Think Before You Buy

[weltschmerz]

'It's pretty staggering': Returned online purchases often sent to landfill, journalist's research reveals

Cheaper for businesses to just toss returns than check if they can be resold

Do you order different sizes of clothing online, knowing you can return the one that doesn't fit?



Did you know the ones you return are sometimes sent straight to landfill?



Online shopping has created a boom in perfectly good products ending up in dumpsters and landfills, according to Adria Vasil, an environmental journalist and managing editor of Corporate Knights magazine.

It actually costs a lot of companies more money to put somebody on the product, to visually eyeball it and say, Is this up to standard, is it up to code? Is this going to get us sued? Did somebody tamper with this box in some way? And is this returnable? And if it's clothing, it has to be re-pressed and put back in a nice packaging. And for a lot of companies, it's just not worth it. So they will literally just incinerate it, or send it to the dumpster.


www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-dec-12-2019-1.5393783/it-s-pretty-staggering-returned-online-purchases-often-sent-to-landfill-journalist-s-research-reveals-1.5393806

[bean29]

I buy on line from White House Black Market and Eddie Bauer and Kohls all the time. As far as I know, when you buy online and return to the store, the store usually puts it back on the floor to be sold. I know WHBM does this. Eddie Bauer sometimes has Petites in the store in the clearance area, and sometimes they send it back to the warehouse/distribution center.

Does the Amazon stuff you return at Kohls get tossed?  as far as I know it gets returned to Amazon.  I ordered two bark collars recently from Amazon.  I purchased the 2-3 year insurance because I always seem to replace them when they stop working.  One worked fine, one I had to fiddle with and replace the battery to get it to work, then it stopped working.  I decided that I have one dog that likes to bark and hates getting sprayed with citronella.  If he has the bark collar on, he will not bark.  My other dog barks less frequently, but if he wants to bark, he does not care if he gets sprayed or not.

I decided one bark collar was not working and requested to return it.  Amazon gave me a refund and told me to just dispose of it.  I have been using it on my Dog that likes to bark, but hates being sprayed.  I don't know if it is working or not, he does not "test it" by barking.  I stopped even trying to put a bark collar on the other one.  DH left the second b ark collar at his parents.  They should have 2 other ones there, so I have to ask for it back.

[weltschmerz]

Does the Amazon stuff you return at Kohls get tossed?

from the link.....
Stores will sometimes returned goods rather than go through the process of checking and repackaging them

I don't buy from Amazon. I did once, and the amount of packaging was stupefying.

[NoNamePerson]

Sounds like the retailer is the problem not the consumer. Even if one item is purchased and returned the outcome is the same unless we are required to keep something that does not fit, is damaged, or wrong item is sent.

Just pass online shopping law “you buy it you keep it” tough sh## consumer. 

[weltschmerz]

Dec 13, 2019 16:13:23 GMT -5 NoNamePerson said:

Sounds like the retailer is the problem not the consumer. Even if one item is purchased and returned the outcome is the same unless we are required to keep something that does not fit, is damaged, or wrong item is sent.

Just pass online shopping law “you buy it you keep it” tough sh## consumer. 

You can donate it.

[wvugurl26]

I live in an area with poor shopping options for professional clothing for a female. My options are buy online and see if it fits and return if not or drive two hours round trip not including shopping time. I don't always have time to drive. And many stores in the US have a much wider selection online than in store.

[weltschmerz]

You can be part of the problem or part of the solution. Your choice.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Dec 13, 2019 16:56:15 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

I live in an area with poor shopping options for professional clothing for a female. My options are buy online and see if it fits and return if not or drive two hours round trip not including shipping time. I don't always have time to drive. And many stores in the US have a much wider selection online than in store.

So do I.  Add to this that I need to make a 200 mile round trip to a reasonable shopping area in order to shop AND it is physically more difficult for me to do this (despite having the time).

Local stores have stopped carrying what I need, even when I try to buy in brick and mortar stores.  My last shoe shopping trip was a bust.  

