Speaker 1: Her job was to get this underwear out of the
Speaker 1: returns package and look at it for They called it residue,
Speaker 1: which that's kind of a.
Speaker 2: If there was stayings in it, and.
Speaker 1: The stuff that was sort of nastier went to one
Speaker 1: of the secondary outlets.
Speaker 2: You know, I won't say the name of it, but what.
Speaker 3: I gotta the secondary outlet, I don't know if I.
Speaker 4: Now really.
Speaker 5: Really really hello and welcome to really know really what's
Speaker 5: Jason Alexander and Peter Tilden who want you to know
Speaker 5: that subscribing to our show is a gift you give
Speaker 5: yourself and that you'll never return. Well, you'll return to
Speaker 5: our show, you just won't return the gift to yourself.
Speaker 6: Whatever. This episode is all about the stuff you did.
Speaker 5: Return over the holidays and what's being called the return Tsunami.
Speaker 5: Doctor Dale Rogers joins Jason and Peter to discuss the
Speaker 5: dark side and the hidden costs of returns, where your
Speaker 5: returns actually end up, and why we're returning so much
Speaker 5: more stuff than ever before.
Speaker 6: You will also learn the.
Speaker 5: Low tech way in which returned clothing is checked for
Speaker 5: stains and smells, how the ninety nine cents Store survived,
Speaker 5: and the real story behind expiration dates. Now here are
Speaker 5: Jason Alexander and Peter Tilden.
Speaker 3: Really, so here's my question to you to open our
Speaker 3: right holidays? You know, get anything you didn't like anything,
Speaker 3: you just want me, that's for me. Not so much
Speaker 3: comes with maybe a receipt you can return it. Lots
Speaker 3: of stuff, lots of stuff you do it not yet,
Speaker 3: not yet, but you're planning on. Yeah, so here's your
Speaker 3: really no, really, the free return on your ugly Christmas
Speaker 3: weather just costs the plan of the trillion dollars. Really no, really,
Speaker 3: where's my belt? It was in front of you. I
Speaker 3: thought I returned it. We're getting a return tsunami. That's
Speaker 3: what it's called a return tsunami. And there's a real
Speaker 3: cost to this that I knew nothing about. This was
Speaker 3: we knew nothing about. I knew nothing about. And you
Speaker 3: set a term to me which which was like reverse.
Speaker 4: Logistics, right and I and.
Speaker 3: I looked at you like like you had a stroke
Speaker 3: because you know me, I don't know what you're doing
Speaker 3: talking about.
Speaker 7: I find so so during COVID, yeah, everybody heard about
Speaker 7: supply chain, supply chain, supply chain. You don't have this,
Speaker 7: We don't have that and we ran on a toilet paper.
Speaker 7: Everybody remembers all.
Speaker 3: I remember that that we were hoarding and doing and
Speaker 3: then when you go a little bit, nobody returned, by
Speaker 3: the way, unused.
Speaker 4: No nobody returned.
Speaker 7: And my wife we invested in it. I bought ten
Speaker 7: thousand dollars both of toilet paper that would go up right.
Speaker 4: And it didn't. We just ended up using it.
Speaker 7: So with the supply chain stuff that that broke down
Speaker 7: doing the COVID thing. Yes, and now I'm hearing about
Speaker 7: the entire upmarket thing of carducts coming back. I've read
Speaker 7: this Christmas, this holiday season returns could be eight hundred
Speaker 7: billion dollars.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So let me just I'm fascinated by this and
Speaker 3: I don't understand it. So ladies and gentlemen, let me
Speaker 3: do the introduction for doctor Dale Rogers. Doctor Rogers is
Speaker 3: a leading researcher in reverse logistics, sustainable supply chain management,
Speaker 3: supply chain finance, and secondary markets, and is published in
Speaker 3: the leading journals of the supply chain.
Speaker 4: And logistics fields. That's not all.
Speaker 3: In twenty twelve, he became the first academic to receive
Speaker 3: the intern And this is an award. You're going to
Speaker 3: be vying for my friend the International Warehouse and Logistics
Speaker 3: Association Distinguished Service Award, first one given its one hundred
Speaker 3: and thirty year history.
