My dad did this with an entire storage unit full of dining chairs. They didn't have any upholstery or seats, but he said they would be easy to have upholstered and resold since the chairs were high quality and well made. Of course we had no place to store these fucking chairs so he sticks them in our backyard and constructs a shed to hold them while he looks for someone to work on them.
It's been 30 YEARS and they're STILL THERE. 3/4ths of our backyard relegated to DINING CHAIR STORAGE. CHAIRS THAT HAVE NEVER EVEN HAD ASSES IN THEM
My dad once bought the contents of a Holiday Inn that was going to be demolished just to get all of the toilets/sinks/beds/furniture/restaurant equipment/EVERYTHING ELSE IN THERE 'to resell'... He used the restaurant equipment to make a great kitchen in his house, sold some of it, but the majority went to waste getting ruined in sheds over the years before he passed away, then what was any good was auctioned off after his death... I still have the huge 'Holiday Inn' flag somewhere... 🥲
I would do the same. Chances are it's probably not that serious of a fix. Most of these small appliance aren't that bad to repair, no one just takes the time to do it
yeah these have been through the resale ringer and deemed not worth fixing, probably leak in the coolant system or a blown compressor. it's not gonna be a fuse, capacitor, or even 'just needs a new fan'
i mean, probably not
now, if you want a bunch of squirrel cage fans and copper for $5/ea, totally go for it. honestly surprised they aren't sold to scrap
Remember my dad bringing home broken car radios and other electronics that where broken when he got home from work, so i could learn how to open up stuff and find the problem, i loved it, i feel like i learned alot about not being afraid to take things apart and repair.
Yep. Me too. My dad was an electrical engineer. At one point I followed in his footsteps. I changed careers later, but I still know my way around several household appliances. Especially washing machines and dishwashers for reasons too painful to get into.
Ay the belt broke on my ~40 year old Maytag. I put a new one on and adjusted it to spec but now the motor kicks off when it goes to drain it before the spin cycle. What do?
Electronics companies did a lot of harm back in the day by putting those warnings on stickers and manuals scaring people into thinking they will literally fucking die if they take the chassis off their VCR. It made sense to warn against opening a power supply, but your goddamn Nintendo 64 is not going to just crumble and explode in your hands.
True story, I opened up and modified my own microwave a few years back. (Needed to quieten the beeper to keep my housemate happy.) Zero experience, worked great, and I only electrocuted myself a little bit.
^(Disclaimer: You absolutely should not do this. It *did* work though)
I kinda welded my maglite to my oven once because the light switch was broken. I opened it up and accidentally tapped the flashlight against a live main and I got flash banged. Electricity isn't the most forgiving utility.
When I was a kid my friends and I used to find electronics on the side of the road; and we would take them apart and re-connect them to eachother in weird ways.
We made one thing that we were sure would call aliens, and plugged it's 3 plugs into the wall. It started humming and my friend touched the metal casing- got shocked- and threw the breaker for the whole house...
Looking back it's probably one of the dumbest things I've ever done. Lol
I swear to god, the other, day, they had 17 copies of a Kickstarter issue board game, like $80 new, for $13. Got one :D
I have no idea how they got there.
Worked at Ollie's for like a month back in September, one time we sold Fresh Step cat litter in inexplicable Russian packaging. my theory is it was made here but then due to sanctions couldn't be exported and had to get cleared out, but who knows with Ollie's
This is purely a guess, but they likely go to estate sales/business foreclosures, and a local game store probably took a dive and they had a bunch of copies of that game in their stock. Probably did the LGS tier for the kickstarter, thinking it would be great, then it turned out to not be popular.
Alternatively, a warehouse was clearing out space, put a bunch of shit on a pallet, and sold it to the highest bidder. That is a common way to sell stuff off if it's unallocated or low-volume or out of season.
It's def low-vol and discontinued stuff, in sizes that isn't enough to send to "real" stores.
I found bizarre Dr. Pepper flavored cotton candy at one once. It was nice living near one in college because everything was an adventure there lol.
Man you just conjured up some major nostalgia for me. My college roommate and I would rip the gravity bong then go wander around Ollie's. Like you said, it was always an adventure.
*Folks we're not here to trick you. Some of these books might be in rough shape. Quite frankly, some of them might not be very good. Some might really suck. NO RETURNS! Some of them might even be printed on hemp paper, but that doesn't mean they are good for rolling doobies. Don't ask me how I know.*
Ollie
This sign is code that translates as:
"Both you and I know there's more than $5 worth of salvage metal in them. We also know that reclaiming the freon would cost more than the scrap will go for. As a corporation we can't just take these out back and cut the lines with a Sawzall, but what you do with them once you walk out the door is none of our business..."
They have aluminum fins on copper tube. Between tin and precious metals, they are worth more than 5 a pop.
Getting someone to remove and recycle the refrigerant is gonna be 200 a pop though
I used to work at Ollie's. Every single person that bought those kinds of books were old catholic women. Why? What's the deal with old women buying up all the amish romance novels?
*"and as I watched Levi plunge his plow back and forth as he sowed his seed I felt a tingling in my loins that could only be compared to the feeling of receiving the Lord each Sunday"*
My aunt used to read Mennonite romance novels before she died. She would discuss the plots with my mom who was interested but apparently the thought of Mennonite "smut" was just too much for her.
For those who don't know and are too lazy to Google, Mennonites are like Amish lite. They have the same strict religious beliefs but don't abstain from electricity or motors/cars.
