Charity store bin diving? Am I the only one that suffers this addiction?

Not as of yet Uber, but after looking at your finds it might become my addiction as well. Enjoy the music

the records are being US cleaned as we type and cds being ripped.

And that  was part of my interest in this matter, are finds like this normal or very unusual in todays age?

How about this: I walked into my local Goodwill in CT and what did I see near the cashier? A mint condition pair of Klipsch Heresy's in oak finish. The price - $25 for the pair!!!!! I asked the cashier if that was for just one? No, she said - $25 for two!!!! OMG! I dug the money out of my pocket so fast and paid for them! $25 + 6% CT sales tax! Can you beat that!!!! 

And to think that Klipsch is now charging $3K for a new (supposedly "improved") pair!

Outstanding roberjerman!

I did find an old SOTA table in a store about a year back, was not that good of a bargain but still a nice score.

TBH I have found our local Goodwill stores to be pretty poor for anything music related, we have a couple of independent smaller stores that is where I am having the best luck.

I frequented that CT Goodwill store for years buying $1 LPs and $3 CDs. Plus various vintage receivers, integrated amps, cassette decks, CD players ... speakers (Advent, JBL, KLH, Ohm Walsh, Snell ...). For dimes on the dollar or less!

@roberjerman, want to double your $ ?

My local CT Goodwill was in a RICH area - Stamford/Greenwich. Rich people have a lot of toys they get tired of and feel good donating them to GW! 

I only kept the Heresy's for a few months. I advertised in the local free buy/sell paper and soon found a buyer nearby. He paid me $375 for the Heresy's and was very happy! I went to my friend Marty in New Rochelle (a big Altec/JBL fan and tube gear collecter). He sold me a really nice pair of Altec 872 Madrid's (with the 15" Duo-Flex woofers for the $375 I made from the Heresy sale. I was very happy! 

Goodwill's in wealthy towns/cities are good hunting grounds!

Kingston has some good stuff. Rich town.

HK preamp and monoblocks

Rotel RA-980, mint, $40 cdn. with matching tuner.

Kenwood KA-9050

KEF 105

Mint NAD 3020

Mint NAD 3120

Technics SP-10

Coral BX-8F

Nakamichi 730

Pioneer HPM-100C

HK T-65C

The list is near endless
eg, from the same place...the system I’m using right now to type this, at the workshop:
Denon UD-M31 CD amplifier/tuner
Monitor Audio Bronze B1
with a Velodyne Vx-10B subwoofer.
About $40 cdn in total, for the three pieces.

In the main shop workspace, from the same thrift store:

the aforementioned Rotel RA-980 integrated, all modified to the nines
Musical Fidelity V-Dac,heavily modified
Fujitsu laptop as a server for the net (music stations) (into the V-Dac)
Target TT-5 metal audio stand.
Kenwood KT-6550 Tuner, stunning shape, totally rebuilt
Denon DCD-1930Ci DVD/SACD player, totally rebuilt, opa627’s etc.
NAD 7020, rebuilt, happens to be on the stand.
Monster cable power conditioner.
Monster cable speaker wire.
Mirage 750 speakers.
target speaker stands (16") for the Mirage speakers

⏫⏫⏫⏫⏫
Bloody Hell.......

Guess I live in cheap side.......
🙄🙄

Uber..for music CD i was a thrift store frequent flyer...until I discovered the Seattle public library system.....

I do every now and then go thru the Vinyl.....the classical box sets are typically minty mint...

I forgot. It also includes the HP 15.6" i5 processor laptop I’m using right now, and the 27" monitor behind it, for looking at schematics.

Lawdy. I gotta stop being so cheap and doing too much bargain hunting.

And the cartridge assessing stereo biological microscope (100x) in the shop, a Carl Zeiss unit. Found at the same place. $14.99. Overpaid that day!

Like I said, the list is near endless. Apparently, he who dies the most Scottish, wins.

edit: whoops: also the $750 mint Obusforme office chair I’m sitting in right now.

I have to admit that today I found the album equivalent of a Faberge egg.

I picked an album up in truly mint shape that I had a feeling was rare.

It was not till I got home and added it to my discogs catalogue that I found out how rare.
My cost $1.89.
Only one for sale on discogs in the UK.
Their price ....£1000 Sterling.
My oh my......

awesome!

That is highly unusual though, not my normal fare!
$1 albums that are like $2 to $4 in record stores.
So still a good deal but not amazing.

As I first said....today was an outstanding day!

go Uber ! I may need a few eggs else go back to work after market vaporized today..

Back in the early 90's, my local Goodwill was a treasure trove of LP's as people were dumping their record collections for CD's. I must have pulled over 300 of them out of there. I stopped there almost every day after work.

That store also provided me with a Thorens TD-165 table with a Shure V15 III for $3. When I was checking out, the cashier said "too bad the speakers aren't with it". Yeah, what a rip-off!

Short arms, deep pockets. Books are my Shangri La at the local thrift stores. And not all are charity by the way. Never much luck with the audio equipment.  Joe

There there’s a GW in Saint Louis where I found the first 5 Fresh Aire albums ( (3 through 5 were unopened!) for 50 cents each!

My best finds.

JD

@minkwelder This song reminds me of your post. It is about buying LP’s in the 90’s:
Artist: Jeffrey Lewis and the VoltageSong: LPs
Link to spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/2f8fVIHxUaPCeb9sOJuXqw?si=asTw9fWsR1K0UvWLzAxwWQ 
Not sure if the song is a style you like but the lyrics are great!

