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I have friends who send back nearly everything. Not sure about shoe size? Order 3 sizes, keep the one you like and send back the other two (or return all 3 if you dont like it). Want a shirt? Order 5 and keep the ones you like, if any.
This is so incredibly wasteful. I hope we go back to shopping malls for clothing and fitted purchases.
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But it’s foam. So what they’ll shred it and put it in a trash bag?
Bean bag chairs, punching bags, who knows what else.
I'm more concerned now since who knows with the virus what the right way of possibly sanitizing a mattress would take that nobody will be taking them for a while.
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>Basically, the industry needs some standards // They futz with sizing because it's a part of their marketing. Fashion targeting older/ fatter people will have smaller sizing to flatter the customers. I think buying clothes that don't fit just because you want to say it's a particular size is far more a part of female culture (in my social circles in the UK): womens' clothes are in "sizes", men's clothes are in measu…
Women definitely want accurate sizing and it’s mostly a sexist hold over that we don’t have it. Shopping for women’s clothes is a gigantic pain.
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Women definitely want accurate sizing and it’s mostly a sexist hold over that we don’t have it. Shopping for women’s clothes is a gigantic pain.
I appreciate your sentiment, but men don't have accurate sizing either. S-M-L are completely inconsistent between brands and even within them. You have to be pretty aware of which brands vanity size, especially if your weight fluctuates. Buying something online is a crap-shoot, particularly if its from a company you've never purchased from before, or from a European or Asian brand.
> 30 to 40 per cent of all online purchases are sent back 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.
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I've also stopped buying at Amazon after 15 years. Even consumables and small items are problematic. Just in the last year, I encountered many issues including: * Showerhead that came without box, and clearly used. It still had a lot of water inside! * Underwear from a brand that sells items inside a sealed bag and discards returns came used, without bag (yuck!) * A module of Samsung RAM had visible wear signs and di…
Not to sound bitter, but why the heck do you buy so much on Amazon (you and others on this HN formum) ? Isn't it clear from the premises that that whole online thing is treacherous at best for the environment, our environment ? I can understand the convenience, buying stuff you don't find in your local shops, etc. But much of what Amazon do is because they have customers... So instead of complaining about Amazon, why…
They treat their warehouse workers cruelly, tolerate counterfeits, allow the review process to be juked to the point of uselessness, and contribute to a brittle monoculture.
But the environment? Any consumer good is transported by internal combustion engine from the factory, to some intermediate places, to the door. Maybe someone uses a bike for the last part, but mostly, they drive to the store in their private automobile. Amazon uses package delivery services, which is much more efficient, and warehouses have a smaller environmental footprint than stores, which are all backed by warehouses anyway.
It's either a small amount of additional cardboard and plastic, or a whole additional building and a few miles of driving a single automobile. It's pretty clear that Amazon wins this comparison.
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Same here (France). I will actually pay a bit more for Amazon products because I never, ever had any problem. The closest I had to a problem was when I sent an email stating that a product is not functional after a year and a half. They replied that the 30 days return window is over and that I should contact the producer. I replied that according to the law, I have 2 years of warranty with zero costs from my side. Th…
I almost never buy from Amazon anymore. Not really because of any bad experiences, though reports about the high number of counterfeit goods that Amazon sells certainly contributes to my reluctance. Also: Amazon is just too big. I like a bit of competition in the market. Also, in Netherland, Amazon isn't all that big. In the distant past, I sometimes ordered at amazon.com, later at amazon.de. Recently I got an invita…
I am glad Amazon is here - more competition is always good for consumers such as ourselves.
> 30 to 40 per cent of all online purchases are sent back 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.
Particularly in clothing.
From what I understand it is a relatively common practice to order 2-3 of a given item in different sizes, and to return the ones that don't fit.
And this is just the "honest returners", not even going into the whole "order this fancy clothing, wear it to a party, and then return it" "dishonest returners"
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> Apparently destroying and dumping it’s the easiest and less resource consuming way to deal with returns. Not the least resource consuming - the least costly to amazon . There is a massive environmental cost to the practice - it's just externalized. If the companies involved (amazon, the manufacturer) had to bare the full environmental cost, the calculation would often come out different.
> Not the least resource consuming - the least costly to amazon. I suspect that cost is a much better approximation of resource consumption than what feels wasteful, especially because it forces you to factor human time as a resource, which many environmental activists like to treat as infinite and free.
If we had things like carbon taxes on goods, then amazon's decision would likely be much more optimal for the environment.
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I think it depends a lot on category. What you said about kids clothing is spot on, but I'd expect similar dynamics for women's clothing (tighter fits = lower tolerance, also lower tolerance for color mismatch etc) and there are a couple of categories that I've outright stopped buying on Amazon because of the enormous problem rate, namely whitelabeled consumer electronics. In 2020 I've returned ~5%: markers that were…
I've also stopped buying at Amazon after 15 years. Even consumables and small items are problematic. Just in the last year, I encountered many issues including: * Showerhead that came without box, and clearly used. It still had a lot of water inside! * Underwear from a brand that sells items inside a sealed bag and discards returns came used, without bag (yuck!) * A module of Samsung RAM had visible wear signs and di…
How much water could a showerhead even hold. Certainly not a lot?