A Travesty! OHHhhhh the HORROR! Sigh.

[AceByTerror]

So I thought I'd share this with you fine folks - the people who understand me and my ADs...

I frequently hunt antique shops and markets - the smaller and more off the beaten track the better I've found. I have checked thrift shops in the past - mostly because in my mind it makes sense, but I have yet to have a score of any kind in the thrift stores I've checked. You know people MUST be dropping of razors regularly at these thrift shops. It's a given.

Today I stopped by one of the larger ones in my region and decided to ask if they ever get razors (I even brought a super speed as an example to show them) and if so what do they do with them.

Well I had a rather bristly woman (the manager) look at me with disgust and inform me in an angry tone that they can't sell things like that and they throw them all out. They get them rather frequently she said, even "really nice ones with fancy handles" but she insisted that you can't clean some things like blood and related bacteria. Despite me insuring her in a nice way that yes...you can in fact clean all of those things quite easily she refused to discuss setting them aside for me to pickup. No amount of logic or rational discussion would budge her.

It almost made me want to dumpster dive.... except that I'm sure there are genuine nasties they chuck in there too.

Brings a tear to my eye...

 

[BrookR1]

Maybe you could show her an ebay listing of an expensive, disgusting, used razor and remind her that she's depriving the charity that she works for of much needed money. That money could feed a homeless person for 3 months.

 

[sk0ttomann]

Apparently she's never heard of barbacide..

 

[Haggises]

I'm glad the thrift store in my town doesn't do that. I scored a nice Slim for $4.99 there.

The throw them away part? Or the ebay listing showing what they could get?

 

[HoosierTrooper]

I've found them at both Goodwill and Salvation Army stores, so they don't all throw them out.

 

[tfinch]

That's really a shame. There's a finite supply of old razors even if it's millions of them, so it's sad to think of them going in the trash.

 

[maxman]

Just imagine how many have hit the garbage bin over the years.
It brings a tear to my eye.

 

[rxonmymind]

Dang. That's a shame.

 

[tacchini]

the charity type salvation army shops in the uk are told to do the same thing,there is no reasoning with them, they say its health and safety rules.

 

[Schmitz Bitz]

I run into the same thing all the time with estate pipes. Fortunately, with a background in food sciences, I can provide all sorts of documentary evidence proving that a pipe I have cleaned sports less pathogens than the silverware in most restaurants.

Perhaps if you tried to explain the situation to her using a couple of examples from every-day life, she would clue in? Ask her if the girl who cuts her hair disposes of the scissors, trimmer and bib after each customer? Or if the local hospital disposes of everything in the operating room following a surgery?

 

[Doc4]

You should organise a phone-in campaign.

If she had say fifty guys all call up asking if she had any vintage razors ...

 

[lowjax]

I've never seen one at a Goodwill or a Salvation Army around here. I wonder if they toss them all.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Well they should toss all those nasty old shoes and clothing too. No telling how many germs in that stuff. Crockery and silverware and cookware, too.

 

[ShaveThis]

You should make a deal with her. She would put all the razors in a unmarked box under the counter. You would stop by and pick up said unmarked box and leave $20 or so on the counter also picking up a receipt for a nick nak for said $20. The Feds will never know.

 

[Toothpick]

they can't sell things like that and they throw them all out.

i stopped breathing when i read this....
no wonder why Fatboy's are so expensive

 

[mystkm]

That's crazy...

Around here the issue is that a lot of antique dealers go to estate sales and from what I've been told 9 times out of 10 personal items like that are disposed of prior to the sale. I've occasionally gotten lucky at one place picking up a Slim w/case, 40s SS w/case, 50s SS, and a 70s ball end Tech, each for the meager price of $4.95 But, yeah, it seems there's some hang up about razors, et al.

 

[Viseguy]

Eric - 496620796f752063616e20726561642074686973207468656e20796f75206172652061206765656b2e

Geek here.

 

[celestino]

Good grief! The shame of it.

 

[Mad Man]

The way prices are going I can see a not-too-distant future where B&B members are mining our dumps a la' '49ers style and shouting "eureka" when they find some rusted up Super Speed or Tech.

It's enough to make Al Swearengen come back just to set up shop on the "razor fields"...

 

[highplainsdrifter]

Yeah I was talking to a Lady that runs a second hand store nearby. She said a lot of estates she goes to have already thrown the razors etc away thinking that no one would want them. I guess to some people shaving with a second hand razor is unhygienic. What I don't get at thrift shops is used shoes, that weirds me out more than used razors.
But like others have said, you think nothing of sticking cutlery in your mouth at a restaurant, trusting that it's been cleaned properly. Someone was telling me if you live in London, when you drink the tap water there your at least the 7th person to drink that water. Now that is gross.