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Seven Days at the Bin Store

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Re: Seven Days at the Bin Store

#51

Post by parpfish »

citizenpaul wrote: post #6
nancyminusone wrote: post #5

>I don’t want it, but what am I supposed to do? It will end up in the garbage one way or another. I stuff it in my bag. This seems to be the common thread here - judging by the pictures, the stuff in these bins seems to be 95% junk. It's trash brand new in the package. Hard to believe anyone would pay any amount for it. Almost seems like you're losing money by not dumping it directly into the ocean. Apparently, I'm w…

>Apparently, I'm wrong enough that there's hundreds of these stores in business. The stuff in the bins is from amazon returns. Its not a business of its own supply choices. The people that run the stores go to amazon pallet auctions where they buy the stuff unseen and hope to turn a profit on the arbitrage of what they pay vs the worth of the pallet.

I feel like if there were a sustainable business in this, Amazon would just do it themselves and set up outlet stores. But instead Amazon takes the easy money of just auctioning stuff off. that should be a red flag for people starting these businesses.

Re: Seven Days at the Bin Store

#52

Post by compiler-guy »

bravesoul2 wrote: post #45

Does anyone save at a bin store? It would take a lot of patience and discipline. You would need to come with a list of things you'd definitely buy anyway, only buy those things and be prepared to go every week often coming home empty handed. If you just go with $100 and no plan youll end up buying junk. Probably a good place to get Christmas toys for kids maybe where you just need "a toy".

The article tells of a woman snapping up school supplies. Doesn't say if she is a teacher or collecting for her kids or what. She probably doesn't need them immediately, but I figure she saves money by purchasing these things now and storing them until she actually does need them.

If you have the space to store consumables, then watching for them to appear on sale and stocking up is a good strategy.

Re: Seven Days at the Bin Store

#53

Post by UncleOxidant »

mdip wrote: post #35

So these are popping up everywhere, then? I have two within five miles of my house. They've both been there over a year, probably a bit longer. I'm in a mid-western US suburb, mostly blue-colllar/manufacturing employers around here. And there's a "Red Tag" store (similar) which is very obviously trying to pass off that they sell Target returns/over-stock. It's across the street from -- surprise -- a Target! Of the tw…

We've had The Goodwill Outlet store (aka "The Bins" ) in the Portland area for about 25 years now. Maybe a bit different, they sell all of the stuff that doesn't sell in the other area Goodwill stores by the pound. It's all dumped in large bins. During the Tech Wreck when I was unemployed I'd go to The Bins when they opened and go through the book bins grabbing what I thought I could sell used on Amazon... Goodwill got wise to that after about 6 months and stared pulling books out that they could sell online. But for about 6 months there we paid the bills by selling books I bought by the pound at the bins.

Anyway, The Bins has a unique culture. There's The Changing of The Bins - that happens when they take out the most picked over bins and replace them with fresh bins full of stuff. People line up around the perimeter where the new bins will appear and then there's a bit of a frenzy when the new bins are rolled in.

Re: Seven Days at the Bin Store

#54

Post by bombcar »

parpfish wrote: post #51
citizenpaul wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Apparently, I'm wrong enough that there's hundreds of these stores in business. The stuff in the bins is from amazon returns. Its not a business of its own supply choices. The people that run the stores go to amazon pallet auctions where they buy the stuff unseen and hope to turn a profit on the arbitrage of what they pay vs the worth of the pallet.

I feel like if there were a sustainable business in this, Amazon would just do it themselves and set up outlet stores. But instead Amazon takes the easy money of just auctioning stuff off. that should be a red flag for people starting these businesses.

This is just a variation on "outlet" stores (the unofficial ones, that have always sold crushed inventory, etc, the stuff the stores don't want to even clearance, or can't sell on clearance).

The one near me amuses me because they always list everything at half list price - $50 doodad from Target is set at $25. But sometimes you can still see the $5 clearance sticker from Target on it!

Target likes it because they turn a pallet of returned crap and other crush into some cash, and the stores like it because they buy a pallet for $1000 and sell it for $2000 over a few weeks.

