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Feature: How SVdP Madison’s Work Release Partnerships Support Successful Reentry
Feature: How SVdP Madison’s Work Release Partnerships Support Successful Reentry 944 655 Kristen Blacksher

Rebuilding Lives: How SVdP Madison’s Work Release Partnerships Support Successful Reentry

By Brooke Trick – Senior Director of Retail Operations – North Central Region

In 2024, nearly 1.8 million people were incarcerated in state or federal prisons or local jails across the United States. With one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, the country also faces a troublingly high rate of recidivism—individuals who reoffend after release. A major contributing factor? Nearly 60% of those reentering society remain unemployed one year after release.

Recognizing this barrier, in 2018, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Madison started a work-release partnership with Oakhill Correctional Institution to offer incarcerated individuals job opportunities that would provide valuable work experience and financial support upon reentry. Following DOC work release requirements, individuals unload trucks and work in the hardline processing departments at the SVdP  Centralized Processing Center.

During the shutdown, SVdP Madison partnered with Nehemiah, a local faith-based organization that supports formerly incarcerated men through housing and employment. Together, we created alternative job opportunities for Nehemiah’s reentry program participants, ensuring continued access to meaningful work and support through a difficult time.

Now, the collaboration between SVdP Madison, Oakhill, and Nehemiah is stronger than ever. The three organizations are working together to ensure that individuals currently in the work release program not only gain employment while incarcerated but also receive housing and community support upon release. This comprehensive approach helps break the cycle of recidivism and supports long-term success.

John Cobb, Associate Director of Retail Operations at SVdP Madison, initiated these collaborations. He candidly shared his initial hesitation:

“I had many of the same thoughts and stigmas that others do when you talk about incarceration,” Cobb said. “But after working with the Oakhill staff, my perspective changed. I was humbled. These individuals have served their time. They deserve a chance at a new life and shouldn’t be held back by the burden of their record.”

Sergeant Craig Bruesewitz, Work Release Coordinator at Oakhill, also emphasized the power of this opportunity:

“They’ve put aside real temptations to get to this level and now have a chance to make some money. Taking advantage of opportunities during incarceration is key to a successful release. When these guys succeed, it benefits the whole community.”

Cobb agrees that success requires dedication from all sides.

“This isn’t a program where you can set it and forget it,” he said. “We follow DOC rules, hold participants accountable, pay a competitive wage, and treat them the same as all our employees. When they leave, they’re prepared for today’s workplace.”

Since the program’s start, 104 formerly incarcerated men have found employment through SVdP Madison. Several have remained in the area, continuing to work with SVdP or securing new jobs and housing opportunities with SVdP support.

One such employee, King*, is a testament to the program’s impact. He credits Oakhill’s work-release program and SVdP’s support for his successful reintegration:

“I want to be a beacon to others who’ve been in similar situations—to let them know you can make it happen, and your past doesn’t have to shape your future,” King said. “Being given that opportunity was a game changer. It helped me establish myself. It gave me a chance to start over.”

Implementing reentry and work-release programs in our retail operations wasn’t something SVdP Madison had considered before 2018. But the results have been deeply rewarding. These experiences have increased awareness among our management and staff about the importance of programs and legislation that prioritize second chances and uphold the dignity of all individuals.

Housing, education, and employment are essential to reducing recidivism. A recent report by the Council of Criminal Justice found that securing employment after incarceration can reduce the chance of reoffending by 61%. Addressing these needs not only helps returning citizens reintegrate successfully, but it also contributes to safer, healthier communities.

When asked what he would say to others considering similar programs — or to individuals in prison offered the opportunity — King’s advice was simple but powerful:

“If someone reaches out to give you a hand up, take it. And give it your all. The more programs like these, the more chances there are for real change.”

  • Kristen Blacksher

Feature: Thrift Stores
Feature: Thrift Stores 534 712 Kristen Blacksher

Vincentian Experiences: Transactional or Relational?

By John Thelen, Executive Director of Lansing Diocesan Council
and Mike McClanahan, Director of Retail Operations of Phoenix Diocesan Council

Vincentian success stories happen throughout our country on a daily basis.

Our Vincentian encounters begin with that first call from a neighbor in need who is seeking some form of assistance from our SVdP Conference or Council.

As a Vincentian, it helps me to try to remember how hard it must be as a neighbor in need to make that first call to seek some form of assistance from SVdP. How we proceed with the initial call will help shape the story that will be told in the future about our work.

Is our Vincentian work creating “transactional” type experiences or will our actions create a “relational” experience with our neighbors in need?

