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I was perusing a local Goodwill this weekend, and my “scavenger sense” went off while looking at some junk (yes, its a real thing as many of you will agree). I immediately spun around to see a goodwill employee carrying out a nice looking golf bag. As soon as I saw it, I also saw that an older man had seen it at the same time as me, but he was closer. Being that I’m not a jerk, I engaged him in conversation and joked about how much it hurt that he saw it first. He was just there wasting time while his wife shopped.
Anyways, we checked the bag out together – it was a like new Callaway golf bag with a full set of near mint high end clubs in it. Many of the clubs were BRAND NEW! The putter alone was a $300 club and it was brand new never used. There was well over $1k worth of goodies there.
I still had a chance if they priced it high, so we looked for the tag. Maybe with luck the overpricing jerk was working the back room, as I was buying this no matter the price they put on it – a higher price would have ran off the old man I think. We found the tag and it said…….$25!!! Needless to say, the old man smiled from ear to ear as he checked out and hit the road.
I was bummed for the rest of the scavenging trip and couldn’t concentrate.
Feel free to share other stories of the one that got away.
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Oh, I hear you on this! There’s one tiny hospital thrift shop I go to that sometimes has really high end things (eg bench made in england men’s dress shoes). I always go to the mens shoe section as soon as I come in (it’s pretty small), but once in a while they’ll put something out a few minutes after someone has brought something in. One time I lucked out seeing someone bringing in a donation of a big comforter that looked promising, and they brought it out onto the floor a few minutes later and it was a king-size ralph lauren comforter for $30 that I sold for $125! But about a month ago I was distracted and trying on some clothes to buy for myself, and I didn’t notice that someone had brought in a donation and it got put out. It was a pair of perfect condition Church’s mens dress shoes for $20!!! But this other guy (who didn’t seem like a reseller) snagged them. I obsessed about this miss that entire day!!!! Sigh.
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Oh man RTWV.. What a miss. I used to play golf a lot when younger. There are guys that only use Callaway everything and those being almost brand new!!! That would mess my day up also.. Just like when we drop out of the bidding for an auction item just to see it sell for $2.50 more than our drop out bid. Makes your stomach drop.
If that had been a Weigh and Pay the old man would have been probably run over and had it grabbed from him LOL 🙂 …. Well keep up the search. Onward and Upward!
mike in Atlanta
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I took my mom over to the GW in town on Sunday. They have $0.49 tag Sunday & Monday. I checked out the jackets, but wasn’t sure if they were included in the clearance. I found a vintage canvas barn jacket that had the clearance tag, put it back to go ask if the clearance included jackets….it did. Walked back to the rack just in time to see a lady putting the jacket in her cart. Ugh. Lesson learned to always take the item with you if you have a question. I did get a nice Land’s End jacket for $0.49 though.
Also just passed up a Tommy Hilfiger Down filled Puffer jacket today at another thrift. It wasn’t on sale and they want $8, but after looking at comps, I may send my mom over tomorrow while I’m at work to see if it is still there and have her pick it up along with the Columbia jacket they had for $5.
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I like to think up a story in these situations to make me feel better. Maybe the gentleman is on a fixed income and his wife made him sell his golf clubs because they needed the money and he didn’t play much anymore. Now he has a really nice set he will get to keep because they were so affordable. This may be one of the best days of his life.
My getaway story was at a garagesale 2 years ago. I had a dreamcast I just picked up next to a fence and this guy ran over and yelled at me and said it was his. I looked down and sure enough, there was a small pile of things there as well. I wanted to say he needs to put his stuff next to the person collecting money but didn’t. Saw it on Craigslist the next day for way too much. The bummer was my son really really wants one (yes, we are still looking for a deal) and we would have kept it.
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I always feel a sense of camaraderie reading these stories. I think we’ve all been on both sides of these situations. Think of all of the people who’ve witnessed you picking up that valuable item and putting it in your own cart!
I have a very hard time letting go, perhaps because I work a full time job and can only source 1 day a week, so my thrifts are usually quite memorable due to the time between trips. Just so I can join in the fun, here are the three things I missed out on that really bum me out.
1) Super old metal Igloo brand cooler brought out on a wares cart at Goodwill. A older lady was closer to the cart and nabbed it before I could get to it. I saw the tag and it was marked at $5. It was prob. worth around $100-250.
2) high end baby doll again at a goodwill. Picked it up, looked at the brand, put it back on the shelf and walked away for a second to research. Lady comes up behind me and nabs it. Turns out it was worth around $70, was marked for $2.
3) Super massive life size Squirtle Pokemon plush from the 90s. A little kid grabbed it right as I was walking towards it at Savers. It’s worth around $100.
Fortunately these occurrences are pretty rare for me because I’m one of those annoying people that will load up my cart with anything that catches my eye, and I’m not shy about being that guy who waits at the backdoor to get first dibs at a new cart as it gets wheeled out.
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I was at a yard sale once and saw a pair of cool sunglasses for 50 cents. Another guy was looking at them, trying them on and asking his wife,, blah blah blah. I waited waited waited.. went next door and came back waiting for him to decide.
When he finally put them down and walked toward the front of the yard, I scooped them up and paid the lady. She was laughing. I guess the other guy didn’t realize he wanted them until I bought them.
You can’t spend too much time worrying about the ones that get away.. you may miss the one sitting right in front of you..
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