Speaker 4: I don't have an Emmy, and this man and we
Speaker 4: go for that.
Speaker 3: Everything I just said, if I hadn't read it off
Speaker 3: the paper, I still don't.
Speaker 4: Know what I'm saying. I don't know anything I just said.
Speaker 4: I think it says that he's the foremost guy and
Speaker 4: talking about what we're gonna asks.
Speaker 7: Hello, doctor Dale Rogers, welcome, nice to be here, Thank
Speaker 7: you for coming in.
Speaker 3: We've been throwing around the term reverse logistics. Can you
Speaker 3: just explain what that is?
Speaker 1: Yes, so it is it is going backwards. So it's
Speaker 1: products that have been for sale or available at somewhere
Speaker 1: in the supply chain and they're either stopped or a
Speaker 1: consumer brings it back and you repurpose them.
Speaker 2: You move them in a reverse fashion.
Speaker 1: For the marketplace to go where perhaps they can be used,
Speaker 1: because your last choice is putting them in a landfill.
Speaker 2: If you do that, you failed.
Speaker 1: And if you're a company whose first choice is putting
Speaker 1: him in a landfill, then then you don't have the
Speaker 1: right guys running supply chain there.
Speaker 3: So if I go online and I see a T
Speaker 3: shirt that I like, but I don't know if I'm
Speaker 3: the small, all the medium, of the large. So I say, hey,
Speaker 3: what the heck? I order all three, and I say
Speaker 3: I'll keep the one that fits me and I send
Speaker 3: back the other two. My assumption is the other two
Speaker 3: we'll go back on a shelf and somebody will buy them,
Speaker 3: am I writer?
Speaker 1: Yeah, mostly that that's true. They mostly will. It's kind
Speaker 1: of funny. You turn on a computer once and it's used,
Speaker 1: but you're underwear. If you buy it and send it back,
Speaker 1: it can be resold as new no more.
Speaker 3: Can I just say, in that scenario, I think we
Speaker 3: got it completely wrong.
Speaker 4: I would flip those I would.
Speaker 3: I would think the one turned on computer and call
Speaker 3: it new the underwear I'm not saying.
Speaker 7: So this sounds like we're figuring out businesses and figuring
Speaker 7: out But then I read that the biggest place that
Speaker 7: takes returns, which is in Pennsylvania, I forget the name
Speaker 7: of it, where a shirt came back and it all
Speaker 7: has to have eyeballs on it. They got to open
Speaker 7: the shirts smell it like you would if you're getting
Speaker 7: another day out of your jeans, smell it, look at
Speaker 7: it for stains, it goes in another bag, It decides
Speaker 7: where it goes next, whether it goes to resale, whether
Speaker 7: it goes to foreign country, whatever. That seems so time intensive.
Speaker 7: And also again it's got to be trucked and shipped,
Speaker 7: and so you talk about the environment. That thing's going
Speaker 7: through a lot of steps. But does everything have to
Speaker 7: have eyeballs on it, human eyeballs.
Speaker 2: On No, a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1: If you return it back to a store, the store
Speaker 1: will disposition at right. In a store, they'll put it
Speaker 1: back on the shelf. So you know, one of the
Speaker 1: rules is you don't want to drive something eight hundred
Speaker 1: miles and then throw it away, all right, So if
Speaker 1: it gets back in that supply chain and that reverse
Speaker 1: supply chain, you do have to check it and make sure.
Speaker 1: I mean, honestly, here's a old man's story for you.
Speaker 1: I think the worst job maybe I've ever seen. I
Speaker 1: was at the Victoria's Secret return center in Ohio, and
Speaker 1: I was in the late two thousands, I think, and
Speaker 1: they had seven people working and they had a massive
Speaker 1: amount of returns. It was sort of the beginning of
Speaker 1: e commerce, and so there was a huge amount of
Speaker 1: returns on some sort of panty styles.
Speaker 2: You had forty percent returns at the time.
