9.10.11

Child’s play.

Last Wednesday I was lucky enough to get the day to myself – sure I had to go grocery shopping, but since we get our fruit & veg in town almost an hour away, I like to make a day of it. An opping day, of course.

Before I even left though there was a park smack bang out the front of the oppy on the main road; fate, obviously.

I often skip this particular oppy except when they have $2 or half-price sales, they are the most expensive thift shop in town & rarely have anything I have to have, so I didn’t have very high hopes. Walking in I took note of the “All toys 1/2 price” hand-scrawled sign tacked to the window, so that’s where I headed first.

fw1

Nothing, nada, zip. Ugly, naked dolls, boring soft toys & copious amounts of tacky plastic junk. I turned to leave when something altogether different caught my eye; a Ferris wheel. An old, dusty, entirely adorable vintage toy Ferris wheel. Of course I grabbed it like I was a drowning sailor grabbing for a bobbing life preserver, but even as I did I was thinking “God, this is going to be expensive…”. $2.

fw2

$2 minus 50% = (insert thinking music here) $1.

fw3

The manageress was putting some other junk on the toy shelf as I was leaving that section & said “Oh I didn’t see that!" & came over for a closer look. I told her it was luck that I’d seen it too, out of the corner of my eye & demonstrated how it merrily plays a tune & rotates, very, very, slowly. She held it for a long time before she gave it back, muttering again about how she hadn’t seen it & how nice it was, I just smiled happily.

fw5

When I took my things to the counter the assistant started to add them up when the manger came rushing down the aisle. “That REALLY shouldn’t have been $2.” I looked at her; what did she want me to say? “Sorry, I’ll give you whatever you want for it”? She said to the assistant, also standing silently, “I’ll have to tell *insert old lady name here* not to do this. I can’t believe she put that out for $2. It should NEVER have been $2. NEVER”. The assistant just said “Oh”. I smiled & paid $4.50 or whatever it was for my bits & bobs & left. HAPPY. What would you have done?

fw4

Now I know opshops sell donated items to raise money for charity. I get that & I never, ever, ever, as I see some people do, try to haggle or begrudge them their money; if it’s too rich for my blood I just don’t buy it, & I try not to visit “trendy” opshops that have prices more inline with a proper second-hand dealer, but in this case I was lucky. That’s what opping is about after all, there is no skill in finding great things at opshops, just luck & persistence.

petercoddle

Luck struck again later that day when I found this old “game” for 50 cents. The instructions say that one player reads the story while the others read out their random cards to fill blanks in the story, so that lines like “…for safety, he sewed a             into the lining of his coat…” becomes “…for safety, he sewed a plucked chicken into the lining of his coat…”.

petercoddles2

Have a lovely Sunday!

More finds here.

26 comments:

  1. hmmm, i know what you mean. I would not have paid more for it, it said $2, they priced it, oh well, lucky day for you.

    I am sure they make more on other items that people are happy to pay for.

    sometimes they think that they can get away with charging whatever they want because it's "retro" & "cool" & people will pay.
    I love oppies because I do not like to buy new things when I don't have to & yes, I am a one income family & sometimes i only do have a few dollars in my pocket to spend.

    enjoy the ferris wheel...no guilt here ♥

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  2. Ohhhhh what wonderful luck and gorgeous treasures! I would have done exactly as you did. If things are put out at the wrong price that is just too bad as far as I am concerned. Part of the joy of op shopping is finding a real bargain. Too many op shops seem to be marking their donated goods at higher prices these days in part I suspect due to the popularity of vintage and retro items. Enjoy your lovely ferris wheel and the game. :)

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  3. OH my god I love that ferris wheel.
    Um what would i have done, i'm not sure, i'm not great at confrontation, but then again I wouldn't have wanted to pay more for it than it said. they can't just change it because someone else "priced it wrong"
    so i'm not much help.
    But I'm so happy it worked out for you and you got it.
    xo

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  4. I sometimes offer to pay more for my complete lot of purchases if it comes in really low - one of those days when three items of clothing adds up to under $5. But I wouldn't pay more to a resentful manager who's complaining about something that happened when she didn't check the pricing!

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  5. You should have winked at her and said "Lucky I found it hey?". Grrr. They make me so mad. I've had that sort of rudeness from op shop assistants too. I have rather a fetish for old tablecloths. That seems to have been taken note of and now one shop prices theirs above ebay prices. I rather think the idea of helping people with these second hand shops is going out the window and the churches are just concentrating on collecting the money. Cherrie

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  6. Lol thats funny. We get ripped off on every op shop we do these days so if you have a score for the op shop consumer all i can say is "you go girlfriend!!".
    Its not your fault they mislabeled it hee hee well done for holding your ground.
    Mxo

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  7. Wow - what an attitude.
    That just makes me think -
    that that sort of person should not be working there.

