Several friends and family suggested that we go to a consignment sale to look for baby stuff (we're expecting, if you hadn't heard). So, we got up earlier than normal this morning to hit the big annual Dani's Duds consignment sale. We had to pay $10 ($5/pp) to get in, because it was supposed to be such a big, good deal. Hanna had very high aspirations, hoping that we could find most or all of what we needed in big items (car seat / transport system, crib, changing table, rocking/gliding chair, high chair). for a couple hundred dollar or so. Or not.
Suffice to say, we were not impressed at all with this consignment sale. In fact, we left without buying anything besides admission (and I almost asked for my money back). The problem is that this is a perfect example of how East Coast culture operates - that is to say, it's a very closed system to all but the highest income. See, nothing here is free, and very few things are cheap. This sale was no different.
In this case, if you wanted to get access to the good stuff, you either needed to volunteer or put things up for sale. Being that this is our first child, we had nothing to consign, so volunteering was the only option. However, this choice results in a 6 hour time commitment, which for a household where both adults work full-time, and where we have other activities going on at other times, this is a tremendous commitment. Furthermore, there's no way Hanna, in her pregnant condition, would have spent 6 hours on a hard concrete floor, meaning that it would have had to be me doing the volunteering. This, on top of the housework I'm handling. It's not reasonable or fair to expect this to happen. In fact, it seems to me that the only people who could realistically due this are not both working full-time. Thus, it's a closed system that favors higher income earners who can singly support their household.
Our objective in going, as mentioned above, was in finding bigger ticket items for a much reduced price. What we found remaining was generally heavily worn and not acceptable for our needs. Furthermore, we found that prices were still quite high. The web site instructs people that a 50% discount makes sense. Unfortunately, it appears that 5-year-old products were being priced based on modern prices, which are clearly higher than when the item was purchased originally. In the end, you could get, for example, a car seat for $40 that was 5 years old and in ok condition, or you could go to Walmart or Target and get a new one for $80 without running the risk of reduced safety due to wear and tear.
As for other items, like cribs, changing tables, etc. - there wasn't hardly anything left, and what was left behind was generally well abused. The maternity clothing was in a similarly sad state and not generally recommended.
The only area where I could possible recommend for people to go to this sale would be on children's clothes and toys. There were dozens of racks and tables with these items and marginally reasonable prices. Still, you would be comparing an $8-12 new item with a $4-8 sale item. It's unclear to me how good of a deal this is, unless you're buying dozens of items (in which case, you're probably going a bit overboard).
Finally conclusion: annoyed. We don't generally recommend this consignment sale to anybody. It sounds like it would be much better to go to garage sales, or check on Craigslist and eBay.
