Returns Are the Retail Industry’s Quietly Mounting Logistics Problem | WSJ
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- Опубликовано: 27 ноя 2022
- Customer returns are skyrocketing in the U.S., but many items don’t go back to retailers’ shelves. WSJ looks into the complicated process and how retailers are responding to increasing returns.
Photo illustration: Laura Kammermann
#Returns #Retail #WSJ
I remember returning an unopened bag of chocolates to a brick and mortar target. The associate happily took my return and immediately threw it in the trash, i was stunned. Since then, I've been a bit more careful about my purchases.
@@julm7744 I understand this economical take but it is an extremely wasteful mindset for the positivity of capitalism. It's this type of understanding that results in the dismissal of environmental care. GDP is just a number constructed by economists. The plastic packaging and environmental impact of producing and transporting the chocolate to the store and ultimately the consumer is permanent and real. Consumption, whether actually consumed or not, is not positive long term for the environment and eventually its costs will catch up to us.
Life is like a box of chocolates you never know what you're going to get.
@@julm7744a car accident, a burning house or whatever also usually increases a country‘s GDP. Nevertheless, most people would not want any of these things to happen. Hence, an action should not be evaluated on the GDP alone.
GDP is just a number, which is the monetary sum of all traded goods and services in a country. It has a lot of limitations and does not really tell you anything about a country‘s general wealth (or even more important it‘s wealth distribution).
@@julm7744 that’s a horribly wasteful philosophy. That’s why the terrorists hate us.
By practice, she did it right tho..
I work in Reverse Logistics. We always talk about how crazy how much stuff we get in daily. Especially after the holidays.
Some items never used. Never opened and sometimes have to destroy perfectly good items.
Do you get to keep stuff you want since it is getting destroyed anyway?
I once worked in an Avon warehouse. We had to process unsold merchandise. I couldn't believe how much of it there was, like after Christmas. Much of it was hazardous, like aerosol products and perfume, which is flammable. Some of it had to be put in steel drums, headed for a toxic waste landfill.
When the world flooded with single use items, low quality items, unhealthy foods, and crushing low wages, then the retailers still want to make profit and expect consumers to pay for what they brought to us, cheap, unhealthy foods, low quality items, single use items. Returns is a normal thing to do. Don’t blame consumers when the retailers want market dominance and forever expansion and forever profitability. Manufacturers/retailers need to be responsible to make sure the returns are taken care of, not the consumers. So many years the consumers have been blamed for no reason. Consumers simply doing what consumers should do. Consumers have no knowledge and no tools, and most of the time are misled by the retailers/manufacturers to buy. This return problem should be resolved at the manufacturers, make products in a more thoughtful way, not just cheap low quality no use products, and we should not need so many clothes, we only need 4 seasons of fashion shows.
I work at Ikea in the "Recovery" department, we resale 70% of what gets returned, it's not perfect but we resale a lot of what gets returned back in the "AS IS" section of the store.
Thanks for confirming the actual percentage. I've shopped at Ikea for years & always check out the AS IS department:) I try my best to shop local, supports local jobs & businesses, and I've never bought anything from Amazon. I'm hoping more people tune into this mentality.
Since 2020 I’ve been very mindful about things I buy. I realized I don’t need 70% of it. It’s actually freeing to not be a slave to debt and a cluttered home.
You can't completely blame the consumer. Too many times items being sold on Amazon have misleading pictures, inaccurate descriptions, inconsistent sizes, fake reviews, or they are straight up knock offs. I would put a lot of the blame on Amazon for not monitoring third party sellers. Is this container of vitamins coming straight from Amazon? Or did a third party seller fish it out of a dumpster behind Whole Foods? Will this dress be the one in the listing? Or will it be a poor knockoff from AliExpress? Will this medium t-shirt fit me? Or will it be five sizes too small because it's not in American sizes. I like shopping on Amazon but it can be a frustrating experience.
Exactly the fake reviews make up a ton of this information. How do some aliexpress products like "JDZTS kitchen tongs" on amazon have 50k 5-star reviews
I never buy anything from Amazon for this and so many other reasons. They are involved in so much waste. It is laughable how they brag about buying electric delivery vehicles. Another example of corporate greenwashing.
Well said, so many goods are not what's advertised. Does Amazon really think 17,000 people reviewed a toaster?
I was thinking this as well. You can get away with supreme lies on e-commerce and no one will know until they receive the product. A lot of times if there is a review of the product, they don't answer the question you may have, and while Amazon questions is a thing, even that isn't 70% reliable. There needs to be something to hold them accountable for what they post.
