The Minneapolis – St. Paul Star Tribune printed an interesting article on how department store merchandise travels from the full-price displays down to sale and clearance racks, then on to discounters like TJ Maxx and finally charity organizations and the rag company. Retailers prefer to avoid the landfill because of the cost of dumping trash (good!). Some upscale stores don’t like to have drastically reduced merchandise sitting next to their full-priced goods so they ship items off to their outlet stores as soon as it hits a certain price point. Retailers who worry that the merchandise they have unloaded on a liquidator will find their way back to their own returns counter often sell their remainders in a different area of the country. Beyond charities like Goodwill there are thrift stores that actually buy merchandise from charities (selling it for profit), and the “rag man.” (via Bird on a Wire)