How pay-by-the-pound works
At a Goodwill outlet you fill a cart from the bins, roll it to the register, and pay by weight: one per-pound rate for most goods, often with a cheaper tier above a bulk threshold, and a short list of categories priced per piece. Goodwill outlet pay by the pound pricing is set by each regional Goodwill.
The outlet is the last stop for donations that did not sell in a regular Goodwill store. Nothing is tagged, so pricing by the pound is the only practical way to ring up an unsorted bin. 162 of the 166 outlets in our directory list pay-by-the-pound explicitly; 2 list per-item pricing and 1 per-piece, and one San Diego-area outlet (Goodwill Outlet Ysidro (Near San Diego)) runs a tote format instead — tote sale format & by-the-piece (fill a tote bag for $24 or pick 15 items of clothing for $27 or $2/piece).
Three mechanics decide your bill:
- The base rate — one figure per pound for clothing, housewares, toys and mixed goods, reported by shoppers in 15 states below.
- Bulk tiers — the rate drops once a haul passes a threshold. Goodwill Industries San Joaquin Outlet lists Separate soft and hard goods rates; flat $1.80/lb on hauls over 100 lb.
- Category rates — some regions price glassware, books, electronics and textiles at different per-pound rates; Goodwill Outlet San Jose lists $0.49/lb glassware · $0.75/lb books · $1.29/lb electronics · $2.99/lb housewares, textiles, shoes.
Because the scale does not care what an item is, the arithmetic favours light, high-value goods — clothing, shoes, small electronics — and punishes anything heavy that you are not sure about. Regulars weigh with their hands before they commit.
Current price per pound by state
Goodwill publishes no national rate card, so the figures here are the per-pound rates shoppers quoted in reviews and outlets stated in their own listings, across 501 stores in our directory as of August 2026: 20 shopper-quoted per-pound rates covering 15 states, ranging from $0.59 to $2 per pound with a median of $1.42, plus 7 pricing notes from outlet listings across 15 states in total — the notes are quoted verbatim and not all of them are per-pound.
Reported rates are dated snapshots — a review may be a year old and a region may have changed its rate since — so use them to compare regions, not to argue at the register. Where two reports disagree for the same outlet, both are shown.
For states without a reported rate, the table below shows how many outlets exist and how many list pay-by-the-pound; the biggest outlet states are California (21), Florida (16), Texas (13).
If you know your outlet's current rate, send it in with the outlet name and we will add it to the listing.
What is excluded from by-the-pound
Furniture, larger electronics and appliances, books and media, and new-with-tags goods are the categories most often pulled out of the per-pound rate and priced per piece. The exact list is regional; the outlet's own signage at the register is the final word.
The pattern is consistent across the outlets in our directory that describe their pricing. Goodwill Outlet San Jose lists $0.49/lb glassware · $0.75/lb books · $1.29/lb electronics · $2.99/lb housewares, textiles, shoes, and separately prices media $1 per item · video games $3 per item. 38 outlets list furniture, 41 list books and 26 list electronics as stock they carry, and those are exactly the categories that tend to be weighed separately or tagged.
- Furniture — priced per piece; too heavy to weigh and too variable in value.
- Electronics and appliances — often a category rate or per-piece price; tested rarely, sold as-is.
- Books and media — usually a lower per-pound rate or a flat per-item price.
- Glassware and housewares — sometimes a distinct rate, because weight is high and value low.
- Textiles and shoes — the core by-the-pound category at almost every outlet (62 outlets list clothing).
A useful habit: keep per-piece items in a separate part of the cart so the cashier can pull them before the rest goes on the scale.
Is the outlet actually cheaper?
Per item, yes: at the median reported rate of $1.42 per pound a shirt weighs out at well under a dollar, cheaper than any rack price and cheaper than a bin store's $1 floor day. What you trade away is sorting, condition and certainty.
Compare the two discount formats in our directory. Amazon-style bin stores charge one flat price per item that most commonly opens at $10 on restock day and ends at $1 (median floor $1 across 261 stores with a ladder). Outlets charge by weight at a fixed rate, so a light item costs cents on any day and there is no waiting for a price drop — but there is also no $1-day style bargain on a heavy item, and the goods are donations rather than returns of new merchandise.
Shoppers rate the experience well. Of the 156 outlets with a Google rating, 121 sit at four or five stars, the average is 4.07 and the median 4.3, from 580 ratings in total. The strongest states by average rating in the table above show the same thing: cheap by the pound is popular where the bins are kept moving.