I never understand the culture of blaming consumer. why is that even a thing
I always consider buying in-person when it comes to clothing. I know that’s not an option for everyone, but it really doesn’t save me the energy of having to return something. Also, if I buy something I’m likely to keep it or give it to someone who can use it.
I've bought WAY TO MUCH clothing that just sits in my closet.. it looked great in the pictures but the fabric isn't good or it's to big or whatever.. but for some reason I keep it, probably too justify keeping it
Worked at an Amazon returns warehouse location for about a week. Carts upon carts of returned product were just being violently dumped into enormous boxes to be moved elsewhere, like you see being opened at 1:40.
I have never, ever returned any item to Amazon, since the company started.
People need to stop mailing back used underwear. Gross!!!
I wouldn’t mind getting a pallet of those to see what the fuss is about. Sort salvageable v. toss. Don’t waste. At least donate to Goodwill for someone who needs it.
If sizing was accurate and standard across all companies it would make online shopping so much easier. I have tried on so many pairs of jeans that are listed as my size that don't fit me at all. I recently bought a dress and made sure to check the sizing chart and measure myself with a tape measure. I was smack dab in the middle of what a medium should be. I got it in and it was way too big for me! It's so frustrating. Thankfully I can sew but if not I would've had to return it.
A lot of stores with fitting rooms are still closed in our area. Unfortunately, even if something seems like it will be the perfect fit… sometimes it’s just not. Not having a fitting room available has been by far the most common reason for my family to have to make a return.
Explains why Target tells me to keep, recycle, or donate when I try to return some items
I'm Stephen from Missouri and you
Hmm, nice 🤔
I wonder if that saves them some time & money-or at least trouble & resources.
As a dumpster diving channel, I see so many corporations using my local landfill as part of their business plan. Pathetically irresponsibly environmentally criminal
The amount of cardboard that retail sends to landfills is absurd in itself. Add returns and merchandise destroyed to prevent resale to that and it's a tidal wave.
Why can’t they open the warehouse and just sell the stuff? This is amazing. I never thought the items went to a warehouse. I thought they went back and was resold. Yikes!
For Amazon, if you go to the Amazon Warehouse part of the app you can buy the pre owned/used items.
@@enriquemercedes9519 no those are seller leftovers Amazon never reselle any return it will cost more, shity company just make staff going higher
Online shoppers need sellers who give more ACCURATE details to there products, like size, materials and care instructions.
“Buy n Large is your best friend” The first thing I thought of was WALL·E and how the piles of waste grew all too quickly. I wish they made offshoot movies to the story to tell more.
What an utterly insane situation this is that we've put ourselves in.
Not "we," only the irresponsible, non-adults who return items like they change their socks.
This is putting the blame (again) on consumers. Companies always act like they are victims when they were the ones to introduce poorly fitted items or never have things you need in stock in their brick and mortar stores. Sure, people returning goods for petty reasons need to be stopped. Retailers can post videos of the product without gimmicks, add reviews and lots of pictures in the description along with a "wait before you buy" policy can help consumers, but more importantly, they need to bring back good quality products.
I agree with all of this. I’ve been on the picky side when it comes to how my clothes fit since childhood and have always been a *little* bit hard to size bcus of my inseam and wing-span but it’s been impossible to find clothes my size for the past 8 or so years in store. Also, the professional work attire options are abysmal unless you go to expensive department stores that are barely affordable. I hate buying my clothes online bcus I need to try things on to make sure they fit right but now I have virtually no choice. Even the thrift stores are overflowing with cheaply made fast fashion that won’t last you a year. Sigh, it’s made me hate shopping even more than I already do 🙃
Good quality products still exist, they just cost more than most people are willing to pay. Most of us prefer to buy loads of disposable fast fashion every month, while it would be better to stay ‘sober’ from shopping for a few months and save up for something that would last for years. The last time I bought something this year was in May, and I still have clothes to wear 😄
So how much of this is going to homeless shelters or needy families??? There are plenty of places that are legitimate nonprofits where you can get a tax deduction
Regarding returns: No more fitting rooms due to the COVID crisis puts brick and mortar retailers close to on par with online retailers. Add that to the equation.
I know people who go crazy on Black Friday shopping, and spend the subsequent two weeks returning most of the items. They do it for the sake of it: the emotions of doing line overnight outside a store and of trying new clothes. Very irresponsible.
