thrift thief

Thrift store pricing is not perfect. Sometimes it's too high and sometimes too low. Apparently, I'm not the only one who feels that way either. I was perusing the children's clothing one day and I pulled out a dress that was several years out of style, dotted with stains down the front, the pattern faded beyond recognition, and marked with a price of $3.99. That's the same price you can get a new dress from the clearance rack at target. Stapled to the front of the dress was a note printed from a home computer that read something like this, "This price is too high! Take this to the manager and demand a better price. Goodwill has been raising their prices in these tough economic times when people need them the most..." I think it went on further, but that's all I can remember.

I laughed to myself for a moment, imagining a mother with her stack of notes and protesting with her stapler. I agree with her sentiment that if you think something has been wrongly priced you should ask (but don't demand) the manager to discount it further, and in fact, I have done this several times. Usually, they are willing to accommodate, taking an additional 20–40% off. I have also, though, noticed another avenue that seems to be too often taken. The floors of the fitting rooms are littered with hang tags. Even the fronts of the benches have price tags stuck to them that have been peeled off merchandise. I'm fairly certain that these are there because shoppers want to cheat the system. Since thrift store tags are vague—usually just noting the department—they can be swapped without raising any flags at the register.

Let me be very clear, I whole-heartedly disagree with doing this. It's the same thing as stealing. In fact, I overheard a conversation between a Goodwill employee and a customer a few weeks ago about this very issue. The customer was convinced that a stereo should have been much cheaper and had asked the employee to change the price. When the employee refused, the customer stated that he would simply swap the tags with another item with a lower price. The employee then made a point of telling him that the store considers that the same as stealing and would (and does) call the police.

It makes me wonder if people view thrift stores differently than a regular retail shops. Does the fact that the items are donated to the thrift store somehow make people feel entitled to pay whatever price they see fit? I can imagine that the tag-swapping shoppers are far less likely to try to steal from the Gap.