by jgneff on 10/10/20, 3:53 PM with 338 comments
by inopinatus on 10/10/20, 10:31 PM
* Out of twelve returned trackers, one of them went to landfill. The article focuses on that item and does not itemise the fate of the others.
* Adding a tracking device to a returned new product is tantamount to damage. If such a device is detected during returns processing, anyone with half a brain should immediately presume a malicious actor and have the item very carefully and securely assessed for disposal.
* Did not verify that the tracking device remained within the bag.
* "30-40 percent of online purchases are returned" what absolute hoopsla. I've worked in online commerce and this is off by an order of magnitude. A very few segments (e.g. shoes) may approach such return rates.
This crap is why journalism is in such disrepute.
by sokoloff on 10/10/20, 4:18 PM
That seems almost an order of magnitude higher than I’d expect. Setting aside kids shoes (which probably do get 50% returned), I can’t imagine sending back even 5% of my online purchases, let alone 30-40%.
I think I’ve sent back exactly 1 Amazon order in the last year, out of nearly 100.
by ThePhysicist on 10/10/20, 5:51 PM
by hourislate on 10/10/20, 9:08 PM
They are still super useful to find those hard to get parts that would typically be impossible to find locally or at least very expensive. Like a carburetor for a chainsaw or a part for an appliance, bearings for a hood fan motor, monitor arm, etc.
A lot of retailers have picked up their game when it comes to online shopping. Places like rockauto.com for auto parts are super competitive and offer a massive inventory (what a great acquisition it would be for AMZN to break into the auto parts sector). Newegg/MicroCenter for PC parts, Costco, etc.
But over all I can't remember the last time I had to return anything and my experience over the last 20 years has been a positive one.
by whoisjuan on 10/10/20, 4:58 PM
I went out on a date with a program manager for one of Amazon’s return programs and she told me her job was basically finding out ways to repurpose returns as cheaply as possible. Apparently destroying and dumping it’s the easiest and least resource consuming way to deal with returns.
In a similar note, search for Amazon Warehouse. That’s one of their programs for returned merchandise and sometimes I have found insane deals there. But you gotta check often.
by canada_dry on 10/10/20, 7:00 PM
If we're going to fix something, it really aught to be food waste!
The amount of food that gets disposed of daily - while millions go hungry - is humanities greatest issue - not unwanted coveralls.
by tomarr on 10/10/20, 4:25 PM
by azinman2 on 10/10/20, 4:41 PM
by cbanek on 10/10/20, 5:16 PM
by ummonk on 10/11/20, 2:29 AM
What the hell? I rarely return either, but find myself returning online merchandise even less often than brick and mortar simply because of the inconvenience of managing packing and shipping.
How are people returning 30-40% of everything they purchase online?
by msie on 10/10/20, 5:38 PM
by bergstromm466 on 10/11/20, 9:59 AM
The important part of this article is the critique of the powerful monopolistic corporate player, Amazon:
"[Amazon] did write the playbook on free returns, says Jason Goldberg, chief commerce strategy officer at Publicis Groupe, a global marketing and advertising agency.
The tactic of enticing customers to buy more than they need and return what they don't want "has had tragic repercussions for the environment and business," he says."
It seems to me like the HN community sometimes nitpicks over tiny details and fails to take part in the larger systemic critiques. Are there others who are also frustrated by the lack of larger, systemic critiques?
by spcebar on 10/10/20, 8:17 PM
by decko on 10/10/20, 4:44 PM
So the seller ends up having to take the loss?
by bpodgursky on 10/10/20, 9:55 PM
Would love to stop subsidizing the indecisive, the scammers, the people who can't bother to research products before they buy, etc.
by pavelevst on 10/10/20, 7:41 PM
by xyst on 10/10/20, 11:07 PM
by clon on 10/10/20, 9:47 PM
by cwoolfe on 10/10/20, 10:26 PM
by blondie9x on 10/10/20, 4:34 PM
by drummer on 10/10/20, 5:29 PM
by dasudasu on 10/10/20, 6:36 PM
by coding123 on 10/10/20, 6:26 PM
by fergie on 10/10/20, 7:41 PM
by JoeAltmaier on 10/10/20, 10:31 PM
by GekkePrutser on 10/10/20, 6:32 PM
by mensetmanusman on 10/10/20, 8:24 PM
by marvindanig on 10/10/20, 5:14 PM
It's a perfect animal farm!
by jf on 10/10/20, 4:16 PM
by sudoaza on 10/10/20, 4:52 PM
by blondie9x on 10/10/20, 10:08 PM
by S_A_P on 10/10/20, 4:41 PM
by chrisseaton on 10/10/20, 4:48 PM
by neom on 10/10/20, 6:02 PM
by sjg007 on 10/10/20, 10:07 PM
by jmnicolas on 10/10/20, 7:33 PM
If they try to repair an irreparable hard drive but throw perfectly good items like a bag they're quite dysfunctional.
And their inability to send all the ordered items in ONE package is irritating too.
by ComodoHacker on 10/10/20, 10:30 PM
by ryanmarsh on 10/10/20, 4:50 PM
What is this article about exactly?
by henvic on 10/10/20, 5:00 PM
* The privacy of consumers who might eventually buy some of the stuff stuffed with their trackers.
* The scene at 1:49 where it appears they put a tracker in a plastic bag inside something like a coffee kettle.
* Sticking a tracker to a kid's toy.
What the hell is wrong with these people? I get they wanted to do a great investigation, but this seems so wrong to me...
by crazygringo on 10/10/20, 4:22 PM
That's disingenuous. I've never purchased "more than I need" from Amazon. But probably about 10% of items purchased for the first time simply aren't as advertised -- not Amazon's fault, but the manufacturer's. They don't meet the needs you bought them for, so you have no choice but to return them. And of course clothing is notorious, because manufacturers still insist on making up their own idiosyncratic definitions of S/M/L, when simply providing measurements in inches or centimeters would fix most problems. (Also color-accurate photography, for when the item listed and photographed as red turns out to be orange-pink.)
> "You're lucky if half of all returns can still be sold as new, so a huge amount of merchandise has to be dispositioned via some other means — liquidation, refurbishment, recycling, or landfill."
Yup, that's just how it works. That's why I buy a lot of stuff "open box" off eBay -- especially things like dongles, adapters, cheap peripherals. They all come from returns from places like Amazon and Best Buy, but are half the price. It's great.
This article isn't surprising, except for one data point about a single bag that wasn't resold. But they're probably hiring minimum-wage workers to categorize returns, who make errors.
There isn't really anything new in this article.