Tesco
The Nasty Logistics of Returning Your Too-Small Pants
Article

The Nasty Logistics of Returning Your Too-Small Pants

What happens to the stuff you order online after you send it back?

Amanda Mull
The Atlantic, 2021
Read the article

Read or listen offline

  • 0.5×
  • 0.75×
  • 1×
  • 1.25×
  • 1.5×
  • 1.75×
1×

Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Eye Opening
  • Overview
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

Few businesspeople care to discuss – and consumers rarely give a second thought to – the economic and environmental costs of product returns. Writing in The Atlantic, Amanda Mull explains how the “free shipping, free returns” model of online commerce enables customer overbuying, resulting in a glut of returned merchandise and logistical burdens on businesses. Retailers discard or destroy up to 25% of returns rather than restock, resell or donate them.

Take-Aways

  • Online retailers trained consumers to expect free, painless returns — leading to a glut of returned goods, especially clothing.
  • “Reverse logistics” — the path products take back to a seller and what happens to them — is complex; retailers seldom discuss it.
  • Businesses have little financial incentive to restock or donate returns. They dump up to 25% of returns in landfills or incinerate them.

About the Author

The Atlantic staff writer Amanda Mull frequently reports on consumer behavior and business trends.

Comment on this summary or Начать обсуждение