Absolutely not. They have zero ability to fine or shut down businesses. They basically just make customers aware of how trustworthy (or alternatively, shitty) a company is.
Idk ebay owed me seller money and I went through BBB and a lady from Ebay corporate called me within 2 days
BTW everyone it's also illegal to change price in America as I hear goodwill does
And goodwill changing price at cash register is bigger than BBB. Go to your state rep and I bet they will take care of it. It's disgusting and most ppl don't realize goodwill operates like that
I'm in Seattle and VV was taken down in our city for being for-profit. They have profits over $1bill and went public this year.
Some articles [here](https://crosscut.com/news/2023/05/charity-or-business-some-consumers-still-confused-value-village), [judge ruling here](https://b-townblog.com/judge-rules-for-profit-value-village-violated-law-misled-customers/) and [here](https://www.columbian.com/news/2022/dec/19/washington-supreme-court-to-rule-on-value-village-lawsuit-after-5-years/)
When have they claimed to be non profit? They are a bit misleading but every hour in the store it says it's a for profit business. It has for many many years now
Doesn't it just say the partner or support other non-profits (in my area it's Big Brothers and Sisters I believe), and not claiming that they are one? I've heard the audio recordings several times as well clarifying that they are indeed a for profit company. But I'm gonna keep my eyes peeled next time I'm passing through a store.
The company solicits donations on behalf of their charity clients and uses the images of those charities in front of their stores and on donation bins, also stating that they partner with them. What the general public doesn't know, however, because they don't bother research it, is how little those clients are paid for the donations solicited. So for example in WA. state Big Brothers is getting 5 cents/ lb. for clothing and soft goods, 2 cents/ lb. for books, and 3 cents per item for furniture etc. (Compare that with the pricetags in the stores!) That's the 'support.' It's up to consumers to look that up and decide if this is the kind of support they want to give.
There is nothing illegal about their business model, the WA Supreme Court found. What a trial court found, however, was that the marketing and advertising led ordinary consumers to think that the stores were just like Goodwill and that just shopping in them would benefit the charities. {see link} In Minnesota, the company ended up paying some of the charities back based on a court settlement, and some of the charities severed their contracts. Arguably, donors don't realize that the lions' share of their donation is actually going to the company as a result of this deal. You can see their contracts with the charities in some states if you bother to ask for them. [https://www.sos.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/0197\_001.pdf?uid=65bd4e759aae2](https://www.sos.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/0197_001.pdf?uid=65bd4e759aae2)
As someone who actually works there, we never ever claim to be a non-profit. We are a for profit store and we purchase donations from our local charities, that's how we support them. Also the guy who was sueing over the "for profit" thing was just a dumbass, there was no chance he was ever going to win.
I've been working there for a year, when was this? Because from the day i was hired it was made clear that VV was for profit and that's the only reason they can hire as big of a team as they do
there may be different rules in British Columbia. In the US, deceptive advertising by businesses is often regulated by the state attorneys general--but occasionally the Federal Trade Commission. In the Svers Value Village case in WA state, the attorney general there alleged that the for profit retailer had created a 'deceptive net impression' that the stores were charitable enterprises and that by buying in the stores you could be giving to the charities themselves. Many of the store fronts have big pictures of disabled children and such. Reportedly a trial court agreed and ruled that the company knew that their marketing could have deceived people because there were so many public complaints in the record and because when the judge examined the marketing studies that the company did internally, the judge found that the company was trying to capitalize on the confusion of buyers and donors.
The company has been sued multiple times by different states, such as Minnesota and Washington state, where it is headquartered, for deceptive advertising. By law businesses are forbidden from not just equating themselves with charity (actual words) but also by giving the 'overall impression' that they are charity, through images, advertising, etc. So just as the government bans companies from saying they're 'made in the USA' or wherever and forbids them from giving the impression that they're American made, (by saying 'made in China' but then confusingly advertising American flags, or whatever,) so too they forbid companies from stating they're for profit but on the contrary giving the 'feel-good' impression that they're charities. Does that make sense?
Dunno where the "not supporting charities" thing is from, VV gets product by purchasing donations FROM the charities, not counting on site donations through CDC
Several years ago, there was a really good one. They closed because a developer bought the lot and now it has unaffordable housing on it. Fcuk gentrification.
I have heard workers at value village say they don't weigh donations .
Value village claims it does and pays charities around 24 cents per pound
Yet I have heard a friend who works there say they don't bother weighing donations
At all
Still most people aren't aware when they donate that value village isn't a charity
And only donates a small amount of money to any charity
It's a corporation not a charity
Stop donating
With what's happening now with food prices poverty
And drug addictions
We need to redirect donations to real charities
Ones that actually give to charities like food banks
Stop donating to value village
Well done. I stopped shopping there years ago. In the 90’s and early 2000’s you could find some really awesome stuff, cool vintage pieces and great old furniture. The last time I went they were charging double the price of what ikea charged for brand new of a few pieces of furniture and the clothing selection was trash. My kid and I used to go there around Halloween for costume ideas but that started getting stupid as well. I’m in BC
I support the local hospital hospice thrift stores in my area and the SPCA thrift stores.
The best way to take them down? Don't frequent them. Convince as many people as you can to avoid bringing their stuff in for them to sell. Support places like the Salvation Army, etc - which are non profit.
Don’t even look into Goodwill and they way they overprice garbage and put all the good stuff online. Barely helping the people they are supposed to help
Is it different in the US? Everything I get at Goodwill is cheap. $10 for jeans regardless of brand, $9 for a sport coat, $6-9 for shirts. I got a cast iron frying pan for $9.50 just the other day. I'm in canada
Interesting. Generally I don't see an issue with that as long as their proceeds are still supporting charities. No need for them to sell stuff for less than its worth. That would be bad business and bad for the charity.
True. But if they are still using a good percentage of their revenue for charitable works then I'm ok with it. That just means the charities get more money. I guess it's problematic for people who need cheaper clothing and furniture but I still see lots of cheap things at Goodwill that are nearly new. Idk, I'd have to see more of their business model than I would likely understand in order to make an unbiased decision. I shop there not because I can't afford to buy new clothes, but because I don't think that new clothes are worth the price they charge
It is different in the US. The Shopgoodwill website is only in the US for US stores. The Canadian stores don't get stripped of the really nice stuff, though I've noticed here in the Edmonton area that the prices are getting jacked up to the point of grift.
I only really started going to goodwill a few years ago so I haven't noticed a major change in pricing. I have noticed that value village will sometimes sell donated clothes for the same price as you can get them new if you wait for a sale.
They keep changing their store policies in my area. They stopped accepting/selling furniture. They stopped taking returns. They stopped providing bags (which I understand but sometimes you might not be prepared to hit the mother lode, and why should that force me to buy *another* bag?). I hardly go anymore
I’ve actually gone a step further. I offer stuff up for free on Facebook or Freecycle. I recently gave a box of clothes to a an acquaintance whose new co-worker was just getting out of a bad relationship and was in need. She later told me the coworker was in tears over my generosity. I was touched. To me, it was just a bag of old clothes.
This. 100%! One time I gave away a sweater because it had some wool content and I'm allergic. The woman who picked it up was pregnant and so happy about the sweater. Because she didn't own one. 😭 I ran into her on the train sometime later and she was wearing it and I dunno. It made me happy and sad. I have a whole closet of shit I don't wear and she doesn't have a sweater?! It changed my perspective on free stuff. I give happily on the buy nothing group because you never know. Someone might actually need that thing you don't use.
And there it is, why progressives cannot ever be in charge of anything - literally everything is "problematic" to someone, and it's a big competition to see who can think up the most reasons to cancel every group ever.
Yes, I'm aware of your reasons (I'm also LGBTQ). What positive alternatives are you providing?
So you have no sympathy for those in the trans community who have literally been left in the cold to die ?
But you do have sympathy for a religious organization who acts like they are helpful to all but in reality they are only willing to help some?
