Tool Failure.... - Page 3

Originally Posted by IamTheGreatest

This really didn't help the issue we are currently discussing, Hills. Maybe some input on how retail really really hates people people returning items?

I would argue this may not ALWAYS be true.

Some stores LOVE people returning stuff. It may not be this way any longer, but the clothing/housewares store "Kohls" used to have the most laxed return policy ever. You could have bought it there 5 years ago, worn it everyday, and then return it without a receipt (for the lowest price that product was ever sold for since without a receipt you cant prove how much you paid for it).

I think this is because with how high the margins are on their clothes vs the cost of advertising/marketing, they are willing to eat whatever the return cost is just to get you into the store (assuming some percent of people that come into the store for the return, would buy something while there), since their cost on that return got you into the store, for less then whatever they calculated it would cost in marketing/commercials/ads/etc to get you into the store. This is also why they do "kohls cash" giving you free money to come back later, because just getting your butt into the store is their biggest/most expensive hurdle (customer acquisition costs)

Plus if a store (especially a clothing store) has a very strict return policy, people are much less likely to make a purchase, since the risk of them not liking it and not being able to return it is greater. With a lax return policy, they can make more sales as people think eh whatever I'll buy it and if I don't like it I'll just return it, no big deal.



So, in summary, I dont think all retail sales hate returns, some actually don't mind them at all, AND every store is different and has different policies and rules about returns that they put lots of thought and effort into. If they allow you to make a return, it is because they wanted to allow you to. You aren't getting one over on them or ripping them off. If anything they may be getting one over on you if when you went to make the return you also purchased a soda and a new cooler while there cause you needed one and were already there (to make the return, whereas if you werent making the return you might have bought your cooler and soda somewhere else). They have this stuff figured out and whole teams of people to look into this stuff (the big stores, a ma and pop store would be different but also would have a much different return policy to go along with their views towards returns)

Originally Posted by IamTheGreatest

Any store that sells clothes does not like returns. That simply is not true, and never has been. Even housewares is iffy. After 3 months clothes can not be sold again, even if unworn.. The style is gone. When I worked retail, we gave refunds for items that were old and returned because we were tired of listening to entitled customers whine until they got their way.

One must not always accept "that's the way it is" for the correct way. It's been discussed that the saying "The customer is always right" isn't true.

What happened to people getting shamed for doing immoral things? Have we lost all sense of decency?

Consider this situation:

I am kohls.

I buy a shirt wholesale for $2, I sell that shirt for $20. I sell it to someone. Make $18 that I can use to grow my business now, or earn interest on, etc.

My customers knows that I will accept pretty much anything as a return. Because of this, a customer buys a shirt they might not have bought otherwise because they are SURE that they can return it if they don't end up liking it....
That ALONE is worth it for them, if this allows them to make 10 sales that they otherwise would not have made, even if half return it, they still come out ahead.

10 sales, cost of goods = $20,
profit from initial sales = $180.
If half return it and they have to refund $100 back, they have still made $80 profit and have 5 returned shirts they can throw out or donate and write off as a loss/donation (or 5 more shirts to throw into the pile of shirts that didnt sell that they write off every month, but at least with these 5 that were returned they got SOME use, and the company got $18 to hold and use and gain interest on in the interim, kinda like a loan)

Contrast that to if they had a strict return policy and the 10 people didnt buy the shirt, because they were not sure if they liked it and didnt know if they could return it easily, then the store makes $0 and may end up throwing the shirts out anyways since they didnt sell, and then they are losing money.

There is some non-zero number of people who would not buy something if they don't think they can return it or if they think it will be a fight/hassle to return it. Kohls knows this, and knows their numbers behind it, and knows that they come out ahead accepting the returns.

At a ma and pop store where everything is custom made obviously I agree with you, but with large stores with large inventory, it's all churn and burn and a big math game, and they factor returns and their return policy into it. This guys said he returned to a big box store I think, they know what they are doing, and can make their own choices about return policy.

Originally Posted by IamTheGreatest

What happened to people getting shamed for doing immoral things?

Immoral is subjective. This doesn't seem immoral to me and plenty of other people. Perhaps if this guy didnt return the yard sale items they would have been wasted and gone into a landfill if it didnt sell at the yard sale and just got thrown out. Perhaps he returned it and the store resold it and it gets to live on and get more use, you don't know.

Originally Posted by IamTheGreatest

Have we lost all sense of decency?

I think we have, but that has nothing to do with this post.


Edit: just as a disclaimer, I don't actually care about this either way. Is buying something with the sole purpose being to return it and exploit the company be something I would do, probably not, but maybe. I just like arguing on the internet.

Originally Posted by IamTheGreatest

RETAILThat sweater you don’t like is a trillion-dollar problem for retailers. These companies want to fix it

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/10/grow...landfills.html

Apples and oranges. Online returns are different. Online orders are definitely still something people still like to be able to return easily, and plays a big part in purchasing decisions for a lot of people.

He would not have been able to make this yard sale return via online as online returns require a paper trail.

All Im saying is I do not think this guys is the criminal some were accusing him of being, and that the onus is on retailers to decide what and how they take returns. If they don't want returns they have every right to say all sales are final, deal with it or shop elsewhere, or even "all returns must be accompanied by a receipt", which would have prevented this yard sale return. Why do you think the place he returned it allowed him to, with no receipt? They have no obligation to, but did anyways. Which means it was in their best interest to, otherwise they simply would not have.

Originally Posted by t00nces2

So, there I am in blue, and there is the $120 12 amp Dewalt with a reduced sticker... $106. I ask the blue guy where the case was and he told me there wasn't one... CRAP! I ask if they can do better, "well, okay. How about $96?". Unhook that bad boy and let's get hammersawing! It gets rung up and I toss the one credit down.... down to $60.. Ding ding. Toss the second, and the gal says, "you still owe $1.57."

Todd using the Blue Store chits shows you have poor business acumen but on the other hand you've been able to demonstrate that you possess some creative ways to manage money so it would not come as a surprise to anyone should your home repair business fail a forensic audit.

In regards to returning yard sale purchases to the Blue Store for credits, I believe that privilege belongs to the original purchaser the person who paid the sales tax.

Regardless of the stores return policy, its the state and federal sales tax which would be considered a crime, your collecting the sales tax from a third party and using it for personal befit.

Originally Posted by t00nces2

He has been removed from the other forum.





By the way, alloy2, you owe me $120. I wonder if your moral compass covers welching on bets?

You have not met the requirements of the bet and your math skills suck.

Originally Posted by alloy2

If it offends you Todd delete it. I'll take $20.00 that you don't know how.