10 Things Thrift Store Workers Are So Over

Donating used (or even non-used!) items to a local thrift store is an easy way to get rid of anything you don't have a use for. However, there are certain items that you should think twice about donating! Recently, thrift store workers met in an online discussion to reveal which items they beg people to stop donating.

1. Broken Items

From electronics to home goods, many thrift store workers complain that they receive a lot of donations of broken items. These items collect dust on store shelves until they're eventually thrown out. Remember, if you wouldn't buy that same item in a thrift store, don't donate it!

2. Cassette Tapes and Players

While conventional wisdom suggests old cassettes and players have value, that is incorrect. According to thrift store workers, outdated technology makes them impossible to sell. "These are garbage," confesses one worker. "We literally cannot give them away. Believe me; we've tried. VHS tapes won't sell either, but people will at least take them off our hands. Cassettes just end up in the trash.

3. Stained Mattresses

I understand the logic of donating a used yet relatively-clean mattress, but I'd be embarrassed to donate a stained mattress. However, apparently, I'm in the minority here because workers report they receive plenty of stained mattresses in a given week. I must cry on behalf of these workers: Please stop the madness!

4. Old, Beat-Up Furniture

Use common sense when donating old and heavy items. For example, worn-out furniture is a no-no to donate these days. "Guys, if your 15-year-old 300-pound torn-up, cat hair-covered, and the mysteriously-but-thoroughly-stained futon was too janky for you to want it around anymore, odds are good that no one else wants it either, and it's a whole lot of trouble for us to get rid of," says one worker, clearly not holding anything back in her assessment!

5. Underwear

Who in their right mind looks at used underwear and thinks, "Wow, somebody could really put the underwear I've worn for years to good use - I think I'll donate it."? Shockingly, the answer is "Many people," according to workers. Eventually, all underwear gets thrown away because, aside from a small minority of fetishists, there's no market for used undies.

6. Straight-Up Trash

The number of stories workers tell about families clearly dropping off garbage bags full of trash, hoping to get a tax write-off is shameful. Stop donating trash! Trash belongs in the garbage, not in the hands of a thrift shop.

7. Ripped and Stained Clothes

It's time to realize that your used clothes do not have great resale value, people. "You would not believe the amount of clothes we receive, and everyone claims that their clothes are great," confesses one worker.

"For the most part, everyone is, at best, seeing their items through extremely rose-colored glasses because we only keep about a quarter of what we get." (Also, it's most likely you have terrible style. I mean, come on, take a look at what you're wearing now.)

8. Old Televisions

This may come as a surprise, but there is a small market for the ancient TV you pulled out of your parent's attic. Unfortunately, it simply won't sell at a thrift store.

Eventually, the thrift store will dispose of your antiquated television at their own expense because you were too lazy to drive to the dump to get rid of it properly.

9. Old Linens and Bed Sheets

It's shocking how many people confuse trash for something acceptable to donate to a local thrift store. Much like furniture, if you wouldn't use linens or bedsheets in your own home, why would anybody else?

"If they're too tatty for your own bed, then what makes you think someone else is going to buy them and put them on theirs?" asks one exasperated worker. "Convert them into a pup tent or something. Don't bring them here."

10. Plastic Cups

No one - I repeat: No one - wants your old, grimy plastic cups you received at baseball games during dollar beer night or your old college drinking vessels. Throw them in the trash where they belong because countless thrift store workers reveal they never sell.

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