    Fab find Vic!

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  8. Wonderful Treasures, you did very well. I can't see why the Op Shops are getting so expensive, all goods are donated so everything no matter what they sell it for is all profit. Even the little one in our town is marking some things quite high. Lol they don't know about retro or Vintage though so I still get bargains.

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  9. I think the best oppys realise that the secret to making money is turnover and just getting the stock through. I pop into the expensive opshop near me from time to time and a good proportion of its overpriced stock just sits there for weeks, amazing that they don't come to any kind of conclusion about that... Fantastic find :o)

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  10. Fab finds Vic! Any good business person knows the customer is always right. Clearly the manageress of this particular op shop leaves something to be desired in this category:( Cyndy

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  11. I think the the amount paid should be the amount on the item (unless you fancy making a donation per se which is a separate issue). Everyone looks for different items at the op shop after all...

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  12. That is a fabulous Ferris Wheel. I wouldn't have felt guilty either about them not pricing it correctly :)

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  13. My guess is she was hoping you didn't buy it so she could have it herself. You did the right thing.

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  14. Your lucky day I think! Funny post. I LOVE the game. What fun!

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  15. What a lucky day you had!

    And that game seems like it'd be lots of fun.

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  16. FABulous finds! They are both just gorgeous.
    Meant to be obviously :) Kx

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  17. What a bargain!
    I had the exact sam thing happen to me last Blogtoberfest (must be the moneth for it LOL) mine was a stack of Enid Blyton books priced at $1.50 and the managerress got narkyat me because they should have beem behind the counter at $5 like I was to blame for their mistake. i stood my ground and got 3 for 1.50 and had to pay $5 for the 4th as she insisted it wasnt marked at 1.50. I wad fuming because I was also buying 4 of the other expensive blyton books from behind the counter.
    At the end of the day it put a sour taste in my mouth and I have only ventured back there a couple of times since.

    Yes they are for charity, but it doesnt mean they can charge hwy robbery prices on vintage just because its now cool. I say rejoice in your find and dont go back for along time!!!

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  18. Lovely both the toys!!

    I believe Becky (commentor) probably has it close and the manager wanted it for herself.

    I have suspected this in some of the thrifts in my area. I think they hold items for resellers and/or themselves. I really don't think it has anything to do with the charity (i.e. wanting to increase profit on a particular item) because it is all profit on all items and the more they push through the better.

    Good day anyway!! :)

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  19. That little ferris wheel is too cute. Super buy! I think the "build a story" game is pretty cool, too.

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  20. Would you like a nice big heap of guilt with your donation to charity? :P Raspberries to that manager.
    Love the card game too. very cool!
    Overheard in an old church oppy last week between the worker and manager. "How about $5 on this", "no that's too much. We could mark things like that but then we wouldn't get the people in that we are trying to help."

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  21. Firstly what lucky finds, the ferris wheel is just too cute.
    Pricing in op shops has always been a thing that irks me, yes they need to raise money for charity and I get that, but I feel that having items priced so high only deters people from wanting to purchase not encourage. I have a store cloe to me where they have 2nd hand costume jewellery that is priced higher that handbags and shoes, thats just ugh wrong... I wouldnt of done anything different to you in the circumstances, it was priced so thats what it cost and her comments were rude. I may of even mentioned that to her.....

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  22. Awesome find on the Ferris Wheel and I love the sound of that word game and have started wondering how I can make a version for the kids to use...

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  23. It certainly was your lucky day. Too often I see overpriced stuff in the oppies and think that they are just being unfair. You obviously op shop often so you are always giving to charity. I would have done the same.

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  24. I love the Ferris Wheel! What an awesome find - I don't think I've seen anything like it! And the game is gorgeous too - I love the box.

    That's an awkward situation with the manager! Recently I bought a couple of vintage childrens books cos there was a sign that said "All children's books 50c each". At the counter the lady looked inside the covers and read $4 on each one and charged me that. She obviously hadn't seen the sign but I was too shocked to say anything and just paid $4 each LOL. I'm such a wuss. But I figured it was for charity anyway and I was making a donation. I would have felt cheap correcting her! I guess I've got bargains other times so it evens out...

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  25. Oh Peter Coddle! How Marvelous!
    Wish that I had one of those.. Good find, mama.

    xx

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