But yes, the prevalence of online retailers is exacerbating the problem now that the masses have wide access to those platforms.
This is not a consumer issue. This is a cheap Chinese knock off issue and almost fraud by listings. No standard size in clothing. On and on. Add to that the large companies want to keep that stock market line in a positive direction no matter what cost. So let’s over promise, over sell, and under staff. Our WORLD has a major issue with world wide retail giants. It’s time we start holding them accountable. Not just call this a consumer issue.
That sounds like an Amazon problem. I don’t know many other sites selling Chinese knock offs
@@la6136 if u look on all the websites even target and Walmart, unless you go to the filter and pick just Walmart or target, they will sell you stuff from anyone and anywhere the same thing as Amazon does. They just are trying to keep up with how Amazon does business and the volume that Amazon has to sell. I only learned this when I ordered something off of the Walmart website and had to return it because they sent the wrong size and they would not take it back because they did not sell it to me it was a third-party seller or something like that. So yes it’s a problem just about everywhere at these retailers online. And in-store if you look there’s not a whole lot made in America or anywhere like that anymore most of it is China.
This. Also an issue of not having testers or a way to properly try the product. But mostly the products being cheap or a rip off.
@@la6136They are ALL Chinese knockoffs
Small eBay businesses get affected by returns the most! It’s our least favorite next to negative feedback!
Absolutely agree!
Supply chain transparency is one of the biggest problems nobody is talking about
Personal/professional note: At my work (manufacturing), I especially think that the newer generation of supply chain, purchasing, and operations workers (Gen Z) and management (Gen X) don’t necessarily have the appreciation for the flaws and limitations of MRP & ERP systems when the real world gets messy. This has really exacerbated the issues supply chain issues from first pre-covid manufacturing/economic restarts and then the Covid ups & downs.
For example, take “garbage in, garbage out.” If lead times have changed but no one has been very closely updating the latest lead times in the system, then our SAP-based system won’t even tell the Purchasing people to place a PO until months after it’s way too late to support production. I’ve been in internal conference calls where I said “I think we need to look into these parts from supplier X: they’re reporting much longer lead times for such-and-such sub component.” The responses from the younger supply chain middle-managers is “Well, that’s the latest report output from the system,” implying that the system _must_ be right and up to date. 🙈
@4:07 - I always try to explain this to my family and friends. With the products, we're also buying the convenience services (i.e. return service) from Amazon, Walmart, Target and others.
Fun fact: there is this tale of a trucking and logistics company in Brazil that went bankrupt due to excess damaged goods. They handled a large volume of a major ecommerce store here and if they damage the goods, their client will discount the full amount from their service invoice, this trucking company then sold these damaged items to their employees... Their employees started to damage some goods on purpose, like, they would punch a refrigerator so the end customer wouldn't accept it and neither would the ecommerce, they did so cause they knew they'd somehow would be buying it at a discount. This went on and the trucking debt with their customer kept increasing to a point where they stopped receiving cargoes - their SLA was down and the ecommerce started to worry about the mounting debt. They went bankrupt after that.
so, basically employees shot themselves in the foot based on pure greed because they all went unemployed for a f*** discounted fridge
Keep only honest employees and get rid of the rest ASAP. Use cameras and honest supervisors.
@@davidb2206 ok genius, they'll punch a refrigerator in front of a camera eh?
@@nocapnobs7845 Charge them and imprison them. Just like the UCMJ and court martial in the Army.
The biggest loss is of data, why the item was returned to begin with. Amazon do not give that data along when you purchase an 18 wheeler truck of returns. Do you know what is on the truck but you don’t know which item is which or why it was returned. This is extremely valuable data and this is the main reason of such a high loss that everything has to be sorted through and identified again
Knowing this definitely encourages me to go to the store if I can. But so many stores are online only and most don't carry all their online selection either :(
We buy a lot of things online, but almost never return anything. It helps to do research before we buy. When I read online reviews of products, I'm frequently amazed at the trivial reasons reviewers will cite as rationale for returning something (commonly: the color is SLIGHTLY off from anticipated, or the item doesn't have a feature that--in fact--wasn't listed in the description).
A lot of these returns can be solved by READING THE PRODUCT DESCRIPTION. The issue is many buyers fail to bother to educate themselves they are complacent in the warm fuzzy feeling of the "Free Returns" policy pushed by market places like Ebay and Amazon. Sellers are forced to offer free returns in exchange for search ranking. But since its become the norm, the returns is now rife for abuse.