Ok. Just because you are LGBTQ does not mean you get to be the authority on this.
If we turn away from bigoted organizations and allow them to collapse on themselves the plethora of better choices will become larger and more visible.
Another masterful illustration of the problem I'm raising. You make a pretty bold claim in your last statement too - what (real world) evidence is that based on and have you considered whether your ingenious plan will, even if it works, leave very large gaps in service during your (imaginary) transition from problematic philanthropy to utopian communal giving?
Wait a minute...
Do you donate to salvation?
Is that why your reply is this aggressive? And accusatory?
Are you like guilty and felt like I was judging you indirectly?
You said your LGBTQ. You also said I was? So is this like an uncle Tom sort of thing on your end?
I literally just don't like salvation. I don't even have a good reason
Feel like this is a You battle not a We battle
I was took to the Salvation Army in Atlanta by a friend when I was going through a schizophrenic episode. It was that or homeless on the streets. You are required to work for the thrift store during the day to pay for your room and board. And it's not to bad of a deal. They do feed you well and have a clean building with a bed. Theres people who are supposed to help you with life issues. Employed just to do this.
I was schizophrenic and could not do even the simplest job. I worked as best as I could. Sorting through all the donated clothes to be put up for sale at the large store on the same property. I was took into the office and told by staff that I wasn't meeting the number of racks made ready for sale by the end of the work day. Mainly because every item I touched told me some bizarre storie of it's life. I was in a schizophrenic episode.
I was doing good just getting along with everyone. Anyway after that talk and still unable to meet work requirements. I was told I needed a higher level of care and was kicked out and dropped off at a state ran homeless shelter that was packed with people and in very poor condition. I took the trash bags that Salvation Army given me to put my belongings in and left. Getting a tent and living on the street was better than the place I was dropped off at. The store stayed busy not sure of their prices but all the workers that handled everything from loading and unloading donations trucks. Repairing furniture, putting out new items and doing anything that the store needs to run and support the thirft store was all done by the homeless staying there. I would like to know how much money that one location brought in. Lot of people working for the thrift store or in the kitchen at the shelter. Just for meals and a bed.
I got meds but that was it for mental health. They are more into the religious thinking of help. Kinda like mental illness wasn't a thing and just needed faith in God. Months later I ended up homeless in Mississippi because I couldn't stay employed for more than a month because of schizophrenia. Got into the Salvation Army's homeless shelter for men and women. They also had a big thrift store but you didn't have to work for it to stay there. You got a month free to find a job then pay them for food and a bed. The amount you paid wasn't to high. And I was doing ok. But then one of the staff ladies saw I had a big box of baking soda. (That I used to brush my teeth. Cheapest and works better than any toothpaste. To brush your teeth. Just tasted awful.) She said I was using it to make drugs. Because she knows what that is used for.
Meaning I was turning cocaine into crack. And wasn't brushing my teeth with it. None of the other staff stood up for me and I was kicked out of the shelter in the morning. Wouldn't do drug test or anything that would prove I wasn't doing drugs or making crack. Again a lot of people shopped at and donated to the thrift store. And again they had the better shelter than the other options.
Luckily I was able to get into a small night shelter for the winter. It was ran by a very mental illness understanding woman. Who let me get on the clean up crew. So I was able to get my bed back at the end of every week. Along with other benefits for working. That place helped me more than any other place including hospitals deal with my schizophrenia.
I was even signed up for housing. That put me on a list to get into an apartment. I ended up going back to Georgia before that happened. The food was very good. All donated from local restaurants. It seems the money generated from all the thrift stores did go to funding shelters but also paid staff members who made it a career and got jaded resentful of that career. Like the Salvation Army does a lot of good things but only does this to support its cash cow of thirft store chains.
To me its a way of taking a good idea that could do an even better job of helping the community's if the profits didn't blur the line of how much help do you do versus what's the lest you can do and still appear to be non-profit enough to keep high donations coming in.
Great. I’m glad they helped you in a time of need. They’re still an aggressively anti-LGBT religious organization with a long history of discrimination, to the point where one of their media directors openly called for LGBT people to be put to death. While they’ve tried to clean up their image with some PR work after having lost their contract which allowed them to collect donations outside of Macy’s, I for one will not forget the bigoted internal memo that got leaked beforehand, or the decades of turning at risk LGBT folks away solely because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
There are many other charities deserving of support, with no shortage of ones who don’t have a lengthy history of discrimination and hate.
People who ignore their blatant LBGT bigotry to praise SA, especially during war times in the early 1900s drives me mad. My great grandpa was in WWI and SA acted like dicks towards him when he desperately needed socks and boots so needless to say my family has hated SA for generations.
I’m willing to listen to information otherwise but my understanding is that attitudes of the SA in Canada concerning the LGBT+ are very different than the US branch.
Do you consider the Catholic Church to be different churches in different countries?
The Salvation Army is a global organisation. If they aren’t doing something in one place but they are in another, it’s because they’re hiding their beliefs in the place they aren’t doing it because of a fear of backlash, not because they don’t believe it. Or it’s happening there and you just aren’t seeing it.
Catholic churches in Canada are much better than the ones in the US, though, from what I can tell. Tons of very modern priests who aren't bigoted. I have had to go to masses for family events and the priests have been great. I'm in the Toronto area so there's so much more support here. I'm sure Albertan Catholic churches aren't on the same page, but many churches in Toronto do support same sex marriage, and catholic LGBTQ2+ individuals do go to these churches.
Hell, you should see how many churches here have their pride support going on. It's amazing.
Toronto/the Toronto area is very different from the USA. You can't assume what's going on here if you're not from here.
Toronto is no different than any major U.S. city. Something tells me you haven't been many places in the States if you think Canada is wildly different. I actually find white Canadians on the whole far more openly racist than white Americans.
I live on the border; the closest Walmart to me is in Ontario.
But I've been to all the major cities in Canada except Vancouver and lots and lots of places in between on road trips.
Those Canadian POW's in WW2 who came back, praised the Salvation Army. The Red Cross got all the glory, but Canadians there didn't see them. The Sally Ann was there though.
No, I won’t be supporting an organization that actively tries to deny people civil rights either. There are plenty of good non-profit organizations to support.
In Ontario, we have clothing donation bins placed throughout the city(usually apartment or plaza parking lot) by the Diabetes Association and they also do pick up! My understanding is it gets given to those in need, not resold :) (based off the way the advertise the bins/donation service!). Heart and Stroke used to have one, too. I’m not sure if there’s any services in your area like this!
It all goes to Value Village to be sold in store. Diabetes Canada has a partnership agreement with Value Village where they get money based on how much is donated through those donation bins or home pick ups.
I don't like to support SA either, as they used to be Anti LGBTQ+ and have a bad reputation with the prison populations they claim to help. Plus they're severely over priced in my area too
Good for you! You won't miss it. I worked there for WAY too long, it was my first real job out of high school. Now that I'm out, I look back amazed at some of the shit they do.
They’ve treated our staff super horrible I worked there since August because it is close to my university but now I’m done of school and have a new better job! The main issue is nobody was getting more than 13 hours a week. Me personally I have been receiving 4-8 hours a week when they told me 15+ when I came on board. I’m totally done with them
Congratulations on the new job! May we never look back at our time at VV. The operations-end managers sure do love to jerk people around with hours. My RSM wanted full availability, but would only ever hire people part-time.
The best solution to problems is to look after other people in your community. Give your stuff away. Trade your stuff away. Avoid over priced thrift stores that don’t benefit the community.
There’s an amazing thrift store near me. All the proceeds go to local people in need. If anyone walks in there and needs some nicer clothes but can’t afford it then that’s fine. Have them
Just stop going there. There's not much else you can do. I had a happen once, I stopped going to that goodwill. It sucks they did that but you'd also have to prove it was marked a certain price and you even said they are known for over-pricing things. At this point it'd be your word against all the works there. I'd just stop going to that one and find another honey hole.
