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> 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 aft

> 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".

vel0city 4y ago
> 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. The solution is to not buy from places like Amazon. I bought my lights from somewhere else and other than a broken bulb that was fixed with the included extra lights I was 5 for 5 on working lights on bargain bin quality strands/nets. Quit supporting the marketplaces that shovel trash on us.
- com2kid 4y ago
  > I bought my lights from somewhere else and other than a broken bulb that was fixed with the included extra lights I was 5 for 5 on working lights on bargain bin quality strands/nets. Big box home improvement stores (Lowes, Home Depot) stop selling lights early December. They mostly sell generic knock offs, at insanely high prices. The $120 reindeer I bought from Home Depot was poor quality, and broke after one year. Bargain bin lights tend to be incandescent[1], which, even though the colors are superior, I still want to avoid. In 2021 Lowes actually was selling some high quality lights, but by early December they were sold out and not getting any more in stock. Amazon actually has some innovative products, some of the drop shipped from China lights are quite nice (and some of them are really nice), I have 2 sets of cool solar powered ones outside right now. One set works amazing, the other set only 5/6 lights work, but for $20 that isn't half bad. [1] Given current manufacturing trends, it is sad that Christmas incandescent lights will probably outlive LED lights. I have some incandescent strands from my childhood that still work just fine, I have no confidence cheap LEDs will last more than a couple years.
  - vel0city 4y ago
    I do agree, the local stores get mostly picked over by early December and often won't get restocked once sold out by that point. > Amazon actually has some innovative products If innovation is 72% of the products being immediately trash at delivery, count me out. It seems to me their real innovation is getting people to accept that an 72% failure rate is a good and acceptable thing. Imagine if 72% of the apples you bought at the store were rotten by the time you came home. Imagine if 72% of the cars manufactured were scrap in the first 10 miles. 72% of the things you bought here were trash at delivery, and its being hailed as a good thing. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. Please, quit supporting marketplaces that shovel trash on us.
    - com2kid 4y ago
      > Imagine if 72% of the apples you bought at the store were rotten by the time you came home. Imagine if 72% of the cars manufactured were scrap in the first 10 miles. A large nationwide grocery store chain carries yogurt covered raisins of such low quality that every time I have tried them over many years I have gotten nauseous. That same store sells their own branded frozen fruit that is often so tasteless that it is useless at being "fruit". One of America's largest brands of coconut milk is devoid of any coconut flavor, I have no idea why it is on store shelves. Clothing and cheap electronics are two areas that will always be problematic. LED bulbs from physical retailers are also a crap shoot and frequently fail. I have purchased 2 identically labeled pairs of Levi jeans from a store and had them fit dramatically different. Baby clothing sizes from well known brands are still a crapshoot, the reason for buying and returning through Amazon is because they make it easy, buying directly from Gap has the same sizing problem, but returns are more difficult. And this is assuming you can even buy some items at all, I was trying to buy baby winter gloves and local stores have almost 0 choices, stores have maybe 1 style available. Want something that isn't made out of plastic? Buying online, or at a local speciality store (for insane $$$) is the only choice.
      - vel0city 4y ago
        I practically refuse to buy clothes online, because I agree even within a single manufacturer there's too much variation in fit. Levi's are a prime example I can think of. An inch at their Vietnam factory isn't the same as an inch at their Bangladesh factory. The only way to truly know that it fits is to actually put it on before you buy it. Sure, my choices for clothing is more limited. But at least I've got the peace of mind I personally didn't send hundreds of articles of clothing to the landfill without ever actually wearing it. Its insane to me people seem perfectly fine with the idea of buying and throwing away so many clothes doing "returns". The number of times I've bought clothes for my children and have it not fit after paying for it so far has been 0. I've messed up a few times on my own pants thinking the same size in the same pile would be roughly the same and been burned by it, but that's just led to me to force myself to always try before I buy that specific article of clothing. But hey, feel free to keep throwing away 72% of what you buy thinking there's nothing that could be done. 72% failure rates are just what to expect in your life, true innovation being done by the sellers at Amazon. Every time you click "return", think "send to landfill and get a refund". Think about how much junk you've just thrown away. Does this seem sustainable? Does it seem like a good thing to you?