Sometimes it’s easy to handle what just seems like transactions. Our neighbors are seeking a pretty straightforward request; paying a quick utility bill to prevent a shut-off or paying a landlord for a late rent payment. They can be pretty easy, quick transactions. The neighbor feels blessed to get the emergency assistance they were seeking and we as Vincentians feel good about what we were able to provide.

But is that enough?

Will the neighbor look back on their experience with our SVdP unit and see it as a transaction or will they think about it later and feel that we were invested in them as a person. Do we ask how everything else is going for them and then listen to really hear how we might be able to assist in other meaningful ways?

In my Conference, our Vincentians were fulfilling a lot of transactions. We were helping a good number of people with a good amount of money to clear up their emergency needs. As Vincentians, we felt like we were accomplishing the mission.

Over the last couple years, we have transitioned away from transactional experiences to doing more relational experiences. It has created a totally different feel among the Vincentian in our Conference. It does require additional time and follow-up with our Neighbors in Need, but certainly an investment worth making!

Ms. Cindy Teffer

To help make this more real, we would like to share Ms. Cindy Teffer’s experience with Vincentian Stephanie Wise, who is Lead Case Manager from the Phoenix, Arizona area.

 

The video shows a two-plus year experience between Cindy and Stephanie and others in the Vincentian Family.

All Conferences or Councils may not have the services available that you will see in this video, but the relationship created is what we can offer to our Neighbors in Need.

Towards the end of this short video, you will see how a pop-up thrift store at the National Assembly in Phoenix, Arizona helped put the icing on the cake for Ms. Cindy Teffer’s experience with SVdP.

Thrift Stores aren’t a necessity to provide meaningful experiences to our Neighbors in Need, but they can often times provide additional services that might not be available otherwise.

SVdP thrift stores provide meaningful employment and volunteer opportunities, and are a significant driver of the Society’s mission and effectiveness. Profits from stores contribute millions of dollars for Councils and Conferences to use in their communities. If you have questions about SVdP Thrift Stores near you or would like to explore the resources available to your Conference or Council, please go to https://thriftstores.ssvpusa.org. 

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Does your store have a Safety Committee?
Does your store have a Safety Committee? 1200 628 admin

Does your store have a Safety Committee?

By James Conley, National Store Support Manager

The safety of not only our employees but also our customers should be top of mind for every store, every day. Safety is a culture that must be created within each individual store for it to be a priority. Does your store have a Safety Culture? Does your store have a Safety Committee? Does your store have monthly safety focuses? Does your store have safety classes?  Below we are going to discuss the importance of every component of these and by combining all of them, you too will create a safety culture within your store!

What is the importance of having a Safety Culture?

  • It creates an atmosphere of empowerment for everyone to make safety a priority.
  • It improves employee and customer well-being.
  • It allows employees to speak up about safety concerns without fear of retaliation.
  • It drives communication in your store by talking about safety issues.
  • Finally, IT HELPS TO REDUCE ACCIDENTS!!!!

What is the importance of having a Safety Committee?

  • It brings together employees and management in a safe environment where they can discuss current and potential safety issues.
  • It creates employee engagement by giving your employees a platform to discuss issues.
  • It helps to make new policies that will help reduce the issues by identifying them and then figuring out how to prevent them in the future.
  • It creates an avenue to determine what safety training you need in your store.
  • Cost reduction!!!! Less accidents = Less Cost

Does your store have monthly safety focuses?

  • Alertmedia.com/blog is a great website to find topics for your safety meetings, morning huddles, etc. Check out their most recent safety article here: https://www.alertmedia.com/blog/winter-workplace-safety-tips/
  • Talking everyday about safety helps to reinforce the culture around safety.
  • Throughout the year different months can create different safety issues. By addressing those within the month it helps to prevent accidents.
  • It will reinforce the training programs you have put into place and identify where more training is needed.

Does your store have safety Classes/Training?

  • It gives your employees the knowledge to create a safe environment for all.
  • It allows employees to see potential hazards before they become an issue.
  • It gives employees knowledge on how to operate equipment safely.

As you can see safety is an important facet in every store. We want our employees and customers to go home the same way they came in! By giving employees, a voice through safety programs, safety committees, and the monthly safety focus topics, it helps to create safety awareness every day.

REDUCING ACCIDENTS = HIGHER MORALE = HIGHER SALES = REDUCED TURNOVER

If you have questions, please email our Director of Stores Support-Jeff Beamguard at jbeamguard@svdpusa.org.

