But not for the reason you think.
Because we completely agree that recycling is cool.
As someone who grew up with weekly visits to the recycling center, to antique shops and to local flea markets, I’m glad that more people have opened their eyes to the treasure hunt it can be.
The excitement when you stand upside down in an old cardboard box to see if there is exactly what you didn’t know you were missing, is incomparable. And if you can get away with paying a little less than what you yourself estimate the taxes are worth – well, it doesn’t get much better.
That’s why I understand that standing in line and waiting for the doors of the favorite thrift store to open has become a popular sport. I do it myself.
The flip side of popularity
But when I visited a thrift store a few weeks ago that bears the name of one of the very large charities on the facade, I became aware of the downside that popularity can risk bringing with it.
Because when I stood in line at the checkout to pay, I came to stand behind a fair-haired woman who was in the process of emptying the basket of children’s clothes, winter jackets and small rubber boots.
Behind the cash register, wearing a vest with the organization’s logo on the chest, a member of the store’s free labor force – in the form of an elderly lady – was putting the items into the cash register.
When the customer paid, she pointed out in a nice, but not completely fluent Danish, that it was quite expensive, now that the store had donated all the goods for free (I myself had ascertained that the price level in the store was higher than usual, so I listened interested in this exchange).
– But the organization also has to make money, and it goes to a good cause, the older lady said again.
When the fair-haired woman did not seem convinced, the older lady came up trumps:
– Then you have to buy the things somewhere else.
And in doing so, she made clear to me a problem that may be exacerbated by the popularity of thrift stores.
Because of course I understand that the many more customers mean that supply and demand can become unbalanced. And of course the money for the sold effects (in many cases) goes to charity. So I don’t expect you to give anything away for free.
Thrift shops’ task
But where do we stand if the thrift stores will not be for everyone? If underprivileged and socially disadvantaged families here in Denmark also in the future have the opportunity to buy a pair of rubber boots and a winter jacket for a small amount of money for a child who has outgrown them?
Isn’t that charity? Isn’t that a good cause?
Fuck those who go to the thrift store to see if they can salvage a designer lamp for a candy – and fuck myself who goes to the thrift store to buy books, trinkets and little gizmos.
We can bear to pay the price or not.
But in my eyes, it is highly objectionable if you set the price sky high and try to make money on the families who don’t have very many other options. If greed has really become so prevalent in a place where both goods and labor are free, it shocks me.
I don’t want my local thrift store to be gentrified because middle-class Denmark has decided that “secondhand” is the new variety.
The logical consequence of such a development could very well be that these families, who have previously been able to find what they needed at their local thrift store, will be forced to shop at services such as Temu, where product safety is a city in Russia, and the climate account is pitch black.
And none of us can afford to pay that price.
2024-10-18 15:36:00
#Recycling #wealthy #poor #Temu