The Complete Guide to Goodwill Outlet Stores (Goodwill Bins)

What Is a Goodwill Outlet Store?

If you've only ever shopped at a regular Goodwill, the Outlet store will feel like a different world. Instead of neatly tagged items on hangers and shelves, you'll find a warehouse floor filled with large rolling bins — often called blue bins — packed to the brim with clothing, housewares, toys, electronics, and just about anything else you can imagine.

Goodwill Outlet stores go by a few names. You might hear them called the Goodwill Bins, the Goodwill Outlet, or simply "the bins." Whatever you call them, the concept is the same: items are sold by the pound rather than by individual price tags.

This pricing model is what makes Goodwill Outlets a magnet for deal hunters, resellers, and thrift store enthusiasts. At a typical outlet, you'll pay somewhere between $1.49 and $1.99 per pound for clothing and soft goods. Hard goods like books, housewares, and small electronics often have flat per-item pricing or a separate per-pound rate. Furniture and large items are sometimes sold individually at negotiated prices.

How the By-the-Pound System Works

When you're ready to check out, you bring your cart to the register. Staff weigh your haul on a large scale, multiply your weight by the per-pound rate, and that's your total. It's that simple.

Because there are no individual price tags, you're responsible for evaluating every single item yourself before it goes in your cart. This is half the fun and half the challenge of outlet shopping. A hoodie that would cost $8.99 at a regular Goodwill might cost you $0.75 at the Outlet if it weighs half a pound.

Pricing examples at $1.49/lb:

• Lightweight T-shirt (~0.4 lb): about $0.60
• Jeans (~1.5 lb): about $2.24
• Sweater or hoodie (~1.0 lb): about $1.49
• Small kitchen appliance (~3 lb): about $4.47

The savings add up fast, especially for resellers or families buying in volume.

Understanding the Blue Bin Rotation

The heartbeat of any Goodwill Outlet is the bin rotation schedule. Here's how it works:

1. Items that don't sell at regular Goodwill locations are shipped to the Outlet in large rolling carts.
2. Staff wheel out fresh bins onto the floor on a timed schedule — typically every 45 minutes to 2 hours depending on the location.
3. When a bin is pulled, it goes to a staging area. The remaining items in old bins are often donated again or sent to recycling.
4. Shoppers know the rotation schedule and position themselves near the staging area before new bins drop.

The moment fresh bins hit the floor is what experienced shoppers call a bin drop. This is when the best items are most likely to be found. Veteran shoppers pick through new bins aggressively right after a drop, so arriving early for a scheduled rotation is a real strategy.

Many Goodwill Outlets post their bin rotation times on a whiteboard or announce them over the intercom. Ask a staff member when you arrive so you can plan your shopping around the drops.

What You'll Find in the Bins

The inventory at a Goodwill Outlet is genuinely unpredictable, which is part of the appeal. Because items come directly from donation processing centers with minimal sorting, valuable items pass through all the time.

Common finds:

• Clothing from every era, brand, and condition
• Books, DVDs, and video games
• Kitchenware, small appliances, and tools
• Toys and kids' gear
• Sports equipment
• Electronics (often untested, buyer beware)
• Collectibles, figurines, and antiques
• Linens, curtains, and fabric

Less common but real finds:

• Name-brand or designer clothing (Patagonia, Lululemon, Nike, Carhartt)
• Working electronics (tablets, headphones, gaming accessories)
• Vintage items with collector value
• Sealed products still in original packaging

The key is volume and repetition. Experienced shoppers find great items because they visit frequently and spend time digging, not because every visit is a goldmine.

What to Expect on Your First Visit

Walking into a Goodwill Outlet for the first time can feel overwhelming. Here's what to prepare for:

The environment. Goodwill Outlets are warehouses, not boutiques. The lighting is fluorescent, the floors are concrete, and the noise level rises during bin drops. Come ready to dig through piles of mixed goods.

The crowd. Outlets attract a regular crowd of resellers, deal hunters, and experienced thrift shoppers. Many of these folks are friendly and will share tips if you ask. During bin drops, the atmosphere can get competitive near the most popular bins — be respectful and give people space.

What to bring:

• Gloves (thin latex or nitrile work well) — the bins are full of unknown items and can be grimy
• Reusable bags or a cart to carry your haul
• A phone for looking up item values, especially if you're reselling
• Comfortable clothes and shoes you don't mind getting dusty

What not to bring:

• Strollers or large bags that block aisles
• An attitude about the mess — that's the point

Tips for Getting the Best Deals

1. Learn your location's rotation schedule. Time your visit to arrive 10-15 minutes before a bin drop. Position yourself near where fresh bins come out.

2. Move fast but methodically. During a drop, do a quick pass for obvious standout items, then go back for a thorough dig. Don't get tunnel vision on one bin while great stuff sits in the next one.

3. Know your brands. The more familiar you are with brand names — especially in clothing — the faster you can identify value. Tags like Patagonia, Filson, Carhartt, Levi's, and Allen Edmonds are worth grabbing when you spot them.

4. Check electronics carefully. Many outlets have a no-return policy. If you're grabbing electronics, look for visible damage and consider whether the risk is worth the price.

5. Weigh as you go. If you're shopping on a budget, grab a small kitchen scale or use the store scale mid-shop to get a running estimate of your total.

6. Visit on weekdays. Outlets tend to be less crowded Monday through Thursday. Weekends draw bigger crowds and more competition during bin drops.

7. Build a relationship with the staff. Workers often know the rotation schedule, whether certain categories of goods are coming in, and can be helpful allies.

Is Goodwill Outlet Worth It?

For the right shopper, absolutely. Goodwill Outlets offer some of the lowest per-item prices of any secondhand shopping format. If you're looking to stretch a clothing budget, furnish a home on a tight budget, or source inventory for resale, the Outlet is hard to beat.

That said, it's not for everyone. The experience requires patience, physical effort, and a tolerance for digging through unknowns. You won't find things neatly organized or labeled. Some days the bins are thin; other days you'll fill a cart with excellent finds.

The best approach is to visit a few times with low expectations and let the experience teach you. Once you know what to look for and understand the rhythm of your local outlet, it becomes one of the most rewarding ways to shop secondhand.

Use Bin Store Map to find your nearest Goodwill Outlet location and check for any Goodwill Bins near you before your first visit.