Bin stores have just sped that up - but Goodwill outlets have been doing "by the pound" for ages. Go there and buy books, clothes, microwaves, all at a set price per pound.

The key is you don't have to pay anyone to think about pricing. (And of course, you skim any of the really great stuff off before it hits the floor.)

Re: Seven Days at the Bin Store

#55

Post by bombcar »

neilv wrote: post #21

> “You can buy stuff from here and then you can resell it,” Ahmed tells me. “Through eBay or Amazon. You can sell on Facebook market. You will get your money back in less than one day if you wanna resell it. Which is a good thing for everybody right now, for the public. A lot of people need to work.” I'd guess that probably the store itself is picking out some of the more valuable items from pallets they source, to d…

Goodwill does that and they don't even use eBay for a bunch of their stuff - they run their own auction site: https://shopgoodwill.com/home

Makes sense for them, they're maximizing the money they get (and you can still get bargains, look for expensive and heavy things near you so you can pickup and save shipping).

Re: Seven Days at the Bin Store

#56

Post by bombcar »

bravesoul2 wrote: post #45

Does anyone save at a bin store? It would take a lot of patience and discipline. You would need to come with a list of things you'd definitely buy anyway, only buy those things and be prepared to go every week often coming home empty handed. If you just go with $100 and no plan youll end up buying junk. Probably a good place to get Christmas toys for kids maybe where you just need "a toy".

You can find "good deals" but you can also end up with a bunch of "suckers deals".

Just like you can find out that the dollar store sells some crap for more than walmart does.

Re: Seven Days at the Bin Store

#57

Post by bombcar »

neuroelectron wrote: post #44

Right before Largest mall got demo'd we had one of these but they were all Amazon/Target mystery boxes with different sizes and prices. There was even an article in the local paper celebrating the opening. I imagine it was absolute trash like the stuff in this article and the only "mystery" being the missing electronics.

The thing to remember is that Amazon and Target know what is in the box before they divert it to the pallet pile.

And if it is potentially valuable, they check it (Amazon Warehouse, Target Clearance).

The best deals I've found are on things like diapers, where a crushed box won't sell but the diapers are just fine.

Re: Seven Days at the Bin Store

#58

Post by bombcar »

Theodores wrote: post #16

Empty gifts of capitalism! This store is my idea of hell. I am in the process of tidying up my dad's estate, and, despite the mountains of stuff he bought, there is not one single thing that I want for myself. I am done with stuff, particularly if it has bits missing! I am sure that, if I went to any hoarders home, it would be exactly the same. There would not be a single item that I would want to walk away with. You…

The tech is the saddest/weirdest part.

I have a bunch of tech in my house, being used, that I wouldn't pick up from the side of the road for free.

It's just waiting to die and be replaced with something newer.

Re: Seven Days at the Bin Store

#59

Post by _carbyau_ »

nancyminusone wrote: post #5

>I don’t want it, but what am I supposed to do? It will end up in the garbage one way or another. I stuff it in my bag. This seems to be the common thread here - judging by the pictures, the stuff in these bins seems to be 95% junk. It's trash brand new in the package. Hard to believe anyone would pay any amount for it. Almost seems like you're losing money by not dumping it directly into the ocean. Apparently, I'm w…

You are not alone in being wrong, count myself and many others also...

"I laughed at the Lorax, You poor stupid guy! You never can tell what some people will buy." - The Lorax By Dr. Seuss

Re: Seven Days at the Bin Store

#60

Post by bombcar »

sokoloff wrote: post #47
citizenpaul wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>(HN) is probably the worst place to voice this out loud Yeah. I got some hate on HN for saying some store that basically sold what I call "store to landfill" junk was. Well exactly that and it probably is not worth being upset that it was going out of business. As you said it was all about the HN feelings while ignoring the massive wasteful reality for a brief spike of endorphin. 10 Chinese children lived lives of a…

You skipping buying that mask doesn’t improve those kids’ lives, though.

The sad thing is that buying the mask probably does materially improve their lives.

But the factories are just as happy churning out high quality items are they are cheap plastic shit, but the demand for the latter is much, much higher.

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