4 ms·

So this was a lot about Amazon, but it leaves out comparisons to any other store. What do others do? Is this the common practice?

chaboud 6y ago
I don't know what it's like now, but, when I worked at Best Buy in the 90s, we had a couple of shoulder height palletized bins in the back. If a customer brought something back with a "didn't work" reason, it went in the bin. We threw items in the bin from a distance, so they were definitely unsellable. I'm sure that lots of merchandise that would have been functional/sellable ended up being thrown out.
- bluedino 6y ago
  Devo!
  - kitteh 6y ago
    I remember as a pc tech (before they did that geek squad stuff) having to validate computer returns. The amount of stuff people would pull daily always amazed me. Putting bricks in a computer box, an old video card for a matrix vga card, the most wild was some video equipment where they replaced it with a two liter bottle of urine. I remember confronting people once I opened it and they would always pull the "well my son packed it and gave it to me" and promptly leave (with their item). They usually worked multiple stores in the area and sometimes we'd chat with the other stores, but usually that was for the bigger scams (people using altered receipts, asking for cash refunds on multi thousand dollar purchases).
dade_ 6y ago
It is standard practice in the industry, and certainly any by any profitable retailer. In fact it was a story by an executive about how much money it was costing the company to manage returns, and it was far cheaper to just throw them away. It surprised me at first, but I came to learn that this is just how it is done. I am disappointed by CBC making a click bait Amazon story, when it is actually the story of retail that our unconscious civilization ignores. CBC does mention this later in the article.

4 ms·

So this was a lot about Amazon, but it leaves out comparisons to any other store. What do others do? Is this the common practice?

by azinman2 6y ago

chaboud 6y ago
I don't know what it's like now, but, when I worked at Best Buy in the 90s, we had a couple of shoulder height palletized bins in the back. If a customer brought something back with a "didn't work" reason, it went in the bin. We threw items in the bin from a distance, so they were definitely unsellable. I'm sure that lots of merchandise that would have been functional/sellable ended up being thrown out.
- bluedino 6y ago
  Devo!
  - kitteh 6y ago
    I remember as a pc tech (before they did that geek squad stuff) having to validate computer returns. The amount of stuff people would pull daily always amazed me. Putting bricks in a computer box, an old video card for a matrix vga card, the most wild was some video equipment where they replaced it with a two liter bottle of urine. I remember confronting people once I opened it and they would always pull the "well my son packed it and gave it to me" and promptly leave (with their item). They usually worked multiple stores in the area and sometimes we'd chat with the other stores, but usually that was for the bigger scams (people using altered receipts, asking for cash refunds on multi thousand dollar purchases).
dade_ 6y ago
It is standard practice in the industry, and certainly any by any profitable retailer. In fact it was a story by an executive about how much money it was costing the company to manage returns, and it was far cheaper to just throw them away. It surprised me at first, but I came to learn that this is just how it is done. I am disappointed by CBC making a click bait Amazon story, when it is actually the story of retail that our unconscious civilization ignores. CBC does mention this later in the article.