 

Donation Acquisition
Donation Acquisition 1200 628 admin

Donation Acquisition

By Bryan Engel-Director of Operations – Mid-Atlantic Region, Diocesan Council of Pittsburgh

Do not tell anyone, but at one time, I worked for another thrift store organization. My title was Donations Acquisition Coordinator. I only worked there for two years before seeing the light and coming over to St. Vincent de Paul. But, during that time, I was able to raise their donations from 300,000 pounds of donations to 1.2 million pounds of donations in that timeframe. How did I do it?

  1. Fun-raising … To get their name out there, we reached out to other non-profit organizations, schools, churches, and sporting organizations. For two hours, we would show up with a truck and collect donations on site. After that two-hour period, the truck closed. The donations were weighed, and we paid 10 cents per pound to the non-profit hosting the drive. No need to sell cookies, candy, hoagies … just donate to a non-profit and feel good about raising extra money for your school, church, or sports team.
  2. Promote on Social Media … To book a fundraiser, non-profits were required to promote the event for at least 3 weeks (anything less did not help them or the charity). That got their logo out to the community without us having to do anything (other than create a flyer). If you can get other organizations to promote your brand for free … that 10 cents per pound also includes FREE advertising.
  3. Word of Mouth … At EVERY event, I would print out flyers with a QR code on how to schedule a donation drive. You would be surprised by how many people on the softball team have family members at another school in the band. Eventually, the word spread. I went from doing ONE event to THREE every Saturday. At some drives, we would schedule two trucks because they would fill them. It became a contest. “Let’s make more than the other school!”

If paying for donations is not for you, here are some other options:

  1. More donations bins in high traffic areas.
  2. Extended Hours. In Pittsburgh, we just opened our stores on Sundays from 11am-5p. Guess what? We got donations on Sundays too! More people donate on the weekend, so we are making it convenient for them.
  3. Email your donor database.
  4. Discount Coupons for Donors.
  5. Partner with Real Estate Agents … pre-Covid, we saw a spike in furniture donations by reaching out to local Agents … you would be surprised how many of them need to clean out a house quickly and will pay to do so (win-win).
  6. Use social media – it is FREE!

I hope this helps you get more donations for your stores or your friends in need. If you want to see how SVdP Pittsburgh promotes our donation drives, click the link https://svdppitt.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/donation_drive_video.mp4 … check me out as a cartoon.

If you have questions or have a topic for a future Stores Corner article, please email our Director of Stores Support-Jeff Beamguard at jbeamguard@svdpusa.org.

 

Key Benefits of Adding an In-Store Radio System to Your Thrift Store
Key Benefits of Adding an In-Store Radio System to Your Thrift Store 1200 628 admin

Key Benefits of Adding an In-Store Radio System to Your Thrift Store

By James Conley, National Store Support Manager  

Sets the mood for your store

By selecting the correct music for your store, you can create an inviting environment for your customers and give them a more enjoyable experience while shopping. You can add different genres of music playing at various times of day to appeal to your customer base.

Promote Sales/Color Rotations

You can inform your customers of current sales, upcoming sales, current color rotations, St. Vincent de Paul Society’s community programs, all through ads, promotions, etc., that can be created to play in between songs. This will help guide your customers throughout the store.

Increase Shopping Time

Studies have shown music, and promotions increase your customers’ shopping time, which adds to your average ticket price. By nature, customers wait for the next ad, the next promotion, to make sure they are getting the best deals.

Build Our Brand

What better way to promote all the programs St. Vincent de Paul has to offer than through ads that you can customize to play on your radio system. What is your local St Vincent de Paul doing? What events do you have coming up? Are you hiring? What benefits are there to working for St. Vincent de Paul? These are all ways to build the brand of St. Vincent de Paul.

Employee Morale

“Take care of your employees and they will take care of the business.”  Music is always a great way to boost employee morale. Have fun with it!!  Create some competition to allow employees to pick a favorite station if they win, etc.

Commercial Free

The best part of My In Store Radio is that it is commercial free! No unwanted ads! Only the ads you want your customers to hear!!!!

Music plays a significant role in our society, not only in retail, but in overall health. It helps to relieve stress and anxiety and create a feeling of well-being for our employees, volunteers, and our customers. It also can trigger feelings of pleasure and well-being, which in a retail setting increases total spending!

If you would like more information, you are welcome to contact My In Store Radio at (646) 968-0339.

We encourage you to check out other SVdP National Partners here: (https://members.ssvpusa.org/fundraising-development/national-partners/)

If you have questions or have a topic for a future Stores Corner article, please email our Director of Stores Support-Jeff Beamguard at jbeamguard@svdpusa.org.

