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Friend works at Costco and they have the same tracking system. He says anytime anyone who has been abusing the return policy gets angry about being told no, he

Friend works at Costco and they have the same tracking system. He says anytime anyone who has been abusing the return policy gets angry about being told no, he goes into his script about “Sir/ma’am it’s clear to me you haven’t been happy with the goods and services we sell here at Costco. How about I go ahead and cancel your membership and offer you a FULL refund of the annual fee.” Gets people in-line REAL fast knowing they might end up blacklisted from Costco.

recuter 4y ago
That is quite clever and rational in a dystopian sort of way.
- TeMPOraL 4y ago
  I'm sympathetic, though. There are plenty of consumers happy to abuse any and every loophole or concession they can find. The vendors need some wiggle room to deal with those cases. For example: a clothing store accepts free returns for couple days after purchase in physical store, or doesn't try to obstruct in any way the EU-wide 14-day return policy for goods bought online? That store eventually gets flooded with returns, as some scoundrels figure they can attract their preferred kind of mates by buying expensive clothes before a party and hiding the tags (instead of removing them), and then return those clothes back to the store the very next day, to get full refund. This is a real thing that was happening where I live, and led to clothes being much more annoying to unpack, as well as some silly rules on shoe returns, which occasionally cause pretty absurd situations (those running shoes were quickly labeled as "walking shoes, not suitable for running"; we can't accept the return because you admitted to running in them). That use case, along with hedging your risk by buying 10 different items on-line, fully intending to return at least 8 of them, is common enough that there are businesses targeting people doing this directly (e.g. "clothing as a service" companies). EDIT: FWIW, I do understand the desire and pleasure of figuring out a loophole in a set of rules and milking it for all its worth. But in shopping and e-commerce, following those rules to the letter selfishly almost always involves generating tremendous waste for the vendor, the society and the environment, and because of those externalities I don't think highly of such behavior.
  - vel0city 4y ago
    The return rates that some people I know find acceptable are mind numbing to me. Some people I know return about 20% of the non-food things they buy, even after knowing that a significant fraction of the returned merchandise ends up in landfills. So many people buy things without even thinking about it, use it once or twice, decide they don't need it, and then return it. It goes back, often without packaging, probably off to a landfill. All those resources and value just tossed into a pit, hidden in Amazon's bottom line. Its insane to me. Forever easy returns just seem so incredibly damaging to me.
    - bsder 4y ago
      > The return rates that some people I know find acceptable are mind numbing to me. Some people I know return about 20% of the non-food things they buy, even after knowing that a significant fraction of the returned merchandise ends up in landfills. Clothing manufacturers, however, make this really annoying when they don't have to. Clothing sizes don't mean anything. Consequently, you can order your "size" and still find things are completely out to lunch. If you could get a real "specification" on clothing, then I would have far less of an issue with companies cracking down on returns. Amazon, however, comes in for special approbation as I simply can't trust that whatever I'm receiving has any resemblance to what I expected from what I ordered.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
    - com2kid 4y ago
      > The return rates that some people I know find acceptable are mind numbing to me. Some people I know return about 20% of the non-food things they buy, even after knowing that a significant fraction of the returned merchandise ends up in landfills. Ever try buying Christmas lights on Amazon? The advisable way is to just buy a ton of things and return whatever is broken, which in 2021, out of 6 sets of lights I bought, I ended up returning 5. Kids clothing is just random. Like, fuck it, 2 items, same manufacturer, same listed size, but completely different real world sizes, as in "item 1 is oversized and is large enough to wear next year, item 2 is too small by far, return both and try again".
- notatoad 4y ago
  i don't think there's anything dystopian about a company banning people who abuse their return policies. if everybody abused return policies that way, the policies would simply be changed to disallow it for everybody. flexible policies only work because there's a trust that they won't be abused, and they'll only last as long as most people don't abuse them. the people who return everything they buy are just trying to squeeze the most out of the system before they ruin it for the rest of us, and banning them is a much better solution than disallowing returns.
  - recuter 4y ago
    I like that it is a script and the system figured out the exact wording to maximize profits. > Gets people in-line REAL fast knowing they might end up blacklisted from Costco. And the power dynamics at play. In times of yore it would not occur to the shop keeper to offer a return policy or for the shopper to try and bilk him. The interaction would not be scripted.
    - hezralig 4y ago
      1. Nothing I have described is considered abuse. I haven't even mentioned a percentage of overall returns I make versus overall purchases. 2. It has been sometime since I have been happy with the service and there are ample alternatives domestically. I won't lose sleep over Amazon's profit margins.
wmeredith 4y ago
I love this. "Sir/ma’am it’s clear to me you haven’t been happy with the goods and services we sell here at Costco. How about I go ahead and cancel your membership" "Returning an item because you have found a better price elsewhere is a pre-filled option for a return, so it is expressly allowed." Are both excellent examples of malicious compliance.
- hezralig 4y ago
  Honestly, if my service was cancelled by Amazon for my returns, I wouldn't regret it. It HAS been sometime since I have been happy with the service.

recuter 4y ago

That is quite clever and rational in a dystopian sort of way.