GW's in my neck of the woods are pretty slim pickings. Craigslist is where the action is. Fortunately we have a local book store with an impressive selection of $2.00 vinyl.

I have to say Goodwill are probably the last charity shops I will visit anyway.
The pickings are very slim and the CEO awards himself a huge salary, yes very charitable.
Now The Salvation Army is a total different story.
Better goodies and a CEO that takes a nominal small salary.

Yes I am being hypocritical.... Lol.

I have had relatives tell me about nice clothes they found at Goodwill, but I seldom ever went there, and especially not for electronics.  Same with pawn shops.  I assumed that any equipment at such places had lived a hard life.  Now, had I known what to look for and could repair items myself, I probably would have.  But I would think that if the item played in the store, it would shortly breathe its last gasp back at my house.  

More than likely I would be the guy on PBS’ “Antiques Roadshow” who would approach the appraiser, hopeful for some good news:  “Bob, you say you paid $75 for this artwork?”
”Yessir!”
”Well this signature down here that looks like Van Gogh . . . that is actually “van lines” and this is probably an advertisement for a moving company.  If you like the picture, then you can keep it.  Otherwise, line your bird cage with it”.

But reading the entries here has me thinking I should make the rounds and see what I can find.  The ritzy areas here have Goodwill’s and maybe even a Salvation Army store, but for the church-affiliated thrift stores and the pawn shops, those are in the poorer areas of town and I assumed they wouldn’t have much.  But I can check and see.

Bob
Just my opinion but you should steer well clear of any pawn shops, you are correct that ANYTHING in there is either way over priced or had a very hard life.... or both.

Goodwill tends to have more knowledgeable staff checking through the donations before offered to the public so sometimes you never see "the good stuff" as they take it out and list on ebay themselves.

However I am not saying we should all run along and see what we can get to resell for a profit from the charity shops.

My main aim was to see what others experience in charity /thrift stores was like.

I don’t want to be a human cootie catcher so I’m minimizing time spend in any local thrift stores and washing my hands like crazy when leaving. 

uberwaltz OP10,262 posts03-18-2020 7:23pmI have to admit that today I found the album equivalent of a Faberge egg.

I picked an album up in truly mint shape that I had a feeling was rare.

It was not till I got home and added it to my discogs catalogue that I found out how rare.
My cost $1.89.
Only one for sale on discogs in the UK.
Their price ....£1000 Sterling.
My oh my......

>>>>What a tease! You’re not going to tell us what it is? I have a funny feeling it’s not all that. Lots of things on the Internet have outrageous prices. That’s the way the system works. 

GK
Nope, not telling.
And yes I seriously doubt that the asking price would ever be realised, certainly not in today's climate.

But checking recently sold examples shows all into three figures so still a very lucky find whatever.
Not that I am interested in selling,it's a keeper.

Been doing this for years.....I'm fortunate to have numerous thrift type outlets in my area, one of which I even scored brand new unused NOS records! Yea not mainstream stuff, but sealed and unused regardless. Sometimes I get a bum record, but I'd say that at least 90% of what i do find sounds pretty darn good and for a buck! I have been able to drastically increase my inventory of records in this way, and I'd say half my collection contains thrift store finds. I seldom will buy a brand new record or pressing. Other alternatives I use to build my library include both Ebay & Discogs. I've had great success with these as well.  Closing in on perhaps 1000 records. 

Bin diving at the Goodwill is a favorite pastime.

I can shop like a king for $20. Timing is everything, however. Good finds get picked up fast. So it's a matter of  when something is put in the bins.

I agree on timing part tablejockey.

The same shop I scored big yesterday had zilch on Monday afternoon.

Luck of the draw.

uberwaltz,
Why would the title be a secret? It's just a record, not your SS#...

My best finding was a 1517 book about English law in the garbage bag of a bin store because his leather binding of around 1800 was completely off...Value in the many thousands...

Very nice Mahgister!

Always nice to hear feel good stories.

Can I suggest you sell it ASAP and get what you can for it? It would make excellent toilet paper in a pinch, however. 😬

GK
That would be the knee jerk reaction as per the stock market clowns.
Sell, sell, sell!

I think for my massive investment I can bide my time....

Not that I have any intention of selling it as I already said.

Probably going to play it later today to make sure it sounds as good as it looks as condition is obviously important for potential value.
Just for my own edification of course!

Right oh!
Off to the next shop that on Thursday does 55% off for over 55 shoppers.
Let's see $1 down to 45 cents...
I should have waited....
😂😂😂

Not being judgmental but Florida is waaay behind the curve, as it were. When are you guys going to snap out of it? 

As per usual GK, I have absolutely no idea WTH you are talking about.

Meds worn off?

Did you find Metallica on vinyl?? A recent reissue or era pressing?

Tallguy.
No the Metallica was CD.
Still for 50 cents......

I know, Uber. Never mind. 😛

Uberwaltz,
One more time...why so secretive? It's just a record. The story isn't even entertaining if you don't mention the title. 

Salvation Army Store Albums:

Earth Wind and Fire - Head To The Sky
                                     Open Our Eyes

Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters

Impressions featuring Curtis Mayfield

And some others I don’t remember and they all played surprisingly good with nar a scratch. A buck a piece with jackets and sleeves all in good condition.

Roxy 
There is no big secret but I prefer not to go there for my own good reasons which have nothing to do with profit or anything like that.

Say I disclose it, there will always be those who feel the need to inject snark along the lines of...

its not not worth that, I bought it for $xx, your version not the same, blah blah blah.

Just not going there is all.

No big conspiracy.

And it was not meant to be entertaining, sorry.