Planning to return used gear...

[james croft]

It is not even selective morality. It is just slimes who think it is ok to rip off people, big or small. As you pointed out, we all pay for it in the end. Having had personal experience with Wal-Mart, and watching a good "small" company go bankrupt, 100+ people out of work, I know what the "use it and then return it" jerks can do on a local level.

Yeah, Slimey is a good description. They should have got rental gear.

 

[merxlin]

I think it is wrong to do this to a mom and pop, because it does affect their bottom line. There is a distinct difference between a large corporation and a mom and pop shop. Stealing is stealing. Returning something is not stealing.

Maybe a better perspective: You have a car for sale and (being a stand up guy) state that if there is anything wrong just bring it back. You don't need the money from the car to live on. I buy the car from you and write you a check. I'm broke and have no car but have a lucky streak when it comes to gambling so I drive it Vegas. I put 600 miles on it, maybe even a small scratch on the fender. Bring it back Monday and say no thanks, and stop payment on the check. Give you some BS about the lights flickering, oil pressure dropping or something. Did it cost you anything? How do you feel?

 

[cummings66]

It's kind of like the Interet forums, they wouldn't do say it in person but since they can't see you it's fine to say it at a distance.

It's plain ignorance if a person thinks that returning items doesn't hurt somebody somewhere, I know of a company that supplies items to Walmart and it is sad what happens routinely to them. As has been said and it's true, they box store passes along the cost to the supplier.

I know of a company that we used to do business with, they paid late and paid what they felt they owed instead of what they owed. We charged them more money for the product which they passed along to the end user. We had to do it to stay in business. That's how it works, your returns that you think don't hurt anybody, DO!

 

[tc]

Integrity isn't something you can be selective about...... You either have it or you don't.

 

[Splitlip]

I am reminded of the scene in "Bonnie and Clyde". The pair is holding up a bank and Clyde asks some dirt poor farmer if the money at the teller's window is his or the bank's.....

 

[cjaj_70]

I find it more upsetting when a place is willing to sell me a product, but not willing to take care of a problem with that product. The cell phone company is my favorite example, They can take my money hand me a phone but when it quits working you have to send it in. I have a strange feeling that these two things may be related.

 

[jeraldjcook]

I find it more upsetting when a place is willing to sell me a product, but not willing to take care of a problem with that product. The cell phone company is my favorite example, They can take my money hand me a phone but when it quits working you have to send it in. I have a strange feeling that these two things may be related.

IMHO, these two aren't related at all. If you have a problem with something your purchased, later had genuine second thoughts, or were just unhappy with your purchase, that's why Costco has their policy. But, to use your cell phone example, to walk into Cingular and get a free phone, use a couple of hundred minutes since your applying for jobs, and then return the phone after you landed a job, that's wrong. It's the buying, with the intent to return the item after you gotten your use of of it, that myself and others have a problem with.

 

[DiveBandit]

It is called situational ethics.

would these be the same ethics we use when we patronize and support stores like costco, and Walmart, knowing they put small business out of business then pay their employees sub-standard salaries they can't live on and give them no health benifits.

EDIT: not saying i support or denounce returning used stuff, but if we are to argue ethics, lets admit we all live in glass houses before we start the stone throwing.

 

[shekes]

I was a small business owner, and would turn down jobs, because the tools needs to do the job would eat up any and all profit, then at Home-depot a sales associate over heard me talking with a customer, and told me why turn down the work, buy the tools needed and return them when done, for a full refund. I did as suggested, and turned a small business into a few hundred thousand dollar a year business.

I bow down to you! Have you also tried returning your wife back to your parents before she gets too decrepit and useless?

I urge you to try! It is perfectly legal



Fellow Homo Sapiens, friends,

Legality and ethics are not the same thing!
Don't you see that it is just wrong to take advantage of each other?


Returning an item to the store can cost the store more than if the item was stolen. A theft costs only whatever it costs to restock. But returns involve restocking and administrative costs. And the latter often outweigh the former.

Big businesses or small, we need them all.

Be decent people!

 

[merxlin]

......Legality and ethics are not the same thing!
Don't you see that it is just wrong to take advantage of each other?

I completely agree: Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.