Speaker 1: They asked me to come look at the place, and
Speaker 1: I remember watching the reverse process and they said, well,
Speaker 1: let me introduce you to Rita. Who's this lady that
Speaker 1: was working really hard. She was sort of the lead
Speaker 1: and the reprocessing of women's lingerie. And I went to
Speaker 1: shake her hand and she said, oh, you don't want
Speaker 1: to shake my hand. And I thought, oh, maybe she
Speaker 1: thinks I'm going to get her fired or something, but I.
Speaker 2: Said no, no, no, I'm just here to observe.
Speaker 1: And she said, well, no, you don't want to touch me.
Speaker 1: And her job, as you kind of mentioned it was
Speaker 1: to get this underwear out of the returns package and
Speaker 1: look at it for They called it res a do,
Speaker 1: which that's kind of a funny word. And and then
Speaker 1: there was if there was stains in it, and if
Speaker 1: there wasn't, there was a steamer thing that came up
Speaker 1: right by her little bench thing and she would get
Speaker 1: the wrinkles out of it, fold it up, put it
Speaker 1: back in the package. The stuff that was sort of nastier,
Speaker 1: they did throw some things away, but most of the
Speaker 1: stuff went to one of the secondary outlets.
Speaker 2: You know, I won't say the name of it, but
Speaker 2: but isn't that.
Speaker 3: What I got? The secondary outlet? They got the unsteamable undergarments.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I or you know, Yeah, you're
Speaker 2: on the right track.
Speaker 4: Outlets.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so, I mean, and and her job was to
Speaker 1: smell the n and want a guy.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 1: There was a guy was in her group that had
Speaker 1: played football at Ohio State.
Speaker 2: Now he wasn't one of the more successful football players.
Speaker 2: I think.
Speaker 1: There was this huge guy and he had on headphones
Speaker 1: and he kind of had a beat going and I
Speaker 1: was just watching him and he would get the panties
Speaker 1: out of the package and hold him up to his
Speaker 1: note and I thought, boy that I don't know what
Speaker 1: he was thinking.
Speaker 2: In any rate, it was It's one of the worst.
Speaker 4: What is the job interview process?
Speaker 1: For that job? You got to be able to smell right,
Speaker 1: Actually you're kind of go on the sidelines, and you got.
Speaker 4: To recognize certain kinds of sense and you gotta be
Speaker 4: okay with the product you're smelling. But I'm also wondering
Speaker 4: if some people like that job.
Speaker 3: But if you open up the Victoria's Secret Catalog and
Speaker 3: you order you and you order an item and it's
Speaker 3: are you surprised when you got?
Speaker 4: This thing? Has no ass I mean you.
Speaker 3: Can see in the pictures it's a string and a
Speaker 3: string and a kerchief.
Speaker 4: That's all it is. And you open it and go wow,
Speaker 4: I never thought I never expected this before the internet.
Speaker 7: Before dropping off at the postal center returning, I'd rather
Speaker 7: just you know, and I'll just keep it.
Speaker 4: I'll wear it. It's not that big a deal. Now.
Speaker 7: These companies have brought them on themselves, like tom shoes,
Speaker 7: they say, hey, buy four different sizes in different styles,
Speaker 7: and then return to ones you don't like, Try try
Speaker 7: this size.
Speaker 4: I think now the law.
Speaker 3: And the policy just to add to what you're saying,
Speaker 3: where you can read six months, a year down the
Speaker 3: road you can return.
Speaker 7: I was at home depot a woman standing actually with
Speaker 7: two dead plants, and I'm locking like I'm laughing. I'm
Speaker 7: thinking to myself, oh my god, if this poor woman,
Speaker 7: how sad he's brought in, thinks she's going to get attorneys,
Speaker 7: And the woman the desk goes absolutely, we take them
Speaker 7: back after a year, and I'm thinking the retailers have
Speaker 7: gotten so competitive. And then there's the secret lie of hey,
Speaker 7: if it's under twenty bucks and it's certain retailers just
Speaker 7: keep it and people take advanta we'll give you it.
Speaker 1: Really is brilliant though, I mean, think about who were
Speaker 1: the great retailers of the beginning of the twentieth century,
Speaker 1: So Sears and JC Penny.