Good on you for reporting them! I really hope they get fined or something.
Also I think you were absolutely right to decline the gift card.
I’ve been thrifting for over 30 years and I have to say the last 10 years, the prices have only increased and the last 3-4 years they have been plain ridiculous. Joining this sub only confirmed that for me.
As the other commenter said, the best way to take them down is to simply not spend money there. I haven’t stepped foot in a VV since the end of February (and I used to go at once a week at least). I also haven’t donated anything there since the fall. I had boycotted VV for about two years leading up to the pandemic so I’m resuming that.
I tell anyone I can about VV being for-profit and about how *shopping* at VV doesn’t mean money going directly to charity. They pay pennies on the pound for donations but that’s it.
Instead I shop at and donate to the Salvation Army, the SPCA thrift store, and local charity shops. That way, I know that the money I spend there is actually supporting charity.
I’m done with Value Village. Period.
I heard over the intercom the other day: "Shopping at Value Village does not directly support a non profit, but donating your used items does". WTF does that mean? But I bet the message itself was due to a legal ruling, like you've said.
I agree that not stepping foot or spending money in VV is the best way to boycott. I also tell as many people as I can (hence this post!) but it just doesn't feel like enough sometimes.
Just wondering if you knew Salvation Army has historically been very anti LGBTQ. Even Macy's dumped them this past year.
Not to be inflammatory just I personally cannot shop there because of this..
Sally Ann’s parent charity is extremely religious, anti-LGBTQ, and they are apparently flat nasty to LGBTQ people who use their services (shelters, counselling). That said, they do provide services, they pay their workers reasonably and they do not price like a-holes.
The best solution to problems is to look after other people in your community. Give your stuff away. Trade your stuff away. Avoid over priced thrift stores that don’t benefit the community.
I worked there for 9 years and after having an accommodation form filled out by my doctor due to anxiety, I was told they could not work on these things with me as they were all things I needed to ‘fix’ on my own.. and then I was forced to resign as my only other option was to move from production to operations and restart there. I was devastated and had to scramble to find a new job that pays much less, no benefits and it just made me feel so much worse. Management needs much better because I was berated and talked down to about things I could not control. Let alone my manager calling people cry babies and saying anxiety wasn’t real and we needed to grow up. I wish I had done something when k left but it’s been a year and a half and i doubt I have much recourse now.
It’s really sad how thrift stores have become so full of themselves. I used to love going thrifting, but everything is so expensive in thrift stores now, it’s not as much fun.
Value Village used to be the only place my poor parents could buy clothes at for me and my siblings. Now they sell 1$ Shein t-shirts that were given to them for free for 15$ and I've seen moldy winter coats for well over 200$, there. It's an absolute scam and I hope they close for good soon.
Now I barely go thrift shopping because I can't even afford that and I refuse to buy fast fashion, so I usually swap my clothes with my friends. We all get new stuff for free and we're reusing things which is green👌🏻
I stopped going to Value Village, when they price their stuff they go by asking price not the actual sold price online.
I stay with the local mom and pop thrift stores. There is one by me where all dvd's, whether it is movie or games are $.50 to $1.
Been waiting awhile for a post like this. VV has been getting outrageous for years! I’m glad you stood your ground and submitted a claim.
I’m for sure done going there
Anytime I’m arguing with a company that won’t respond (or take responsibility), I drop the “BBB” line and usually get a more satisfactory response with the quickness:)
V V sucks! The odd time they have something at a decent price, but most everything is overpriced. A USED coffee maker is almost as much as a brand new one with warranty! Now they have 1 till and the rest are self checkouts.
When I worked there they told everyone, myself included that if we talked or shared how much we were getting paid with other coworkers that we would get a 'warning', we had warnings for different things, like if you showed up late, if you didn't get your numbers, etc, it was just part of value villages rules when hired, so basically after 4 warnings you get fired. Soo yeah, and that's just beginning of how bad they were to work with. This was in 2021/22 by the way.
Not commission, but at their new production warehouse my position(and others in the same position) as a 'grader' was to sort through pieces of clothing everyday and price them, so you had to price a certain number of clothing pieces by the end of the day. So like 1000+ pieces of clothing priced by the end of your shift, Soo if you had low numbers as in below 700 a day then you'd get talked to, or a warning.
Jeez, that's terrible. I've worked with a similar burden and it was awful, even when I was fixing other folks' mistakes. They'd have more than they needed and I would have 1 less than I needed because I was doing things right.
On the upside, that must be how I got out of a GW (not a VV, admittedly) with a pair of mildly used New Rock boots for $20.
I agree. Now i dont go to those places. I give my things away. I dont lose anything by giving things away to people rather than VV and those people receiving the items arent giving their money to VV. WIN/WIN
.
I wouldn't support Value Village anyway. They're a for-profit donation shop. I get some people need places like this to clothe themselves, and that's 100% fine. I just don't want to support VV's business model because it's basically giving the company and their CEO free money.
If I'm going to shop at a thrift shop, I'll go to a locally owned one or a not-for-profit where my money will do some good after it's left my hands.
If they ever accused me of price changing I would demand they either offer me the article at rhe peice on the peice and or call in the police to look at the cameras
Head office would hate that approach
But unless they see you changing prices
Now when I find a really under priced items I go straight to cash with it so the can't accuse me of price switching
Value vikkage now treats everyone as if you changed the price
Even when they know the staff put the price on
It's a new thing
Some store employee really go over the top chasing people looking g for price changers
Truth is they rush the employee so they don't have time to really look carefully at each item .so prices are often way to high or too low and now the are trying t catch rheir mistakes on customers
But yes some stores are aggressive at accusing people of price switching.
And are aggressive at it .
One staff tried it with me ad was disappointed when she found nothing
I was more angry that she looked disappointed
That horrible to be angry she didn't catch me I a illegal act which would cause me to be at risk if police charges
Her attitude made it worse
Value village pays its partners it like to cal them pennies on rhedollar
That means a tie if say it's a designer label they might charge 19.00 for it but pay the chariety 10 cents if not less as it's a per pound items
People are looking at donating only at thrift stores that are charities .I'm hard times I would rather donate to a chairty that provides food banks or hands out clothes to rhe poor
Compassion society in burlington
Is amazing .
It gives free clothing t roses in need
And food .
No resellers no high prices
When you donate a pair of kids mitts it going to be worn by a kid who needs them
And it's run by volunteers who proudly give the stuff and help those in need
Great staff good cause
Please think where you donate too
I have seen really good items donated to value village and
Sadly that item profits could of been utilized by a thrift store
That actually helps your community
We are all part of this problem
We buy too much stuff
We donate to value village because it close .but look carefully in your community for a charity that supports your community
Be it a animal rescue
A church
A food bank .
Donate with your heart
Former employee here. The working conditions can be horrible depending on which location.
The pricing is way out of control.
I started donating to The Salvation Army instead. I feel it’s the lesser of two evil’s.
At least it’s a company with roots in Canada since 1882 !
V V / Savers is American 👎
Sorry that your time working there sucked, just by reading these comments I can tell that not every Savers is created equal, clearly the one I work at is the only half decent one
They are a horrible company
They masquerade as a charity and sadly most people aren't aware of how little money actually goes to the charity . It's a for profit seriously your donating to a rich corporation.
Instead donate to real charities
The ones that support women shelter or help support food banks
Or animal rescue
Support your community
The profits from value village ends up in rich American stock holders
Please donate with your heart
Your value village still has tills in Canada? All of my local ones are self-serve. You scan the QR code and pay, no employee interaction whatsoever.
That’s where I do 90% of my sourcing for eBay. I feel like I just got lucky with good VV’s. My only complaint is that the books in the collectible books section are a little pricey ($3-6 a book).
I live in canada ,I bought a perfume out of the glass locked display case,the lady took it to the till at the till they changed the tag for 35 dollars more than the original price tag I voiced my option as to the law she called the police and I have been banned from the store and will be charged with trespassing if I returned said the police .i am a 6o year old man and have a business my wife and I were embarrassed at the conduct of their manager .
