Which thrift stores are for-profit?

I missed the fact that Savers was among the thrift stores with storewide 50 percent off sales on Memorial Day. Apparently, they've been doing it for years. However, I oticed that new red tagged merchandise, books, housewares and furniture were not included in the "storewide" sale.

Here's a tip since I feel bad about excluding Savers. Starting today, Savers keeps the deals coming with a return of the SuperSavers pass. Customers can earn a coupon good for 30 percent off a future visit by filling the SuperSavers Pass with 15 stamps. Receive one stamp for every $5 spent or every bag or box of items donated. Collect stamps from June 1 to July 31, and redeem them before Aug. 7, 2010. The passes are avaiable at the register when you donate or check out.

FYI, Savers, Unique Thrift and Valu Thrift are three examples of for-profit thrift stores. All go out of their way to affiliate themselves with certain charities, but they're never quite up front about what percent of their profits goes to charity. If you donate items by dropping them off at a Unique or Savers location, you are doing a green deed by re-purposing old materials rather than trashing them. But if you want to get a charity to get the most bang for its buck, donate directly to the store such as Value Village, Goodwill, Salvation Army or smaller thifts such as Bibles for Missions.

Even if you let Arc's Value Village pick up your donations from your curb, the goods go to Savers, which pays VV a certain percentage based on weight. I don't have a problem with that, but it's something that a lot of people don't know about because the for-profit thrifts don't advertise it.