Return Mess

The volume of waste as evidenced by returned goods in this Forbes story is quite mind-boggling. As a business opportunity it makes perfect sense - the right dots are being connected here. People buy things they don't need and super generous return policies enables buying without deliberation. Our inability to make buying decisions we can live with have no penalty. The retailers have to deal with the deluge of unwanted, unneeded stuff. Their gains by moving stuff out the door fast can be offset by stuff coming right back even if at a slower pace. 

The eco-system would never allow for a punitive return policy that would reduce some of this mayhem - whomever implements it will turn into the pariah that customers will not buy from. Yet another example where the consumer is teased by a bad habit to gain competitive advantage until that becomes the new normal. At that point no one actually wins and yet the cycle cannot be broken. Along comes a B-Stock to make the most of a sad mess.