I was from a work for benefits state, so we had to "volunteer" a certain number of hours a month for our food stamp benefits. I did my time at Goodwill. We sorted through all of the donations, even from target....the stuff they didn't put on the floor (unpackaged underwear, items with obvious markings) was sold to the next lower thrift store level for a price per pound. I believe my work at Goodwill helped me get the job at Target (for the tax benefits, yes, but I was almost out of the benefit window) because I could point to the fact that they would ASK for me to go out and work the floor most of my shifts. Sorting through that stuff in the back was way worse than ANY job I have done at Target, even when guests leave me biohazards at the fitting room.
Oh, and the CEO of Goodwill pockets a good portion of the sales. But, they also gave VERY good bonuses to the regular workers at the store I was working at at Christmas which stunk for us regular "volunteers" because they had good sales because of our help but we got bupkiss