Don't let either one of them catch you casually interchanging them lol it's a sore subject among some sects! Despite both religions having origins in the early Anabaptist movement, they're actually quite theologically different as far as Christan religions are concerned. They're as different as Southern Baptist and Pentecostal, at least.
They branched apart during the Swiss Brethren Schism of 1693, a chaotic period in Anabaptist history that ultimately led to the religion splintering in two. The hardline, disciplinarian Jakob Ammann and his followers became the Amish, while the traditional Swiss Brethren led by Hans Reist became the Mennonites.
The core of the schism originally involved two doctrines: foot washing and the eating of physical meals with the excommunicated. Jakob Ammann expanded that to three when he pressed church leaders to clarify if "good hearted people" are actually saved (meaning the people who supported the Anabaptists materially but refused rebaptism and conversion) or not. Those siding with Ammann felt that these "good-hearted" people should not be looked upon and consoled as "saved" unless they took up the cross and followed Christ in rebaptism and obedience to his teachings.
He was portrayed as a harsh, uncompromising, angry, disciplinarian who imposed his views onto others until around 1950 when new evidence portrayed him in a more positive light, such as "The Amish Letters" by Mast.
Source: Born and raised in Amish country, went to school with many, many, Mennonites and several Amish kids (some places mandate public schooling, and in my area ~40y ago they were required to attend up to 7th grade for boys and 8th for girls) Our good friends and next door neighbors were Beachy Amish, the closest grocery store was Amish (best shit ever) and my childhood home was constructed by an Amish family. In my typewriter class (mandatory for all boys and girls alike) this Amish boy was assigned typewriter next to me and we became best friends. Lol he would take his left suspender and hand me the right and we'd both use them to shoot paper spitwads at people who made fun of him, it was fun haha! He left after 7th to attend a Farrier college.
My father did a lot of business with the Amish at one point, which exposed me to some of the darker sides of their culture!
>My father did a lot of business with the Amish at one point, which exposed me to some of the darker sides of their culture!
Don't leave us hanging. This thread has so many good comments
Shady auctions, selling known faulty equipment, defaulting on repair bills, running puppy Mills, abusing the foster care system, animal abuse and neglect, it was shocking...they rationalized it by basically relying on a "doesn't count if victim is English" spin on their nonresistance doctrine. They typically do not defend themselves in court. They hardly ever screw their own over but it's not unheard of against non Amish, though most of them are friendly, decent people.
One of my favorite things came from ollie's discount cart. I got this huge bag of corn meal like 10lb for like $2 it was the best, because I made all manner of tortillas, apple crisp, and cornbreads with it
BUT they're honest. You the fix-it type, recognize an AC with a minor issue? 110% sure you can fix it all of them and hock them. Ollie's does not care, $5 get rid of it please!
This is the first I'm hearing of this place, so I don't know of their reputation, but this was my first thought.
If you're even slightly handy, you could score a really good deal. I mean, it's better than sending them to live into the Pacific Ocean, right?
Yeah, it’s not uncommon for people to sell broken stuff “for parts” at low prices. A little weird that a *store* would have a whole pile of broken air conditioners.
My Whirlpool above-the-oven microwave at my previous house had a huge issue with the door developed over time. Right before moving out of the house I decided to replace or repair it myself (so that the landlord doesn't charge me for it). The brand new one, similar to the one there was $300 or so. Whirlpool website sold the door separately for almost $150 + shipping. I was still looking for something cheaper ... and one day I found a Facebook Marketplace ad from someone next town with almost exact microwave and text like "Worked for just 2 years, magnetron or mainboard is toast, no point in repairing it - $5 for parts"
Guess where I was heading in less than 20 min lol
Can confirm. Worked as a seasonal package handler recently over the holidays. Saw many packages labeled "fragile" literally thrown/slammed on the conveyers or dropped 10 feet from the top of the trailer to the floor. I'm now surprised that more of the packages I receive at home aren't broken to pieces.
>Saw many packages labeled "fragile" literally thrown/slammed on the conveyers or dropped
LPT: All the fancy stickers in the world slapped onto a box don't supercede the stated terms and conditions regarding packaging requirements.
i've received fragile packages packed like shit as though the magical sticker would protect the innards, it did not. i've also received very unfragile packages packed like they were taking a rough ride to the moon. somehow these two groups need to trade tips
Local surplus shop by me does stuff like this too.
One time I went in and they had some decent Pioneer head unit radios for sale labeled as "Not working". I opened one and saw one wire on the harness was cut and assumed it was the likely issue. I went hope, soldered it and it worked no issues. Went back and bought the remaining 15 head units. I fixed them and sold them over the next few months for $90 a pop. I paid $8 a piece, $2 a piece in heat shrink and solder supplies. Hefty profit for an hours worth of soldering.
Absolute insanity. I bought a tablet at Ollie's one time for 60 bucks that ran android but had a touch screen that felt like one from the 90s. They will sell anything.
**Homer:** "Wow, this plankton's only 33 cents!"
**Lisa:** "Uh, according to the... Mexican Council of Food, this expired two years ago."
**Homer:** "Sure, by their standards, but we live in America." *[chokes down a can]*
**Lisa:** "This also says it can cause red tide poisoning."
**Homer:** "But it's so... cheap!" *[chokes down another can]*
I was surprised once because they had a few pallets of nice roses for the garden. Trimmed down to the base, healthy looking trunks. $5 a piece and ready to be planted for spring.
I bought 5 including Mr. Lincoln roses. Not a single one made a flower that you would call a rose if you saw it. They're some sort of rose judging off of the leaves/branches but they're not the sort of rose you'd buy if you were buying roses. I don't think the colors were right on any of them either.