Amazon has a "No Longer Needed" or "Bought by mistake" you can try and bill the customer return charges but you'll risk eating a negative or even worse a chargeback. So sellers just let things go. People keep getting rewarded for poor behavior. The amount of waste is astounding.
I LOVE when customers ask me for help in finding details like extra measurements / application for the product. Because it saves me money in shipping out and taking back something that they may not be able to use. I even offer alternate solutions for them not sold by me, just because I"m so happy I don't have to take an un-necessary return and send un resale able goods for the landfill.
Someone said the truth. Customers want to return things for the dumbest reasons most of the time or just because they changed their mind after using it for a couple weeks. It is so irresponsible.
1. 30% are used returns
2. Best returns - repackaged and back on the shelves, ready for sale again.
3. Returns on an average cost 66% of the cost of item!
4. First up, returns processing center checks the quality of item! No damages, etc.
5. More than 25% are thrown away!!! Landfills
6. Remaining goes to secondary resale or recycling
7. Secondary resale
a. Online auctions
b. Retailers outlets
c. Liquidation companies - sorts based on condition and sell to other retailers who sell on ebay, poshmark, discount stores & flea markets!
As online sales increase so too returns!!! 20.8 % items of total sale were returned in 2020! Policies such as free returns and longer return windows are to be the cause of excessive returns!
Costs are hiked to include cost of returns!
Retailers are not prioritising dealing with returns!
It's really disturbing that the actual value of the goods is too low to repackage and resell..
Sounds like giant profit margins.
Well if it’s made in a third world country for .50 cents and you need to pay $3 to resell it then it’s easier to trash it.
When I buy a product, *I expect it to be new and unopened.* I also shop very carefully and almost never, ever return a product I bought.
@@gilberttorres8 Yep, it's not margins it is more the huge mismatch in labor costs between where goods are produced and where they are sold/returned.
So...how do we find these return warehouses, and can we get stuff from there for free if they're going to throw it anyways?
Stuff like hardware, tools and electronics has a decent chance of making it back onto shelves in one form or another. But as a general rule, "If it goes on to your body or into yourself, it's probably not going back onto the shelf."
So DONATE it. Or give it away to the needy in your town.
I have a friend who buys 2 pallets a week. He takes them straight to a flea market and makes a decent coin. He's been doing this for years
Where can we buy these?
@David B he gets them from a local warehouse which buys and sells hundreds of them a week. I live in Philly
Amazon return stores are all the rage in my small town. There’s five locations within 20 miles. The prices start at $7 and dwindle down throughout the week. People will buy things like it’s Black Friday even if they don’t work. It’s wild
Sounds like there's a fulfillment warehouse near you
This is exactly why I do a great deal of research before purchasing just about anything online. Excessive? Maybe to some, but I’d hate to be knowingly contributing to the ever-growing pool of perfectly good items that end up in a landfill in one way or another. I don’t buy any clothing online, and when it comes to large purchases, I watch several detailed videos from reputable sources to ensure I’m making the right choice from square one. You’d think in such an advanced, interconnected, and globalized world we’d find ourselves beyond these logistical nightmares to some extent…sad to see that’s not the case.
I agree. I spend around 20mins looking through reviews and youtube.
The answer is simple. The price is cheaper if you click the AS-IS/No Returns box.
Ebay
@@Pernection ebay takes even higher fees, and customers abuse the return system even more. Even "as is" items will have claims all the time from people claiming they don't work. Like what did you expect?
Yes, even 10% would be great for me. Never returned any online purchase, ever.
@@davidb2206 if we use average numbers from the video, the best you're getting is 6-7%. But that will never happen because there are laws that require a minimum warranty. You cannot legally offer a "no returns for any reason" policy. If we make that a "no changed minds" return policy, it's closer to 2-3%. For 2-3% anyone would be crazy not to eat that cost, because "no returns" scares away potential customers and can leave you with bad reviews and unhappy customers.
@@smoothbraindetainer As an adult who can make my own decisions and is not fickle, I don't need a returns policy and have never used one online. (And only TWICE in 50 years for brick-and-morter electronics from China.) It does not scare me.
The issue is that amazon and other retailers sell huge amounts of cheap quality "goods" that break easily, or are such terrible quality you can't trust them.
Think of all the terrible 3rd party retailers you see on amazon with names like "WESELLITEMS" or "HAPPYFUNLIFE"
So quit buying China. You'll notice the difference in quality with most non-communist items.