 

Budgeting, Forecasting, & Measuring Your Way to Profitability
Budgeting, Forecasting, & Measuring Your Way to Profitability 1200 628 admin

By Paul Ihlenfeldt, Director of Operations – North Central Region

At our National Assembly in August, we presented material on how to use data to measure productivity. I thought it would be appropriate to provide a detailed recap of the presentation and highlight several key strategies.

The non-profit thrift environment can be extremely unpredictable. You’re not always sure how much you are going to receive in donations and cannot always predict how or when it is going to sell. But we can reference trends and use those trends to plan and budget for improvement. If we do not establish a goal for improvement, we will not achieve improvement. We will only repeat what we have done and eventually lose what we have gained.

Our thrift stores not only provide low-cost products for our friends in need, but they also provide a significant amount of funding for our various programs that provide the support our Neighbors in Need (NIN) depend on. We have a huge responsibility to ensure our stores are consistently profitable and can continue to support the St Vincent de Paul mission in serving others.

The following is a high-level road map of key areas of focus to assist you in achieving success in your planning.

First, you will need to implement the color tag rotation and use a POS pricing system that can capture the data. The POS systems most commonly used are Thriftworks and Secure Retail. They both can provide sufficient data to be used in analyzing the key components of your business.

Second, if you have not already, you need to create a profit & loss statement for your stores. The financials should be broken out by store and totaled and summed together to understand the health of the organization’s profit/support centers. Profit & Loss (P&L) tells a story, and we should be reviewing that “story” monthly. The fundamental equation for the P&L is:

Revenue – Cost = Net Operating Revenue

Work with your accounting firm or your own in-house financial leadership to create this business tool if you are not already using it.

Budget Sales:

What do you want to achieve? Look at trends and what contributed to those trends and start with determining the revenue budget. Are there external factors? Road construction, weather, pandemic, lack of good applicants to fill open positions? Or are there internal factors? Inefficiencies in production, not enough produced causing high sell-through, employees taking vacations, not enough donations? If you correct these issues, how much more revenue will you generate? Put a plan in place to fix the correctable and budget the benefit.

Budget Expenses:

Start with payroll, which is your largest expense. Your store wages should be approximately 40% of its revenue. When including administrative payroll, your organization’s payroll should be approximately 50% of the revenue. Now, based on the revenue budget, you can determine the number of full-time equivalents or FTE’s you can employ. Always ask yourself, is the added payroll adding value and will the revenue cover the expense?

Review the Key Areas of Support:

I recommend looking at 5 key areas of production.

  1. Donations
  2. Warehouse/Logistics/Recycling
  3. Pricing
  4. Utility/Sales Floor Support
  5. Cashiers

Your revenue budget will drive what you need to support these areas of production. Pricing is the key position, and this is where we specifically refer to the metrics (financials) to understand the number of pricers needed to support our sales plan.

  • You can only budget more revenue if you have enough donations. Track the daily number of donors dropping off donations. The number of gaylords/containers you fill and the number the pricers empty. Remember those donations are free and are valuable in support of our mission.
  • Depending on the amount of donations and kind of donations, are you able to transport and store those items efficiently and effectively.
  • Determine the units needed to get you to your sales plan. We use this formula to forecast our production units:
    • Units=1.43(X*Y)
    • X=Units sold last year
    • Y=1. (your budgeted percent increase as a decimal)
      • Example: for a 7% increase would be 1.07
    • 43 coefficient X your forecasted units allows you to achieve 70% sell thru.
  • Determine the number of hours to allocate to pricing.
    • Hours=X/Y
      • X=Units to be priced to meet goal
      • Y=Hourly production target for pricer.
    • How many utility teammates do you need to run the carts to fill the floor? Determine the number of carts that can be put out per hour and set those goals with your team.
    • Based on the sales plan, do you have enough registers and cashiers to effectively move customers through the registers? Determine a maximum number of customers in line to call for assistance.

In conclusion, effective budgeting, forecasting, and measurement are essential for navigating the unpredictable landscape of the non-profit thrift environment. By setting clear improvement goals and utilizing data-driven strategies, we can transform challenges into opportunities for growth.

The practices outlined—such as implementing a robust POS system, developing detailed profit and loss statements, and strategically budgeting for both revenue and expenses—are vital in ensuring the sustainability of our thrift stores.

Your stores not only provide affordable goods to those in need but also generate crucial funding for our programs that support the community.

As we focus on key areas like donations, logistics, pricing, and customer service, we empower our teams to operate more efficiently and effectively.

