Many years ago, I worked at a thrift store called Value Village. They had different colored tags and every week one color of tag was half price. What didn’t sell at half price, was on closeout for $1 the next Monday. This was only for clothes items under $20, so the more expensive clothing was the least likely to get sold that way. So the very best clothing usually ended up being put into a bale, instead of them just dropping the price again to where it would sell better. When they had enough for a bale of clothing, they sold that to someone who shipped it overseas, or probably to places like the DR. As an employee, I got a discount on anything that I bought myself, and during the week, when I was putting clothing on the sales racks, I was checking to see what I wanted to look for on the next Monday for the $1 sales. Rather than browsing, I could just go directly to what I wanted to buy. Some of the clothes I sold on ebay, and some at yard sales, like your wife does, @Martin Alonzo .
I have always loved second hand stores. When we first moved to the suburbs of DC in the early 60s, there was an old farm that had been converted to The Swap Shop. You could take your junk there for store credit, as well as just go in and buy. For years before development took them away, I would go to a row of second hand stores in Arlington. This was a residential neighborhood that abutted the business district, with a street of 5-6 houses that had all been converted into retail shops. Each had a specialty. The one I enjoyed the most got random stuff from estate sales. I got to know the owners at a couple of these well enough that they would call me when they got something in that they knew I'd be interested in buying. I once got a box of over 200 science fiction books for $10. I did not read all of them (I don't like science fantasy), but I got exposed to a number of authors I never would have otherwise encountered. Then I used them to start a "Take One/Leave One" book exchange at work. I love old books and other oddities. There's some connection to being a link in the chain of custody that pleases me more than being the first owner of something brand new. Actually, I came here to post that I was at Goodwill today for the first time since early 2020, and bought an AM/FM dual alarm clock radio for $4.99. The sucker is 5" x 7" and is mostly display. Through the magic of the internet, I found the manual in about 1 minute. Everything works fine. The better the deal, the more I enjoy them.