Problem is a ton of returns get listed by third parties as new on amazon which then get returned again.
eBay is probably the worst one. Some sellers are LIARS. Selling a used/handled/opened/returned item as "NEW" is a damned LIE and fraud.
There's gotta be something that can be said about capitalism when there's a whole industry based on used items (thrift stores) and yet perfectly fine returned items can end up in landfills.
It might just be that labor is too expensive(and products too cheap) to process the items. If there’s a way for someone to make a profit I think someone would have already done it.
@@johnl.7754 no, it is they would rather throw it away than people think they can get it for free.
It says little about capitalism but a lot about a minority of *people who are selfish* and return products because they change their minds. Some people don't care about their impact on others.
Its becasue it costs money to evaluate the quality of a returned product and process it for resale .
Its often not worth the effort and might even make losses worse . Thats why they get thrown away
One of the reasons is that the brand names don't want to compete against their own returned goods. If a pair of Levi jeans costs $200 in a store, they don't want you to be able to buy the same jeans for $30 at a flea market. If they could, they would also stop you from selling your second-hand jeans as well, but they just haven't figured out how to do that. Computer software manufacturers have figured out how to do this, and you can't resell many types of software.
Wow I always packaged up my returns how I received it. Some people just toss things in the box/bag and call it a day. I don’t even return items like that anyway.
Its almost like companies should go back to building high quality, durable products that last and not accept returns so easy. The only reason companies had to shift to a "no questions" return approach is because they sell up-charged trash and they know it. Stop manufacturing trash, from useless little trinkets like party favors to fake wood furniture to brittle cheap electronics. Also, localize more, stop being national and international, its greed is what has caused many of our problems these days.
Send em my way, Id happily open up a giant garage sale, surely some people out there need some of those
I think of poor families that would love access to the items that are headed for landfill. This wouldn't diminish the business of the original seller because these folks can't afford to buy the items. I have no suggestions regarding the logistics of allowing this access, but it's such a shame that so much is thrown away when there are so many who have needs.
Open the warehouse on the weekend, $50 bucks and you keep all you can carry.
Doing that would kill demand though, why buy for full price when you can get it at a return warehouse for a fraction of the price....
@@Shteven
Every good intention shall be punished.
Logic and moral have no bearing in this country's law.
You are certain to get sued by someone claiming to have gotten sick from eating something that they bought from your warehouse.
@@ecognitio9605
You're not guaranteed to find the item you want, at the time you want. That's why you pay full price at the store.
Outlets stores haven't killed their main store's businesses.
@@ecognitio9605 If you found a way to limit it to the truly needy, they couldn't ever afford to buy that stuff at full price.
it's all modeled into their pricing. Plenty of retailers that do minimum $50 for free shipment, because they have calculated that it's more profitable that way even though there are people who purposely buy "unwanted stuff" for free shipping and return of that "unwanted stuff". The whole logistics problem and/or waste isn't all created by the consumers, it's just businesses and the businesses are a part of the problems.
Absolutely not.
@@jameshil8661 thanks for sharing your valuable thoughts.
@@Steven-xf8mz I mean what said is silly. You are defending scammers. They make you spend a certain amount because shipping isn't cheap. You can't sell a pack of socks for 9 bucks and pay 9 bucks in shipping. Consumers think shipping is free for the business or something.
@@jameshil8661 Scammers? LoL. Majority of US corporate that sells physical good heavily rely on countries that don't have much labor laws for their massive profit, that's how they are able to deal with these costs. It is just business, people are just doing what's best for them like the greedy corporations, no one is better. I'm just merely stating facts on why and how these things are occurring without a biased perception which you seem incapable of doing so.
@@Steven-xf8mz you changed the topic. Yes, buying extra stuff with full intent of returning to trick them into free shipping is scamming. Your example is like a criminal on trial saying other people do worse so they're innocent.
I wish this was longer. Great story
This is the biggest problem with online shopping instead of brick and mortar retailers. I don’t buy anything online. No way you can buy a well-fitting, quality pair of jeans or a nice outfit without trying it on. It’s usually cheap garbage.
Nearly impossible to do for tall women. Most malls have exactly zero stores that sell tall sizes for women's tops.
If you are getting cheap garbage, you are buying cheap garbage.
All merchandise is cheap garbage nowadays, doesn't matter if you buy it online or not.
Those numbers are grossly underestimated. A lot of products are so cheap, people won't bother with the return and that's what Amazon dropshippers are counting on.
