polod
09-11-2008, 07:34 PM
I was at Value Village today and asked one of the managers if they get any old safety razors in, and they said from time to time, but we just toss them. I asked if I could buy them since I collect them and they said no. Again, their policy is they feel old razors are unsanitary, mostly the blade part, i.e HEP B, C, HIV, etc.. yet they sell used electric shavers, hair clippers, combs, brushes and a lot of other stuff that has been used for personal grooming that isn't too clean. A lot of this stuff they get in is sold "as is". I asked why it was o.k. to sell electric razors and their reply is, "they don't really cut anything". What a stupid answer, don't they cut whiskers? Also they leave the old rotary blades in the head, electric razors can't be boiled like safety razors and they are much harder to clean. I guess you could just buy a new head for the razor, if they still make them for the particular model you buy. But some are so old, I doubt you could get new parts easily. Anyway, all they would have to do is just toss the razor blade out before selling the safety razors. They seem to forget that the Gillette razors is just a piece of metal that holds the blade in place, the razor itself doesn't have a built in razor blade. The blade is removable. Even still if they were that worried, they could just quickly scrub it down with soap and a toothbrush before selling them. I told them there are quite a few at flea markets, antique stores and other junk shops and they don't seem to be afraid to sell them. They didn't really have a response to that comment.
But I'm kind of screwed, if I tell them some of the razors are quite valuable, and many are sold on Ebay for some really high prices, I'm sure they would be really surprised. Then either two things would happen: they would eventually carry the razors at very high prices, i.e. $30 bucks (remote possibility) they would have to have the O.K. from the top, or some employees at Value Village might actually check into the DE safety razor collecting world and see that there is money to be made and start taking the razors they find in donations and try to sell them themselves on Ebay or some other place. Either way you wouldn't really have a chance to buy them at the store.
I asked this question about every few months with a different employee, but the answer is always the same, "no we can't sell them, we toss them, we won't sell them exclusively to you either and basically you are SOL." That would be funny if over the years they actually got a couple of very nice, rare Gillettes in cases, like a 195 or some other very rare razor and in the garbage they go, not knowing they could get a few hundred dollars for the razor, what looks like a piece of junk to them was in fact worth a lot of money. They are in the business to make money off of free donations, just imagine some of the lost revenue they could have made if they sold some of these razors. It's kind of frustrating because I'm sure they get some the odd time, but there is no way in hell you'd ever get to buy them from this company.
But I'm kind of screwed, if I tell them some of the razors are quite valuable, and many are sold on Ebay for some really high prices, I'm sure they would be really surprised. Then either two things would happen: they would eventually carry the razors at very high prices, i.e. $30 bucks (remote possibility) they would have to have the O.K. from the top, or some employees at Value Village might actually check into the DE safety razor collecting world and see that there is money to be made and start taking the razors they find in donations and try to sell them themselves on Ebay or some other place. Either way you wouldn't really have a chance to buy them at the store.
I asked this question about every few months with a different employee, but the answer is always the same, "no we can't sell them, we toss them, we won't sell them exclusively to you either and basically you are SOL." That would be funny if over the years they actually got a couple of very nice, rare Gillettes in cases, like a 195 or some other very rare razor and in the garbage they go, not knowing they could get a few hundred dollars for the razor, what looks like a piece of junk to them was in fact worth a lot of money. They are in the business to make money off of free donations, just imagine some of the lost revenue they could have made if they sold some of these razors. It's kind of frustrating because I'm sure they get some the odd time, but there is no way in hell you'd ever get to buy them from this company.