Found out most returns end up in a landfill and it made me think twice about complaining

I was reading an article from The Atlantic last week and it said about 25% of returned items go straight to the dump. That got me wondering if we're part of the problem when we demand refunds for small things like a shirt with a loose thread. On the other hand, bad customer service often forces returns because they won't fix the issue properly. What do you all think, is it better to push for a fix or just eat the loss sometimes?

2 comments

2 Comments

rowan59312d ago

Right there with you. Had the same wake up call a few months back when I tried to return a pair of jeans that were just slightly too long and found out they'd probably get trashed. Ended up just donating them instead. It's wild how fast things go from "oh this isn't perfect" to "well now it's garbage." Honestly these days I try harder to just keep stuff and work around minor issues, unless it's actually broken. But yeah, companies that won't do basic fixes or exchanges definitely make it harder to do the right thing.

clark.faith12d ago

Read a piece on NPR about how some companies are actually starting to use AI to figure out which returns are worth keeping vs trashing. It said things like electronics and books get resold way more often than clothes or shoes. Makes me wonder if we should just stop returning cheap stuff from fast fashion brands altogether since they're probably the ones who dump everything anyway.