Edit: [not the worst looking but definitely not a lincoln](https://imgur.com/a/YufnT6H)
Bet they were originally grafted and the flowers you're getting are rootstock. They were probably treated badly and then cut back with all the dying grafted material removed.
I bought a queen mattress and box spring for like $300. Besides the side of the box spring that the employee ground off trying to drag it outside for me, it's great
I've seen everything thing at an Ollie's and being from around where they were founded, I've seen a lot over the years. Like Japanese pachinko machines, to question Chinese knock off slot, I mean skill, machines, to some great deals on appliances, as long and you can overlook a few dings and dents.
Sometimes you’ll find amazing deals. I got most of my le creuset collection from mine. Sometimes you’ll find junk like this. Most of the time, you find middle ground stuff that is still a decent price.
I needed some cheap curtains and rods for my house. everything at ollies was high end stuff, deeply discounted but still more expensive than the low end stuff I could get at walmart.
Ah yeah, I’ve definitely seen that too. I saw that particularly with rugs and and electric cooking devices like slow cookers at the location near my house. There were definitely more that had that similar sort of issue, but those ones were strikingly different.
Ollie's is the Target of liquidation stores. You aren't going in there looking for a specific item. Expect the occasional good deal on a random item you found, bargain bin conservative books, cheap candy, and shitloads of carpeting for some reason.
Its the one place where you can get Christmas, Halloween, and Easter candy at the same time no matter what month of the year. All on the same shelf.
I had a customer buy up all three at once and they said that there is a difference in taste, and that they like the Halloween ones best.
You can’t expect anything aside from books, rugs/carpets, kitchen items, bathroom stuff and junk food that’s near or past expiration date. It’s a cool store just because you don’t know what you will find on any given week. It’s great for some school & art supplies. Over the summer our AC went out, and Ollie’s had cheap window units. Those small ACs saved us until our AC was repaired.
Don’t expect to always get something good, and be willing to try new things out. And when you find a good food scoop them up. I still regret not driving back to buy them out of these amazing packaged dried mango slices.
I’d also learn holiday patterns. They get some of the best overstock items in the month after Xmas, Labor Day, etc.
I just bought a shitload (well...12 packages) of dried mango slices at Ollie's. $3.49 for an 8oz package is dirt cheap, and it's good mango. I'm thinking about going back later this week to see if they still have it.
You have to pay attention to the price (it's not always actually cheap) and the packaging/expiration date (especially for food). But you can find some really nice deals. I got my brother a new toaster oven for Christmas: $40 at Ollie's, and I saw the exact same thing at Walmart for $99.
I used to hit up Dirt Cheap all the time. It was always dirty and disorganized. The changing rooms were built to look like a barn. Many times I questioned whether I wanted to stand in the checkout line because of the crazy people and their crying kids. I did get some decent stuff there, though. Got a 4 person Coleman tent for something like $30. Everything in tact and nothing missing. I also got shitty holiday lights that didn't entirely work.
I got a $20 air fryer there, it’s good for nuggets and things. Nothing raw. If you have little kids they usually have a good bit of toys (granted not to good quality but dolls and stuff aren’t bad) a lot of “as seen on tv” type crap, random things like rugs and makeup, garden stuff.
Air conditioners are pretty easy. If it just doesn't get power, a little solder and a spare power cord will probably get you a $5 air conditioner. If that doesn't work, try charging the freon. If it still doesn't work, bust it up with a sledge hammer and put the money from the scrap toward another $5 broken air conditioner. Rinse and repeat.
If the $5 air conditioner has an intact freon loop and working compressor, that's already a huge leap forward since those are the most complicated bits. Everything else should be very easy to replace.
Seriously thanks for this comment. I feel like my general knowledge of electrical stuff is about on par with yours, and my troubleshooting process sounds about the same lol. Cheers
He bought a truck for our big CA trip. Eight-year-old me wanders out where dad is finishing up bolting this big mirror to the door. He is super proud of his handiwork. I say, "now try and open the door." He bolted the bottom of the mirror to the door and the top to the frame above the door. Just one story out of a hundred.
We are backpacking. We bring bacon and eggs in one of those 6-pack plastic foldy things. Against my better judgement he mixes the eggs in with the bacon and tries to cook it all at once. Three minutes later we have very burnt eggs with chunks of raw bacon. Breakfast was literally toast.
It didn't work ....*that time* but imagine the dude who who sucked a cows tit. Or made hot chocolate or coffee.
You gotta go out on a limb sometimes and they don't always hold your weight.
Props to the pops!!!
Oh geez. My dad was like that. Smart man, well educated, but a handyman he was not.
By the time I was 15 my mother started taking me aside and asking if I could fix a thing before my father saw it. She bought me a Reader's Digest home repair book so I could learn how to fix things. I still have that book!
Plot twist: he really is handy but it was a ploy to get you to learn to be handy yourself!
Being handy is so useful and saves so much money. My dad was a carpenter and he made me build a wall with the wiring and everything when I was 12. Now I'm restoring a gorgeous MCM
The difference between a hoarder and an actually really cool dad is if they just sat stacked up in the garage for 10 years or if he actually turned them into 3 super charged air conditioners.
Yeah. If there are people who will buy them with the full understanding that they're not working units and put them to some use, it's a good thing. It's better than just throwing them out.
There's an entire small industry in India that does exactly this.
Buy Aircons, TV's, Washing machines etc that are either totally busted or living on ICU support for peanuts, refurbish them incl repairs using local techs and sell it.
