A Clothing Clearance Where More Than Just the Prices Have Been Slashed - NY Times

These are tough times. Not just for the poor, but for most people, I would think. There is a certain mentality out there that has blossomed across the nation: Cheap is good, free is better. When you happen across a sale at a store, its a good feeling. Getting something for free is like hitting the jackpot. Usually, getting that 'something' for free, involves purposeful business strategies on the part of the company giving away the free stuff. The company usually gets a bigger return on their effort to get you into the store for the few free items available.
There are other ways to get free stuff also, though; You beg, borrow, or steal.
This article reports how one large store happens to be throwing out 'last weeks fashion apparel' that could be used for supplying homeless and less fortunate individuals. The people searching through the tossed out clothes find that the articles of clothing have been 'destroyed' to a point of not being usable. The clothes have cuts in them to render them unusable. Scissors have been used on some items, knives on others. Some clothes have escaped the wrath of the knife. Most are unusable, though.

There seems to be a 'gosh-darn-it' in there somewhere. This store could just leave the clothes alone and let whoever wants to dig in the trash find themselves some good-as-new threads. They could even take the bins full of clothes down to skid-row and hand them out to the less fortunate. Heck, they could even drop them of at a local charity and let them handle it. Anything but destroy them.

My point is this: Let the company do what they want with the clothes and leave them alone. They could have been a little more discreet about their destruction process to escape the press, though. The rights of the company have been totally removed from the discussion here. I refuse to pass judgment on them for doing what they have every right to do. The clothes are still the property of the store. Yes, they could have chosen to donate them to a charity or church, but chose not to. Its still their choice. But to build hatred against the company for doing its business is not right.

Maybe the bins will be empty next time they are searched. And maybe someone deserving of some new clothes will have them next week. And you will still be thinking about how you could have had free clothes. Only this time the company will have carried out its business away from the public eye.

Tell me your thoughts.

About New York - Clothes Discarded by H and M in Manhattan Are First Destroyed - NYTimes.com