189 Thrift store volunteer

Confessions of a Thrift Store Volunteer

I have been volunteering once a week for about two months at a thrift shop. It is one that I had frequently visited so I knew I liked the attitudes of the staff and volunteers. Plus they have good stuff!

I have helped at the Winchester Rotary Club Rummage Sale for a number of years so I felt I had an appreciation for the amount of stuff we Americans buy and then discard. Wrong!

Usually, the floor is also
piled high with bags.

On my first day, I was assigned to work with an experienced volunteer, emptying big black garbage bags--a huge stack of them--and sorting out the clothes to keep from the clothes that go into "Done Bags," which go to a clothing recycler. I was amazed at the tremendous amount of clothing to be sorted. The pile never went down--most days it seems to grow even though there could be as many 

as five or six people working at it.

Sisyphus Sorting Clothes

Equally astonishing is the high percentage of clothes that go into the Done Bags. Clothing that is dirty, stained (some very nasty), ripped, tired, badly wrinkled, missing buttons, etc., immediately goes into a Done Bag. I would guess 75% to 95% goes into the Done Bags.

Of course, there are exceptions, such as a clothing retailer cleaning out excess inventory. One day a woman brought in her late husband's entire wardrobe--just out of the washer and dryer and on hangers. 

That story we knew, but other bunches of clothes often lead you to make up stories about the donors. Was it a woman who went from a size 12, to a 14, and then to a 16; or were there multiple family members all with the same taste in clothing? We are always guessing why a single item comes in with the tags still intact. A gift not liked or it didn't fit or match? One of my favorite volunteers, who works five to six days a week at unpacking those endless plastic bags of clothes, often exclaims, "Can you believe someone paid $78 (or some other amount) for THIS?"

I have lost my taste for buying retail. However, my purchases at thrift stores have significantly declined as well. I see so much stuff come in that I have become very picky.

Most of the volunteers also seem that way, but the woman who was my initial trainer takes out bags of stuff each time she works. She may be on her way to being a hoarder!

I also take things out to display in the shop and have helped some people I fear are hoarders. All the bargains--with some marked 50% or 75% off--seem irresistible to some folks, regardless of the utility or quality.

Bins of hats, underwear, belts,
etc., waiting to go out.

Of course, there are also hard-working paid staff members, but the spirit of the volunteers is inspiring. Just like other organizations, there is a least one crotchety volunteer who can be disagreeable. I was told to ignore her. 

But most of the volunteers put in many more hours than I do. They do a lot of kidding but also generously pass out compliments on each other's work. 

        Trish