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Has The Salvation Army Gone Crazy?

Posted by Mike Porper (A) on November 18, 2015 at 09:09:53

Thrift stores, and the Salvation Army, used to sell stuff such as loudspeakers for $5 to $10. Suddenly, they've gotten greedy. They're supposed to be a thrift store, not a high margin, high markup reseller.

I happened by one of their stores the other day, out here in a Chicago suburb, so I thought I mosey on in. What a waste of time. All I got for my trouble was an unpleasant surprise, an apparent demonstration of greed, and a lot of junk store stench in my lungs.

They had 3 pairs of old speakers there. Two were from the 60s or early 70s. Of those, one was a pair of Scott and the other from Radio Shack. The third pair was a bashed up generic off-brand from an 80s rack system.

The Scott and Shack pairs were priced at $59.95. The smashed up rack system ones were 69.95!

None of those speakers were from companies known for their advancement of the art and science of loudspeakers. The Shacks was gouged, scratched, and had water stains from drinks or plant container having been placed on them. The Scotts were pretty beat up, too, and they weren't even from tha company's main line. Instead, they had shielded jacks as input on the back. That means that they were of the lowest quality product that Scott produced. Back in the 60's, component manufacturers produced systems known as "compacts", which were intended to be marketed to general consumers who weren't interested in high quality, high fidelity sound, but wanted something better, or something beyond the consoles and "portables" that ruled the market during that time period.

The rack system speakers were the usual horrible low-fidelity garbage, with paper thin cabinet construction [in this case all bashed in, because it was so thin] and the worst plastic drivers.

I noticed that all of their records were similarly overpriced. Every record was either $1.99 or $2.99. Every single classical record, no matter how worthless, was $3.99. Many of the $3.99 ones looked like some psychopath took a knife and went to town with it on the record. Many were moldy and water damaged and really stinky. I didn't even want to touch those with my hands for fear of contracting some disease, and from just instinctive disgust.

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