Bought it to save on sandwich bread, was 53 from best buy, originally 150 their site said. Now I just make bread every day. Then I started putting Vegemite on it and am addicted to that. Also Vegemite plus avocado toast is insanely good and cheap for the calories. Also good nutritional value.
I can speed make it in the morning with good preparation hacks. I use mason jars with all the dry ingredients ready to go in a drawer, and I use a digital scale to make adding flour fast and accurate.
Chain thrift stores aren’t anywhere near what they used to be. Goodwill’s been crap for awhile, but now I’m even noticing Salvation Army’s being pretty expensive. The best places to go are always the hole-in-the-wall local thrift stores that aren’t part of some larger chain - that’s where you can find great deals. Unfortunately, those also tend to be small places with low selection, so I rarely go thrift shopping for a specific thing, since I’m not likely to find exactly what I’m looking for on any given trip. The the kinds of people who are able to find a bread maker for $8 are the ones who frequent a bunch of local thrift stores just for fun, buying stuff they want as they happen to find it.