The @cbc hid GPSes and wireless cameras in Amazon returns to see what happened when Canadians sent their Amazon purchases back for refunds. Amazon claims it processes these returns responsibly, either restocking them or selling them to third-party jobbers.
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That matters: 30-40% of online purchases are returned (it's <10% for physical retail).
But those returns largely end up being destroyed. In just ONE facility, between one and five TRUCKLOADS of Amazon returns are shredded, mostly for landfill.
cbc.ca/news/canada/ma…
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But those returns largely end up being destroyed. In just ONE facility, between one and five TRUCKLOADS of Amazon returns are shredded, mostly for landfill.
cbc.ca/news/canada/ma…
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Two thirds of the items that CBC bugged were destroyed.
The returns that DID make it back into peoples' hands travel hundreds, even thousands of kilometers before that happened.
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The returns that DID make it back into peoples' hands travel hundreds, even thousands of kilometers before that happened.
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Amazon's pitch is that it enjoys economies of scale: being large allows it to figure out how to operate efficiently. But what scale mostly delivers to Amazon is the power to externalize its environmental and labor costs with impunity. The efficiencies are hard to find.
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