of bikes from that, but not as many as I would have been able to get if I could spend the whole day searching.

Thrifting for bikes around here is a waste of time. I saw one good bike on the floor at the local SA last year. A not-bad Centurion for $400 !!!!!

NOTHING of great value ever hits the floor in my area. Bikes, antiques,cameras are all pulled aside for friends of employees. The only time you find something good is when the employees don't know what they are looking at ( like a Nikon leather camera case new in the box for $3). I have all but given up on thrift stores for bikes.

On the other hand, the Goodwill store in my area that participates in the Goodwill store auction site (www.shopgoodwill.com) yielded my near-perfect Peugeot last summer for $15 plus handling.

Also last summer, I bought a lime green 1974 women's Schwinn Suburban from a Salvation Army -- it was priced at $49.99, IIRC, but there was a 25% senior citizen discount that day only which they gave me because I asked for it, even though I'm not a senior citizen. Although perhaps I look like one to people under age 30. That bike only needs some cleaning, but still, that price was not a bargain.

I rarely see any bikes in thrift stores. Occasionally, you'll see some trashed kids bikes or a girls Varsity that looks like it was dredged from the bottom of a lake, but not that often. I even got a bit excited to find a pretty clean black Huffy cruiser in a Salvation Army recently, but then decided it really wasn't worth the $30 asking price. Ho hum.

Will have to wait for spring yard sales and church sales for the real finds! Last summer I found a clean Schwinn Sprint with Suntour components for $30 and a clean Panasonic DX-1000 for $40 at 2 yard sales on the same day, and felt extremely lucky.

Frankly I've seen better pickings at the pawn shops. Not cheap, but better chance of finding a good vintage bike. I found a small-frame Nishiki road bike with 105 components for $80, a large-frame Bianchi for $100. The Bianchi was tempting, but I just couldn't justify it.

I agree that the best prices are at church rummage sales and garage sales. But most bikes tend to be department store bikes or kids bikes or low-end Schwinns.

I got two bikes for $130 for both at a church sale (kind of) this fall (click on the 1966 and 1994 bikes in my sig for more). It was at my church and I find out about them before the actual sale and snapped them both up.

Our local Salvation Army has actually stopped receiving donations at the store. Donators are directed to their main location downtown. On Saturdays, they park a truck in the parking lot and they'll take donations there.

As a hobby, I pick up bikes from garbage piles or wherever, fix them (repair, not restore) and donate them to the Salvation Army. I gave them 17 bikes in 2008.

I've found that bicycles tend to go directly into the store and onto the floor. Occasionally they'll load them onto the truck. I'd like to think that those bikes end up with people in the city that need them for transportation or to kids.

One time I dropped off some kids' bikes and then went into the store to have a look around. I happened to witness the bikes I just donated get wheeled onto the floor where they were immediately snatched up by a family. Quite satisfying!

The Salvation Army receives many estate donations.
They have a Central Warehouse in Atlanta Georgia.

If you understand how most thrift stores work, its not about supplying inexpensive items to needy people. Instead, it is all about collecting donations (free goods) and selling them. Then the money from selling is used to fund their worthy causes. In the case of Goodwill, its about helping people enter the workforce. Some work in the back of the Goodwill store, picking up donations, sorting clothes, marking sizes and so on. Then you have the people that work in the store itself.

So the more customers they get (and the more donations they get) the better. Otherwise, overflow items end up either being sent overseas (clothes mainly) or the dumpster (where Goodwill ends up paying landfill charges). The Goodwills around here need more customers, as donations outweigh sales.

The needy folks helped by Salvation Army, Goodwill, etc, are not the store customers. They are the people working in the stores and the people they assist with the money they make from the stores. If you look around the store at the customers, you will see a cross section of society. Check the parking lot, same thing.

So if you agree with the mission of the charity (Salvation Army, etc), then donate to them. I like both of their missions, so I donate to both several times a month. But if your goal is to help needy people get bicycles, then find a local bicycle co-op. Many of them have the mission of getting bicycles into the hands of those less fortunate.