Ultimately, our commitment to continuous improvement and careful financial management will allow us to uphold the St. Vincent de Paul mission, ensuring that we can serve NIN for years to come. Let us take these insights forward, implementing actionable plans that lead to sustained profitability and greater impact in our communities.

If you have questions or have a topic for a future Stores Corner article, please email our Director of Stores Support-Jeff Beamguard at jbeamguard@svdpusa.org.

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Smart Shopping: The Benefits of Online Supply Shopping for Thrift Stores
Smart Shopping: The Benefits of Online Supply Shopping for Thrift Stores 1200 628 admin

By Viktoriya Kotyash, Store Manager – West Region – Diocese of Sacramento

Many stores still rely on petty cash rather than business credit or debit cards for purchasing supplies. They designate employees or volunteers to visit local store chains to buy general supplies. This can be beneficial to support local stores that support your store’s mission.  When this isn’t the case, stores can greatly benefit from having products delivered rather than making these purchases in person. Here are a few reasons why you should consider it:

Safety Benefits:

  1. Reduced Liability: Employees and volunteers face lower risk of theft and accidents while traveling, especially in unfamiliar or dangerous areas and bad weather.
  2. Lower Risk of Injury: Heavy lifting, navigating crowded stores, or dealing with bulky items can lead to injuries. Online ordering allows items to be delivered directly, minimizing the need for physically handling them until they arrive.

Other Benefits:

  1. Time Efficiency: Staff and volunteers can focus on the store’s mission and operations rather than spending time shopping for supplies. This efficiency can lead to better allocation of human resources.
  2. Cost Savings: Online shopping often provides access to competitive prices, tax exemptions for non-profits, discounts, and bulk purchasing options, which can help stretch the store’s budget further.
  3. Wider Selection: Online platforms usually offer a broader range of products, including specialized items that may not be available locally. This can be particularly useful for finding specific types of equipment or supplies.
  4. Streamlined Inventory Management: Online ordering systems often offer features like automatic reordering, tracking of past purchases, and inventory management tools.
  5. Convenience: Online ordering allows for easy comparison of products, prices, and reviews, enabling more informed purchasing decisions without the need to physically visit multiple stores.

Retailers to consider: 

  1. Amazon Business: (National Partner)

-Offers bulk purchasing options and discounts on a wide range of products.

– Free shipping on eligible items with a Business Prime account and quick delivery at times as soon as the same or next day.

– Access to business-only pricing and analytics tools to track spending and optimize purchases.

–The Amazon Tax Exception Program (ATEP)

Best For: General supplies, office equipment, cleaning products, and miscellaneous items.

  1. Sam’s Club or Costco:

– Access to bulk purchasing, which is ideal for stocking up on essentials at a lower cost.

– Savings on shipping with business memberships.

Best For: Bulk items, office equipment and supplies, and janitorial supplies.

  1. Uline:

– Offers a wide variety of essential items like shelving, storage bins, and packing materials.

– Fast shipping and dedicated customer service for businesses.

Best For: Production equipment, shelving, storage solutions, and cleaning supplies.

  1. Store Supply Warehouse (National Partner)

– Specializing in store fixtures, displays, and retail supplies.

– Known for their wide selection, competitive prices, and customer service tailored to the needs of small businesses, including thrift stores.

-Special pricing and branded items for SVdP.

Best For: Mannequins, clothing racks, shelving units, hangers, and other items necessary for retail stores.

  1. Magnalite Catholic – SVdP (National Partner)

– Offering St. Vincent de Paul branded merchandise.

Best For: Prayer cards, medals, banners, and branded clothing or linen.

  1. Grainger:

– Extensive inventory of industrial supplies, tools, and safety equipment.

– Offers fast shipping and bulk purchasing options.

– Specialized products that are often difficult to find elsewhere.

Best For: Maintenance supplies, safety equipment, and industrial tools.

  1. Home Depot or Lowe’s:

– Large selection of tools, hardware, and building materials.

– Discount programs and credit lines available for businesses.

– Online ordering with in-store pickup options.

Best For: Tools, hardware, building supplies, and fixtures.

  1. Nonprofit-Specific Suppliers: TechSoup (technology and software) and Good360 (surplus goods).

– These suppliers cater specifically to nonprofits, offering deep discounts on software, hardware, office supplies, and more.

– TechSoup provides software and technology at a fraction of the retail price.

– Good360 offers access to donated goods from major corporations.

Best For: Technology, office supplies, and donated goods.

By leveraging these retailers, stores can maximize their budgets, streamline operations, and access a wide variety of equipment and supplies.

If retailers are interested in learning how to become a National Partner, encourage them to reach out to Director of Stores Support Jeff Beamguard.

