When we read about the future, or expect to read novels in future about the present, we'd expect to read all about the technological wonders. Glowing white towers, clean and gleaming, with people...
When we read about the future, or expect to read novels in future about the present, we'd expect to read all about the technological wonders. Glowing white towers, clean and gleaming, with people in sleek outfits flitting from home to work to shopping to eating out, with pristine service by perhaps humans or perhaps android robots. Everything is elegant, neat, everything has a place including the people who are all laughing and smiling because of their lovely fulfilling lives.
But I think this is a much better representation of our times. Stuff. Junk. Crap. Products that nobody needs but that we'll buy anyway because we've been sold on the idea that just a little more stuff will buy our happiness. Surely, this time-saving item will give us the quality of life that we seek. These crappy cheap decorations must transform our squalid living space into what it truly should be.
Behind all the pretty displays in the shops are all the shelves of boxes sitting behind the walls, with the employees placing out the products like hopeful dancers at an audition, each hoping to be taken home and cherished and loved. But most of them will end up back behind those walls, put back into the dark and oppressive brown boxes, to be distributed to these product houses of ill repute, hoping for one last chance at living their dream on a shelf in someone's home, being appreciated and shown off to family and visitors. Alas, except for the few lucky ones, they are likely to end up on the belt of a landfill where workers sort out the last-gasp of value from the trash and detritus, seeking out aluminum and other valuable metals, but there is now no longer any hope for mere plastic, which make its way to the incinerator and provides its only mild benefit to humanity: a brief contribution to the production of electricity, perhaps used to power the factory making next year's junk; the store selling this year's junk; the homes that didn't find these things worthy of purchase.
The sad, sad story of all of these people barely scraping by while the overproduced and returned products is an exscoriating condemnation of capitalism. While it is true that surely few would want a central government dictating what can be produced, certainly the pendulum has swung too far the other way, with so much waste and pollution being spent on speculative production of crap that will largely miss the mark.
In part, this is downstream of free shipping and generous free return policies. Something like a 10% restocking fee would probably reduce both sales and returns quite a bit? It's not really free;...
In part, this is downstream of free shipping and generous free return policies. Something like a 10% restocking fee would probably reduce both sales and returns quite a bit?
It's not really free; it's overhead that everyone who shops at the store will pay for with higher prices.
These kinds of stories always remind me of The Midas Plague by Frederik Pohl. It's a short scifi story that I read when I was an early teen that has always stuck with me. It's a hyperbolic satire...
These kinds of stories always remind me of The Midas Plague by Frederik Pohl. It's a short scifi story that I read when I was an early teen that has always stuck with me. It's a hyperbolic satire on consumerism, where the wealthy are the ones who are granted the privilege of not consuming/using things, and everyone else has a quota of things they must use. I
. Done. But I’ll just say that I worked in a leading reverse logistics department of a large 3PL back when RL was becoming the hot topic. It was interesting because it was my first job out of...
I haven’t read the article yet though i read OPs summary. Done.
But I’ll just say that I worked in a leading reverse logistics department of a large 3PL back when RL was becoming the hot topic.
It was interesting because it was my first job out of college, and prior to it I had no exposure to logistics at all (good ol’ fashioned Bachelor of Arts into corporate office mill), and when after several years I switched departments to regular “forward” logistics, with customers who had no reverse logistics departments/plans/contingencies, it was galling. I was so accustomed to having a solid plan for a frustrated truck driver who was having his whole load refused for some issue, meaning he was also going to miss his return load home and likely several days of trips if no plan was in place. With a RL program we could easily get him unloaded at a nearby warehouse to unburden him and get a new driver on it quick.
I could talk about this for awhile, I should read the article first. But I’m going in pro- reverse logistics, though I am also against the reasons it is necessary (consumerism, perfection-only appearances, etc)
Returns, repairs, refurbished products, and even recalls fall into the purview of reverse logistics. They are joined there by products that never made it to a consumer because the season ended, or a box was a little dented, or the purchaser never picked up their order, or a retailer was just running out of room in their warehouse.
That pile of excess stuff is growing. About 17 percent of all merchandise gets returned, according to the National Retail Federation. That’s up from just eight percent in 2019. For online purchases, it’s almost 30 percent.
Liquidators are nothing new: T.J. Maxx, Ocean State Job Lot, Nordstrom Rack. But as the scale of the excess grows, the reverse logistics industry is expanding, and methods of disposal are diversifying. Some corporations, like Amazon, do their own reselling through a bulk liquidation page. There are middlemen like B-Stock, an eBay-like site where anyone can shop for truckloads of unwanted stuff. Influencers are buying pallets to unbox on stream, capitalizing on both the goods and the views. It’s a whole universe of brokers, wholesalers, and secondhand retail all trying to claw back a little bit of money from the growing pile. That’s where Amazing Binz comes in.