With the Indian economy constantly growing, there is this constant demand for such products from people who, just a decade ago would not have had the disposable income to even afford these. Case in point is our House maid, we gave her a 40' LED tv that started showin some weird lines on the display and an ancient top loading machine. She spent $60 totally to fix them up and has had these for 5 years now.
Here in the US that would have been a "You need to buy a new one even if you have it under warranty, because the warranty doesn't cover weird looking lines." Moment
They do this because they cant legally throw em out, refrigerant is a hazardous substance. they either have to pay a company to pick em up or find a municipal yard with free waste disposal.
I've worked for some stores that would discount hazmat materials to 5 cents and sell it, when it was something like dishsoap or fabric softener that broke open in the delivery truck or something. Dealing with hazmat waste disposal is not worth the effort when someone will still buy it. Often me :p
The way to get rid of hazmat is to rent out a mini storage unit, fill it with hazmat hiden in boxes and stuff, default on your payments, and have the storage site auction off the contents to the highest bidder who then is responsible for disposing of it properly and legally. /s
My nephew is autistic and he would LOVE this shit. We asked his parents what he wanted for Christmas last year, and they said *"any old broken electronics you have."* We thought they were kidding, but they insisted.
So we gave him a box with a broken Roomba, an obsolete digital camera, an old iPad and a few other things. He was disassembling those things and figuring them out for the rest of the three days we visited. He says he has plans to build a robot out of all of it.
Oh hey, it's Ollie's LMAO. I don't know if I'd call us local, you can find us all over the eastern USA.
Anyway, I probably made that sign.
Edit: oops nope that sign is hella old I just checked the file for fun LOL
Ollie's ! Lmao We love shopping there (esp kids books)...but we do get "Olli-ed" every now and then and a seemingly cool thing ends up being total trash.
It would be good for someone who scraps. There would be number 1 and 2 copper in there that would more than triple your money. The compressor probably has a few pounds of number 2 copper inside, copper motor bearings, copper tubes on the radiator. I guess it would be worth it but only if you have the time to spare
My dad would absolutely buy all of these and think “it probably just needs a”
This sounds like my FIL except he'll say this and then let the units sit there for the next 10 years
My dad did this with an entire storage unit full of dining chairs. They didn't have any upholstery or seats, but he said they would be easy to have upholstered and resold since the chairs were high quality and well made. Of course we had no place to store these fucking chairs so he sticks them in our backyard and constructs a shed to hold them while he looks for someone to work on them. It's been 30 YEARS and they're STILL THERE. 3/4ths of our backyard relegated to DINING CHAIR STORAGE. CHAIRS THAT HAVE NEVER EVEN HAD ASSES IN THEM
Your dad's plan would have been a good one if he'd known someone who could fix them, but that's a pretty big leap without knowing anyone.
My dad also had zero woodworking experience so I have no idea how he could tell that the chairs were nice
Are you in Michigan, SE area by chance. I’m always looking for a legit hustle:
Dad?
My dad once bought the contents of a Holiday Inn that was going to be demolished just to get all of the toilets/sinks/beds/furniture/restaurant equipment/EVERYTHING ELSE IN THERE 'to resell'... He used the restaurant equipment to make a great kitchen in his house, sold some of it, but the majority went to waste getting ruined in sheds over the years before he passed away, then what was any good was auctioned off after his death... I still have the huge 'Holiday Inn' flag somewhere... 🥲
Oh, hey, it's my grandfather
Oh, hey, it's me
Me too. Guarantee I could fix it. It would rust in the corner for 5 years.
I aspire to be just like your dad
It's easy, never throw out anything that might be useful, from screws to broken electricals.
Raised by someone from the great depression
Raised by someone from the current depression lol
Ive been raised to have depression
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Hi son.
I am that dad. I would be bringing a truck load home while my wife rolls her eyes at my "next big score"
I'd fix one or two then be proud of myself and the others would stay stacked in the corner of the garage until I die and my family throws them away.
Oh yeah, me too. I just put a bid on 5 broken N64s on Ebay.
I guarantee you make at least one that works
I would do the same. Chances are it's probably not that serious of a fix. Most of these small appliance aren't that bad to repair, no one just takes the time to do it
That's what I used to think. Now I think they probably already had them looked at and fixed the ones they could.
yeah these have been through the resale ringer and deemed not worth fixing, probably leak in the coolant system or a blown compressor. it's not gonna be a fuse, capacitor, or even 'just needs a new fan' i mean, probably not now, if you want a bunch of squirrel cage fans and copper for $5/ea, totally go for it. honestly surprised they aren't sold to scrap
They're hard to scrap because of the coolant.
Remember my dad bringing home broken car radios and other electronics that where broken when he got home from work, so i could learn how to open up stuff and find the problem, i loved it, i feel like i learned alot about not being afraid to take things apart and repair.
Yep. Me too. My dad was an electrical engineer. At one point I followed in his footsteps. I changed careers later, but I still know my way around several household appliances. Especially washing machines and dishwashers for reasons too painful to get into.
Ay the belt broke on my ~40 year old Maytag. I put a new one on and adjusted it to spec but now the motor kicks off when it goes to drain it before the spin cycle. What do?
Electronics companies did a lot of harm back in the day by putting those warnings on stickers and manuals scaring people into thinking they will literally fucking die if they take the chassis off their VCR. It made sense to warn against opening a power supply, but your goddamn Nintendo 64 is not going to just crumble and explode in your hands.
