The reasons to go thrifting are as varied as the people who go bargain hunting in secondhand shops. "I think the thread that goes through most of them is the hunt. You can't go to a thrift store and get what you want. You have to spend the time going often, and at that point, you only increase your chances," Casey told Bored Panda.

"So when you finally go into that thrift store and you find that thing you have been looking for weeks/months/years. The end of the story you get, and the excitement of finally owning it. Everyone who thrifts for the experience gets that to some degree, whether consciously or subconsciously. That is why the subreddit works. We are sharing the ends of the hunting story with everyone else who knows that feeling. Sometimes it's a hunt that lasted a week, sometimes it's a year or more."

The thrill of the hunt might be important to most members of the sub, but some new members see thrifting as a way to make cash. "The last couple years there has been an influx of people looking at thrifting purely as a place for monetary gain. Which, I am fine with. I understand their need/want for the extra cash. Where that line intersects the sub however is where I put my foot down," Casey, the founder of the r/ThriftStoreHauls subreddit, told Bored Panda.

"I don't care what you do with your stuff, just keep the 'this is for sale' or 'I want to buy this if you are selling' off of the sub. Furthermore, in our push to keep the reseller influx to a minimum we have made it a rule not to allow information-seeking titles. Which does sting a bit because we have such a lovely community of knowledgeable people. It was just getting to the point where people were just using us as a more specific google with less work."

The founder stressed that when they made the sub, they simply wanted to create a place to show off what people got. "Simple as that. So far with our growth, it seems like that vision is shared with a lot of people, so we keep growing."

Bored Panda spoke to the creator of the community about how the pandemic has impacted the thrifting lifestyle. Here's what they had to say.

"Early in the pandemic, I had a sticky post stating that we should just remain at home. Wash your hands, stay away from people. I said that that was just my opinion, but regularly I would see people (pre-pandemic) state that the sub had inspired them to go thrifting. Which that, I felt a bit of guilt since I would assume people were still going based on seeing all the cool stuff people were posting. I told everyone that I can't force them to not go, just be mindful. As time passes, and more people are vaccinated, I still urge people to be safe," they told Bored Panda, adding that they literally got their booster shot 30 minutes before writing back to Bored Panda.

The founder of the sub said that they haven't gone to their local thrift shops a lot these past few months. "My local Goodwill is having staffing problems. I don't know if it is because of Covid, the r/antiwork movement, or other factors. The same amount of people is going to the stores as I have always seen, if not more."

What's more, they noticed that the prices of secondhand items have been going up, too. "We could only assume it's because with more people going, maybe they think they can find people that would spend that amount. I just don't want to see non-sold eBay listings taped to random items at a thrift store. I think it's tacky," Casey said.

The last time that Bored Panda got in touch with the r/ThriftStoreHauls community’s moderators, the subreddit had 1.6 million members. In just a year, they’ve added a whopping half a million new redditors to their ranks. We think it’s very impressive. And it shows that a lot of people relate to the content they post. There are far more thrift shoppers than you think!

The founder of the subreddit shared with Bored Panda last time why they created r/ThriftStoreHauls in the first place. They told us that, at the time, there weren’t any subs with strong communities that were dedicated entirely to thrifting and secondhand shopping.

“I wanted to have a place where people could share the items they found, but the subreddits that existed at the time were not active at all," the founder told Bored Panda.

According to them, moderating a subreddit of such size is actually “fairly simple.” It’s not as time-intensive that many of us would think. It takes roughly 30 minutes of work each to approve new posts, go through spam and reports, remove posts, and enforce bans.

"I don't want people selling or advertising their blog or anything like that. A picture of the thing you got, that is it. That makes the subreddit easily digestible," the founder said that the r/ThriftStoreHauls is supposed to be straightforward, focused, and pure. "We thrive in having a singular focus."

A year ago, the founder of the sub told Bored Panda that they hadn’t been to any thrift stores in person since January of 2020. "There was a lot of talk about how great it would be once they opened since people were stuck at home and probably were cleaning out their garages/attic/closet. From the content I have seen, nobody seemed to get amazing scores. So, other than a limit to how many people can be in a store, I really don't know,” they explained what the thrifting situation was like at the time.

"There is always the hope of finding something awesome when out thrifting. Not finding anything can take its toll and take away the fun of going. What I tell people is to go and just enjoy looking at stuff. Bring a friend and have some laughs. Buy a random CD and have that be the CD you listen to while out thrifting. Then, if you do happen to find something awesome, it's a bonus,” they shared with Bored Panda what the thrill of thrifting is like.

The Covid-19 pandemic had changed how thrift stores and secondhand shops operate. Some shops have focused on increasing their online presence and setting up delivery services. Online ordering and curbside pickup have become the norm in some areas.

Other shops have taken to limiting the number of customers who can be inside the store at any one time. Mask mandates, plexiglass barriers, and hand sanitizers are some of the ways that these shops keep their employees and their customers safe as they go bargain hunting.