__________________________________________________________________________

These best practices and processes are available through the revised National Store Committee website, https://thriftstores.ssvpusa.org.

National Store Committee members are available in each of your regions as mentors and guides to assist you. https://thriftstores.ssvpusa.org/about-us.

If you have a topic that you would like addressed in a future Stores Corner article, please e-mail our Director of Stores Support Jeff Beamguard at jbeamguard@svdpusa.org.

 

 

Thrift Store Staffing Models & Engagement
Thrift Store Staffing Models & Engagement 1200 628 admin

By John Thelen, Mideast Region – Diocese of Lansing

Throughout the country, there are three SVdP Thrift Store Staffing Models. Stores are either staffed by paid employees, staffed by volunteers, or some combination of the two. Whichever staffing model is used, a key factor in a store’s success is staff engagement. If staff/volunteers are not invested in the work of our great mission, the store will not reach its full potential.

It is important for staff/volunteers to be aware of our mission. Why do we do what we do? Let us be honest, sorting socks and underwear is not a very glamorous job. However, when you know why you are doing what you are doing, it makes the most tedious jobs tolerable.

What might help keep your staff/volunteers engaged? Make sure they are aware of your store’s mission. What do you do with your store proceeds after expenses are paid? In addition to providing employment/volunteer opportunities, do you help our Neighbors in Need with clothing, furniture, and household items? Does your store have a food pantry or assist Neighbors with rent, utilities, prescriptions, car repairs, etc.? Make sure everyone is aware of the types of assistance your store provides.

Another way to increase engagement is regularly (monthly) sharing pertinent statistics that staff/volunteers might find interesting, including the total number of donations received, total number of requests for assistance, and gross sales for the month. Maybe list the statistics you would like to share by month, showing every month of the fiscal year for comparison purposes.

Celebrate your successes. You can always find a reason to provide some type of treat to your staff/volunteers.  If you hit a high month in donations or sales, put a sign in the break room and pick up Klondike Bars and tell staff/volunteers to help themselves from the freezer. Be sure to have enough to cover all shifts for a particular week. Maybe grill hot dogs/brats and provide chips when the weather is conducive to grilling. Most people like pizza — let staff know you will be providing pizza to say ‘Thank You’ for all they do to support our mission. Maybe have an annual Christmas Dinner after work and invite staff/volunteers and guests. Share a brief program letting everyone know the impact they are making to help our Neighbors in Need.

If your staffing model does not currently include volunteers, think about reaching out to your parish members to make them aware of volunteer opportunities. Personally invite parishioners to a group gathering at your store to let them know the types of volunteer activities you have available. If you are not sure who to ask, start the process by going through your parish pictorial directory. This will help recognize people that you think might be interested in supporting our SVdP mission. Another volunteer recruitment option is a short bulletin notice in neighboring parish bulletins. You might consider sending it to other denominations to collaborate with the churches in your community.

Volunteers are great advocates to tell our story in the community. If your volunteers feel engaged, they will tell/invite others to become involved. When they are engaged, they feel more committed to showing up for their shift(s). Make sure your volunteer shifts are manageable lengths of time and encourage your volunteers to take a break partway through their shift to converse and build relationships with other volunteers. Once they get to know one another, they look forward to coming in.

Provide snacks in the break room. Maybe offer individual bags of snacks, chips, crackers, fruit snacks, peanuts, pop, coffee & water.

If you have a large number of active/regular volunteers, make sure the volunteers know what they are scheduled to do when they arrive. Either post a schedule or have someone assigned to let them know what you would like them to do for their shift. To know who will be there on a particular day, create a schedule for the day/shift, so you are aware of your workforce for each shift. If volunteers know they will not be able to come on a particular shift, have a monthly wall calendar where they can note if they will not be coming for a particular shift.

Volunteers & staff can be great advocates to tell your story in the community.

Hopefully you or another SVdP Council/Conference/Store member will be attending the Mid-Year Meeting in St. Louis, MO in March. Please consider attending the Stores Meeting on Wednesday.  An agenda is included in this article. New this year will be a Stores Committee table in the Vendor area on Wednesday and Thursday. Please stop by to meet and talk with some of the Store Committee members.

If you have a topic that you would like addressed in a future Stores Corner article, please e-mail Jeff Beamguard, Director of Stores Support.

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Pricing Strategies for SVdP Thrift Stores, Part 3
Pricing Strategies for SVdP Thrift Stores, Part 3 1500 1125 admin

A Discussion by Dave Barringer
National Chief Executive Officer

PART THREE
Knowing What Actually Works
(catch up on Part One and Part Two)

How Do We Know What Works?

