"Er...just keep it."

[George K]

https://thenextweb.com/us/2021/01/12/want-to-return-your-last-online-purchase-amazon-says-dont-bother/

When you receive a faulty or unwanted item, Amazon usually asks you to initiate a return for a refund or replacement. However, if the item is inexpensive, it might cost the company a lot to ship it back to the warehouse.

So, companies like Amazon and Walmart are asking customers to keep these items to save some money. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, these online retail giants are using AI to determine if it economically makes sense to initiate a return of an unwanted item.

The report notes that the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this process as more people are ordering stuff online, and companies could increase efficiency if there’s one less logistical hassle to deal with.

Target and Walmart both confirmed to the WSJ that they ask customers to keep or donate the items they don’t plan on reselling. The publication also notes that according to several shipping companies, returns in the past year have jumped significantly.

CBRE Group, an investment firm, said that returns in the past holiday season could skyrocket to $70.5 billion — 73% more than the average of the last five years.

Some delivery companies are working with ecommerce companies to provide means to pick items up from customers or allow them to return them at a nearby place. But as it turns out, it’s cheaper to just let you keep the stuff.

[Mik]

Yeah, I have had that experience.

[jon-nyc]

I have a DP to DP cable sitting on my desk, unopened, right now. They refunded my money. I’ll probably list it crazy cheap on eBay just because it seems so wasteful to toss it.

Does anyone here want it?

It’s this.

https://www.amazon.com/Rankie-DisplayPort-Cable-Resolution-Black/dp/B00YOP0T7G

[Klaus]

I wonder how their algorithm tries to prevent free riders who will "return" items they actually want in the hope of getting it for free.

[George K]

@klaus

That was my thought as well. I imagine they have a way of looking a patterns of return requests. If a buyer has a history of a lot of "small" requests, they might ask him to take it to a return center.

[89th]

@mik said in "Er...just keep it.":

Yeah, I have had that experience.

Yup same!

[89th]

@jon-nyc said in "Er...just keep it.":

I’ll probably list it crazy cheap on eBay just because it seems so wasteful to toss it.

I’ve had this debate a lot lately, as we prepare to move. I’ve been throwing out a lot of electronics, old go pros, old drones, hard drives, digital cameras, all that work, but not really worth the effort to try and resell. Whenever possible, I’ll leave the item with a note that says “free/works” in a place I know folks in need will grab it. Usually it’s gone in 10 minutes.

[Axtremus]

There was this one time, after I left a feedback about a product that was damaged in shipment, the manufacturer sent me a new one without insisting that I ship back the damaged one.

It was a 4 ft. by 8 ft. metal-backed, porcelain coated whiteboard made by Ghent, it cost well over $300-plus bucks, it weighs what felt like a ton and is very bulky and hard to move.

The first such whiteboard I ordered from Amazon.com, it arrived with a corner lightly damaged but still fully usable. After I opened up the packaging and saw the damage, I pretty much decided that I don’t want to deal with the hassle of repackaging it and returning it — it’s just too bulky and too troublesome to do so.

Nonetheless, I left a feedback on Amazon suggesting some improvements to packaging that I figure should prevent the sort of damage that happened to my whiteboard. I did not ask for any remedy. Ghent the manufacturer got word of it, reached out to me and asked about the damage. So I shared with Ghent again what I saw and what I thought could be done to better improve future shipment, again making clear that I was not seeking any remedy and that it simply wasn’t big enough a deal for me to undertake the task of repackaging a bulky 8’x4’ item for return. Ghent trucked me a new one anyway, outside of Amazon, with Ghent’s own logistics, and let me keep the old/damaged one.

Of course it occurred to me that Ghent probably also didn’t want to deal with restocking a return shipment as bulky as this one. Still, Ghent also did not have to send me a new one as I did not ask for any remedy, but they did anyway.

So I pretty much decided that if I ever need to buy another big whiteboard/markerboard, Ghent is going to be the first shop I look up. After all, good customer service aside, it’s also a quality product.

[Horace]

@jon-nyc said in "Er...just keep it.":

I have a DP to DP cable sitting on my desk, unopened, right now. They refunded my money. I’ll probably list it crazy cheap on eBay just because it seems so wasteful to toss it.

Does anyone here want it?

It’s this.

https://www.amazon.com/Rankie-DisplayPort-Cable-Resolution-Black/dp/B00YOP0T7G

I'll take it. But rather than delivering it to me, please deliver it to a disadvantaged minority, in my name.

[jon-nyc]

@horace

You’re a Trump supporter in Contra Costa County. Doesn’t that qualify?