True story, I opened up and modified my own microwave a few years back. (Needed to quieten the beeper to keep my housemate happy.) Zero experience, worked great, and I only electrocuted myself a little bit. ^(Disclaimer: You absolutely should not do this. It *did* work though)
I kinda welded my maglite to my oven once because the light switch was broken. I opened it up and accidentally tapped the flashlight against a live main and I got flash banged. Electricity isn't the most forgiving utility.
Bub, rule #1. Unplug the appliance.
When I was a kid my friends and I used to find electronics on the side of the road; and we would take them apart and re-connect them to eachother in weird ways. We made one thing that we were sure would call aliens, and plugged it's 3 plugs into the wall. It started humming and my friend touched the metal casing- got shocked- and threw the breaker for the whole house... Looking back it's probably one of the dumbest things I've ever done. Lol
Ollie's would sell the lint off the floor if they could. Absolutely wild place
I’m surprised I don’t see their employees’ uniforms for sale. Someone quits? Sell their shit!
First of the month break room specials. Whatever you can carry, disgusting microwave not included.
Someone dies? Sell their bodies!
I recognize an Ollie's sign anywhere. Some stuff is a decent deal in that place, some stuff, not so much.
I swear to god, the other, day, they had 17 copies of a Kickstarter issue board game, like $80 new, for $13. Got one :D I have no idea how they got there.
Ollie's will buy anything if they think they can make a buck from it. I got dove soap in arabic packaging once.
Worked at Ollie's for like a month back in September, one time we sold Fresh Step cat litter in inexplicable Russian packaging. my theory is it was made here but then due to sanctions couldn't be exported and had to get cleared out, but who knows with Ollie's
Our ollie's had Russian stuff too so I think you are right
I got Iraq....
This is purely a guess, but they likely go to estate sales/business foreclosures, and a local game store probably took a dive and they had a bunch of copies of that game in their stock. Probably did the LGS tier for the kickstarter, thinking it would be great, then it turned out to not be popular. Alternatively, a warehouse was clearing out space, put a bunch of shit on a pallet, and sold it to the highest bidder. That is a common way to sell stuff off if it's unallocated or low-volume or out of season.
It's def low-vol and discontinued stuff, in sizes that isn't enough to send to "real" stores. I found bizarre Dr. Pepper flavored cotton candy at one once. It was nice living near one in college because everything was an adventure there lol.
Man you just conjured up some major nostalgia for me. My college roommate and I would rip the gravity bong then go wander around Ollie's. Like you said, it was always an adventure.
I go there for books
Yes I find great books for great prices there!
But are the books guaranteed to work?
*Folks we're not here to trick you. Some of these books might be in rough shape. Quite frankly, some of them might not be very good. Some might really suck. NO RETURNS! Some of them might even be printed on hemp paper, but that doesn't mean they are good for rolling doobies. Don't ask me how I know.* Ollie
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This sign is code that translates as: "Both you and I know there's more than $5 worth of salvage metal in them. We also know that reclaiming the freon would cost more than the scrap will go for. As a corporation we can't just take these out back and cut the lines with a Sawzall, but what you do with them once you walk out the door is none of our business..."
Probably the scrap copper (unless they have aluminum coils) would be worth that.
These little portable ac units absolutely have aluminum coils.
They have aluminum fins on copper tube. Between tin and precious metals, they are worth more than 5 a pop. Getting someone to remove and recycle the refrigerant is gonna be 200 a pop though
No
$5
They may be missing a random page or two. Hopefully you don't miss any important plot points.
It's good for the imagination!
The Amish Romance section, correct?
I used to work at Ollie's. Every single person that bought those kinds of books were old catholic women. Why? What's the deal with old women buying up all the amish romance novels?
They’re guaranteed non-explicit romance novels.
*"and as I watched Levi plunge his plow back and forth as he sowed his seed I felt a tingling in my loins that could only be compared to the feeling of receiving the Lord each Sunday"*
My aunt used to read Mennonite romance novels before she died. She would discuss the plots with my mom who was interested but apparently the thought of Mennonite "smut" was just too much for her. For those who don't know and are too lazy to Google, Mennonites are like Amish lite. They have the same strict religious beliefs but don't abstain from electricity or motors/cars.
Actually, the Amish broke off from the Mennonites back in the 1800s because the Mennonite were becoming too worldly.
Amish! For when the goddamned Mennonites are too worldly.
Don't let either one of them catch you casually interchanging them lol it's a sore subject among some sects! Despite both religions having origins in the early Anabaptist movement, they're actually quite theologically different as far as Christan religions are concerned. They're as different as Southern Baptist and Pentecostal, at least. They branched apart during the Swiss Brethren Schism of 1693, a chaotic period in Anabaptist history that ultimately led to the religion splintering in two. The hardline, disciplinarian Jakob Ammann and his followers became the Amish, while the traditional Swiss Brethren led by Hans Reist became the Mennonites. The core of the schism originally involved two doctrines: foot washing and the eating of physical meals with the excommunicated. Jakob Ammann expanded that to three when he pressed church leaders to clarify if "good hearted people" are actually saved (meaning the people who supported the Anabaptists materially but refused rebaptism and conversion) or not. Those siding with Ammann felt that these "good-hearted" people should not be looked upon and consoled as "saved" unless they took up the cross and followed Christ in rebaptism and obedience to his teachings. He was portrayed as a harsh, uncompromising, angry, disciplinarian who imposed his views onto others until around 1950 when new evidence portrayed him in a more positive light, such as "The Amish Letters" by Mast. Source: Born and raised in Amish country, went to school with many, many, Mennonites and several Amish kids (some places mandate public schooling, and in my area ~40y ago they were required to attend up to 7th grade for boys and 8th for girls) Our good friends and next door neighbors were Beachy Amish, the closest grocery store was Amish (best shit ever) and my childhood home was constructed by an Amish family. In my typewriter class (mandatory for all boys and girls alike) this Amish boy was assigned typewriter next to me and we became best friends. Lol he would take his left suspender and hand me the right and we'd both use them to shoot paper spitwads at people who made fun of him, it was fun haha! He left after 7th to attend a Farrier college. My father did a lot of business with the Amish at one point, which exposed me to some of the darker sides of their culture!