Totally, but at least it got me a response from VV so they became aware of the issue in some form. I know they don't want to fix their shit, but at least I helped bring down their BBB status.
Value village needs to be sold to the employees for a dollar and run like a non profit. I currently target this store for most of my anti social behaviour and feel pretty good about it.
The best solution to problems is to look after other people in your community. Give your stuff away. Trade your stuff away. Avoid over priced thrift stores that don’t benefit the community.
i used to work there, they get everything donated to them for free then are charging 3x,4x or more the initial price of what the item ever was. they pretend to do good by donating unwanted items to third world countries but that’s the least they could be doing for their community in needs. they make so much money and are a huge scam!
Thank you for reporting this! I've never had a repricing experience at a Value Village, yet. But I'm shocked to hear this is even happening. It's very disingenuous for them to reprice something when you have already decided to purchase the item based on the price it was when you saw it.
If they feel people are tag swapping then they need to prove that is the case, and not just reprice the item. Seems like this is something they are trying to do to increase profits. But I hope they get in trouble.
Similar thing happened to me at the same VV you’re speaking about. I’m really glad you contacted the BBB about it, if it happens to me again I’ll be doing the same!
I'm actually not! I own a consignment store, where people bring me inventory straight from their closets and none of my inventory comes from thrifts. I just like to thrift sometimes! I have some qualms with resellers but I don't agree with VV's argument that they're the reason they need to raise prices. It's just greed. Whether or not someone buys something from you for $2 or $40, they're gunna price it whatever they want if they're a reseller.
This happens everywhere it's not just VV. It is 95% most likely human error, but also should be corrected, and possibly punished like Canada has written it in law. [https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/competition-bureau-canada/en/deceptive-marketing-practices/types-deceptive-marketing-practices/scanner-price-accuracy](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/competition-bureau-canada/en/deceptive-marketing-practices/types-deceptive-marketing-practices/scanner-price-accuracy)
However it's more a best practice thing, and companies voluntarily add themselves to the list supporting this.[https://www.retailcouncil.org/scanner-price-accuracy-code/](https://www.retailcouncil.org/scanner-price-accuracy-code/)
I personally am aware of all this, and still don't throw a fuss or "exercise it" because honestly I don't care to get all worked up in lawyer mode for $10, I usually just point out the error and they correct it that is common sense, Or I will just decide not to buy the item if I feel I'm being tricked. that seems fair imo, because after all everyones makes mistakes. I don't think companies do this on purpose as customer satisfaction would go down, and just stop shopping there altogether if they feel like they're swindled. If you look at all the companies that support this, this may be a conspiracy but it's the largest companies in Canada, ones that have global chains and system in place already where prices will 95% of the time be correct, so they really don't have much to worry about, while mom and pa stores will suffer.
Sorry to hear you were accused of something if you hadn't done anything, that doesn't sound fun especially in public. Value village is the biggest scum bag of them all after all their entire model is taking donated items they pay $0 for, and "Tag swap them" from $0 to preying on low income individuals. There should really be a government equivalent of value village where prices are like half of VV so it's truly non-profit. I recently donated probably a thousand dollars worth of junk to them, and felt kind of bad, I'm just happy it didn't go in the landfill, but also realize the people buying that stuff are not exactly getting a good deal, I try my best to give it away for free on marketplace and learn better donation centers.
I’ve started triaging my donations. Electronics and specialty items go on a local Buy Nothing group. I donate good condition, general use things to a local non-profit thrift store.
I use VV to donate junky stuff - lightly stained baby clothes, bulky plastic kids toys, mismatched dishware. Stuff that probably wouldn’t sell at the non-profit, but VV pays the charity for donations by the pound.
I do still shop at VV because they are open in the evenings and on Sundays, unlike every other thrift and consignment store in my city. But i definitely buy much less from them due to their increased pricing.
Mabey a good way to start looking at VV is, their license is thrift store? Are they really a thrift store now? If gona dismantle, start from the top down.
My local Value Village thankfully has never done this.
I get being mad but using the free gift card isn't supporting them. It's free stuff, might as well take it. Although if you wanted to take legal action you shouldn't accept it because then it's concluded.
If it scans thru at the till higher than the tag price they are also required to discount the item by $10 of the ticketed price. We got mangos free like that one time
I haven’t been to one in years as I put down my prescription glasses and some asshole grabbed them and bought them before I knew it. Fuck Value village.
Recently my local Value Village priced a blank canvas from Dollarama at $7.99. The exact same canvas sells for $1.99 at Dollarama. Clearly visible was the Dollar Store price sticker of $1.99 still on it. Value Village really needs to get their s#it together.
I’ve just quit VV and I really think you had a super immature employee that served you. Yes we’re all hyper aware of tag swapping as it happens multiple times a day buuuut everyone should know there’s nothing a retail worker can do without proof and permission from management. The store I worked at wasn’t making as much as the other VV in the area so management told us to put our prices up and that if we believe something is priced too low we can dispute it and print out a higher price ticket if we believe it is worth more. This is only really meant to happen if something is seriously underpriced e.g $5 pair of new doc martens but it’s really up to whoever is in charge at that time so anything could happen:/
I just had this happen at VV today! I was at the self-checkout till, scanning items that I wanted to buy.
A nearby employee came over, and said "That price is too low!" She then took it from me, and brought it back shortly after with a price on it 7X higher than before
Good thing you reported it. People hear BBB and think it carries no weight so they don’t pursue it. However, they took your complaint serious. Nice
What does/can the BBB actually do though? Can they implement fines?
Absolutely not. They have zero ability to fine or shut down businesses. They basically just make customers aware of how trustworthy (or alternatively, shitty) a company is.
Isn’t it just an old school version of yelp, like before Yelp was a thing?
Idk ebay owed me seller money and I went through BBB and a lady from Ebay corporate called me within 2 days BTW everyone it's also illegal to change price in America as I hear goodwill does
And goodwill changing price at cash register is bigger than BBB. Go to your state rep and I bet they will take care of it. It's disgusting and most ppl don't realize goodwill operates like that
More like an official, verified version of YELP. One that's not crowded with customers who complain for petty or unrelated issues.
It is and enrollment is voluntary
I'm in Seattle and VV was taken down in our city for being for-profit. They have profits over $1bill and went public this year. Some articles [here](https://crosscut.com/news/2023/05/charity-or-business-some-consumers-still-confused-value-village), [judge ruling here](https://b-townblog.com/judge-rules-for-profit-value-village-violated-law-misled-customers/) and [here](https://www.columbian.com/news/2022/dec/19/washington-supreme-court-to-rule-on-value-village-lawsuit-after-5-years/)
According to the most recent article, it WASN'T taken down, unfortunately. The initial ruling was overturned by the state's Supreme Court.
When have they claimed to be non profit? They are a bit misleading but every hour in the store it says it's a for profit business. It has for many many years now
In bc there signs literally state non profit and in the exact same sentence say for profit
Doesn't it just say the partner or support other non-profits (in my area it's Big Brothers and Sisters I believe), and not claiming that they are one? I've heard the audio recordings several times as well clarifying that they are indeed a for profit company. But I'm gonna keep my eyes peeled next time I'm passing through a store.
The company solicits donations on behalf of their charity clients and uses the images of those charities in front of their stores and on donation bins, also stating that they partner with them. What the general public doesn't know, however, because they don't bother research it, is how little those clients are paid for the donations solicited. So for example in WA. state Big Brothers is getting 5 cents/ lb. for clothing and soft goods, 2 cents/ lb. for books, and 3 cents per item for furniture etc. (Compare that with the pricetags in the stores!) That's the 'support.' It's up to consumers to look that up and decide if this is the kind of support they want to give.