If a store is going to throw something away that I return, exactly how is this my responsibility?  I am supposed to pay for and give away something I cannot use so they don’t throw it away?  Yeah....nope.

[NoNamePerson]

Dec 13, 2019 17:22:25 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Dec 13, 2019 16:56:15 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

I live in an area with poor shopping options for professional clothing for a female. My options are buy online and see if it fits and return if not or drive two hours round trip not including shipping time. I don't always have time to drive. And many stores in the US have a much wider selection online than in store.

So do I.  Add to this that I need to make a 200 mile round trip to a reasonable shopping area in order to shop AND it is physically more difficult for me to do this (despite having the time).

Local stores have stopped carrying what I need, even when I try to buy in brick and mortar stores.  My last shoe shopping trip was a bust.  

If a store is going to throw something away that I return, exactly how is this my responsibility?  I am supposed to pay for and give away something I cannot use so they don’t throw it away?  Yeah....nope.

According to weltschmerz you should suck it up and donate it. See above quote of my post. 

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Dec 13, 2019 17:52:52 GMT -5 NoNamePerson said:

Dec 13, 2019 17:22:25 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

So do I.  Add to this that I need to make a 200 mile round trip to a reasonable shopping area in order to shop AND it is physically more difficult for me to do this (despite having the time).

Local stores have stopped carrying what I need, even when I try to buy in brick and mortar stores.  My last shoe shopping trip was a bust.  

If a store is going to throw something away that I return, exactly how is this my responsibility?  I am supposed to pay for and give away something I cannot use so they don’t throw it away?  Yeah....nope.

According to weltschmerz you should suck it up and donate it. See above quote of my post. 

Yeah.....I know.   Still not happening.

[Deleted]

Amazon sells theirs. You can buy their pallets to resell.


www.liquidation.com/c/sourcedfromamazonliquidations

[stillmovingforward]

I buy my clothes online. I buy most of my stuff online as shopping near me it's terrible to non existent.
But......I am careful where I buy my clothes from and I can't remember when I returned something. And I only buy stuff I need (black all cotton women's socks, can't get those anywhere near me) or really want. I don't like much stuff in my house.
I don't worry about the paper and cardboard packaging. Its much easier to recycle than plastic anything, so I rarely buy things packaged in plastic.

[NoNamePerson]

Dec 13, 2019 18:07:36 GMT -5 @shastasnewlife said:

Amazon sells theirs. You can buy their pallets to resell.


www.liquidation.com/c/sourcedfromamazonliquidations

Please don't confuse the issue by posting that link. It might relieve some of the guilt factor we are all supposed to be dealing with!!   

And I should add that I don't shop online but that's just a personal choice since I have tons of stores here, more time on my hands and like to touch, feel and possibly hug what I'm about to purchase. But I can see under different circumstances I would be the queen of internet shopping

[Miss Tequila]

I thank god for amazon everyday. I did most of my Christmas shopping in about 30 minutes from my couch. Then I popped over to the Tiffany site and got the necklace my daughter wanted in about 7 minutes. I would have had to drive 2.5 hours to the philly mall and hope they had it in stock.

We did have to go to AT&T to get my daughters iPhone. Probably could have done that with a phone call but BF had to have his mom’s contacts transferred anyway (she also got a new phone).

I’m 95% done and never stepped foot in a store. Time is invaluable to me.

[mollyanna58]

Dec 13, 2019 16:26:08 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

Dec 13, 2019 16:13:23 GMT -5 NoNamePerson said:

Sounds like the retailer is the problem not the consumer. Even if one item is purchased and returned the outcome is the same unless we are required to keep something that does not fit, is damaged, or wrong item is sent.

Just pass online shopping law “you buy it you keep it” tough sh## consumer. 

You can donate it.

So could the retailer.

[NoNamePerson]

Dec 15, 2019 7:11:27 GMT -5 mollyanna58 said:

Dec 13, 2019 16:26:08 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

You can donate it.

