Hacker News Reader

Comment by asdff | Hacker News Reader

The goodwill situation today for niche electronics is actually better than it was back then, thanks to the auction site imo.

View on HN

the volume/variety may have increased, but the value-finds have gotten much worse.

As a kid I used to frequent the Goodwill Electronics Waste store in Santa Ana, you could kit entire machines together for just a few twenties; the value of the parts compared to their once retail price was maybe 5 or 10 % of the MSRP even back then.

I went back two years ago to satisfy my nostalgia and found the place now filled with 3-4 year old product that hovered around the cost to buy the same parts on an online vendor of some sort, and any of the interestingly-old-but-useless equipment like old ISA video cards/early PCI stuff/AT keyboards/anything beige was marked up so huge by some staffer that mistook vintage for value that it was absolutely impossible to find anything worth buying.

Water damaged gameboy faded-grey cartridge? 200 dollars.

Pentium 3 e-Machine? 300 dollars.

480 line composite security camera with no power supply and no hope that it will ever do anything useful ever again in the future?

Does it have a beige or metal casing? 200 dollars.

I think I ended up finding some cheap molex-style 12v fan to buy for a few bucks (more than any online retailer, still), but it was mostly just a guilt purchase to help support the Goodwill.

I left incredibly disappointed.

There was a golden era around the 2000s where Goodwill was amazing for deals - then someone wised up on values of some items and they just went nuts on pricing, especially anything that looks "high tech" - I suspect overpricing computers and not selling ANY of them is why the Goodwills won't take any computers anymore.

So are the prices adjusting to the market? I'd assume the price would get marked down eventually to the point where they can move stuff to make way for other things that come in. While their cost basis is low, they still have to move inventory to be sustainable.

I just wonder if maybe there are a bunch of people out there willing to pay those prices for some reason.

Goodwill isn't part of a "market", it's a charity. As such prices aren't set rationally but emotionally.

The people giving away their time at the register are doing it to feel good about themselves, to "give back", not because they are interested in or have competence in retail. The product being traded between buyer and seller is smug narcissistic self-satisfaction and moving anything at all is irrelevant.

I've volunteered at a similar outfit as a driver and tried to offer some assistance with realistic valuation for the ikea shit that was wasting 60% of the warehouse, but it wasn't welcomed. $300 for a Billy is "reasonable" and it's for a "good cause".

People working the register at Goodwill generally aren’t volunteers, they are paid employees, though they are often paid less than minimum wage.

My case was probably an extreme example, Salvation Army (in Australia) was a mostly volunteer organization for the brief time I was there.

Problem is the same everywhere regardless of pay structure, charity is used to as a crutch to wave off all criticism, a lack of retail competence, and any willingness to learn.

There’s a big difference between Goodwill and Salvation Army. Salvation Army runs thrift stores to raise money to fund their homeless shelters and disaster relief efforts - thus they are generally staffed by volunteers. Goodwill’s charity is … running Goodwill stores. That’s it. They don’t donate money to anyone. They in fact pay their store employees below minimum wage, under the theory that they are providing “job training”.

They also make a big use of court ordered "volunteers". They might be a non profit but their regional directors are pulling in large salaries off an operation that runs essentially on free inventory and below market labor.

When MacKenzie Scott decided to donate billions of dollars to reputable charities, all of the Goodwills got million dollar donations and SA got nothing.

I’m sorry, what? What is their actual purpose then? How do they remain a charity if profits aren’t being used for charitable causes?

Having grown up in the UK I always assumed goodwill stores were just what we call charity shops over here, you’ll find three or four on most high streets, all run by different charities and staffed by volunteers with any proceeds going to fund the charity’s work.

“Paid less than the minimum wage” has been debunked and was referring to one Goodwill organization, employing extremely disabled people who were close to not being able to work. Cashiers are paid at least minimum wage, usually more.

Not quite. The link below is Goodwill’s official statement on the matter. In fact, as of today, “22 of the 151 local Goodwill organizations” make use of special Federal dispensation to pay at least some of their employees sub-minimum wages. Yes, they go on to say they are transitioning away from the program, but that’s far more than one Goodwill organization - and in the recent past, it was much more prevalent. https://www.goodwill.org/about-the-special-minimum-wage-cert...

Yes it is a charity, but when you walk into the store with money you are participating in a market. You aren't going to pay $10,000 for a broken Pentium computer. Goodwill is still trying to sell stuff and if the inventory doesn't move at all, they will lower prices. If the prices are high, it is because there are enough people willing to pay those prices to justify keeping them at that level.

> the volume/variety may have increased, but the value-finds have gotten much worse.

Yes, awareness of competing buyers (and better market access of the seller) erases arbitrage opportunities. Venues that price at a steal compared to the broader market are not in a stable equilibrium.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com