Speaker 2: They're not the great retailers anymore, unfortunately.
Speaker 5: But.
Speaker 2: If you think about how they both really made it.
Speaker 4: So J. C.
Speaker 1: Penny, James Cashpenny, he's this guy. He's got a general
Speaker 1: store and Kimera, Wyoming. I don't know if you've ever
Speaker 1: been to Kimer. I actually have been there. I had
Speaker 1: to go see the mother's store and it's about the size.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's a little bit bigger than the room we're
Speaker 1: sitting in, but Kimer is not a big place.
Speaker 2: So what was his innovation, Well, cash and carry.
Speaker 1: When most times you went to a general store, you
Speaker 1: would put it on a tab and pay at the
Speaker 1: end of the month. So he was using his cash better.
Speaker 1: And then the other thing was no questions asked returns,
Speaker 1: And what that did was it removed risk from the
Speaker 1: consumer because they knew that they could go back to
Speaker 1: that store and you become a customer for life instead
Speaker 1: of being nervous about man if I invest in whatever
Speaker 1: this is, a blanket or or a shirt or whatever
Speaker 1: it is, then I don't know, you know, I'm stuck
Speaker 1: with it. But no questions asked returns really transfers that
Speaker 1: risk and you end up with a customer for life.
Speaker 1: So it really is a brilliant thing. It makes a
Speaker 1: lot of sense. We're seeing retailers trying to go back
Speaker 1: on that right now because of the avalanche returns. But
Speaker 1: I just bet, because we've seen this before where they're
Speaker 1: trying to slow it down, I just bet I'm not
Speaker 1: going to bet they're not going to because.
Speaker 8: It's it's too good. It's it's the best kind of
Speaker 8: accurate A twenty dollars sweater. I read the cost of
Speaker 8: the return, Cadrico was it's thirteen though, So that means
Speaker 8: if my neighbor's a serial returner, I'm paying for their
Speaker 8: return and by building that into the price of the sweater.
Speaker 1: Well, and there's efficient ways where that stuff gets sort
Speaker 1: of pulled out of the forward market and goes through
Speaker 1: the reverse logistics supply chain, and you've got all these
Speaker 1: different players who mostly are invisible. But there's some really
Speaker 1: big salvage dealers. We call them in the UK, they're
Speaker 1: called cabbagemen. And you'll get, say a truckload or a
Speaker 1: couple of truckloads of stuff from Macy's or Dillard's or Bloomingdale's,
Speaker 1: and you will parse that out and then you know,
Speaker 1: we've got this whole sort of new ecosystem of eBay
Speaker 1: power sellers who are maybe people that there have to
Speaker 1: be home because of some physical reason, and and now
Speaker 1: they're able to make a living by buying and then reselling.
Speaker 1: And it's a very efficient, uh secondary market Chaine, that's
Speaker 1: it's actually pretty big. We calculate the numbers every year
Speaker 1: and we're over seven hundred billion dollars in that secondary market.
Speaker 1: It's over three percent of GDP. It's a very important
Speaker 1: part of the US economy. Now, where it's stuck in
Speaker 1: a landfill in Chili or in Columbia, that's not good.
Speaker 7: We've mentioned the Chili thing because that was another reason
Speaker 7: we did this topic. There's so much clothing that's either
Speaker 7: overproduced or returned in Chili that it's on mounds that
Speaker 7: you can see from space. And I got I got
Speaker 7: here one truckload of clothing is sent to a landfill
Speaker 7: or burn every second. And let's see, Chili has become
Speaker 7: thirty nine thousand tons of old so unsold clothing. That's
Speaker 7: a lot on sold clothing.
Speaker 1: Well, and and and though that's really a failure because
Speaker 1: because there should be a marketplace for that somewhere. The
Speaker 1: problem is how much labor can you put into an item.
Speaker 3: I'm still back on the fact that you've pronounced the
Speaker 3: country Chile as Chili.
Speaker 4: Chile, Chile, Chile. Yeah, not Chili, not Chili. It's not
Speaker 4: the thing you it is Chili. Use this Chile. So
Speaker 4: I just wanted to point that out.