So could the retailer.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Dec 13, 2019 16:56:15 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

I live in an area with poor shopping options for professional clothing for a female. My options are buy online and see if it fits and return if not or drive two hours round trip not including shopping time. I don't always have time to drive. And many stores in the US have a much wider selection online than in store.

This is exactly my situation.

I order off of the Amazon site almost weekly. Other sites are more sporadic, but probably monthly. For me it’s not just professional clothing, it’s everything. Wal-Mart is the most prolific store and is a 20-mile,25-minute drive away. I actually return very little though now that I think about it.

[Deleted]

I deliberately don't have Amazon Prime.  

My situation is a bit different from some; I'm retired so I have more time, I'm not in "acquisition mode" at this point in my life and I'm in an area with a lot of good shopping if I want it.  I buy on-line only if it's something oddball I can't find in a brick and mortar store (a case for a 4-year old iPhone, for example).  Even when I buy through Costco.com I pick it up at the store since I'm there weekly.  I try not to contribute to the proliferation of shipping boxes and delivery trucks on the roads.

I also agree with wvugirl- stores are making decisions about what to have in their stores and what to have on-line and that can really narrow your choices in the store.  When I was looking for an iPhone 5 case I could find every imaginable type of case for the 7 and 8- bit zero for the 5 and I tried Target and Best Buy.  It's possible they make more money putting "fast fashion" for twenty-somethings on their racks and keeping women's business clothing to the Web site because there's less demand and slower turnover.

[raeoflyte]

We are really working to reduce our waste, specifically our plastic waste. I will spend more to buy something in glass or metal than to buy the same thing in a plastic bottle, we compost, buy 2nd hand, etc. I appreciate learning about ways to reduce waste further. The zero-wasters while I admire them, also tend to have more than their fair share of holier-than-thou followers who are more than happy to tell everyone why their efforts aren't enough, and if only you did exactly what they did, you would be a better person. I think it pushes more people away from the movement than it helps people reduce their waste and I hope that tide turns soon. We don't need 100 people doing zero waste perfectly, we need a million people reducing their waste as much as they can.

All that said we do order from amazon frequently. Their packaging could still be better, but is so much better than it used to be which I appreciate. I also know that just because I don't see all the packaging when I buy it at the store, doesn't mean that they aren't swimming in plastic wrap, bags, and cardboard too. We reuse as much of the cardboard we get deliveries in for the garden as possible, and recycle the rest (and I hope it really does get recycled, but I know a lot of times that is just dumped). I live in a major metropolitan area with dozens of shopping choices, but somehow the 1 item I want is never in the store it seems. Dh really tried to get the kids christmas pj's at an actual store, but no one carried anything in the right sizes so amazon to the rescue. The stores I'm most likely to frequent are arc, goodwill, and michaels. Practically everything else is online. (2nd hand online retailers are here to stay as well which I've had good luck with).

And from the original article...patagonia is always a win.  REI does a "garage sale" at each of their stores here quarterly selling returned items that most of our backpacking gear has come from and is still in great shape 10-15 years later.  Being able to buy that stuff without waiting in line...heaven.  

[sesfw]

I do a lot of the packing for shipment at the small company I work for.

While the shipping boxes are new, we reuse packing material we receive from other vendors.

I'm packing electronic boards so I have to be picky about what I use, but it's recycled material as much as possible.  Static electricity will fry a circuit .......

[gs11rmb]

Dec 16, 2019 11:29:22 GMT -5 raeoflyte said:

We are really working to reduce our waste, specifically our plastic waste. I will spend more to buy something in glass or metal than to buy the same thing in a plastic bottle, we compost, buy 2nd hand, etc. I appreciate learning about ways to reduce waste further. The zero-wasters while I admire them, also tend to have more than their fair share of holier-than-thou followers who are more than happy to tell everyone why their efforts aren't enough, and if only you did exactly what they did, you would be a better person. I think it pushes more people away from the movement than it helps people reduce their waste and I hope that tide turns soon. We don't need 100 people doing zero waste perfectly, we need a million people reducing their waste as much as they can.