Why do the clothing manufacturers not have standardized sizing? If I could be confident the slacks I order online were actually the stated size, I would not have to buy three pair and return two.
Clothing is pretty standardized actually. I sell clothing online so I spend a lot of time measuring things from different brands. The measurements are usually the same for sizing. I find many people just don’t know their size or think that they are smaller than they are.
Standard sizes are impossible if you have an irregular body type. It fits your waist but not your hips or vise versa. I have a 32-30-44 measurement. That means I always pay a lot to have my clothes tailored because it might fit my hips but not my chest. I ordered " my size" and it was too big
Great work
*wow! great knowledge*
They could at least send things to thrift shops
The conclusion to this video seems to be that the consumer needs to change, when it’s the companies who are failing to integrate returns back into their logistics stream.
🤣🤣🤣
It didn't come off, quite right, I'd have to suppose. Entirely too perceivably snotty sounding but it probably wasn't meant as that. People, consumers do know what happens when they return goods they do not want. Funny, still.
@@christinalynn8143 I genuinely thought they’d be sold again…
Straight up propaganda from business to consumer. “Please make lives of businesses easier.” No. You are the ones making money. You figure it out.
I suppose you want to pay higher prices?
@@KaiSosceles one mans propaganda is another mans opportunity. Interesting how the mind of a pessimist is different than an optimist.
Great video
Reselling game strong! 💪🏼 🎉
This week, I bought jeans from Target online. They didn’t fit, so I went through the online return process, and was told that I’ll get my money back, but to donate or give the pants to a friend. The woman at the store told me they have too much stock, and they can’t keep up with the returns. Crazy. I’m going to bring the jeans to Goodwill. It’s a shame these stores aren’t giving their returned merchandise to the indigent.
agree! Like food that gets dumped could more than feed the hungry in this country! it's a travesty!
This comment section is flooded with bots
Ur account comment history says otherwise Coward
Will never understand why thing a that people NEED can’t be donated to charities for people who need it. Clothes, food, etc
Hopefully companies will start having more merchandise in physical stores again. I would much rather look at most items before I buy, and clothing NEEDS to be tried on! Not everyone is proportioned the same way, so we need to try on clothes to make sure the fit right and look right. Plus sometimes when we return an order we are out shipping costs - meaning we are having to pay money for items we cannot wear/use.
Now it's understandable why retails are starting to for-go the "return the product" step. Cheaper just to have consumers keep them.
Never noticed this until amazon offered it. It makes sense. Then the customer has to dispose of it instead of the 5 steps they have to take to get it back, to throw it out. If they keep the item, they'll probably still use it not to waste.
The good old American return culture
Only among the child-like who can't make up their minds. They never grew up and are not responsible adults. I have returned NOTHING bought online. Nothing.
Maybe Amazon should create two options. A no change-of-mind-return option, where the price is cheaper.
YES! Great idea! 👍👍
But that will put the brakes on consumers clicking the buy button and might make them rethink an impulse buy.
Nice thinking.
@@xtaticsr2041 That's why there's two options. One with the current status quo with free change-of-mind returns.
What I am envisioning is something like the "subscribe & save 5%" button but rather it is a "no-change-of-mind return & save"
I think many would happily forgo change-of-mind returns to save 5%.
Airbnb has something similar. On some listings you might see two prices. One with full refund cancellation right up until 24-48 hrs before check-in and second cheaper price with with no free cancellation.
Some airlines practice similar pricing with more generous cancellation policies for higher fare tiers.
The bigger problem I suspect is what kzubersky below identified - mismatch between the listing and the reality.
@@user-km2bz8iy5o No. Having two options just mean that now returns are not free anymore. Consumer will consider the "no-return" price as the actual price and the difference as the cost of return. So, they will think twice before clicking "Buy Now".
I almost never returned stuff before 2020, but when Walmart and Target closed their dressing rooms I had no choice but to buy three and then return two the next day. I hate the waste it creates but what other option did I have?
Funny, I never did this once.. your choice is to just not do it
Yah it was frustrating when dressing rooms were closed
Well some of us have maybe irregularly shaped bodies and sizing for women's clothing is just the wild west!
@@nychris2258 Not to do what? Buy clothes? Or return them if they don't fit?
@@groob33 Don't buy clothes online if you aren't familiar with the brand and the fit.. and if you must do it then take your chances. If it doesn't fit give it away as a gift instead of returning it via mail. Anyone who claims to not realize that buying three of something and returning two via the mail is insanely wasteful is totally ignorant. This practice is the most fat American consumerist thing you can do in the modern age.
