Disclosure: I work as a cashier full-time at the location referred to in this article.
Discarded goods land at Goodwill
Text for posterity:
By Frank Lee fclee@stcloudtimes.com
Published: March 25. 2007 12:30AM
WAITE PARK — Kim Clubb sits at the crossroads of the fashion industry even though it may not look like it, given the gray, brick exterior of the Goodwill store she manages.
Clothing donations at the second-hand store spike during the weeks before school starts as fashion- conscious children and their trendy parents look to clean out their closets.
“And as you go from Christmas to spring, you may see a heavier fluctuation of sweater and winter-type things to make room for spring clothes in their closets,” Clubb said.
Garage sale season typically starts in mid-May, but warm weather will drive the date earlier in the calendar year, and the season usually ends around June.
“When a garage sale is done, and an item hasn’t been sold, you’ll see they’ll come to Goodwill with a donation,” Clubb said.
Quality
Shoes, purses, belts, swimsuits, gowns — you name it — chances are the nonprofit has carried it at one time or another, along with goods such as electronics, tools and housewares.
“The quality and condition — that’s all we base the acceptance of items on — not whether it’s something I would wear, I would like or something I think is just hideous,” Clubb said.
Items such as weapons or those on product recall lists will not be accepted by Goodwill, which sorts donations into apparel and “everything else,” such as dishes, books or toys.
“The clothes that meet our quality and standards are put to our pricing station, where they are hung, tagged and placed on the sales floor,” Clubb said.
Stained, torn or shoddy clothing will often not be accepted but sold to “salvage markets” that find a use for them.
“We throw no clothing in the Dumpster — unless it is wet,” said Clubb, who added the base retail prices for apparel, such as jeans for $6.99, are set by the Goodwill corporation.
Sales
More women’s apparel than men’s is dropped off at the Waite Park-based store “because women seem to change their style and go through clothing more,” Clubb said.
“I enjoy the job — meeting all kinds of people who come through,” said Cody Giles, a Goodwill employee.
Clubb estimated 20 percent of the clothing donations the Goodwill in Waite Park receives are deemed unacceptable by its standards and turned over to salvage operators.
“Stuff is on the sales floor for three weeks. After the third week — for two days — those items go on sale for half off, and the third day they go on sale for $1.29,” Clubb said.
“And if after that third day, they haven’t sold, they get pulled off the sales floor and get shipped to our Goodwill outlet facility in the Cities, where things are sold by the pound.”
Goodwill Industries, a global network of community-based organizations, reported that in 2005 retail sales accounted for $1.64 billion (or 62 percent) of the revenue generated.
“I’ve seen a brand new wedding dress with the tags still on it dropped off here, and the person just said, ‘I don’t need this,’ which was by far the weirdest donation,” Clubb said.
Full circle
Jaci Talberg rolled up to the Goodwill Donation Center’s and dropped off a bag of baby clothes that once belonged to her 4-month-old son who was born in November.
“I was a single mom for a long time and came here and shopped, and now I’m just trying to help someone else like Goodwill helped me,” said Talberg, who recently got married.
The 27-year-old personal care assistant and registered nurse is from Santiago, about 20 miles east of St. Cloud, and wanted to help others who may be on a budget.
“And a bunch of the clothes I just dropped off came from Old Navy and Gap — the kind of clothes that are fashionable and wanted,” Talberg said.