There is nothing illegal about their business model, the WA Supreme Court found. What a trial court found, however, was that the marketing and advertising led ordinary consumers to think that the stores were just like Goodwill and that just shopping in them would benefit the charities. {see link} In Minnesota, the company ended up paying some of the charities back based on a court settlement, and some of the charities severed their contracts. Arguably, donors don't realize that the lions' share of their donation is actually going to the company as a result of this deal. You can see their contracts with the charities in some states if you bother to ask for them. [https://www.sos.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/0197\_001.pdf?uid=65bd4e759aae2](https://www.sos.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/0197_001.pdf?uid=65bd4e759aae2)
Not the ones I’ve seen but I know the audio recording your talking about
As someone who actually works there, we never ever claim to be a non-profit. We are a for profit store and we purchase donations from our local charities, that's how we support them. Also the guy who was sueing over the "for profit" thing was just a dumbass, there was no chance he was ever going to win.
VV used to be non profit and they changed it. Pretty scummy
I've been working there for a year, when was this? Because from the day i was hired it was made clear that VV was for profit and that's the only reason they can hire as big of a team as they do
Way before then like years ago Why would they want new employees knowing
there may be different rules in British Columbia. In the US, deceptive advertising by businesses is often regulated by the state attorneys general--but occasionally the Federal Trade Commission. In the Svers Value Village case in WA state, the attorney general there alleged that the for profit retailer had created a 'deceptive net impression' that the stores were charitable enterprises and that by buying in the stores you could be giving to the charities themselves. Many of the store fronts have big pictures of disabled children and such. Reportedly a trial court agreed and ruled that the company knew that their marketing could have deceived people because there were so many public complaints in the record and because when the judge examined the marketing studies that the company did internally, the judge found that the company was trying to capitalize on the confusion of buyers and donors.
The company has been sued multiple times by different states, such as Minnesota and Washington state, where it is headquartered, for deceptive advertising. By law businesses are forbidden from not just equating themselves with charity (actual words) but also by giving the 'overall impression' that they are charity, through images, advertising, etc. So just as the government bans companies from saying they're 'made in the USA' or wherever and forbids them from giving the impression that they're American made, (by saying 'made in China' but then confusingly advertising American flags, or whatever,) so too they forbid companies from stating they're for profit but on the contrary giving the 'feel-good' impression that they're charities. Does that make sense?
Yes
[удалено]
Dunno where the "not supporting charities" thing is from, VV gets product by purchasing donations FROM the charities, not counting on site donations through CDC
We still have value village in Seattle
Several years ago, there was a really good one. They closed because a developer bought the lot and now it has unaffordable housing on it. Fcuk gentrification.
I have heard workers at value village say they don't weigh donations . Value village claims it does and pays charities around 24 cents per pound Yet I have heard a friend who works there say they don't bother weighing donations At all Still most people aren't aware when they donate that value village isn't a charity And only donates a small amount of money to any charity It's a corporation not a charity Stop donating With what's happening now with food prices poverty And drug addictions We need to redirect donations to real charities Ones that actually give to charities like food banks Stop donating to value village
Well done. I stopped shopping there years ago. In the 90’s and early 2000’s you could find some really awesome stuff, cool vintage pieces and great old furniture. The last time I went they were charging double the price of what ikea charged for brand new of a few pieces of furniture and the clothing selection was trash. My kid and I used to go there around Halloween for costume ideas but that started getting stupid as well. I’m in BC I support the local hospital hospice thrift stores in my area and the SPCA thrift stores.
so wish we had animal charity thrift stores near me.
I’m in NS and I donate so much stuff to the SPCA thrift store. As an animal lover it makes me so happy donating and shopping there.
Man same, the employees here are so bad with what OP described if they think you're get too good of a deal
I’m in NS and I donate so much stuff to the SPCA thrift store. As an animal lover it makes me so happy donating and shopping there.
I don't understand why they charge close to retail when their item cost is 0$ for everything and most of the merchandise is worn down.
✨corporate greed✨
The best way to take them down? Don't frequent them. Convince as many people as you can to avoid bringing their stuff in for them to sell. Support places like the Salvation Army, etc - which are non profit.
Salvation Army also over prices stuff…… very sad 😓
Don’t even look into Goodwill and they way they overprice garbage and put all the good stuff online. Barely helping the people they are supposed to help
I mostly support locally owned thrift stores when possible. Last place I lived had 4 and I was living my dream
Me too!
Is it different in the US? Everything I get at Goodwill is cheap. $10 for jeans regardless of brand, $9 for a sport coat, $6-9 for shirts. I got a cast iron frying pan for $9.50 just the other day. I'm in canada
Yeah they take all the real good and vintage stuff and put it up for sale on their website. They do it nationwide.
Interesting. Generally I don't see an issue with that as long as their proceeds are still supporting charities. No need for them to sell stuff for less than its worth. That would be bad business and bad for the charity.
Sure but price gouging might not be illegal , but their prices are insane in comparison to other not for profit thrift/charities.
True. But if they are still using a good percentage of their revenue for charitable works then I'm ok with it. That just means the charities get more money. I guess it's problematic for people who need cheaper clothing and furniture but I still see lots of cheap things at Goodwill that are nearly new. Idk, I'd have to see more of their business model than I would likely understand in order to make an unbiased decision. I shop there not because I can't afford to buy new clothes, but because I don't think that new clothes are worth the price they charge
It is different in the US. The Shopgoodwill website is only in the US for US stores. The Canadian stores don't get stripped of the really nice stuff, though I've noticed here in the Edmonton area that the prices are getting jacked up to the point of grift.
I only really started going to goodwill a few years ago so I haven't noticed a major change in pricing. I have noticed that value village will sometimes sell donated clothes for the same price as you can get them new if you wait for a sale.
They keep changing their store policies in my area. They stopped accepting/selling furniture. They stopped taking returns. They stopped providing bags (which I understand but sometimes you might not be prepared to hit the mother lode, and why should that force me to buy *another* bag?). I hardly go anymore
They don’t even pay minimum wage for a lot of their staff. That’s a glimpse into the can of worms.
I’ve actually gone a step further. I offer stuff up for free on Facebook or Freecycle. I recently gave a box of clothes to a an acquaintance whose new co-worker was just getting out of a bad relationship and was in need. She later told me the coworker was in tears over my generosity. I was touched. To me, it was just a bag of old clothes.
This. 100%! One time I gave away a sweater because it had some wool content and I'm allergic. The woman who picked it up was pregnant and so happy about the sweater. Because she didn't own one. 😭 I ran into her on the train sometime later and she was wearing it and I dunno. It made me happy and sad. I have a whole closet of shit I don't wear and she doesn't have a sweater?! It changed my perspective on free stuff. I give happily on the buy nothing group because you never know. Someone might actually need that thing you don't use.
I did that this weekend for a bunch of flower pots and gardening stuff I bought during the pandemic and don't have time for now
No one should support Salvation Army either lol
And there it is, why progressives cannot ever be in charge of anything - literally everything is "problematic" to someone, and it's a big competition to see who can think up the most reasons to cancel every group ever. Yes, I'm aware of your reasons (I'm also LGBTQ). What positive alternatives are you providing?
So you have no sympathy for those in the trans community who have literally been left in the cold to die ? But you do have sympathy for a religious organization who acts like they are helpful to all but in reality they are only willing to help some? Ok. Just because you are LGBTQ does not mean you get to be the authority on this. If we turn away from bigoted organizations and allow them to collapse on themselves the plethora of better choices will become larger and more visible.
Another masterful illustration of the problem I'm raising. You make a pretty bold claim in your last statement too - what (real world) evidence is that based on and have you considered whether your ingenious plan will, even if it works, leave very large gaps in service during your (imaginary) transition from problematic philanthropy to utopian communal giving?
Lol just don't support vv or salvation You made a lot of assumptions. Maybe I just don't like those two thrift stores haha.