If you buy something on Amazon and the price drops after you buy it, you have to return it and buy it again. Amazon could save a lot of money just by doing a simple price adjustment.
Or don't return it and realise the environmental cost and damange it is doing is not worth saving few bucks
@@legendparitosh For some people every dollar counts, especially with inflation getting worse and worse. Why should we shame individuals when the large corporations can make these changes but chose not to?
@@ThatLaloBoy then get a better paying job
Bestbuy does exactly this. Ive done it multiple times. Typically if the item you bought goes on sale within 7 days they refund the difference so long as you kept the receipt.
@@jankay8569 Thankfully I have a good paying job. However, having grown up in a low income household during most of my childhood, I can sympathize with those struggling to make ends meet. It isn't just because they "chose" a low paying job. Things like having to care for a family, having unexpected medical bill, or simply being unable to afford higher education means they have to work with what they got.
Simply telling them to get a "better paying job" doesn't help anyone.
Wow....I had no idea. I naively thought that the return was checked over and put back for sale either as new or refurbished. I honestly hate to see all that waste.
I truly wish everyday consumers and companies would consider the environmental impact of online shopping
I canceled my Amazon prime. They discriminate against people with disabilities and don't deliver right to people's apartment doors, I had enough of it. I've also saved so much money by not buying things I never would've wanted to begin with
All shopping has an environmental impact. If you don't shop online you save on packaging and shipping, but then what? Are you driving yourself to the store? Then the impact is in the energy you spend - gas or electric - getting there is a factor. Even if you don't drive, the energy usage of the retailer to maintain the store, the cost of maintaining and processing in a retail space vs a warehouse space - the latter of which is more efficient - are still having a negative environmental impact, and it is unclear which is the greater.
I just wish so many things didn't come in a plastic envelope. Cardboard is rarely recycled. Should come in something that can be reused and sent back for $$ you get on a gift card like Visa, Mastercard, etc
Your multiple drives to retail store shall create more harm to the planet than a return that happens 20% of the time.
I like shopping in person for clothes and fabrics because I know what I am getting. In fact, I do most of my shopping in person. It is convenient to by stuff from online, but I feel being out and about is better for my wellbeing.
My shopping habits are going to change in 2024. Now that I’ve been made aware of the real cost of returns, related to online shopping, I am pledging to only buy online those products that I’m just replacing, products that I KNOW what I’m buying. Anything that doesn’t meet that qualification, I’m pledging to find locally in a brick and mortar store. The insanity has to stop!
And yet this happens to an aggressive, profit-oriented Amazon. The price of convenience is still within the profit margins and paid for by the consumers. It is truly amazing how this is all so efficient at generating insane amount of wealth, surplus and benefits to us, the buyers.
It's part of the business. Amazon sell 3rd party stuff. You cannot touch and see how it works before you buy it. Therefore it will be returned.
The false advertisement and descriptions of products is compounding this problem. An uptick in what is being described as the product and what gets delivered are two different things borderline in on false advertisement and fraud.
I try to avoid shopping online. Thankfully I can give or sell what few things I don't want to my friends. Mostly I just don't buy a lot of clothes online because I know it's an unreliable process.
After a certain number of returned items Amazon will make you go to a Kohl's store. Return windows for the "holiday season" are until February 1st. I'll be batching my Kohl's returns so i can do them all in one run.
Or consider not buying things you'll later decide to return. Except for clothing that doesn't fit, there's rarely a valid reason to return a product. Shopping without due diligence is effectively stealing from society.
@@DemPilafian i agree with you, and in this case, clothing didn't fit.
@@totoroben Good to hear -- that's legitimate.
If it isn't already a part of it, having a lesson unit about this in high school Economics classes would be helpful. In my teen years (pre-internet) only having the outside-of-physical stores ordering option through catalogs meant not as much of the return quantity amounts, compared to these days. So we didn't dive into this issue in Economics. Now, however,......
Economics is not business.
We are actively solving the problem at iF Returns!
Thanks for the informative video. Perhaps companies should publicly state the percentage of returned goods that are thrown out, that way they would get pressure to reduce that percentage and people would be more mindful of what they return.
How can I get involved in the liquidation process and reduce waste sent to landfill?
I’m okay with buying returns for a 20% discount. Seems to be the going discount on eBay, etc.
