Thrift Tips #2: Colored Tag Sales

 Welcome to another weekly installment of thrift tips. Today, I am going to tell you everything you ever wanted to know about colored tag sales. I'm sure you've seen the signs that say "all  items with pink tags 50% off." But did you know that thrift shop managers use colored tags to control their inventory? You can  use your favorite store's color cycle to determine the best days to shop and I'll tell you how...




 It varies slightly with each shop but, basically, colored tag sales work like this:

Every shop has people in the back whose job is to sort donations and to tag and price the items.The first week of the month, they tag everything with a certain color tag, let's say, orange. The second week, they switch to white, then pink, green etc.

Three weeks later, during the last week of the month, items with orange tags are put on sale for 50% off because they have been on the rack the longest. On the last day of the orange tag sale, right before closing, anything that's left with an orange tag gets pulled off the rack to make room for newly donated items.The next morning, the cycle starts all over and the people in back once again start tagging with orange, and white is now on sale. Shops that aren't as busy may have a longer cycle. And managers often alter the sale cycle depending on the volume of donations (for example putting more than one color on sale at a time when the store is extra full). But every thrift store that uses colored tags uses them to keep their stock fresh.

So how does knowing this help us thrift? Well, the sale color is discounted because it's been on the racks the longest. Therefore, your chances of finding something awesome tagged with the sale color are slim. So the sale itself isn't that great.I suggest you use colored tag sales to determine when the store puts out the big stash of new items. Always ask the cashier how long the current color will be on sale. If they say that green will be on sale until Sunday, then you know to come shop on Monday. That is when they will bring all the new stuff out.

The most important factor in finding gold at thrift shops is seeing it before somone else does. Get to know your favorite shop's colored tag cycle by observing their sales and talking to the people who work there. If you know the last day of the sale, you know when they pull their old stock, and that freshly donated goodies are soon to come.