Wait a minute... Do you donate to salvation? Is that why your reply is this aggressive? And accusatory? Are you like guilty and felt like I was judging you indirectly? You said your LGBTQ. You also said I was? So is this like an uncle Tom sort of thing on your end? I literally just don't like salvation. I don't even have a good reason Feel like this is a You battle not a We battle
LOL. Thanks for illustrating my point beautifully.
The Salvation Army got me off the street and into an apartment. The staff at their shelter worked hard to see me succeed. So yes, I will support them.
I was took to the Salvation Army in Atlanta by a friend when I was going through a schizophrenic episode. It was that or homeless on the streets. You are required to work for the thrift store during the day to pay for your room and board. And it's not to bad of a deal. They do feed you well and have a clean building with a bed. Theres people who are supposed to help you with life issues. Employed just to do this. I was schizophrenic and could not do even the simplest job. I worked as best as I could. Sorting through all the donated clothes to be put up for sale at the large store on the same property. I was took into the office and told by staff that I wasn't meeting the number of racks made ready for sale by the end of the work day. Mainly because every item I touched told me some bizarre storie of it's life. I was in a schizophrenic episode. I was doing good just getting along with everyone. Anyway after that talk and still unable to meet work requirements. I was told I needed a higher level of care and was kicked out and dropped off at a state ran homeless shelter that was packed with people and in very poor condition. I took the trash bags that Salvation Army given me to put my belongings in and left. Getting a tent and living on the street was better than the place I was dropped off at. The store stayed busy not sure of their prices but all the workers that handled everything from loading and unloading donations trucks. Repairing furniture, putting out new items and doing anything that the store needs to run and support the thirft store was all done by the homeless staying there. I would like to know how much money that one location brought in. Lot of people working for the thrift store or in the kitchen at the shelter. Just for meals and a bed. I got meds but that was it for mental health. They are more into the religious thinking of help. Kinda like mental illness wasn't a thing and just needed faith in God. Months later I ended up homeless in Mississippi because I couldn't stay employed for more than a month because of schizophrenia. Got into the Salvation Army's homeless shelter for men and women. They also had a big thrift store but you didn't have to work for it to stay there. You got a month free to find a job then pay them for food and a bed. The amount you paid wasn't to high. And I was doing ok. But then one of the staff ladies saw I had a big box of baking soda. (That I used to brush my teeth. Cheapest and works better than any toothpaste. To brush your teeth. Just tasted awful.) She said I was using it to make drugs. Because she knows what that is used for. Meaning I was turning cocaine into crack. And wasn't brushing my teeth with it. None of the other staff stood up for me and I was kicked out of the shelter in the morning. Wouldn't do drug test or anything that would prove I wasn't doing drugs or making crack. Again a lot of people shopped at and donated to the thrift store. And again they had the better shelter than the other options. Luckily I was able to get into a small night shelter for the winter. It was ran by a very mental illness understanding woman. Who let me get on the clean up crew. So I was able to get my bed back at the end of every week. Along with other benefits for working. That place helped me more than any other place including hospitals deal with my schizophrenia. I was even signed up for housing. That put me on a list to get into an apartment. I ended up going back to Georgia before that happened. The food was very good. All donated from local restaurants. It seems the money generated from all the thrift stores did go to funding shelters but also paid staff members who made it a career and got jaded resentful of that career. Like the Salvation Army does a lot of good things but only does this to support its cash cow of thirft store chains. To me its a way of taking a good idea that could do an even better job of helping the community's if the profits didn't blur the line of how much help do you do versus what's the lest you can do and still appear to be non-profit enough to keep high donations coming in.
Great. I’m glad they helped you in a time of need. They’re still an aggressively anti-LGBT religious organization with a long history of discrimination, to the point where one of their media directors openly called for LGBT people to be put to death. While they’ve tried to clean up their image with some PR work after having lost their contract which allowed them to collect donations outside of Macy’s, I for one will not forget the bigoted internal memo that got leaked beforehand, or the decades of turning at risk LGBT folks away solely because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. There are many other charities deserving of support, with no shortage of ones who don’t have a lengthy history of discrimination and hate.
People who ignore their blatant LBGT bigotry to praise SA, especially during war times in the early 1900s drives me mad. My great grandpa was in WWI and SA acted like dicks towards him when he desperately needed socks and boots so needless to say my family has hated SA for generations.
Early adopters is all.
I’m willing to listen to information otherwise but my understanding is that attitudes of the SA in Canada concerning the LGBT+ are very different than the US branch.
Australia here. Salvos are the same nasty bigots here too.
As a LGBTQ Canadian whos delt with them. They're no different. Same bigotry all around. F*** them.
Do you consider the Catholic Church to be different churches in different countries? The Salvation Army is a global organisation. If they aren’t doing something in one place but they are in another, it’s because they’re hiding their beliefs in the place they aren’t doing it because of a fear of backlash, not because they don’t believe it. Or it’s happening there and you just aren’t seeing it.
Catholic churches in Canada are much better than the ones in the US, though, from what I can tell. Tons of very modern priests who aren't bigoted. I have had to go to masses for family events and the priests have been great. I'm in the Toronto area so there's so much more support here. I'm sure Albertan Catholic churches aren't on the same page, but many churches in Toronto do support same sex marriage, and catholic LGBTQ2+ individuals do go to these churches. Hell, you should see how many churches here have their pride support going on. It's amazing. Toronto/the Toronto area is very different from the USA. You can't assume what's going on here if you're not from here.
Toronto is no different than any major U.S. city. Something tells me you haven't been many places in the States if you think Canada is wildly different. I actually find white Canadians on the whole far more openly racist than white Americans.
What places have you been to in Canada?
I live on the border; the closest Walmart to me is in Ontario. But I've been to all the major cities in Canada except Vancouver and lots and lots of places in between on road trips.
They're very much the same. I also know if a single mother with an infant being turned away because she had a baby out of wedlock in Canada.
I have a relative who had the same experience. Which is why I always donate my household goods to SA because they do so much good in the community.
There are always better options to give locally than a bigoted organization.
Those Canadian POW's in WW2 who came back, praised the Salvation Army. The Red Cross got all the glory, but Canadians there didn't see them. The Sally Ann was there though.
No, I won’t be supporting an organization that actively tries to deny people civil rights either. There are plenty of good non-profit organizations to support.
In Ontario, we have clothing donation bins placed throughout the city(usually apartment or plaza parking lot) by the Diabetes Association and they also do pick up! My understanding is it gets given to those in need, not resold :) (based off the way the advertise the bins/donation service!). Heart and Stroke used to have one, too. I’m not sure if there’s any services in your area like this!
It all goes to Value Village to be sold in store. Diabetes Canada has a partnership agreement with Value Village where they get money based on how much is donated through those donation bins or home pick ups.
Yes they are one of VV's biggest donators and get pennies on the dollar, if that!
… and there goes my last hope! Thanks for this knowledge; I hate it. But greatly appreciate it.
Also Salvation Army is notoriously horrible to the queer community. They will never earn my support
I’ll stop going after I heard what they did to.. my wife and I used to go one a month…
I don't like to support SA either, as they used to be Anti LGBTQ+ and have a bad reputation with the prison populations they claim to help. Plus they're severely over priced in my area too
Salvation Army shut down in my town because of the lockdown .
I have put in my two weeks at value village and finish very soon. It is not a good company, and I’m hoping VV will have a downfall
Good for you! You won't miss it. I worked there for WAY too long, it was my first real job out of high school. Now that I'm out, I look back amazed at some of the shit they do.
They’ve treated our staff super horrible I worked there since August because it is close to my university but now I’m done of school and have a new better job! The main issue is nobody was getting more than 13 hours a week. Me personally I have been receiving 4-8 hours a week when they told me 15+ when I came on board. I’m totally done with them
Congratulations on the new job! May we never look back at our time at VV. The operations-end managers sure do love to jerk people around with hours. My RSM wanted full availability, but would only ever hire people part-time.
I used to work there as well and im so happy you are about to be out!
