The &%#$! Thrift Store

I have a love/hate relationship with the thrift store.

Naturally, I love it when there's a treasure waiting just for me. And I hate it when there's nothing but dollar store crap and I leave empty-handed.

But I really hate it when I find a treasure but I can't buy it. Why? Because this particular chain of thrift stores has a policy that if something isn't priced, forget about buying it. The clerks will never price on the spot no matter how much pleading you do. But if you come back the next day, they'll cheerfully put a sticker on it then. I'm not really sure what difference 24 hours makes but apparently it makes all the difference.

Which is how I finally came home with this Lefton Santa planter. I saw him on Thursday at an out-of-town thrift shop. It's about 20 miles from where I live but was on my way to another stop. Knowing the policy on price tags, I knew I didn't have a prayer when there was nothing more than the Lefton sticker on the bottom. The chances of me coming back the next day? Slim and none.

But never say never. On Friday, I had to run another errand that gave me the second chance that I needed. Now I only had to hope that Santa would be "in the back" as promised and that it would be reasonably priced. I was particularly nervous about that second point after I saw a vintage Christmas tablecloth with lots of stains and hole in the center at $14.99. I'm pretty sure it's still there.

But the thrifting gods were on my side when this was slapped on the bottom.

I'm considering it an early Christmas present. But would I be really bad if I wanted Santa to leave the person who came up with this policy a lump of coal in their stocking?

 

Comments

[Poppy]

I think this policy is to keep people from peeling offprice stickers in hopes that the new price will be lower than the one they peeled off.

[theaxx]

you know, my mom has one of these and every year he comes out and is filled with bright and shining wrapped choccies - delish! and very cute. it makes me smile to see him :)

thea.
xx

(spoonfulzine)

[Linda H.]

I know the *&%#@ thrift store of which you speak. I still have pangs about the shirt that I could not purchase because it was tagless. I don't get it. Just slap on the highest range price for shirts and I would have paid it.

[Rita]

Thrift stores I go to used to do that - no tag, no sale. However, they don't do that anymore. If something doesn't have a tag, the cashier will price it or she'll ask the manager for a price. Sometimes that good, but not always. The SA army store I go to has the very bad habit of not pricing a lot of things. And the ONLY person who can price it is the cashier. So you put your unpriced items in the basket along with your priced items. Problem is the cashier will not tell what the price is; she'll just ring everything up and then give you a total. I learned the hard way, so now I separate my unpriced items and leave them to the end of the my transaction. Then I ask her give me a specific price on each so I can decide if I want it or not. Sometimes she'll even quote me a price that is less than what I expected - woo hoo!