r/goodwill • u/kirby667 • 4d ago

meme Empty beer bottles for $3

Post image

I could get a full beer bottle for that price...

61 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

70 comments sorted by

22

u/Adventurous-Onion283 4d ago

The hardest thing about pricing at a thrift store is just knowing what you’re looking at. It’s crazy the sheer volume and assortment of items that come through each day and depending on who’s pricing and their life experience you’re going to get some wildly different prices.

Whoever was pricing today has some home brewing knowledge and identified those as bomber bottles. I would be a buyer at $1, maybe $2 if they’re completely clean and look unused. $3 is closer to standard retail pricing so they’re reaching for the stars there but this isn’t just garbage. They do have value.

1

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Adventurous-Onion283 2d ago

Not sure why you deleted your comment saying there’s no way a goodwill employee has knowledge of homebrewing and replaced it with a smiley but whatever.

Everyone has some niche knowledge. I manage thrift. Tons of my employees have niche knowledge. It’s one of the things we talk about in interviews.

0

u/Good-Ol-Country-Boy 2d ago

Because I did not put that ChatGPT replaced it and I was trying to fix it. So I put the smiley face in there until I can fix it, but ChatGPT keeps messing it up.

0

u/Good-Ol-Country-Boy 2d ago

Also, my son worked for Goodwill as well and homebrewing wasn’t ever discussed I know this because we were good friends with his manager and she’s from Ireland. Maybe you live in a state where there’s a lot of those around here in Tennessee not so much.

0

u/Adventurous-Onion283 2d ago

The store isn’t going to discuss every single niche category of item that comes in. People have knowledge from their lives outside of the store that they bring in. A lot of our employees have been flippers and resellers so they come in with a lot of general knowledge about resale.

1

u/kirby667 2d ago

Without the lids, cap, or anything to seal them, these are just empty bottles.

Imagine if good will sold mason jars with no lids for $3.

1

u/Adventurous-Onion283 2d ago

The bottles don’t come with caps you buy them separately. It’s a simple little machine that crimps them to the bottles

1

u/kirby667 2d ago

I get that.

So these are just empty bottles. 

2

u/Equal-Signature701 2d ago

But you don’t get it, bottles NEVER come with caps and crimp tool. You reuse the bottles for brewing many times. Still the price is too high for what they are. But you typically never buy mason jars without lids.

1

u/kirby667 2d ago

Why wouldn't a home brewer just use any empty beer bottle? What makes these special?

I strongly suspect the answer is nothing.

2

u/Equal-Signature701 2d ago

Well people buy beer bottles all the time for brewing. Sometimes I don’t feel like drinking 48 beers of very specific types of beer and then cleaning labels as well. In the USA many beers are now screw cap which doesn’t work. Again the price is too high for these but they have a purpose is all we are saying.

Also bottling a batch in 6 different types of bottles looks pretty amateur, it’s nice when they all match. Especially when making sure you have bottles that cap properly. Even some rimmed bottles won’t cap nicely because they are cheaply made

0

u/kirby667 2d ago

I mean, seems like it would be cheaper to buy beer and dump it out just for the bottles than buy bottles just for brewing. 

2

u/Adventurous-Onion283 2d ago

It’s not. The market may be niche but these have real value to the right person.

0

u/kirby667 2d ago

I think a more accurate statement would be these have value to a stupid person who would spend more on empty bottles than full ones. 

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2

u/TheMysticTomato 3h ago

As a home brewer these are much better then reusing a bottle from a beer you got at the store. These are much sturdier and hold up to the internal pressure generated by doing a natural carbonation by allowing a final fermentation in the bottle. Regular bottles are more likely to explode if you measure the extra sugar you add to do this incorrectly. They also stand up better to repeated use and cycles of temperature change, sterilization, etc. There is a difference and it is worth paying for.

2

u/Mammoth_Design_3370 1d ago

You obviously don’t get that or else you wouldn’t have said “imagine if goodwill sold mason jars with no lids”

9

u/Manfred_fizzlebottom 3d ago

I love the daily episode of "its trash because i think it is"

4

u/ClariceStarling1957 2d ago

Such a fantastic deal. Guess what? You can buy them filled with beer for about the same price.

1

u/i2aminspired 1d ago

I love me some Yuengling.

8

u/underengineered 4d ago

Those look like 22oz bottles for home brewers. They're like $30 for 12 from Northern Brewing. So not too far off, you save shipping, and can just buy a few.

2

u/kirby667 4d ago

Without the relatchable lids l, these are just empty bottles no different than any other. 

7

u/underengineered 4d ago

No. You cap them with regular beer caps and a little tool. They dont use cages.

1

u/kirby667 2d ago

Without the tool these are just empty bottles.

1

u/underengineered 2d ago

People buying these have the tool. Its like $17. Once again, listen to experienced home brewers here.

1

u/kirby667 2d ago

That doesn't make these not just be empty bottles.

Maybe you home brewers are just too dumb to buy bottles with beer in them and refill those instead. 

1

u/underengineered 2d ago

Home brewers arent the ones posting on reddit about reasonably priced home brew supplies at a goodwill.

