‘Do you play me for a fool?’: NYC woman picks up Zara dress at Salvation Army. Its price tag has her accusing the thrift store of ‘losing its mind’
A New York City woman walks into the Salvation Army and picks up a pink Zara dress with its original tags still intact. She can’t believe how much the thrift chain wants to charge for the donated dress.
TikToker Jessie Jolles (@jessie_jolles) holds up the pink dress, pointing to the strong fluorescent lighting in the thrift store.
“Look at the lighting. This is what you don’t pay for,” she says in the video with over 418,000 views. Jolles pulls out the original tag on the dress, which lists the price as $50.
“What I’m looking for on this, $6.99, $7.99. Maybe if we’re really pushing it, $12.99,” she remarks. However, the Salvation Army price tag shocks her. “This is $29.99,” she says, showing that the dress is just $20 off the original price.
“Do you play me for a fool?” she exclaims. Jolles points out that resellers won’t be able to turn a profit on the clothes, as marking it up would bring it back to the original price.
“I hate to say this, but you can’t go thrifting in the city,” she continues. “I’m upset.”
How does the Salvation Army price its clothing?
The Salvation Army relies on donations to stock its thrift stores across the country.
While the Salvation Army has a standardized donation valuation system, which prices dresses between $4 and $20, locations may sell the item for more depending on brand and demand. This could be why Jolles believes the prices are higher in a high-cost-of-living area like New York City.
Frequent Salvation Army shoppers on Reddit say they’ve observed steadily increasing prices over the past year.
“I’ve seen such a rise in Salvation Army prices. Salvation used to be THE place to go with the cheaper prices (at least in my area),” one writes on the r/thrifting subreddit. “Today, I passed up on a pair shoes that were pretty yellow (they were white but were very worn) and i would’ve cleaned them up but they were $20.”
Another comments, “Mine are getting worse, too! I used to be able to walk out of a Salvation Army with a few items for $15 or less.”
Shoppers think the dress is overpriced
In the comments of Jolles’ video, viewers say the donated Zara dress was way overpriced. They point out that the thrift store recieved the item for free, criticizing the high price.
“They got it for free!!! Delivered!!! Resellers travel, pay, advertise, Work for their profits!! So we don’t have to. Thrift/op shops need to remember they’re for the poor not profit!” one says.
“Yeah you might as well just go to the mall now cause salvo and thrift stores have the same prices as mall stores now,” a second remarks.
“Even TJ Maxx wouldn’t dare sell that above $16.99,” a third adds.
In an Instagram direct message to The Mary Sue, Jolles says the Zara dress wasn’t the only expensive item she found at the thrift store.
“Sadly the whole store was overpriced,” she writes. “There were dresses there for $150, which is insane for a Salvation Army.”
Others suspect that Zara may donate overstock or damaged clothes directly to the Salvation Army. According to an article by Caring Magazine, Zara and the Salvation Army have a partnership for the former’s unsold items.
“The salvation army has been getting massive amounts of NWT Zara items for like four years now and idk i think its coming directly from Zara at this point. There’s tons of it at random Salvation Army stores, and they even sometimes have dedicated Zara racks with special pricing signs for the items,” a viewer suggests.
Another asks, “My Salvation Army has an entire section of Zara brand new with tags. I wonder if they have some kind of contract or something?”
@jessie_jolles @salvationarmyny ♬ original sound – Jessie Jolles
The Mary Sue contacted Zara via email and the Salvation Army via media contact form for further comment.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