Which pricing strategies and tools work best for your store? Here is what you must do to get to this answer.

  1. Know the store’s mission. Some thrift stores are designed to make the most money possible and then use the profits to fund other SVDP programs that have no funding on their own. Other stores are designed with a specific charitable intent to give away a lot of goods, but they still need to make some profit to pay the bills and stay in business. Both are fine, but you can’t do both at the same time! Your Board of Directors and leadership need to know clearly how stores fit into the overall SVDP program. Pricing strategy follows.
  2. Know our customers. In part due to the above, everything from your store location to pricing needs to be based on your anticipated customers. If you are giving away so much, maybe your store is in a poor area of the city and prices need to be lower. Usually, however, our best customers are middle-income shoppers who have many choices where to spend their retail dollars. The store therefore needs to be where these shoppers live and shop other retailers, and prices can be set higher and still be affordable. A common, historical, view of thrift stores is that these are stores where poor people shop. Most current thrift stores are designed for middle-income people both to donate and shop, with profits going to assist the poor.
  3. Test, test, test! The beauty of pricing is that you can change it. Consider a new pricing strategy in just one of our multiple stores, or in just one department if you have only one store. Check staff and customer observations and reactions. Certainly, check the differences in sales and profits. You will likely need at least one month, maybe several for some ideas, to see if a new program is working effectively.
  4. Pro testing tip: Test only one thing at a time. For example, don’t run a new advertising campaign at the same time as new price points. Which one brought more people to the store? Which one created more sales? It can be hard to tell. The more you isolate any factor, the easier it is to measure. By the way, advertising brings people to the store, while pricing, customer service and enough goods on the shelves create more sales. Advertising often gets too much credit for sales, when it should only be measured for store traffic. But that’s another article…
  5. Use the POS! A Point of Sale (POS) system is a tremendous resource in evaluating pricing strategies. Using categories, price points, units sold vs. processed etc., gives you a great deal of useful information that can help you evaluate pricing change effectiveness over time and department/category. Sometimes what feels like success, such as increased store activity, is disproven by cold, hard facts when it comes to profitability.

Conclusion

Effective thrift store pricing can be designed to create shopper excitement, drive additional sales, and maintain needed profits. It must be designed with the end in mind – your goals for the store program amidst the rest of the Society’s goals. Pricing must be considered in the context of the neighborhood economy, the competition, and the availability of continuous product flow. Finally, pricing strategy and execution can be, and must be evaluated to ensure that “you get what others are paying for” in funds for the Society’s mission and activities. In the end, we are not retailers. We are used goods collectors and resellers working to advance our mission. Effective pricing leaves no potential dollars on the table that we could be using to serve people in need. Please do not be afraid to raise prices. After all, your costs probably have risen, and you need to cover these costs just as any other retailer. However, please do be somewhat afraid to lower your prices. The first cents taken off are always your profit!

If you have a topic that you would like addressed in a future Stores Corner article, please e-mail Jeff Beamguard, National Director of Stores Support.

Pricing Strategies for SVdP Thrift Stores, Part 2
Pricing Strategies for SVdP Thrift Stores, Part 2 1512 2016 admin

A Discussion by Dave Barringer
National Chief Executive Officer

PART TWO
Different Pricing Concepts to Explore
(catch up on Part One here)

There are many ways to determine a pricing strategy, each with advantages and disadvantages for our thrift business. Here are the most common that may be worth your time and experimentation to try at one or more stores.

Two things to keep in mind: One, pricing is always temporary. Even dollar stores have items that are no longer a dollar. A unit price can rise and fall based on many factors, some quite temporary. Don’t be afraid to try a new higher price, for example, that fails if it does not deliver the desired results. Second, remember our base price was established earlier. Every tweak to your pricing strategy may create sales movement, but your costs in most cases are still the same. You may want to intentionally price below the profit line for a limited time or for limited products, but consistent pricing below this line will kill your business. Likewise, when you change the cost, you need to at least consider a pricing change to accommodate it and maintain the profit component. We can only absorb so much and stay afloat.

Discounting

Shoppers get excited with a sale! Different items on sale at different times keep up a good level of excitement and keep shoppers returning to the store. We need, however, to manage the process so that these sales are effective in our overall pricing and sales strategies. So, why put things on sale?

Overstocks

If we get so many items donated that we can’t store/warehouse them, or we have so many of the same product, consider discounting them to get them out the door. They might be a good candidate for BOGO (buy one, get one) for limited time. If the items are seasonal, such as shorts or Christmas items, sales can be an effective way to get them sold while demand is high. You make up the profits through quantities sold. However, again, if you are selling below our profit line, no quantity will help — you only lose more money with each item sold!