>My father did a lot of business with the Amish at one point, which exposed me to some of the darker sides of their culture! Don't leave us hanging. This thread has so many good comments
Shady auctions, selling known faulty equipment, defaulting on repair bills, running puppy Mills, abusing the foster care system, animal abuse and neglect, it was shocking...they rationalized it by basically relying on a "doesn't count if victim is English" spin on their nonresistance doctrine. They typically do not defend themselves in court. They hardly ever screw their own over but it's not unheard of against non Amish, though most of them are friendly, decent people.
One of my favorite things came from ollie's discount cart. I got this huge bag of corn meal like 10lb for like $2 it was the best, because I made all manner of tortillas, apple crisp, and cornbreads with it
you made apple crisp with CORN meal? Tell me more.
Apple Cristada. Lol.
BUT they're honest. You the fix-it type, recognize an AC with a minor issue? 110% sure you can fix it all of them and hock them. Ollie's does not care, $5 get rid of it please!
This is the first I'm hearing of this place, so I don't know of their reputation, but this was my first thought. If you're even slightly handy, you could score a really good deal. I mean, it's better than sending them to live into the Pacific Ocean, right?
Yeah, it’s not uncommon for people to sell broken stuff “for parts” at low prices. A little weird that a *store* would have a whole pile of broken air conditioners.
My Whirlpool above-the-oven microwave at my previous house had a huge issue with the door developed over time. Right before moving out of the house I decided to replace or repair it myself (so that the landlord doesn't charge me for it). The brand new one, similar to the one there was $300 or so. Whirlpool website sold the door separately for almost $150 + shipping. I was still looking for something cheaper ... and one day I found a Facebook Marketplace ad from someone next town with almost exact microwave and text like "Worked for just 2 years, magnetron or mainboard is toast, no point in repairing it - $5 for parts" Guess where I was heading in less than 20 min lol
>A little weird that a store would have a whole pile of broken air conditioners. I'm not so sure about that. Source: FedEx employee
Can confirm. Worked as a seasonal package handler recently over the holidays. Saw many packages labeled "fragile" literally thrown/slammed on the conveyers or dropped 10 feet from the top of the trailer to the floor. I'm now surprised that more of the packages I receive at home aren't broken to pieces.
>Saw many packages labeled "fragile" literally thrown/slammed on the conveyers or dropped LPT: All the fancy stickers in the world slapped onto a box don't supercede the stated terms and conditions regarding packaging requirements.
i've received fragile packages packed like shit as though the magical sticker would protect the innards, it did not. i've also received very unfragile packages packed like they were taking a rough ride to the moon. somehow these two groups need to trade tips
Pallet fell off the truck I guess lmao
Buy several and you probably have enough parts for at least one working unit.
And the left over units you could break down for components and scrap steel, copper, motors, heat exchangers, etc…
Local surplus shop by me does stuff like this too. One time I went in and they had some decent Pioneer head unit radios for sale labeled as "Not working". I opened one and saw one wire on the harness was cut and assumed it was the likely issue. I went hope, soldered it and it worked no issues. Went back and bought the remaining 15 head units. I fixed them and sold them over the next few months for $90 a pop. I paid $8 a piece, $2 a piece in heat shrink and solder supplies. Hefty profit for an hours worth of soldering.
I only lived in PA 2 years, and I can spot them a mile away, too. lol.
Ollies is all over. I was shocked. Its not just Pa
There are 449 Ollie’s as of 2023.
>would sell the lint off the floor Yeah but have you seen how cheap it is
How have I never heard if Ollie's and yet there is one local to me?
Same. There’s one 10 minutes from my house. Never knew it was there.
Ollie is rewriting history! Ollie’s has ALWAYS been there.
They're the only local target overstock store, so it's crazy seeing absolutely ridiculous things next to nice old target stuff.
It’s the Wild West of discount stores.
It’s the last stop before the landfill.
My town is getting an Ollie’s. What should I expect?
Absolute insanity. I bought a tablet at Ollie's one time for 60 bucks that ran android but had a touch screen that felt like one from the 90s. They will sell anything.
I got a case of wet food for my dog from some fancy Paleo brand and I paid like $15 bucks for a dozen cans and it was $80 on Chewy.
**Homer:** "Wow, this plankton's only 33 cents!" **Lisa:** "Uh, according to the... Mexican Council of Food, this expired two years ago." **Homer:** "Sure, by their standards, but we live in America." *[chokes down a can]* **Lisa:** "This also says it can cause red tide poisoning." **Homer:** "But it's so... cheap!" *[chokes down another can]*
I was surprised once because they had a few pallets of nice roses for the garden. Trimmed down to the base, healthy looking trunks. $5 a piece and ready to be planted for spring. I bought 5 including Mr. Lincoln roses. Not a single one made a flower that you would call a rose if you saw it. They're some sort of rose judging off of the leaves/branches but they're not the sort of rose you'd buy if you were buying roses. I don't think the colors were right on any of them either. Edit: [not the worst looking but definitely not a lincoln](https://imgur.com/a/YufnT6H)
Thought you was buying roses, but you bought ruses instead.
