In a viral TikTok, a woman called Goodwill the “biggest scammers” for not having affordable prices despite being a thrift store.
In the video, Jessica Ann Boykin (@mamaboykin) is visibly frustrated while filming inside her local Goodwill. As she’s searching for a pair of sweatpants, the content creator notices that pair of standard used grey sweatpants are being sold for $8. That’s $.75 above the federal minimum wage, meaning a person would have to work a bit over an hour to make enough money to afford the garment after taxes.
“I’m over it. I can’t afford to be alive,” the text overlay on the video read.
Boykin says that the second-hand store seems to ironically have forgotten to have “good will” in their pricing, given that many people who shop at their store are there because they need affordable clothing items.
@mamaboykin I’m too broke to even shop at the Goodwill. But in all honesty fck em’. #itsdonated #goodwill #scam #poverty #fyp #pma ♬ September (Instrumental) – Sparky Deathcap
Boykin proceeds to pull out a pair of men’s pajama pants and points out that Goodwill is charging $8 for items that “some man’s balls” and farts have already been in.
She also points out that the hundreds, possibly thousands, of items at the store were donated, so it’s not like the store needed to mark up prices because of shipping issues or inflation costs.
“Did you f*cking forget all of these things here are donated?” Boykin says.
The video has garnered more than 2.8 million views and a staggering 22,500 comments as of Tuesday morning.
“I’m too broke to even shop at the Goodwill. But in all honesty fck em’,” the caption read.
Yahoo Finance recently reported that there might be several factors influencing the noted rise in cost, including rising operations costs and an increase in thrifting’s popularity, especially among environmentally conscious people, driving prices up alongside the demand.
“When you can go to Ross and get a pair of sweats for the same cost ball sweat/fart free,” read a top comment with more than 47,000 likes.
Others shared similar frustrations with the thrift store.
“My goodwill tries to sell furniture at $499. For donated broken furniture,” one person said.
“I saw them selling a $120 Walmart Christmas tree for $89.99 & it looked like it had been through a tornado,” another noted.
“The ones near me have stained & worn out looking stuff selling for 5 bucks a shirt, like dude I can buy it new for 7 at Walmart,” a commenter shared.
The Daily Dot previously reported on customers’ criticisms of Goodwill. One TikToker claimed their local spot was full of Target overstock, while another creator who urged people donating to Goodwill to cut out any new tags on the clothes so the company wouldn’t sell the item at an inflated price.
The Daily Dot reached out to Boykin via Instagram direct message and to Goodwill via email.
Update 10:44am August 2: In an email to the Daily Dot, Goodwill representative Rhiana Sherwood shared the following:
“Goodwill stores sell donated goods so they can use the revenue to provide people in their local area with free job training, career placement services and other human services that can help them build skills and advance in their careers or other life circumstances. For that reason, when a store receives donations, they work to set a price that reflects fair market value for their local community while also making the most of the donated item’s value. The more revenue a store is able to drive, the more they are able to assist people who are in need of job training and other support services, all at no cost to them.”