We had a bin store open in our town and were quite intrigued to see what 'treasures' we could find. Nothing. Nothing but picked over junk. Course we weren't there on the new stock day but I looked...
We had a bin store open in our town and were quite intrigued to see what 'treasures' we could find.
Nothing. Nothing but picked over junk. Course we weren't there on the new stock day but I looked through everything and very quickly got the 'ick' from all the broken, dirty, just plain crap that filled the bins. There might be a deal or two on the first day but I was so unimpressed after half an hour that Ive never been back. It really is a sad store and the people working there looked like they were serving a jail sentence, they were that happy.
When we read about the future, or expect to read novels in future about the present, we'd expect to read all about the technological wonders. Glowing white towers, clean and gleaming, with people in sleek outfits flitting from home to work to shopping to eating out, with pristine service by perhaps humans or perhaps android robots. Everything is elegant, neat, everything has a place including the people who are all laughing and smiling because of their lovely fulfilling lives.
But I think this is a much better representation of our times. Stuff. Junk. Crap. Products that nobody needs but that we'll buy anyway because we've been sold on the idea that just a little more stuff will buy our happiness. Surely, this time-saving item will give us the quality of life that we seek. These crappy cheap decorations must transform our squalid living space into what it truly should be.
Behind all the pretty displays in the shops are all the shelves of boxes sitting behind the walls, with the employees placing out the products like hopeful dancers at an audition, each hoping to be taken home and cherished and loved. But most of them will end up back behind those walls, put back into the dark and oppressive brown boxes, to be distributed to these product houses of ill repute, hoping for one last chance at living their dream on a shelf in someone's home, being appreciated and shown off to family and visitors. Alas, except for the few lucky ones, they are likely to end up on the belt of a landfill where workers sort out the last-gasp of value from the trash and detritus, seeking out aluminum and other valuable metals, but there is now no longer any hope for mere plastic, which make its way to the incinerator and provides its only mild benefit to humanity: a brief contribution to the production of electricity, perhaps used to power the factory making next year's junk; the store selling this year's junk; the homes that didn't find these things worthy of purchase.
The sad, sad story of all of these people barely scraping by while the overproduced and returned products is an exscoriating condemnation of capitalism. While it is true that surely few would want a central government dictating what can be produced, certainly the pendulum has swung too far the other way, with so much waste and pollution being spent on speculative production of crap that will largely miss the mark.
There has got to be a better way.
In part, this is downstream of free shipping and generous free return policies. Something like a 10% restocking fee would probably reduce both sales and returns quite a bit?
It's not really free; it's overhead that everyone who shops at the store will pay for with higher prices.
These kinds of stories always remind me of The Midas Plague by Frederik Pohl. It's a short scifi story that I read when I was an early teen that has always stuck with me. It's a hyperbolic satire on consumerism, where the wealthy are the ones who are granted the privilege of not consuming/using things, and everyone else has a quota of things they must use. I
Excellent article! Thanks for sharing! It simultaneously fills me with recycling joy and consumerism dread.
I haven’t read the article yet though i read OPs summary. Done.But I’ll just say that I worked in a leading reverse logistics department of a large 3PL back when RL was becoming the hot topic.
It was interesting because it was my first job out of college, and prior to it I had no exposure to logistics at all (good ol’ fashioned Bachelor of Arts into corporate office mill), and when after several years I switched departments to regular “forward” logistics, with customers who had no reverse logistics departments/plans/contingencies, it was galling. I was so accustomed to having a solid plan for a frustrated truck driver who was having his whole load refused for some issue, meaning he was also going to miss his return load home and likely several days of trips if no plan was in place. With a RL program we could easily get him unloaded at a nearby warehouse to unburden him and get a new driver on it quick.
I could talk about this for awhile, I should read the article first. But I’m going in pro- reverse logistics, though I am also against the reasons it is necessary (consumerism, perfection-only appearances, etc)
I would love to hear anything more you have to say about Reverse Logistics. It's always cool to hear the inside perspective.
From the article:
Interesting. I knew that returns and other new goods with minor problems didn't get resold. Fascinating to see the whole ecosystem that's developed.
We had a bin store open in our town and were quite intrigued to see what 'treasures' we could find.
Nothing. Nothing but picked over junk. Course we weren't there on the new stock day but I looked through everything and very quickly got the 'ick' from all the broken, dirty, just plain crap that filled the bins. There might be a deal or two on the first day but I was so unimpressed after half an hour that Ive never been back. It really is a sad store and the people working there looked like they were serving a jail sentence, they were that happy.