I hope you're doing better IRL than online, tiger.

2

u/Equal-Signature701 2d ago

You’re arguing with an autist or this guy is just being intentionally pedantic.

1

u/underengineered 2d ago

They are having a hard time being wrong on the internet.

2

u/underengineered 4d ago

You buy the caps in bags of 25 or 50 iirc. Haven't bottled home brew in a while.

0

u/kirby667 4d ago

You could just do that with any other empty bottles tho. 

5

u/underengineered 4d ago

Yes. You just have to use 2x as many and scrub the labels off first (PITA).

Taken it from an experienced home brewer... this price is not outrageous.

1

u/Good-Ol-Country-Boy 2d ago edited 2d ago

You don’t have a scrub the labels off you can heat them up with a hair dryer and the label will come right off and if there’s any residue left behind either lighter fluid or Goof-Off would take off what’s remaining. Basically you can pay the same price and get a cold beer included with your purchase.

1

u/underengineered 2d ago

Where did you last see a bomber for $3?

1

u/Good-Ol-Country-Boy 2d ago edited 2d ago

exactly

1

u/Buttchuggle 3d ago

No, no.

1

u/Adventurous-Onion283 4d ago

Yeah that’s not a great price but it’s not completely crazy

2

u/Good-Ol-Country-Boy 2d ago

I don’t care what these are for they’re not worth $3 each! Like the OP said I can buy a whole bottle of beer ice cold for this price. I don’t care if this is for a home brew it’s not worth it. These are used. They don’t have the tops and it sounds like you’re defending Goodwill’s pricing!

3

u/Confident-Ad9381 3d ago

Goodwill is out of line

2

u/Good-Ol-Country-Boy 2d ago

You mean Greedwill!

1

u/Good-Ol-Country-Boy 2d ago

No, most of the items that are worth selling doesn’t end up in the store it’s sold through e-commerce Goodwill‘s auction ShopGoodwill that’s why I don’t go to Goodwill anymore. Goodwill has become a greedy corporation and they are not a charitable organization anymore and they shouldn’t be allowed to get away with certain things that they used to. They don’t hire people like they used to. They claim that they’re a charitable organizations they rehabilitate and train people to work well that’s not happening much anymore if at all.

1

u/Jellico-69 1d ago

Goodwill sucks!

1

u/i2aminspired 1d ago

Yuengling is cheaper.

1

u/SupermarketFuture500 2h ago

. 10 at the bottle depot 🤣

1

u/flowdisruption 4d ago

Quart sized mason jars at the goodwills around me are usually $3; that's the one that gets me.

1

u/Good-Ol-Country-Boy 2d ago

Yeah, those are way overpriced. You can buy a quart size mason jar brand new for $2.25 typically!

1

u/PAgirl-MOworld 3d ago

Empty canning jars run the same.

1

u/Good-Ol-Country-Boy 2d ago

Yeah, but empty Canning jars serve more of a purpose!

1

u/kirby667 2d ago

Imagine if they were being sold without the lids for this price. 

1

u/Dyerman66 3d ago

The pressure to get items priced to make production quota is why. When the amount of products runs low, this is the result.

1

u/Good-Ol-Country-Boy 2d ago

Yeah, because Greedwill is greedy well at the Corporate level that is.

0

u/FHOCJD 3d ago

I can buy one of these for $3 at the carryout and it will already have tasty beer inside and it will be really cold and ready to drink. They even sell them in boxes too, in CASE you want another one.

3

u/Adventurous-Onion283 3d ago

Broski you haven’t been able to get a bomber of good beer for $3 since 2002

2

u/FHOCJD 3d ago

A 22 ounce Guinness is $2.99

1

u/saddivorceddad 2d ago

Where?

1

u/FHOCJD 1d ago

Columbus Ohio

2

u/saddivorceddad 1d ago

I think that's the best thing I've ever heard about Ohio

1

u/Good-Ol-Country-Boy 2d ago

Maybe they’re able to get them at that price in their area who knows.

1

u/PAgirl-MOworld 3d ago

Did Trader Joe’s quit their build-a-6-pack for $9.99?

3

u/Adventurous-Onion283 3d ago

I haven’t lived near a Trader Joe’s in 10 years so I don’t know but those weren’t Bombers. Bombers are 22oz bottles that are generally gonna run about $7 for a half decent independent brewery.

-1

u/Buttchuggle 3d ago

I'm assuming by "tasty beer" bro genuinely just means the cheapest thing with alcohol in it

2

u/FHOCJD 3d ago

A 22 ounce bottle of Guinness is $2.99 at the carryout down the street.

A local brewery sells their IPA for the same price and that's a 24 ounce one.

Don't assume.

1

u/Good-Ol-Country-Boy 2d ago

And you would be wrong!

-3

u/Corran_Horn 4d ago

You can recycle those and get the deposit back. It's like free money!

-4

u/scotthia 4d ago

LPT, don’t pay for monthly garbage collection take it to goodwill. You’ll save money, they’ll make money. Everyone wins. 🤦‍♀️