Stupid Value Village on safety razor policy.

**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.

**dpm802** · 09-11-2008, 07:58 PM

You might try a Black-Market approach.

Tell the next clerk:

"I know that HQ hands you this policy that you have to toss old DE razors. We both know its a stupid rule. But I collect those old things. Yeah, I know, its a weird hobby, but its what I like to do ... so how does this sound? Every razor that you can salvage for me, I will pay YOU $5 CASH ... that's $5, tax-free, straight into YOUR pocket! I'll even give you a bonus of $2 for every razor that comes in a case. You want my number? Can you call me when you get 15 or 20 of 'em? So what do you say? Have we got a deal?"

**polod** · 09-11-2008, 08:01 PM

I thought of that, but they have a lot of young teenage girls who probably couldn't give a dam about my hobby and are too stupid to take the bait and probably if they thought about it, they might be afraid they might lose their job if they got caught.

**rabidpotatochip** · 09-11-2008, 08:17 PM

Originally Posted by polod

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.

Just to go over a few points, it stands to reason that the blade of the razor would be unsanitary and since they are in the business of making money off donations, it's probably less costly for them to toss the razors in the bin than to clean them up and/or remove the blade(s). Further, some people feel that there is a certain safety risk associated with DE blades and straights. Regarding their electric razor comment, I can only assume that they're referring to them not really cutting anything that bleeds. I used an electric razor for a very short time in my life, and in that time I found it pretty much impossible to cut anything but the hair with it, so that's the basis for my assumption.

While the razor is just a piece of metal that holds the blade in, it's possible that it can also hold infected blood from a previous user. Bear with me on this one... As you said earlier, this is a company that makes their money selling donated goods which comes back to my point that they probably feel it's not a good use of their resources to clean the razors. On the other hand, they probably don't want the risk of selling/giving away a product that might have (infected) blood on it either since mistakes like that tend to bite one in the ass quite hard.

Anyway, that's just my speculation.