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RE: Retail Death Spiral Continues
I remember a time when Walmart would take back anything, even without a receipt. Just as an example, when I was a kid I had a friend that got a BB gun from Walmart. He left it out int he rain and it got all rusty. He returned it and got a new one, no questions asked. Being THAT flexible is probably not in the best interest of the retailer.
Today, Target takes back things pretty easily. You have to proved ID and a receipt if I recall correctly but that doesn't necessarily seem unreasonable. Returning things purchased online is much more of a pain.
Yeah, Walmart used to be stupid gullible about it. I think that was back when they had competition.
My father knew a guy that bought a tool set from Walmart, used it for years, then saw a new tool set he wanted. He brought the nearly half a decade old tool set back to the store and demanded a refund based on the cost of the newer tool set. The manager caved and let him swap them out.
Stuff like that is ridiculous and is probably part of the reason that stores like Walmart are tightening up their returns policies.
You mentioned the core piece that big box stores have over online stores in your last sentence there. Online returns are a pain.
Making it harder to return items in store is only going to hurt big box stores, I think. I don't mean be lenient like they were in your, and my, story but still - making it tough to return something is only going to force customers to go online where they can probably get it cheaper anyhow.