TeMPOraL 4y ago
I'm sympathetic, though. There are plenty of consumers happy to abuse any and every loophole or concession they can find. The vendors need some wiggle room to deal with those cases. For example: a clothing store accepts free returns for couple days after purchase in physical store, or doesn't try to obstruct in any way the EU-wide 14-day return policy for goods bought online? That store eventually gets flooded with returns, as some scoundrels figure they can attract their preferred kind of mates by buying expensive clothes before a party and hiding the tags (instead of removing them), and then return those clothes back to the store the very next day, to get full refund. This is a real thing that was happening where I live, and led to clothes being much more annoying to unpack, as well as some silly rules on shoe returns, which occasionally cause pretty absurd situations (those running shoes were quickly labeled as "walking shoes, not suitable for running"; we can't accept the return because you admitted to running in them). That use case, along with hedging your risk by buying 10 different items on-line, fully intending to return at least 8 of them, is common enough that there are businesses targeting people doing this directly (e.g. "clothing as a service" companies). EDIT: FWIW, I do understand the desire and pleasure of figuring out a loophole in a set of rules and milking it for all its worth. But in shopping and e-commerce, following those rules to the letter selfishly almost always involves generating tremendous waste for the vendor, the society and the environment, and because of those externalities I don't think highly of such behavior.
- vel0city 4y ago
  The return rates that some people I know find acceptable are mind numbing to me. Some people I know return about 20% of the non-food things they buy, even after knowing that a significant fraction of the returned merchandise ends up in landfills. So many people buy things without even thinking about it, use it once or twice, decide they don't need it, and then return it. It goes back, often without packaging, probably off to a landfill. All those resources and value just tossed into a pit, hidden in Amazon's bottom line. Its insane to me. Forever easy returns just seem so incredibly damaging to me.
  - bsder 4y ago
    > The return rates that some people I know find acceptable are mind numbing to me. Some people I know return about 20% of the non-food things they buy, even after knowing that a significant fraction of the returned merchandise ends up in landfills. Clothing manufacturers, however, make this really annoying when they don't have to. Clothing sizes don't mean anything. Consequently, you can order your "size" and still find things are completely out to lunch. If you could get a real "specification" on clothing, then I would have far less of an issue with companies cracking down on returns. Amazon, however, comes in for special approbation as I simply can't trust that whatever I'm receiving has any resemblance to what I expected from what I ordered.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  - com2kid 4y ago
    > The return rates that some people I know find acceptable are mind numbing to me. Some people I know return about 20% of the non-food things they buy, even after knowing that a significant fraction of the returned merchandise ends up in landfills. Ever try buying Christmas lights on Amazon? The advisable way is to just buy a ton of things and return whatever is broken, which in 2021, out of 6 sets of lights I bought, I ended up returning 5. Kids clothing is just random. Like, fuck it, 2 items, same manufacturer, same listed size, but completely different real world sizes, as in "item 1 is oversized and is large enough to wear next year, item 2 is too small by far, return both and try again".
notatoad 4y ago
i don't think there's anything dystopian about a company banning people who abuse their return policies. if everybody abused return policies that way, the policies would simply be changed to disallow it for everybody. flexible policies only work because there's a trust that they won't be abused, and they'll only last as long as most people don't abuse them. the people who return everything they buy are just trying to squeeze the most out of the system before they ruin it for the rest of us, and banning them is a much better solution than disallowing returns.
- recuter 4y ago
  I like that it is a script and the system figured out the exact wording to maximize profits. > Gets people in-line REAL fast knowing they might end up blacklisted from Costco. And the power dynamics at play. In times of yore it would not occur to the shop keeper to offer a return policy or for the shopper to try and bilk him. The interaction would not be scripted.
  - hezralig 4y ago
    1. Nothing I have described is considered abuse. I haven't even mentioned a percentage of overall returns I make versus overall purchases. 2. It has been sometime since I have been happy with the service and there are ample alternatives domestically. I won't lose sleep over Amazon's profit margins.

wmeredith 4y ago

I love this. "Sir/ma’am it’s clear to me you haven’t been happy with the goods and services we sell here at Costco. How about I go ahead and cancel your membership" "Returning an item because you have found a better price elsewhere is a pre-filled option for a return, so it is expressly allowed." Are both excellent examples of malicious compliance.

hezralig 4y ago
Honestly, if my service was cancelled by Amazon for my returns, I wouldn't regret it. It HAS been sometime since I have been happy with the service.