People who have money shopping at Goodwill?

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What’s your opinion on people who have money shopping at thrift stores and Goodwill? By money I mean people who are very financially stable.

People who have money did not get that way by spending it all at expensive stores.  Is is called being thrifty.

I shop at Goodwill or thrift shops sometimes. It helps create jobs, it supports local charities, and I'm against big-ticket consumerism. If I want something simple like a book or a table, why not?

I should add that I also donate a lot of goods to thrift shops for the same reason.

As someone who shops in what we in the UK call 'charity shops' all the time, it had never occurred to me that anyone might object to me shopping there because I could technically afford to buy new.

I just prefer to buy secondhand generally because I don't like adding to the demand for new stuff.

If the stuff you buy at these places is high-quality, why any objection? There could be second-hand stuff that is high-quality.

The only trouble is that it's a hassle for urban people without big pickup trucks or SUV's to pick up furniture. They have to hire a moving van or truck.

I think the implication here is that financially stable people shouldn't buy cheap second-hand stuff but instead leave it for those who can't afford to buy new.

I was just asking people’s opinions. I wasn’t doing any implying.

I think it’s fine.

My friends do it. Their business is very successful and they could have high personal incomes but instead they keep the money in the business to grow it while living off of regular just above average income. They started shopping at thrift stores when they were young and broke, now they just do it because new full retail priced clothing is a waste of money.

I don’t think they’re taking advantage of inexpensive goods someone else might buy that has very little money. I think they’re just doing as they’ve always done and keeping humble while also teaching their kids to be frugal vs wasteful.


When I was a kid a family better off than us with half as many kids shopped at thrift stores and told my parents they should. My dad felt it was wrong to buy things there that poorer people needed so made do with sales at retail stores. Different perspective.

I’ve personally shopped at them when I was super broke, then continued as I built up savings. A couple years ago I would bug work jeans and cheap tshirts for doing dirty dusty work, I’d wear them out and buy more. Now it’s been a couple years since I’ve thrift store shopped as I’ve done different work so I buy new jeans at Costco for $18.95 - about twice the price as a thrift store, but they fit me well and my size/fit is very hard to find.

I don’t Need to save every penny, but I still think it’s wasteful to go spend $80-100+ on jeans at a department store.

Thrift stores are kind of for everyone - hell, I bet even famous musicians score some of their favourite funky costume items at thrift stores.

I just mean that the question itself implies there might be something wrong with it. That the opinion that it's bad or unfair might exist for some people. Otherwise why be a question?

I appreciate I have carelessly done a little implying of my own that you might be of said opinion. Not my intention at all. And even if you were I wouldn't want to imply you were wrong as haven't really ever thought about it in that way before.

I used to do it a lot until they closed my favorite store
I don't like to spend too much time on shopping and I prefer to buy only what I really need, which is not well adapted for most of these stores - but I generally carry the habits from times when I was poor and I find them reassuring - if I get poor again, I'd know how to carry on.
I donate, too, especially children clothes that get too small before they get damaged - my own clothes I tend to wear until they are definitely undonatable

My general thought is that dividing things and services into categories like "for the poor" and "for the wealthy" is unhealthy for societes. I've seen quite a lot of people spending disproportionate parts of their income on pretending to be wealthier than they really are - which of course keeps them way poorer than they could be.
When wealthy people live modestly, this pressure is eased. Riding a bicycle in Western Europe does not make anyone think of you as unable to afford a car.

at goodwill and similar, i have been victimized by rich people who snagged stuff right outta my hands while sneering at me. so i am biased against those stores being available to the wealthy. just like how you have to have a costco card to shop at costco, you should have a poverty card to shop at those charity stores. let the wealthy buy brand-new.

Not everyone that appears wealthy is wealthy

Not everyone that appears poor is poor

While I see it as wrong for a customer to snatch merchandise out of another customers' hands, that should be a store policy, that anyone caught doing that, banned permanently from the store. However, I don't think that that alone justified a "poverty card"

Anyone could make any facial expressions for any reason. That is not illegal or anything like that, and I don't think it should be, even though plenty of people make unjustified nonverbal communication at me. Nonverbal communication is just too subtle and difficult to enforce. People with conditions such as autism do not always control their facial expressions.


Your proposal of a (poverty card) could be labeled as (socioeconomic discrimination) by opponents and (capitalism) by proponents

Where I live, nobody needs financial documentation for food pantries or soup kitchens

Financial documentation is necessary for some things, like government benefits

If I wasn't afraid to ride a bike in the streets, I'd ride to work every day.

My disability income would qualify for poverty level. I've also lived in a shelter.

I'm not scamming anyone if I go to a charity shop.

My last purchase was a book. It's not like I'm clearing them out of their best items.

You can find nice antique items in a charity shop sometimes. I don't see anything wrong with these places being open for all to purchase items.

I concur. Money talks and wealth whispers.

I noticed an interesting trend with the genuinely wealthy. They seem to not care what others think of them. To them money is just a number and a game where getting the highest score matters. Flaunting that high score is just secondary and they largely don't care.

With "fake rich" impressing others (others who don't care about you anyway) matters. All the familiar brands they spend their money on and quickly run out.

"Fake rich" walks on with a suit, shiny Rolex and orders the lobster to impress everyone.

"Real rich" walks in with cheap curry stained clothes, a Patek Philippe that nobody heard of and orders a greasy burger because he/she is a badass.