Over the holiday season, I needed some fabric to make some
Christmas crafts with my children.
Rather than drive all the way to the fabric store, I decided to visit
the local thrift shop. I scored some
great deals on fabric and also left with a Christmas sweater that I would later
tear up to use for the crafts as well. After our family craft time was over, we
marveled at the beautiful things we were able to make with the thrift store
fabric. However, a short while later, I
started feeling guilty about my purchase.
I frequently drop off outgrown clothes, toys, bikes and even
furniture to the local thrift stores in my area. I always leave feeling a little bit better
because I am hopeful that these things will go to children or families in
need. However, I now realize that this
may not be the case at all. These items
may be going to people who make a decent living and just want a bargain. And that makes me a little sad.
Thanks to Macklemore, thrift store shopping has become quite
trendy. Recently, there was even an article in our
local paper touting a thrift shop’s “high-quality merchandise at low
prices”. I have always been one to think
that thrift stores were created, not for finding bargains, but for people who
don’t have the means to shop anywhere else. The more I thought about this, the more terrible
I felt about tearing up that Christmas sweater so that my family could make
ornaments out of it.
I started thinking about all of the people who have the
means to go elsewhere, but who frequent the thrift shops to find deals. I realize that thrift shops are businesses,
and the owners probably don’t care one way or another who does the purchasing
of the items in their stores. But the
items for sale in thrift shops are usually one of a kind. It’s not like going to Walmart and having
twelve bikes to choose from that all cost fifty dollars. A thrift shop may only have one bike for
fifteen dollars. And in my mind, I would
feel awful buying that fifteen dollar bike when there might be a kid out there who
can’t afford the Walmart special and was saving his money for the thrift shop
bargain bike. Along the same lines, I
wonder if someone had their eye on the Christmas sweater that I took home for
three dollars and tore apart. Is there
some sort of moral code when shopping in thrift stores? Are people who need to shop at thrift stores
offended by the bargain hunters? Do they
care one way or the other?
In today’s struggling economy, I completely understand the
need for a good deal for everyone, regardless of your financial status. However, if you can afford to go elsewhere,
is that the better moral choice? Or is a
bargain a bargain, regardless of the type of store? I don’t know the answers to these questions,
but personally, I now know how I feel about bargain hunting. Going forward, I will make the longer car
trip to the fabric store. I will find my
“bargains” at Walmart or on Ebay. I will
leave the joy of finding a great deal at the thrift shop for those who could
really use a spring in their step.
