4 ms·

the quality of llbean is decreasing, they have a 10 year warranty, but I'm not sure whether they still hold it.

ghaff 7y ago
LL Bean used to have a "lifetime" guarantee but like others (e.g. REI) have backed off considerably. I'm not sure how much of that is because quality has in fact decreased as so many of these brands have shifted manufacturing to the Far East--and how much is because people in general are probably more willing to abuse things like return policies. I suspect it's a bit of each.
- bluntfang 7y ago
  >people in general are probably more willing to abuse things like return policies. Citation please? This seems like the Welfare Queen argument that has been disproved.
  - Marsymars 7y ago
    My instinct is that as many people were willing in the past, but with modern social media use, everyone who is willing is made aware of all the best return policies to abuse.
- jcheng 7y ago
  They used to have lifetime returns! Regardless of condition, no questions asked! This American Life did an interesting piece on it, I was surprised the degree to which people abused—or, I guess, took advantage of—the policy. https://www.thisamericanlife.org/591/get-your-moneys-worth/act-two https://www.thisamericanlife.org/591/get-your-moneys-worth/a...
  - ghaff 7y ago
    The policies were always abused. I've heard people boast about taking in a well-used rain jacket every five years and swapping it for a new one although most didn't do this of course. I certainly don't have the data to support this sort of thing being more common; it's just a general impression that there are fewer social norms against gaming the system to your personal advantage so long as you can get away with it.
  - thaumasiotes 7y ago
    I wonder if it has to do with the spread of e-commerce more generally. L. L. Bean is a mail-order company. Returns are one way to reassure customers who can't even look at the clothes before buying them. (And Amazon has a pretty generous return policy on clothes now for that reason.) But people are used to buying things sight unseen now; maybe the ironclad return policy doesn't have the value -- to the company -- that it once did.
dayofthedaleks 7y ago
My last 'wool' button-up shirt from LL Bean was 97% polyester.

LL Bean used to have a "lifetime" guarantee but like others (e.g. REI) have backed off considerably. I'm not sure how much of that is because quality has in fact decreased as so many of these brands have shifted manufacturing to the Far East--and how much is because people in general are probably more willing to abuse things like return policies. I suspect it's a bit of each.

bluntfang 7y ago
>people in general are probably more willing to abuse things like return policies. Citation please? This seems like the Welfare Queen argument that has been disproved.
- Marsymars 7y ago
  My instinct is that as many people were willing in the past, but with modern social media use, everyone who is willing is made aware of all the best return policies to abuse.
jcheng 7y ago
They used to have lifetime returns! Regardless of condition, no questions asked! This American Life did an interesting piece on it, I was surprised the degree to which people abused—or, I guess, took advantage of—the policy. https://www.thisamericanlife.org/591/get-your-moneys-worth/act-two https://www.thisamericanlife.org/591/get-your-moneys-worth/a...
- ghaff 7y ago
  The policies were always abused. I've heard people boast about taking in a well-used rain jacket every five years and swapping it for a new one although most didn't do this of course. I certainly don't have the data to support this sort of thing being more common; it's just a general impression that there are fewer social norms against gaming the system to your personal advantage so long as you can get away with it.
- thaumasiotes 7y ago
  I wonder if it has to do with the spread of e-commerce more generally. L. L. Bean is a mail-order company. Returns are one way to reassure customers who can't even look at the clothes before buying them. (And Amazon has a pretty generous return policy on clothes now for that reason.) But people are used to buying things sight unseen now; maybe the ironclad return policy doesn't have the value -- to the company -- that it once did.

dayofthedaleks 7y ago

My last 'wool' button-up shirt from LL Bean was 97% polyester.