How did they make sure that the entire backpack was returned, not just the tracker tossed?
Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up
241–250 of 351 posts
Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up
#242While this may seem shocking, logistically it makes sense. It’s potentially easier to destroy or dump a returned product than re-preparing it for sale. 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 d…
Logistics pipelines are designed to efficiently flow in one direction only. At large scale if returns are handled at all, it has to be a separate system. In the extreme case of logistic pipelines into war zones it leads to what looks like extreme waste. There was an infamous case during the Vietnam war when enterprising journalists exposed how expensive stuff, the really big item being F4 Phantom jet engines, that could not be used were being destroyed on site. Some politicians got to profess outrage at the Pentagon's wastefulness and get air time on the evening news. I believe there were even congressional hearings into the case of the jet engines. There really is no other way in a wartime logistics pipeline. The cargo airplanes land one after another. All the labor and equipment is dedicated to unloading the airplane as fast as possible and loading on waiting trucks. The loaded trucks drive out the exit gate. Aircraft take off as soon as they are emptied to repeat a cargo run. Empty trucks come in the entry gate and queue up to go on the tarmac for loading. There is no room in the process for a loaded truck to enter the premise, or for an empty plane to wait around. There is no labor or equipment available to do loading in the reverse direction either. And that's just the simplified version. There are many more nodes in the system expecting unidirectional flow. The goal is to get as much stuff into the war zone as fast as possible. Anything deviating from this goal is wasteful.
The big bottleneck in Amazon's process is probably, among others, how inefficient it would be to restock individual items in the warehouse.
Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up
#243Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it might just be coastal US cities? I live in a flyover US state and my experience matches yours. Universally good, overall much better experience with products ordered on Amazon than purchased at the local Walmart. Not that Walmart is a particularly high bar, but still it sets an expectation.
We live in Manhattan and order even more stuff than GP (about 25 orders last month) and we've had like two issues this year: a missing knob on a puzzle for toddlers, and paint on three toy vehicles damaged during shipping.
Could also be that people's experience depends on how picky they are about sellers. I mostly just go for Amazon or the original manufacturer (I guess I should to the original manufacturer's site, but I don't want to find my wallet...)
Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up
#244Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fortunately I’m one of the lucky women who has had the experience of buying both men’s and women’s clothing and I can tell you that the latter is unequivocally worse with regards to sizing consistency.
nice anecdote
You're right, I don't have a peer reviewed study. I suggest asking some other women what they think of clothing sizes if you're this disinclined to believe me about it.
Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up
#245Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
A lot of people in The Netherlands [1] use Bol.com (part of Ahold; Albert Heijn's parent company). However, Amazon.de (Germany) is also popular, and you can avoid S&H with Amazon Prime.
The reason there is no huge Amazon.nl is the same reason there's no huge eBay.nl; there's already a large local competitor: Bol.com (and Marktplaats.nl).
Because of Amazon Prime Germany being popular in NL, Amazon introduced an Amazon Prime Netherlands. They even offer a discount deal but they offer a lot less than Amazon Germany, so it does not make sense to switch the Prime subscription (apart from the discount).
If you want to order something in The Netherlands from Germany, and they only ship to Germany, then you can use a service like Huifkar. They have a drop place in Germany to ship to, drive over border, and post it from there in The Netherlands to your address in The Netherlands.
I had positive and negative experiences with all of these. On Bol.com I received some kind of fashion (?) book by Kim Kardashian instead of a 200 EUR budget smartphone (I didn't even know who she was before that). They fixed it though.
If you look at the working circumstances in distribution centre of Amazon and Coolblue you understand why sometimes things go wrong.
[1] It is called "The Netherlands"; not "Netherland". You can also use the ccTLD, "NL".
Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up
#246As someone who never, ever returns online purchases (even in the 1/100 cases where I'm genuinely unhappy with what I got), I would love the ability to shop at a 10-20% discount at an online store (or some setting on Amazon) which completely disallows returns. You buy it, you keep it. Always.
Would love to stop subsidizing the indecisive, the scammers, the people who can't bother to research products before they buy, etc.
Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
Amazon has reached Day 2 years ago. Today it’s eBay mixed with Walmart.
Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up
#248Earlier quoted context omitted.
Imagine the cost, in both time and work, to create all of the iron ore, coal and all the other natural resources that go into a single piece of crap sold on amazon. If that were priced into the crap, I'm sure having some humans spend a few of their hours on repurpuosing it would make financial sense.
It is priced in by the price of the item.
No, what's priced in is the cost of digging something up. Not the cost of creating it in the first place.
Also not priced in is the environmental cost of discarding the assembled product.
Edit: I might add that in the cost of digging up resources, in many cases the lives of the people doing the digging are not valued much more than the hours of the people doing the sorting of returned items. So that's something to think about as well.
Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
The algorithm for has detected a high yield returned item might get a second test at a low return customer, allowing us to outsource returned product quality validation for the price of shipping.
Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up
#250I think the majority of people don’t return stuff because it is such a pain to find a UPS store.