Where the outlet stops being cheaper is time. Rotations pull crowds — 43 outlets are flagged high-competition — and a good haul can take two hours of digging. For a single specific item, a regular store wins; for volume, the scale wins. The formats compared in detail.
Payment methods accepted
161 of the 166 outlets in our directory list both cash and card, so paying by weight works like any Goodwill register. Bring a card and some cash anyway — small outlets occasionally run cash-only tills during busy rotations.
A few practical points from the listings. Gloves are sometimes mandatory and sold at the door — Goodwill Outlet Cedar Rapids notes “Gloves Required (Gloves Sold For $2 At Door)”. 156 outlets list restrooms and 161 are wheelchair accessible, which matters when a visit runs long. Carts are available at 11 outlets that mention them; 1 outlet says there are none, so bring a laundry basket.
Returns are not part of the model: everything is sold as-is by weight. Check electronics for cords and cracks before they hit the scale, and remember that the Goodwill Bargain Barn - North Port listing's average of $1.99/lb applies to the whole cart, misses included. Ready to go? Every outlet is listed by state on the Goodwill bins hub, and the rotation schedule guide explains when the fresh bins come out.
Goodwill outlet pay by the pound pricing varies by region and category, so here is what the directory actually records, state by state.
Goodwill outlet price per pound by state
Across the directory, 162 Goodwill outlets are flagged as pay-by-the-pound, spread over 41 states. The most common recorded rate sits around a dollar and change per pound for clothing, but hard goods, books and electronics often carry their own lower or higher tiers.
The table below shows every state where the directory records Goodwill outlets selling by the pound, along with how many outlets in that state carry the pay-per-pound flag. California leads with 19 outlets, followed by Florida at 16 and Texas at 12. That concentration matters because pricing is set regionally, not nationally, so a shopper in Stockton and a shopper in San Jose can pay different per-pound rates within the same state.
What the table does not tell you is the actual dollar figure, because most Goodwill outlets do not publish a single flat rate. Instead they tier by category. Goodwill Outlet San Jose is the clearest example the directory holds: glassware runs one low rate, books another, electronics a mid rate, and housewares, textiles and shoes the highest. A shopper who fills a cart with mixed categories will see each weighed and priced separately at checkout.
Some locations skip the scale for certain formats entirely. Goodwill Outlet Ysidro (Near San Diego) runs a tote-sale and by-the-piece format rather than pure pound pricing, and Goodwill Outlet Cedar Rapids requires gloves at the door. The practical takeaway is to treat state-level counts as a map of where the model exists, then check the individual outlet page for its actual tier list before you drive.
Is Goodwill Outlet cheaper than an Amazon bin store?
For most shoppers, yes — a Goodwill outlet is usually cheaper per item than an Amazon bin store, because you pay by weight rather than a flat per-piece price. A pound of clothing at a Goodwill outlet typically costs far less than even the cheapest day at a bin store.
The two models price completely differently. An Amazon bin store charges a flat price per item that drops through the week, from a restock-day high down to a $1 day. $5 Gold Diggers runs $1–$5 across the week, and ABQ Liquidators spans $1–$15. Even at the bottom of the ladder you are paying per piece, so a heavy jacket costs the same as a thin t-shirt.
A Goodwill outlet flips that logic. You are charged by weight, so a bulky coat and a lightweight blouse each cost only what they weigh. Reviewers in the directory repeatedly cite rates around a dollar and change per pound for clothing — Goodwill Outlet Bridgeton shoppers mention a recent rise to roughly a dollar fifty a pound, while Goodwill Outlet Everett reviewers quote under two dollars a pound. A ten-pound haul at those rates lands well under the cost of ten items even on a bin store's cheapest day.
The exception is small, light, high-value items. If you are hunting for a single pair of sunglasses or a phone case, a $1–$5 bin store on its cheapest day can beat a per-pound rate, because the item weighs almost nothing at the bins but still costs a full dollar or two as a piece. For bulk clothing, linens and shoes, the Goodwill outlet almost always wins. The full comparison is laid out in our bin store vs. Goodwill bins cost guide.
For the wider picture on how bin-store ladders work, see bin store prices explained, and pay-by-the-pound thrift stores covers the other thrift chains that use the same weight model. You can also browse the full guides hub or start from the bin store directory homepage.