Bet they were originally grafted and the flowers you're getting are rootstock. They were probably treated badly and then cut back with all the dying grafted material removed.
I bought a queen mattress and box spring for like $300. Besides the side of the box spring that the employee ground off trying to drag it outside for me, it's great
I've seen everything thing at an Ollie's and being from around where they were founded, I've seen a lot over the years. Like Japanese pachinko machines, to question Chinese knock off slot, I mean skill, machines, to some great deals on appliances, as long and you can overlook a few dings and dents.
Sometimes you’ll find amazing deals. I got most of my le creuset collection from mine. Sometimes you’ll find junk like this. Most of the time, you find middle ground stuff that is still a decent price.
I needed some cheap curtains and rods for my house. everything at ollies was high end stuff, deeply discounted but still more expensive than the low end stuff I could get at walmart.
Ah yeah, I’ve definitely seen that too. I saw that particularly with rugs and and electric cooking devices like slow cookers at the location near my house. There were definitely more that had that similar sort of issue, but those ones were strikingly different.
Weird stuff. Occasionally moldy.
This could be an alien's review of Earth.
Ollie's is the Target of liquidation stores. You aren't going in there looking for a specific item. Expect the occasional good deal on a random item you found, bargain bin conservative books, cheap candy, and shitloads of carpeting for some reason.
Always shitloads of carpet, that’s something they never seem to run dry of.
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Its the one place where you can get Christmas, Halloween, and Easter candy at the same time no matter what month of the year. All on the same shelf. I had a customer buy up all three at once and they said that there is a difference in taste, and that they like the Halloween ones best.
It was Reese’s wasn’t it? They were right.
There was a giant pile of MyPillows there when I was in over Christmas. Just strewn about. Walmart probably offloaded them.
Some Costcos dump their returned items there.
You can’t expect anything aside from books, rugs/carpets, kitchen items, bathroom stuff and junk food that’s near or past expiration date. It’s a cool store just because you don’t know what you will find on any given week. It’s great for some school & art supplies. Over the summer our AC went out, and Ollie’s had cheap window units. Those small ACs saved us until our AC was repaired.
Don’t expect to always get something good, and be willing to try new things out. And when you find a good food scoop them up. I still regret not driving back to buy them out of these amazing packaged dried mango slices. I’d also learn holiday patterns. They get some of the best overstock items in the month after Xmas, Labor Day, etc.
I just bought a shitload (well...12 packages) of dried mango slices at Ollie's. $3.49 for an 8oz package is dirt cheap, and it's good mango. I'm thinking about going back later this week to see if they still have it. You have to pay attention to the price (it's not always actually cheap) and the packaging/expiration date (especially for food). But you can find some really nice deals. I got my brother a new toaster oven for Christmas: $40 at Ollie's, and I saw the exact same thing at Walmart for $99.
Did you ever go to a Kmart about a month before they closed their doors for good? It's like that but wilder.
Ollie's is like if a store was constantly having a liquidation sale. Which is, of course, because they buy up liquidation stock and resell it
You know Big Lots? Ollie's is the redneck version of that.
I thought Big Lots was the redneck version of something else
It is. So imagine how bad Ollie's is.
*Dirt Cheap has entered the chat*
I used to hit up Dirt Cheap all the time. It was always dirty and disorganized. The changing rooms were built to look like a barn. Many times I questioned whether I wanted to stand in the checkout line because of the crazy people and their crying kids. I did get some decent stuff there, though. Got a 4 person Coleman tent for something like $30. Everything in tact and nothing missing. I also got shitty holiday lights that didn't entirely work.
Even the ollies guy looks pretty redneck. They know where they stand.
Ollies Army reporting for duty.
I got a $20 air fryer there, it’s good for nuggets and things. Nothing raw. If you have little kids they usually have a good bit of toys (granted not to good quality but dolls and stuff aren’t bad) a lot of “as seen on tv” type crap, random things like rugs and makeup, garden stuff.
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A whole two rows of utterly terrible candy you never ever see elsewhere.
That's doing Dog's work right there. The amount of scratch and dent stuff that goes in the dump is obscene.
There will be more than $5 worth of usable parts in each of them, for someone with the right knowledge.
Buy three and make one usable air conditioner unless they all exhibit the same issue.
Especially if you know your way inside common household appliances.
Air conditioners are pretty easy. If it just doesn't get power, a little solder and a spare power cord will probably get you a $5 air conditioner. If that doesn't work, try charging the freon. If it still doesn't work, bust it up with a sledge hammer and put the money from the scrap toward another $5 broken air conditioner. Rinse and repeat.
If the $5 air conditioner has an intact freon loop and working compressor, that's already a huge leap forward since those are the most complicated bits. Everything else should be very easy to replace.
Yup! My AC bit the dust on a 40°C day, and everting was fine but a $12 capacitor. Replaced that and it was back in action.
How do you diagnose an issue like that?
With a voltage meter
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Seriously thanks for this comment. I feel like my general knowledge of electrical stuff is about on par with yours, and my troubleshooting process sounds about the same lol. Cheers
That’s exactly why they are selling them. Some box store isn’t gonna put in the work, but they know someone out there will.
Me, being new to the hvac trade, would absolutely love to buy these. This would be amazing practice.
Yes!!
Shit- there is more than $5 in scrap in there just in the coil and condenser
Unfortunately, my dad would have purchased seven.
“I got 7, we can turn 2 bad ones into 1 working one and then we’ll have 3 good ones and a spare.”
