Goodwill or No?

I’ve had some pushback over the years about shopping at Goodwill.

For those not familiar, Goodwill is a nationwide for-profit second hand store that finds jobs for special needs workers. Goodwill gets a lot of social credit for that.

But their CEO also made 700+ thousand dollars last year and there is also some concern Goodwill exploits their workers. Most of the general public thinks they are nonprofit, and they certainly aren’t doing anything to dispel the myth.

I love to second-hand shop. I love antiques (I grew up in the East Coast in a rural area - all the cool stuff was old). I love yard sales, I love to prop shop. And I think second hand shopping is necessary for smash cake photographers. Your set designs have to be unique to your studio. And you certainly can’t do unique at Hobby Lobby.

So, I choose to shop at Goodwill but I donate my props back to the other nonprofits. Goodwill might not be doing anything wrong. To them it might just be good business, but to me, a nonprofit facade with a reputation of taking advantage of their people seems a little iffy.

- Clare