TV's at the thrift stores

[radiotvnut]

Last Wednesday, a friend and fellow collector came to visit from New Orleans. I had not been in any of our thrift stores in over a year and he wanted to check them out; so, away we went. I was soon reminded why I stopped going in any of them.

The first thrift store is run by some preacher who claims the proceeds go towards some overseas children's home. The only TV in the place was a beat to heck late '90's RCA console, priced at $46. I wouldn't have given $4.60 for it! The records were the usual gospel, Christmas, and knock-off instrumental crap that looked like they had been run over by a truck. The prices were $5-$10/record.

The second store raises money for a local children's home. There was one BPC 27" blob with a "SOLD" sign on it and what looked to have been an early '80's 17" GE color TV, priced at $30. It was the model with electronic tuning; but, still not worth $30. I saw one BPC VCR and a SPC Philips DVD player, priced at $12/each. The record selection was the usual crap that needs to go in the dumpster.

So, on to the SA. Unfortunately, they still have the same witch manager that was the reason I stopped going in there, well over a year ago. They had some 25"/27" BPC sets in the $50 range. There was a late '70's 17" Sanyo built Sears knob tuned color TV for $30, a mid '90's white plastic Magnavox 9" color TV for $20, a beat up mid '80's RCA XL100 console for $50, and an '83 Zenith system 3 console with the single knob varactor tuner for $50. I saw one BPC VCR, in unknown condition, for $20. They had raised the record prices from fifty cents/ea. to $1.50/ea for any kind of record. And, double albums were charged as two records. I bought a couple of records and my friend bought a couple of records; but, most of what was there probably needed to hit the dumpster.

As far as TV prices, I'm doing good to get $30 for a later model 19" set and I can forget about selling consoles at any price. Either these thrift store TV's are not selling and ending up in the dumpster or the thrift store customers are willing to spend more money than my customers.

Had that 17" GE or the 17" Sears been under $10, I would have probably bought them; but, I couldn't see $30/each. I wish we had thrift stores down here like what some of you guys describe. The type store that sells TV for dirt cheap prices. I used to could deal with the SA, until they hired the current manager. And, of course, she'll probably be there until the day she dies.

I have a friend, who buys used stuff to resell, and he is always looking for TV's that he can get cheap and make a few dollars on. He says that many people are still living in the past when it comes to used TV prices. He still sees consoles priced between $50-$100, 5"/9"/12" B&W sets priced in the $20-$25 range, and other types of TV's with asking prices like we haven't actually gotten in years.