Found out my store's customer returns policy cost us $12,000 last quarter

I was helping with inventory audits last month and stumbled on the numbers. Turns out our super generous 90-day return policy on electronics means people buy cameras for vacation and bring them back. The return rate on those items was almost 40 percent. Has anyone else seen crazy return stats like this at their job?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_brooke10d ago

Buddy of mine watched a guy return a half-used chainsaw with the bar all chewed up.

green.jessica10d ago

Forty percent return rate is brutal. I worked in a shop that had people buying tents for one festival weekend and bringing them back with pine needles still inside. The store manager just shrugged and said it was the cost of doing business. At that point you're basically running a rental service that pays you up front. Twelve grand in losses is a hard number to swallow though, especially when it's just people treating the policy like a free loan.

amymiller7d ago

Can't believe people really do that with tents. Pine needles still inside is just next level boldness. I'd be too embarrassed to even try that.