Endicia

Tacoma Goodwill Industries

If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them

Tacoma Goodwill Industries

Before 1995, if you had stuff in your attic or garage that you needed to get rid of, you had only a few options, most commonly: have a garage sale, or donate it to Goodwill. Online sales in general, and Ebay in particular opened up other options for many people, but eCommerce did not hurt donations coming into Goodwill. In contrast, it opened up a new sales channel opportunity, an opportunity Goodwill took advantage of in 1999 with the creation of ShopGoodwill.com.

Background.  Boston Methodist minister Edgar Helms started Goodwill in 1902 when a small group of the city's downtrodden asked for his assistance in finding food and clothing for the upcoming winter. Rather than ask for money, Rev. Helms asked Boston’s wealthy to donate used clothing instead. Rev. Helms then had the very people who needed the clothes go to work to wash and repair the donated items. By having Boston's "unemployable" wash and repair the clothing and other items, Reverend Helms was providing both jobs and job skills to the city's most desperate citizens. Rev. Helms' motto was, "A hand up, not a handout."

Twenty years later in Tacoma, WA, another Methodist minister, H.W. Michener, dreamed of opening a Goodwill for the needy in his community. Using clothing donated by women from his church, Rev. Michener finally opened Tacoma Goodwill Industries in April 1922 in the old Central Methodist Church. The Tacoma Goodwill flourished and five times needed to move to larger facilities, finally moving into their current location in 1965. Tacoma Goodwill Industries now operates satellite vocational services offices in Yakima (since 1952) and Longview (since 1962), serves 15 counties and has twenty retail stores. Employees no longer clean or repair donated items; instead, retail sales support job training offered to people with a wide range of disabilities or disadvantages, and include classes in computer or custodial skills which are more in tune with today's job market.

ShopGoodwill.com was developed by Goodwill Industries of Orange County in California as an online marketplace for Goodwill shoppers around the world. The site went live in August of 1999 and carries items for over 110 Goodwill agencies. Now the largest shipper on ShopGoodwill.com, Tacoma Goodwill Industries also lists items on eBay and Amazon.com online marketplaces.

In its 105th year, Goodwill Industries' global presence has 205 associate members in 24 countries and worldwide revenue just shy of $2 billion annually. In 2005, ShopGoodwill.com accounted for more than $9 million in sales and the site generated over 600,000 hits per month.

Tacoma Goodwill Industries

Endicia's Role  When Tacoma Goodwill decided to start listing on ShopGoodwill.com, Endicia became the clear choice for shipping. From the beginning, Endicia worked closely with the developers of ShopGoodwill.com to incorporate USPS shipping into the site. Using Endicia’s Professional Service, shipping with the US Postal Service could not be easier.

Tacoma Goodwill uses mostly Priority Mail for clothing, collectibles, musical instruments, and antiques. They use Media Mail for books, tapes, movies, and records. In total, US Postal Service shipping accounts for almost 99% of their fulfillment volume. Tacoma Goodwill takes advantage of the Stealth Postage feature to hide postage amounts from their shipping labels. The integrated, paperless Endicia Insurance is applied on nearly all of their valuable packages. Endicia's pre-filled Customs Forms for International shipments allow them to support the global reach of their online sales. Endicia Professional also allows Tacoma Goodwill to print Bulk Acceptance Scan forms, so that the US Postal Service carrier can easily accept all the day's packages with one scan when the shipments are picked up.

An Endicia customer since January 2005, Tacoma Goodwill processes up to 150 packages per day from three shipping stations equiped with Zebra thermal printers. Recently, they separated the book division out to another facility with a second Endicia account and went shopping for more printers. Thermal printers are an excellent solution for shipping stations, because of their speed, durability, and ease of use. By supporting industry-standard 4"x6" thermal label printers, Endicia allows Tacoma Goodwill to use low-cost commodity labels, an important consideration for a non-profit organization with an eye on the bottom line.

Tacoma Goodwill Industries

With the great support they receive from Endicia, the features of Endicia Professional, the integration with ShopGoodwill.com, and the ease of use of the overall fulfillment solution, Goodwill staff have already recommended Endicia for other organizations and Goodwill locations.

The Future  As high quality donations continue to increase, Tacoma Goodwill plans to grow its online sales department in the coming years.

"Using online services such as shopgoodwill.com helps us maximize our ability to provide job services and job training to people who really need help entering the workforce,"

said Dan Palmer, Retail Sales Director of Tacoma Goodwill. As their primary shipping partner, Endicia helps reduce Goodwill's labor costs, contributing to Goodwill's mission of changing lives by helping people with disabilities or disadvantages go to work.

To learn more about Tacoma Goodwill Industries, visit www.tacomagoodwill.org.