All that said we do order from amazon frequently. Their packaging could still be better, but is so much better than it used to be which I appreciate. I also know that just because I don't see all the packaging when I buy it at the store, doesn't mean that they aren't swimming in plastic wrap, bags, and cardboard too. We reuse as much of the cardboard we get deliveries in for the garden as possible, and recycle the rest (and I hope it really does get recycled, but I know a lot of times that is just dumped). I live in a major metropolitan area with dozens of shopping choices, but somehow the 1 item I want is never in the store it seems. Dh really tried to get the kids christmas pj's at an actual store, but no one carried anything in the right sizes so amazon to the rescue. The stores I'm most likely to frequent are arc, goodwill, and michaels. Practically everything else is online. (2nd hand online retailers are here to stay as well which I've had good luck with).

And from the original article...patagonia is always a win.  REI does a "garage sale" at each of their stores here quarterly selling returned items that most of our backpacking gear has come from and is still in great shape 10-15 years later.  Being able to buy that stuff without waiting in line...heaven.  

A colleague calls that being "environmentalish" .  If 90% of people put in the effort to reduce that would have a much greater impact than 10% being zero-wasters.

[crazycat]

I too love Amazon . Especially for Christmas shopping. I work retail, I don’t want more interaction with people . So many people are grumpy , rude , etc during the holidays , I don’t want to deal with them . It ruins what little Christmas spirit I have . 😜

[Deleted]

Here's an interesting article on how retailers are trying to crack down on "serial returners".    The biggest offenders are those who buy clothing or shoes in several sizes and then send back what doesn't fit, and those who wear something and then return it.


www.msn.com/en-us/money/savemoney/retailers-gave-you-free-returns-and-you-ruined-it/ar-BBY2Utc

[formerroomate99]

Brick and mortar stores put clothes that don’t sell in the landfill all the time. And I imagine Amazon sellers do the same. Quitting online shopping or being more careful about sizes is not going to keep new clothes out of landfills.

[NoNamePerson]

Dec 17, 2019 9:25:28 GMT -5 formerroomate99 said:

Brick and mortar stores put clothes that don’t sell in the landfill all the time. And I imagine Amazon sellers do the same. Quitting online shopping or being more careful about sizes is not going to keep new clothes out of landfills.

Dang, I think after reading all these post, I’m headed to our landfills!! Got to be bargains galore.  I’m a good YM’er!

[justme]

Dec 17, 2019 9:01:38 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

Here's an interesting article on how retailers are trying to crack down on "serial returners".    The biggest offenders are those who buy clothing or shoes in several sizes and then send back what doesn't fit, and those who wear something and then return it.


www.msn.com/en-us/money/savemoney/retailers-gave-you-free-returns-and-you-ruined-it/ar-BBY2Utc

Well if they want to crack down on it they need to start having all sizes in the stores. I can only buy pants online because no store actually carries them long enough in the store. And besides the fact that I'm not going into the store to try on sizes, then going home and ordering the sizes I need - that still wouldn't help because half the time there's only certain options I can choose from and some are never in the store! Same goes for dresses, shorts, most things with long sleeves, and sometime even tops. 

Not to mention there's no universal sizing for women and even within a brand the size can be drastically different from one item to the next. You have to buy two sizes otherwise you likely won't fit a lot of what you order -- which is what continuously happened to me before I finally said fuck it and began ordering two sizes most of the time. 

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Dec 17, 2019 9:01:38 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

Here's an interesting article on how retailers are trying to crack down on "serial returners".    The biggest offenders are those who buy clothing or shoes in several sizes and then send back what doesn't fit, and those who wear something and then return it.


www.msn.com/en-us/money/savemoney/retailers-gave-you-free-returns-and-you-ruined-it/ar-BBY2Utc

This is interesting in that several years ago I was shopping for a dress to wear to a very dressy wedding.  I was living in Lexington at the time, and very few stores carried dresses at all.  I hit every woman's dress store in a 70 mile radius of Lexington (i.e. Louisville and Cincinnati) and found squat.  So I went online.