Woohoo online shopping and one day shipping. We don't do that here in New Zealand
I find this so interesting. My company sells pet food and supplies. We truly don’t take returns as seriously. It’s a pain point for the customer, so we make it easy and eat it. I don’t know how else to alleviate returns yet make the consumer happy. We already charge them to send it back to us, so it’s a weird spot. But as a person on this earth i really want to find a solution. It’s going to keep getting worse.
I really don't think it's safe to eat the returned pet food.
I rarely return goods to an online retailer. If it's clothing that doesn't fit well, I donate it to a local homeless shelter. If it's an appliance or other good, I'll give it to a friend or donate it to Goodwill. In this way, I hope that it doesn't simply get directed to a landfill, and it puts the onus on me to verify I'm making a valid purchase.
👍 Exactly. Except for receiving the wrong product, there's rarely a valid reason to return something. Shopping without due diligence and then returning products is effectively stealing from society.
@@DemPilafian Um. no its really not. That's a weird view. If I don't get what I expect, or if its damaged, I'm going to return something. In the case of clothing, sizing is extremely difficult to navigate online, especially as clothing often has significant variance. You can due-dilegence until you're blue in the face with a tape measure and still have an article of clothing that is the wrong size show up. I both do this (because I personally loath having to return items) and I have previous experience working in a company that had this problem, and as I was leaving, they were forming a committee to decide if they should start measuring clothing as it arrived from manufacturer and correcting the size chart as they were so off. The debate was whether it was worth the extra time it would take. I'm sure that convo is happening at retailers and the choice must be that its cheaper to just have returns. To reiterate, this is not a consumer problem and no one is stealing if they don't get usable goods from a retailer.
@@TamiWeiss Obviously if the product is literally damaged that would be a *"valid reason."* That's why I said *"rarely"* instead of *"never."* Once a product is returned, regardless of the reason, it's pretty much garbage. When I purchase a product online, I expect it to be *NEW* and *UNOPENED.*
Where I'm at in California is a few resale places called deal busters !!
Companies should be charged some form of penalty for throwing away goods that can be resold to to landfill.
Filtering returns would be a good application for humanoid robots. Like sorting recyclables.
I agree! ❤
Sad. This could all be given to homeless shelters, schools for kids that don’t have clothes or shipped to countries that don’t have as many clothes
I try to do my due diligence when buying on amazon. I hate returns because most times it ends up in a land field 😢
No it doesn't, I buy that stuff from the auction. Very little ends up in landfills but regardless try not to return because it makes the price of everything go up
3:55 just casually has a prada dress
Heres an idea. Consumer literacy classes in teaching about the importance to shop local
What watch was that?
I will still pay 10% premium for a better return policy like Amazon. This is a worthwhile thing to do as buying online is way too risky.
The problem boils down to why physical stores are so inconvenient, then why everything in US is so fking far away, and then the trashy infrastructure in US and car culture.
I still dont know what happens to a return after this video lol. That was pretty vague
But lots of big shots of 😮 messy filled boxes. 😆 Ikr lol
Products are sent to liquidation warehouses where they are sorted and then resold in locations like ebay, poshmark, or flea markets. Everything that isn't resold is thrown away. Pretty vague, right?
@@JonasPolsky i would've loved it if they gave an example of a place like target or amazon. And then tell us the resell price to resellers, what platforms they use to link up to resellers, the % distribution among the different reselling platforms, the process of how they sort it, etc, etc.
I try buying stuff from amazon warehouse deals (used products) but sometimes the items aren’t functional 😢
Yeah, I'm not buying refurbished ever again.
I buy Liquidated items frequently online, ebay etc. the sellers I buy from do well buying those giant pallets of stuff and me as end consumer gets a deal! A good example I just paid $100 for a “new open box return” that normally is 750!
Where do you buy
Yea where can I buy liquidated items?
How do you find those items? I go to thrift stores but I’m sure there’s many more products out there online.
I wouldn't expect most consumers to take responsibility and stop returning things even if they were aware of what happens. For one thing, one person's choice has no appreciable impact on the overall problem. The returns policy would have to change for buyer habits to change. Pressure needs to be put on retailers by some entity with the power to make a difference, such as government or the waste disposal companies.
Also, there are lots of new products the consumer never returns & eventually trashes
idk man they should donate to charity and not just simply waste it…
I would hate to be the person that has to go through and sort all of those pallets of items.
They'll just sell it to countries abroad. *It's a lucrative process and unfortunately the countries that take the items are paying a premium*
Return policies are going to have to change.
I don't think I've returned a single online item.
Me neither. Never.