Loss Leading

Retailers place an artificially low price on certain items to drive store traffic increases. Through ads, word of mouth and in-store signage, a too-good-to-be-true price can bring in more shoppers. We see this most commonly for Black Friday sales in attempt to get people into the store and then to buy other things at more profitable prices. Thrift stores can use this strategy, usually by category (“All glassware 50% off this week!”) because we don’t have enough of a single item to make it work. However, you could consider using inexpensively purchased goods, or a large quantity of goods donated by a retailer or manufacturer, to make this work. Pricing, however, must be synched up with promotion and processing to make this work correctly.

Seasonal Sales

We know that some periods of the year bring us fewer or more shoppers. Every thrift store sees more customers between September and December, because we enjoy back-to-school, Halloween, and Christmas purchases. In some areas, weather dictates the selling season. With this knowledge, you can adjust your pricing strategy. Consider lower prices during down customer periods. First, it attracts more and repeat customers. Second, you may make less on each item but sell more items, keeping your profit per transaction closer to normal.

Value-Based Pricing

We get the history of mankind donated to our Stores program! Therefore, when we recognize an antique or collectible, we can price it closer to its real-world value instead of keeping it priced with all of the other similar but not rare items. For example, you may price all those baseball cards at twenty-five cents, but that Mantle rookie card worth $50,000 in the collectibles marketplace deserves a higher price (and probably gets pulled for an online sale). We want customers to find treasures, but when we see an obvious item of great value — jewelry, watches, art, fur coats, signed items, rare books, whatever — we owe it to our mission to get as much value as we can from it.

Good-Better-Best vs. Unit Pricing

Within the thrift industry, there are two schools of pricing thought. The Unit Pricing strategy says that every shirt is priced the same as every other shirt. A Good-Better-Best strategy says that we can divide shirts into two or more categories, each with its own price, depending on the perceived value. This value may be considered due to manufacturer/store brand or fashion or materials. Each strategy can work, but we need to look at the big picture. Unit pricing creates more speed in the processing area because fewer decisions need to be made, and all the labels look the same. If filling the racks consistently and fully is a challenge, you can’t slow down processing to make these decisions for the sake of what often amounts to small gains. Recognize too that customers will argue over which shirt belongs in each category — beauty (and proper price) is in the eye of the beholder.

Rotation Pricing

A popular and effective store strategy is to place all goods for sale into a rotation system. This means that each week, the piece changes downward from full price through various points to an ultimate clearance price. Why? Because we know from more than 100 years and thousands of stores in this business two important truths. One, overall you will only sell about 50 percent of what you collect. Two, 75% of what you will sell is sold within the first two weeks on sale, and 50% in the first three days!  Therefore, full price is appropriate for the first week or two, followed in the third week by a discount, and then the fourth week is a price that only needs to be higher than what you will get from its salvage sale, such as a dollar a unit or by-the-bag price. This system maximizes realized profit values, and the customer decides what price they want to pay. They can pay full price when they first see it, or risk having someone else snap it up while they wait for a discount. With our usually one-of-a-kind items, this system works!

An alternative to the Rotation Pricing system is still to put everything on a rotation basis, but to wait until the last week or even only a few days of the item’s shelf life and then heavily discount it with no intermediate prices.

Clearance Sales

Some stores believe in a once monthly clearance sale, where everything in the store (okay, maybe a few exceptions such as antiques or furniture) is either a set very low price (“Everything a dollar!”) or set percentage (“Today only, everything 90% off!”) or full retail price. While this creates short-term excitement, it is risky. Are you training customers to only come in once a month? Are you accused of over-pricing goods at the beginning so that the clearance price just looks better? And most importantly, again, your costs have not changed, so will this strategy still cover them adequately and make the needed profit? With this system, you willingly sacrifice the profit from the items in their first and second weeks on sale because everything, even the freshest inventory, gets caught up in the same clearance sale.

Trickle or Tsunami Pricing

Having a long-range pricing strategy can help reduce customer ill will. A price increase of 40 percent across all items and all at one time might create shopper riots! But smaller increases, different per category and with a little at a time, is normal business in every other store in which they shop. We benefit as well from most items being unique, so shoppers don’t compare from one shopping trip to another quite so much. Know where you need to go and have a plan to get there that mediates sticker shock.

NEXT TIME: Part Three – Knowing What Actually Works

If you have a topic that you would like addressed in a future Stores Corner article, please contact Jeff Beamguard, National Director of Stores Support.

 

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