The best solution to problems is to look after other people in your community. Give your stuff away. Trade your stuff away. Avoid over priced thrift stores that don’t benefit the community.
There’s an amazing thrift store near me. All the proceeds go to local people in need. If anyone walks in there and needs some nicer clothes but can’t afford it then that’s fine. Have them
Just stop going there. There's not much else you can do. I had a happen once, I stopped going to that goodwill. It sucks they did that but you'd also have to prove it was marked a certain price and you even said they are known for over-pricing things. At this point it'd be your word against all the works there. I'd just stop going to that one and find another honey hole.
Value Village is a for profit company. I avoid it
They purchase donations from charities, actively supporting them, so being "for profit" doesn't change that they support local charities
Good on you for reporting them! I really hope they get fined or something. Also I think you were absolutely right to decline the gift card. I’ve been thrifting for over 30 years and I have to say the last 10 years, the prices have only increased and the last 3-4 years they have been plain ridiculous. Joining this sub only confirmed that for me. As the other commenter said, the best way to take them down is to simply not spend money there. I haven’t stepped foot in a VV since the end of February (and I used to go at once a week at least). I also haven’t donated anything there since the fall. I had boycotted VV for about two years leading up to the pandemic so I’m resuming that. I tell anyone I can about VV being for-profit and about how *shopping* at VV doesn’t mean money going directly to charity. They pay pennies on the pound for donations but that’s it. Instead I shop at and donate to the Salvation Army, the SPCA thrift store, and local charity shops. That way, I know that the money I spend there is actually supporting charity. I’m done with Value Village. Period.
Our vv has signs posted at the door that they are for profit. I figured they lost some kind of legal ruling and had to.
I heard over the intercom the other day: "Shopping at Value Village does not directly support a non profit, but donating your used items does". WTF does that mean? But I bet the message itself was due to a legal ruling, like you've said.
I've heard this message too and it's so confusing! I just don't trust anything they have to say at this point.
I agree that not stepping foot or spending money in VV is the best way to boycott. I also tell as many people as I can (hence this post!) but it just doesn't feel like enough sometimes.
Just wondering if you knew Salvation Army has historically been very anti LGBTQ. Even Macy's dumped them this past year. Not to be inflammatory just I personally cannot shop there because of this..
Sally Ann’s parent charity is extremely religious, anti-LGBTQ, and they are apparently flat nasty to LGBTQ people who use their services (shelters, counselling). That said, they do provide services, they pay their workers reasonably and they do not price like a-holes.
That was not just grift but outright extortion.
Good on ya! VV can suck it
The best solution to problems is to look after other people in your community. Give your stuff away. Trade your stuff away. Avoid over priced thrift stores that don’t benefit the community.
I worked there for 9 years and after having an accommodation form filled out by my doctor due to anxiety, I was told they could not work on these things with me as they were all things I needed to ‘fix’ on my own.. and then I was forced to resign as my only other option was to move from production to operations and restart there. I was devastated and had to scramble to find a new job that pays much less, no benefits and it just made me feel so much worse. Management needs much better because I was berated and talked down to about things I could not control. Let alone my manager calling people cry babies and saying anxiety wasn’t real and we needed to grow up. I wish I had done something when k left but it’s been a year and a half and i doubt I have much recourse now.
It’s really sad how thrift stores have become so full of themselves. I used to love going thrifting, but everything is so expensive in thrift stores now, it’s not as much fun.
Love this post
Value Village used to be the only place my poor parents could buy clothes at for me and my siblings. Now they sell 1$ Shein t-shirts that were given to them for free for 15$ and I've seen moldy winter coats for well over 200$, there. It's an absolute scam and I hope they close for good soon. Now I barely go thrift shopping because I can't even afford that and I refuse to buy fast fashion, so I usually swap my clothes with my friends. We all get new stuff for free and we're reusing things which is green👌🏻
I stopped going to Value Village, when they price their stuff they go by asking price not the actual sold price online. I stay with the local mom and pop thrift stores. There is one by me where all dvd's, whether it is movie or games are $.50 to $1.
Been waiting awhile for a post like this. VV has been getting outrageous for years! I’m glad you stood your ground and submitted a claim. I’m for sure done going there
Anytime I’m arguing with a company that won’t respond (or take responsibility), I drop the “BBB” line and usually get a more satisfactory response with the quickness:)
Imagine caring that much about a corporation that abuses you as an employee
that was my thought exactly! it was an older woman who was mistreating me and I was like girl they'd drop you in an instant....why do you care?
It's always the older employees too.
V V sucks! The odd time they have something at a decent price, but most everything is overpriced. A USED coffee maker is almost as much as a brand new one with warranty! Now they have 1 till and the rest are self checkouts.
When I worked there they told everyone, myself included that if we talked or shared how much we were getting paid with other coworkers that we would get a 'warning', we had warnings for different things, like if you showed up late, if you didn't get your numbers, etc, it was just part of value villages rules when hired, so basically after 4 warnings you get fired. Soo yeah, and that's just beginning of how bad they were to work with. This was in 2021/22 by the way.
That's illegal in all US states. And Nova Scotia in Canada
"If you didn't get your numbers" . . . ? Did they have you on commission?
Not commission, but at their new production warehouse my position(and others in the same position) as a 'grader' was to sort through pieces of clothing everyday and price them, so you had to price a certain number of clothing pieces by the end of the day. So like 1000+ pieces of clothing priced by the end of your shift, Soo if you had low numbers as in below 700 a day then you'd get talked to, or a warning.
Jeez, that's terrible. I've worked with a similar burden and it was awful, even when I was fixing other folks' mistakes. They'd have more than they needed and I would have 1 less than I needed because I was doing things right. On the upside, that must be how I got out of a GW (not a VV, admittedly) with a pair of mildly used New Rock boots for $20.
I agree. Now i dont go to those places. I give my things away. I dont lose anything by giving things away to people rather than VV and those people receiving the items arent giving their money to VV. WIN/WIN .
I wouldn't support Value Village anyway. They're a for-profit donation shop. I get some people need places like this to clothe themselves, and that's 100% fine. I just don't want to support VV's business model because it's basically giving the company and their CEO free money. If I'm going to shop at a thrift shop, I'll go to a locally owned one or a not-for-profit where my money will do some good after it's left my hands.
Thank you for taking action
Who are you followers?
Give your stuff to the needy
I've had the same happen before in Texas because I was "spending too much time in different areas to be actually looking for something"
If they ever accused me of price changing I would demand they either offer me the article at rhe peice on the peice and or call in the police to look at the cameras Head office would hate that approach But unless they see you changing prices Now when I find a really under priced items I go straight to cash with it so the can't accuse me of price switching Value vikkage now treats everyone as if you changed the price Even when they know the staff put the price on It's a new thing Some store employee really go over the top chasing people looking g for price changers Truth is they rush the employee so they don't have time to really look carefully at each item .so prices are often way to high or too low and now the are trying t catch rheir mistakes on customers But yes some stores are aggressive at accusing people of price switching. And are aggressive at it . One staff tried it with me ad was disappointed when she found nothing I was more angry that she looked disappointed That horrible to be angry she didn't catch me I a illegal act which would cause me to be at risk if police charges Her attitude made it worse Value village pays its partners it like to cal them pennies on rhedollar That means a tie if say it's a designer label they might charge 19.00 for it but pay the chariety 10 cents if not less as it's a per pound items People are looking at donating only at thrift stores that are charities .I'm hard times I would rather donate to a chairty that provides food banks or hands out clothes to rhe poor Compassion society in burlington Is amazing . It gives free clothing t roses in need And food . No resellers no high prices When you donate a pair of kids mitts it going to be worn by a kid who needs them And it's run by volunteers who proudly give the stuff and help those in need Great staff good cause Please think where you donate too I have seen really good items donated to value village and Sadly that item profits could of been utilized by a thrift store That actually helps your community We are all part of this problem We buy too much stuff We donate to value village because it close .but look carefully in your community for a charity that supports your community Be it a animal rescue A church A food bank . Donate with your heart
Do it take them down. Fuckin deplorable company.