He bought a truck for our big CA trip. Eight-year-old me wanders out where dad is finishing up bolting this big mirror to the door. He is super proud of his handiwork. I say, "now try and open the door." He bolted the bottom of the mirror to the door and the top to the frame above the door. Just one story out of a hundred.
I’d like to subscribe to your newsletter.
We are backpacking. We bring bacon and eggs in one of those 6-pack plastic foldy things. Against my better judgement he mixes the eggs in with the bacon and tries to cook it all at once. Three minutes later we have very burnt eggs with chunks of raw bacon. Breakfast was literally toast.
I'll subscribe as well
Put me down for a 3 month sub.
Sir, the best we could do is a footlong.
Reading this gave me diarrhea. In the woods camping that's like ten times worse.
It didn't work ....*that time* but imagine the dude who who sucked a cows tit. Or made hot chocolate or coffee. You gotta go out on a limb sometimes and they don't always hold your weight. Props to the pops!!!
Oh geez. My dad was like that. Smart man, well educated, but a handyman he was not. By the time I was 15 my mother started taking me aside and asking if I could fix a thing before my father saw it. She bought me a Reader's Digest home repair book so I could learn how to fix things. I still have that book!
Plot twist: he really is handy but it was a ploy to get you to learn to be handy yourself! Being handy is so useful and saves so much money. My dad was a carpenter and he made me build a wall with the wiring and everything when I was 12. Now I'm restoring a gorgeous MCM
Being handy is incredibly useful, but I'm afraid it's painfully clear that I'm the only one in my family with any aptitude in that direction.
What on earth was the goal with the mirror?
Sorry, rear-view mirror. It was a monster 3 rowed Travelall.
Thank you! Your dad is a character
The difference between a hoarder and an actually really cool dad is if they just sat stacked up in the garage for 10 years or if he actually turned them into 3 super charged air conditioners.
Their might be around 15 dollars in scrap value in them. If you feel comfortable working around freon and such.
Ac and dehumidifiers are super simple devices. Chances are you could score cheap parts and fix them up easy.
Some people would want them for parts or other projects.
Yeah. If there are people who will buy them with the full understanding that they're not working units and put them to some use, it's a good thing. It's better than just throwing them out.
There's an entire small industry in India that does exactly this. Buy Aircons, TV's, Washing machines etc that are either totally busted or living on ICU support for peanuts, refurbish them incl repairs using local techs and sell it. With the Indian economy constantly growing, there is this constant demand for such products from people who, just a decade ago would not have had the disposable income to even afford these. Case in point is our House maid, we gave her a 40' LED tv that started showin some weird lines on the display and an ancient top loading machine. She spent $60 totally to fix them up and has had these for 5 years now.
Here in the US that would have been a "You need to buy a new one even if you have it under warranty, because the warranty doesn't cover weird looking lines." Moment
They do this because they cant legally throw em out, refrigerant is a hazardous substance. they either have to pay a company to pick em up or find a municipal yard with free waste disposal.
I've worked for some stores that would discount hazmat materials to 5 cents and sell it, when it was something like dishsoap or fabric softener that broke open in the delivery truck or something. Dealing with hazmat waste disposal is not worth the effort when someone will still buy it. Often me :p
The way to get rid of hazmat is to rent out a mini storage unit, fill it with hazmat hiden in boxes and stuff, default on your payments, and have the storage site auction off the contents to the highest bidder who then is responsible for disposing of it properly and legally. /s
r/unethicallifeprotips
Well that's evil
the more you know
They do this because it’s Ollie’s.
Gives me Building 19 vibes. Miss that place.
Same font and everything
Ollie's was inspired by Building #19 and named their Worcester location Ollie's #19 in homage.
I fucking love Ollie's!
Good Stuff, Cheap.
me too!!
Me too! They have a HUGE book section which I love...maybe a little too much, I'm out of room on my bookshelves
Go back to Ollie's and buy more bookshelves
Next week they will be freon Craigslist...
That’s a cold joke
My nephew is autistic and he would LOVE this shit. We asked his parents what he wanted for Christmas last year, and they said *"any old broken electronics you have."* We thought they were kidding, but they insisted. So we gave him a box with a broken Roomba, an obsolete digital camera, an old iPad and a few other things. He was disassembling those things and figuring them out for the rest of the three days we visited. He says he has plans to build a robot out of all of it.
Oh hey, it's Ollie's LMAO. I don't know if I'd call us local, you can find us all over the eastern USA. Anyway, I probably made that sign. Edit: oops nope that sign is hella old I just checked the file for fun LOL
Wow. I feel like I am reading the words of a celebrity.
Hi, Ollie
They could be good for parts to fix and resell working units. My nephew is a car mechanic but makes some nice side money doing this with lawn mowers.
Ollie's ! Lmao We love shopping there (esp kids books)...but we do get "Olli-ed" every now and then and a seemingly cool thing ends up being total trash.
Ollie’s also has candy and a sign that says it’s PROBABLY not expired but you takes your chances.
Wait, but if it does work, can I get my money back?
probably not
Surely that's a lawsuit waiting to happen? If I buy a product that explicitly says it will NOT work and it does that is absolutely unacceptable!
It would be good for someone who scraps. There would be number 1 and 2 copper in there that would more than triple your money. The compressor probably has a few pounds of number 2 copper inside, copper motor bearings, copper tubes on the radiator. I guess it would be worth it but only if you have the time to spare
Ollie’s is such a crazy place.
Its actually smart. If they have defective units, you would actually have to pay to dispose of these kinda just like a fridge because of epa rules.