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Broadly, US customer service return policies, despite what we hear, is superlative compared to most of the rest of the world [1]. If you travel a lot, the kind

Broadly, US customer service return policies, despite what we hear, is superlative compared to most of the rest of the world [1]. If you travel a lot, the kind of return policies Americans broadly enjoy are pretty much non-existent outside the US, due to a relatively unique history of retail and general trust. Culture is in general becoming a less pleasant, asshole-take-all experience because your "friend" embodies how trust and social fabric is corroded away. Not by big, monolithic, evil entities people like to rant upon here, but by everyday people like him making poor choices. Choose better decisions [2]. [1] https://qz.com/772273/the-sneaky-genius-of-americas-lenient-return-policies/ https://qz.com/772273/the-sneaky-genius-of-americas-lenient-... [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/elal2/have_you_ever_picked_up_a_hitchhiker/c18z0z2/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/elal2/have_you_e...

StavrosK 6y ago
Neither I nor he live in the US, alas.
- yourapostasy 6y ago
  Monetary systems are (very poorly designed, highly lossy) attempts to quantify trust in many dimensional axes. Corrode trust, then the cost of trade goes up. When I notice decisions made by people like what your friend does, if talking about it doesn't produce a change in choices, I instantly distance myself from them and then gradually cut them out of my life. Ethics is what you do when you think no one is looking on. Your mileage may vary, but personally, I have too little time in my life to spend on people who I have to worry about whether they will screw me over if the situation is just right. The cognitive load is not worth it.
m463 6y ago
It might not be trust or customer service... it might be that americans have rights afforded to them via credit card laws. You can initiate a chargeback against the vendor and get your money back. And for fraud... in the US you can lose max $50 to a credit card fraud incident ($500 if you are really negligent) by law. So I think americans enjoy protections not available in other parts of the world. I actually think this makes good sense. It eliminates the need for people "to take things into their own hands", or be overly cautious, so spending is increased. I think it was matt ridley's book the rational optimist (?) that said that trust correlates with trade.

StavrosK 6y ago

Neither I nor he live in the US, alas.

yourapostasy 6y ago
Monetary systems are (very poorly designed, highly lossy) attempts to quantify trust in many dimensional axes. Corrode trust, then the cost of trade goes up. When I notice decisions made by people like what your friend does, if talking about it doesn't produce a change in choices, I instantly distance myself from them and then gradually cut them out of my life. Ethics is what you do when you think no one is looking on. Your mileage may vary, but personally, I have too little time in my life to spend on people who I have to worry about whether they will screw me over if the situation is just right. The cognitive load is not worth it.

m463 6y ago

It might not be trust or customer service... it might be that americans have rights afforded to them via credit card laws. You can initiate a chargeback against the vendor and get your money back. And for fraud... in the US you can lose max $50 to a credit card fraud incident ($500 if you are really negligent) by law. So I think americans enjoy protections not available in other parts of the world. I actually think this makes good sense. It eliminates the need for people "to take things into their own hands", or be overly cautious, so spending is increased. I think it was matt ridley's book the rational optimist (?) that said that trust correlates with trade.