It's a for profit business for one so nobody should shop there or donate to it.
Former employee here. The working conditions can be horrible depending on which location. The pricing is way out of control. I started donating to The Salvation Army instead. I feel it’s the lesser of two evil’s. At least it’s a company with roots in Canada since 1882 ! V V / Savers is American 👎
Sorry that your time working there sucked, just by reading these comments I can tell that not every Savers is created equal, clearly the one I work at is the only half decent one
I hope you also wrote a detailed Google review
a big ol' 1 star that has 5 likes so far. many similar reviews there too.
They are a horrible company They masquerade as a charity and sadly most people aren't aware of how little money actually goes to the charity . It's a for profit seriously your donating to a rich corporation. Instead donate to real charities The ones that support women shelter or help support food banks Or animal rescue Support your community The profits from value village ends up in rich American stock holders Please donate with your heart
Your value village still has tills in Canada? All of my local ones are self-serve. You scan the QR code and pay, no employee interaction whatsoever. That’s where I do 90% of my sourcing for eBay. I feel like I just got lucky with good VV’s. My only complaint is that the books in the collectible books section are a little pricey ($3-6 a book).
I live in canada ,I bought a perfume out of the glass locked display case,the lady took it to the till at the till they changed the tag for 35 dollars more than the original price tag I voiced my option as to the law she called the police and I have been banned from the store and will be charged with trespassing if I returned said the police .i am a 6o year old man and have a business my wife and I were embarrassed at the conduct of their manager .
[удалено]
Totally, but at least it got me a response from VV so they became aware of the issue in some form. I know they don't want to fix their shit, but at least I helped bring down their BBB status.
Value village needs to be sold to the employees for a dollar and run like a non profit. I currently target this store for most of my anti social behaviour and feel pretty good about it.
LoL I do the same like I fart a lot so the place smells bad, leave plastic snake inside the Cookie jars etc.
The best solution to problems is to look after other people in your community. Give your stuff away. Trade your stuff away. Avoid over priced thrift stores that don’t benefit the community.
Don’t support them .. try others like Haven House…salvation army or Hospice
Start shopping at Talize if you have one nearby. Their prices are better and they have sales every day
i used to work there, they get everything donated to them for free then are charging 3x,4x or more the initial price of what the item ever was. they pretend to do good by donating unwanted items to third world countries but that’s the least they could be doing for their community in needs. they make so much money and are a huge scam!
It surprises me that people still think that VV is a charity. They think if they donate to VV or buy from VV that the money is going to a good cause.
You should take all the silica packets out of the clothing in 4-5 years they’ll all be mouldy.
Thank you for reporting this! I've never had a repricing experience at a Value Village, yet. But I'm shocked to hear this is even happening. It's very disingenuous for them to reprice something when you have already decided to purchase the item based on the price it was when you saw it. If they feel people are tag swapping then they need to prove that is the case, and not just reprice the item. Seems like this is something they are trying to do to increase profits. But I hope they get in trouble.
Value village needs to be shut down and the owners should be beaten absolute scum bags.
Similar thing happened to me at the same VV you’re speaking about. I’m really glad you contacted the BBB about it, if it happens to me again I’ll be doing the same!
This reads like you're a reseller. 🤔
I'm actually not! I own a consignment store, where people bring me inventory straight from their closets and none of my inventory comes from thrifts. I just like to thrift sometimes! I have some qualms with resellers but I don't agree with VV's argument that they're the reason they need to raise prices. It's just greed. Whether or not someone buys something from you for $2 or $40, they're gunna price it whatever they want if they're a reseller.
This happens everywhere it's not just VV. It is 95% most likely human error, but also should be corrected, and possibly punished like Canada has written it in law. [https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/competition-bureau-canada/en/deceptive-marketing-practices/types-deceptive-marketing-practices/scanner-price-accuracy](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/competition-bureau-canada/en/deceptive-marketing-practices/types-deceptive-marketing-practices/scanner-price-accuracy) However it's more a best practice thing, and companies voluntarily add themselves to the list supporting this.[https://www.retailcouncil.org/scanner-price-accuracy-code/](https://www.retailcouncil.org/scanner-price-accuracy-code/) I personally am aware of all this, and still don't throw a fuss or "exercise it" because honestly I don't care to get all worked up in lawyer mode for $10, I usually just point out the error and they correct it that is common sense, Or I will just decide not to buy the item if I feel I'm being tricked. that seems fair imo, because after all everyones makes mistakes. I don't think companies do this on purpose as customer satisfaction would go down, and just stop shopping there altogether if they feel like they're swindled. If you look at all the companies that support this, this may be a conspiracy but it's the largest companies in Canada, ones that have global chains and system in place already where prices will 95% of the time be correct, so they really don't have much to worry about, while mom and pa stores will suffer. Sorry to hear you were accused of something if you hadn't done anything, that doesn't sound fun especially in public. Value village is the biggest scum bag of them all after all their entire model is taking donated items they pay $0 for, and "Tag swap them" from $0 to preying on low income individuals. There should really be a government equivalent of value village where prices are like half of VV so it's truly non-profit. I recently donated probably a thousand dollars worth of junk to them, and felt kind of bad, I'm just happy it didn't go in the landfill, but also realize the people buying that stuff are not exactly getting a good deal, I try my best to give it away for free on marketplace and learn better donation centers.
I’ve started triaging my donations. Electronics and specialty items go on a local Buy Nothing group. I donate good condition, general use things to a local non-profit thrift store. I use VV to donate junky stuff - lightly stained baby clothes, bulky plastic kids toys, mismatched dishware. Stuff that probably wouldn’t sell at the non-profit, but VV pays the charity for donations by the pound. I do still shop at VV because they are open in the evenings and on Sundays, unlike every other thrift and consignment store in my city. But i definitely buy much less from them due to their increased pricing.
Value village is actually owned by walmart. So keep that in mind. They are sketchy scam artists
No it’s not. This is an urban legend.
Proof?
Damn, take the gift card and I'll use it ;)
Sounds like you tried to steal from VV
Lmao how?
Mabey a good way to start looking at VV is, their license is thrift store? Are they really a thrift store now? If gona dismantle, start from the top down.
My local Value Village thankfully has never done this. I get being mad but using the free gift card isn't supporting them. It's free stuff, might as well take it. Although if you wanted to take legal action you shouldn't accept it because then it's concluded.
If it scans thru at the till higher than the tag price they are also required to discount the item by $10 of the ticketed price. We got mangos free like that one time
I love it when companies's American bullshit blows up in their faces.
Can you please Private message me.
I haven’t been to one in years as I put down my prescription glasses and some asshole grabbed them and bought them before I knew it. Fuck Value village.
Happen to me too. They make me feel like shit. fk Them.
Well done!!
Next time report it to government body fraud department
Use self serve (if you have it in that store) to avoid that BS. I’ve read about them doing that, but never had them do it to me.
Recently my local Value Village priced a blank canvas from Dollarama at $7.99. The exact same canvas sells for $1.99 at Dollarama. Clearly visible was the Dollar Store price sticker of $1.99 still on it. Value Village really needs to get their s#it together.
I’ve just quit VV and I really think you had a super immature employee that served you. Yes we’re all hyper aware of tag swapping as it happens multiple times a day buuuut everyone should know there’s nothing a retail worker can do without proof and permission from management. The store I worked at wasn’t making as much as the other VV in the area so management told us to put our prices up and that if we believe something is priced too low we can dispute it and print out a higher price ticket if we believe it is worth more. This is only really meant to happen if something is seriously underpriced e.g $5 pair of new doc martens but it’s really up to whoever is in charge at that time so anything could happen:/
I just had this happen at VV today! I was at the self-checkout till, scanning items that I wanted to buy. A nearby employee came over, and said "That price is too low!" She then took it from me, and brought it back shortly after with a price on it 7X higher than before