Most people who leave a bin store disappointed made the same two mistakes: they came on the wrong day for what they wanted, and they shopped it like a normal store.
Here is how the people who leave with full carts do it.
Before you come
Pick your day on purposeRestock day is ten dollars and full bins. The end of the cycle is one dollar and slim pickings. Decide which one you want before you get in the car, and check the day on our locations page rather than a listing site.
Come early on restock dayWe open an hour earlier that day for a reason. The best items are usually gone within the first couple of hours.
Bring something to carry withA cart works, but a lot of regulars bring a laundry basket or a box. You will be holding things while you keep digging.
Have a rough list, and be ready to abandon itKnowing you need a vacuum helps you scan. Insisting on one specific model will waste your morning.
How to work a bin
1
Do a fast lap firstWalk the whole floor before you dig into anything. Bins are grouped by category, so five minutes of looking tells you where your time is best spent.
2
Work top to bottom, one bin at a timeThe big colorful things sit on top because they catch the eye. The small valuable things sink. If you only skim the surface you are seeing what everyone else already rejected.
3
Pick it up if you are unsureYou can put it back. What you cannot do is come back in an hour and find it still there.
4
Test before you commitAnything that plugs in or takes batteries goes to the testing station before it goes to the register. All bin sales are final, so this step is the whole ballgame.
5
Put back what you decided againstIn the bin it came from, not the nearest one. The next person is hunting the same way you are.
What the regulars know
The middle of the week is underratedFour and six dollars. Enough left to be worth digging, cheap enough that a wrong guess costs nothing.
Two stores, two cyclesByron and Warner Robins are twenty minutes apart and run on different days. One of them is always cheaper than the other.
The shelves are a different gamePrime deals and clothing do not follow the bin price. Look at them separately, on their own merits.
Empty-handed is a real outcomeSome weeks the truck is just not for you. Regulars shrug and come back. It costs nothing to look.