vel0city 4y ago

> 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. The solution is to not buy from places like Amazon. I bought my lights from somewhere else and other than a broken bulb that was fixed with the included extra lights I was 5 for 5 on working lights on bargain bin quality strands/nets. Quit supporting the marketplaces that shovel trash on us.

com2kid 4y ago
> I bought my lights from somewhere else and other than a broken bulb that was fixed with the included extra lights I was 5 for 5 on working lights on bargain bin quality strands/nets. Big box home improvement stores (Lowes, Home Depot) stop selling lights early December. They mostly sell generic knock offs, at insanely high prices. The $120 reindeer I bought from Home Depot was poor quality, and broke after one year. Bargain bin lights tend to be incandescent[1], which, even though the colors are superior, I still want to avoid. In 2021 Lowes actually was selling some high quality lights, but by early December they were sold out and not getting any more in stock. Amazon actually has some innovative products, some of the drop shipped from China lights are quite nice (and some of them are really nice), I have 2 sets of cool solar powered ones outside right now. One set works amazing, the other set only 5/6 lights work, but for $20 that isn't half bad. [1] Given current manufacturing trends, it is sad that Christmas incandescent lights will probably outlive LED lights. I have some incandescent strands from my childhood that still work just fine, I have no confidence cheap LEDs will last more than a couple years.
- vel0city 4y ago
  I do agree, the local stores get mostly picked over by early December and often won't get restocked once sold out by that point. > Amazon actually has some innovative products If innovation is 72% of the products being immediately trash at delivery, count me out. It seems to me their real innovation is getting people to accept that an 72% failure rate is a good and acceptable thing. Imagine if 72% of the apples you bought at the store were rotten by the time you came home. Imagine if 72% of the cars manufactured were scrap in the first 10 miles. 72% of the things you bought here were trash at delivery, and its being hailed as a good thing. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. Please, quit supporting marketplaces that shovel trash on us.
  - com2kid 4y ago
    > Imagine if 72% of the apples you bought at the store were rotten by the time you came home. Imagine if 72% of the cars manufactured were scrap in the first 10 miles. A large nationwide grocery store chain carries yogurt covered raisins of such low quality that every time I have tried them over many years I have gotten nauseous. That same store sells their own branded frozen fruit that is often so tasteless that it is useless at being "fruit". One of America's largest brands of coconut milk is devoid of any coconut flavor, I have no idea why it is on store shelves. Clothing and cheap electronics are two areas that will always be problematic. LED bulbs from physical retailers are also a crap shoot and frequently fail. I have purchased 2 identically labeled pairs of Levi jeans from a store and had them fit dramatically different. Baby clothing sizes from well known brands are still a crapshoot, the reason for buying and returning through Amazon is because they make it easy, buying directly from Gap has the same sizing problem, but returns are more difficult. And this is assuming you can even buy some items at all, I was trying to buy baby winter gloves and local stores have almost 0 choices, stores have maybe 1 style available. Want something that isn't made out of plastic? Buying online, or at a local speciality store (for insane $$$) is the only choice.
    - vel0city 4y ago
      I practically refuse to buy clothes online, because I agree even within a single manufacturer there's too much variation in fit. Levi's are a prime example I can think of. An inch at their Vietnam factory isn't the same as an inch at their Bangladesh factory. The only way to truly know that it fits is to actually put it on before you buy it. Sure, my choices for clothing is more limited. But at least I've got the peace of mind I personally didn't send hundreds of articles of clothing to the landfill without ever actually wearing it. Its insane to me people seem perfectly fine with the idea of buying and throwing away so many clothes doing "returns". The number of times I've bought clothes for my children and have it not fit after paying for it so far has been 0. I've messed up a few times on my own pants thinking the same size in the same pile would be roughly the same and been burned by it, but that's just led to me to force myself to always try before I buy that specific article of clothing. But hey, feel free to keep throwing away 72% of what you buy thinking there's nothing that could be done. 72% failure rates are just what to expect in your life, true innovation being done by the sellers at Amazon. Every time you click "return", think "send to landfill and get a refund". Think about how much junk you've just thrown away. Does this seem sustainable? Does it seem like a good thing to you?