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> Apparently destroying and dumping it’s the easiest and less resource consuming way to deal with returns. Not the least resource consuming - the least costly
by kennywinker 6y ago
> Apparently destroying and dumping it’s the easiest and less resource consuming way to deal with returns.
Not the least resource consuming - the least costly to amazon. There is a massive environmental cost to the practice - it's just externalized. If the companies involved (amazon, the manufacturer) had to bare the full environmental cost, the calculation would often come out different.
- whoisjuan 6y agoTotally! That’s what I was going for. Least resource consuming but I’m talking about economic resources. Like man hours, packaging, transportation, etc. The environmental impact is big! I hope this is being considered in their Climate Pledge.
- lotu 6y agoIf the environmental cost is dominated by shipping I could see destruction as more environmentally friendly. This is likely the for many small cheap items.
- kennywinker 6y agoFine, but two things are happenings: 1. It’s being hidden from consumers, who might adapt their behavior if they knew a return meant the trash. 2. Stuff is shipped back to amazon and then disposed of.
- sokoloff 6y agoI’d they didn’t require step 2, their “return” rates would skyrocket though.
- kennywinker 6y agoTheir return policy is designed to make you buy things without thinking too hard about it or worrying about the quality - the "ah who cares, if it sucks I can just return it" mentality. That strategy means that you buy things you don't need, causing a TON of environmental externalities. So, yeah, they'd have more fraud - maybe their return policy isn't compatible with the environment. Maybe their profit margins are not compatible with the environment. Maybe... just maybe... their entire business model isn't compatible.
- ummonk 6y agoI imagine most consumers who return items would be throwing them away instead.
- kennywinker 6y agoMy thought was, if I knew it was being thrown out, I would be more careful about what I buy. I suspect a lot of people would feel the same way. It's like a mini trolley-problem, but for the guilt of throwing something perfectly good in the trash.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 6y ago> Not the least resource consuming - the least costly to amazon. I suspect that cost is a much better approximation of resource consumption than what feels wasteful, especially because it forces you to factor human time as a resource, which many environmental activists like to treat as infinite and free.
- cortesoft 6y agoI would absolutely agree with you, IF externalities were priced into the cost. Things like environmental damage are not part of the cost of something, so amazon does not factor it into their decision. If we had things like carbon taxes on goods, then amazon's decision would likely be much more optimal for the environment.
- Swenrekcah 6y agoImagine the cost, in both time and work, to create all of the iron ore, coal and all the other natural resources that go into a single piece of crap sold on amazon. If that were priced into the crap, I'm sure having some humans spend a few of their hours on repurpuosing it would make financial sense.
- MattGaiser 6y agoIt is priced in by the price of the item.
- Swenrekcah 6y agoNo, what's priced in is the cost of digging something up. Not the cost of creating it in the first place. Also not priced in is the environmental cost of discarding the assembled product. Edit: I might add that in the cost of digging up resources, in many cases the lives of the people doing the digging are not valued much more than the hours of the people doing the sorting of returned items. So that's something to think about as well.
- kennywinker 6y ago
- savanaly 6y agoWhat about the dumping is not internalized? Do companies not pay for landfill? I know that historically companies would take their trucks up the river and dump it in and hope nobody noticed but I sort of doubt that Amazon does that today.
- throwaway2048 6y agoThe cost of the landfill is a pittance compared to the ultimate full remediation cost, and damage to the environment. Likewise the cost of pollution from all the shipping and manufacturing of the old and new items and returns is (almost) completely not bourne by Amazon.
- ummonk 6y agoThere is a significant environmental cost to the logistics of refurbishing, storing, repackaging, and reshipping returned goods though.
- kennywinker 6y agoYup. That's why the most environmental move you can do is just to buy and consume less stuff.