REI has a crazy return policy, but attempts to resell everything that comes back. You can buy boots, through-hike the Appalachian Trail in them, and bring them

REI has a crazy return policy, but attempts to resell everything that comes back. You can buy boots, through-hike the Appalachian Trail in them, and bring them back for a full refund. REI will put them on the shelf in the clearance section at a discount. Not sure if they finally dispose of things if they never sell, or if they just keep increasing the discount until someone finally takes it, but it's probably the latter. I don't go to my local store often enough to try to keep track of how long things have been there (not have I asked an employee, which would probably be the more direct way to acquire that information).