I bought 27 dresses (yes, in multiple sizes) and returned 26.  Ironically, many of the dresses I returned, I returned to the brick and mortar store that didn't have any dresses there I could try on!  

I have started doing this for shoes too.  Most recently, I went to REI to get a pair of waterprooof hiking shoes before we went to Norway.  They didn't have my size in the store to try on, or anything close.  I ordered 2 sizes because I could not even figure out how those shoes fit as they didn't even have my size in another style from the same brand!  

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Dec 17, 2019 10:56:04 GMT -5 justme said:

Dec 17, 2019 9:01:38 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

Here's an interesting article on how retailers are trying to crack down on "serial returners".    The biggest offenders are those who buy clothing or shoes in several sizes and then send back what doesn't fit, and those who wear something and then return it.


www.msn.com/en-us/money/savemoney/retailers-gave-you-free-returns-and-you-ruined-it/ar-BBY2Utc

Well if they want to crack down on it they need to start having all sizes in the stores. I can only buy pants online because no store actually carries them long enough in the store. And besides the fact that I'm not going into the store to try on sizes, then going home and ordering the sizes I need - that still wouldn't help because half the time there's only certain options I can choose from and some are never in the store! Same goes for dresses, shorts, most things with long sleeves, and sometime even tops. 

Not to mention there's no universal sizing for women and even within a brand the size can be drastically different from one item to the next. You have to buy two sizes otherwise you likely won't fit a lot of what you order -- which is what continuously happened to me before I finally said fuck it and began ordering two sizes most of the time. 

Hell, even shoe sizing can be flaky in women's shoes!  I can wear anything from a 9 to an 11!

I ordered a pair of moccasins from Vionic.  I ordered a size 10W and they were HUGE on my feet (despite the fact that this seems to be my actual 'size' according to measurements).  I returned them and wound up buying a size 9M that fit!  This was not the first order from Vionic, I bought a pair of booties in a 10W that fit perfectly a few months before this.

[justme]

Dec 17, 2019 13:28:27 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Dec 17, 2019 10:56:04 GMT -5 justme said:

Well if they want to crack down on it they need to start having all sizes in the stores. I can only buy pants online because no store actually carries them long enough in the store. And besides the fact that I'm not going into the store to try on sizes, then going home and ordering the sizes I need - that still wouldn't help because half the time there's only certain options I can choose from and some are never in the store! Same goes for dresses, shorts, most things with long sleeves, and sometime even tops. 

Not to mention there's no universal sizing for women and even within a brand the size can be drastically different from one item to the next. You have to buy two sizes otherwise you likely won't fit a lot of what you order -- which is what continuously happened to me before I finally said fuck it and began ordering two sizes most of the time. 

Hell, even shoe sizing can be flaky in women's shoes!  I can wear anything from a 9 to an 11!

I ordered a pair of moccasins from Vionic.  I ordered a size 10W and they were HUGE on my feet (despite the fact that this seems to be my actual 'size' according to measurements).  I returned them and wound up buying a size 9M that fit!  This was not the first order from Vionic, I bought a pair of booties in a 10W that fit perfectly a few months before this.

Yeah, not super happy how it even varies in Vionic! I have a pair of their sandals and DSW had a great deal on flip flops so I ordered the same size - they were just a hair too small! I ended up needing the size I order for closed toe shoes for the flip flop. I do love how most of their shoes come in W though because I'm a 10.5W it's just practically impossible to find so I waffle between 10 and 11 depending on the shoe. 

I also still haven't figured out why I can wear sandals across brands in smaller size than closed toe shoes - it's not like my toes are spilling over the edge of my sandals!

[Deleted]

Amazon is reducing its shipping waste.  A lot of what I have bought lately have shipped in envelopes and not boxes.  Or really small boxes more fitted to what is in it.