Speaker 3: I really haven't listened to the rest of the show.
Speaker 3: We're saying a lot of words here, here's here's here's
Speaker 3: the thought I'm thinking about.
Speaker 4: I'm honestly thinking about.
Speaker 3: There are people in my family who do a fair
Speaker 3: amount of returns and they and they know they're going
Speaker 3: to do it. They they you know, like I said,
Speaker 3: it may be that they don't know what the sizing
Speaker 3: so they do them.
Speaker 4: But what has has has retailers thought.
Speaker 3: Of the idea or maybe it's an impractical idea of
Speaker 3: charging an additional fee for the consumer for an item
Speaker 3: that could be returned and then going okay, you're not
Speaker 3: returning it will rebate the cost.
Speaker 4: But at least now if you.
Speaker 3: Do return it, we're going to we're going to recoup
Speaker 3: our problem because if we have to repurpose this or
Speaker 3: if we have to trash that item, well.
Speaker 1: If they can, they they wouldn't tell the consumer. There's
Speaker 1: a I mean, because they just keep it if.
Speaker 4: They can see.
Speaker 3: But then there's no inst because if they don't tell
Speaker 3: the consumer either they've priced me out of that product,
Speaker 3: where otherwise, if I knew I was going to get
Speaker 3: a refund back, if I'm seriously going to keep this product,
Speaker 3: I would go, Okay, now it's a reasonable price.
Speaker 4: I know I'm going to get refunded that thing.
Speaker 3: It's like taking you know, when I go to the
Speaker 3: hotel and they take the deposit upfront, I know it's
Speaker 3: coming back to me. But why wouldn't they do that
Speaker 3: to offset their costs? But why wouldn't they do that
Speaker 3: more of they use more of a disincentive, which is
Speaker 3: called a restocking fee. So if you send it back,
Speaker 3: they say, well, we're not going to refund one hundred percent,
Speaker 3: We'll refund five that.
Speaker 1: That's what that stocking fit. So that's the resite. So
Speaker 1: that's normally how how how they would do it. Now
Speaker 1: it's hard to continue to charge restocking fees. A lot
Speaker 1: of companies have tried it and have backed off because
Speaker 1: consumers don't like it.
Speaker 2: And then the end of the day, you need consumers.
Speaker 1: To show up, and you know, it's it's it's easy
Speaker 1: to return stuff, but it isn't always easy, and so
Speaker 1: you know, people will think, well, I'll get around to
Speaker 1: that someday, and then all of a sudden you realize
Speaker 1: it's a year later and you still got it. And
Speaker 1: so it works really for the companies they actually think
Speaker 1: it's a good strategy. And some folks, you know, like
Speaker 1: Warby Parker, I'm sure you know those stories, they actually
Speaker 1: built their model around efficient returns and and.
Speaker 4: Pick five keep one. We're good, right.
Speaker 1: Companies keep trying to push back on consumers and and
Speaker 1: and slow this stuff down, but it always comes back
Speaker 1: to the old J. C.
Speaker 2: Penny and you.
Speaker 1: Want to remove wrist from the consumer because that's how
Speaker 1: the consumer keeps you seem to.
Speaker 4: Be partaking of any of those companies.
Speaker 7: And I'm so also how they've got it together that
Speaker 7: I can order something and it comes to my house
Speaker 7: eat later that day or tomorrow, if they're that good
Speaker 7: at supply chain that way.
Speaker 4: I mean, I can't believe we wait before.
Speaker 3: Not only does it come to your house an hour
Speaker 3: after you ordered it, but it's like I ordered a
Speaker 3: big pen and it comes in a box that you
Speaker 3: could put right with packing peanuts and bubble wrap, and
Speaker 3: I what, what is it? I don't know if this
Speaker 3: is your area, but you know, the closest I have
Speaker 3: to what is with the packing materials?
Speaker 4: What is the waste situation on the.
Speaker 1: Well, they don't have uh, they don't have a packaging.
Speaker 1: They don't have a box right or for every size
Speaker 1: escape you you know. But it's way better in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three than it was in say, two thousand and five,
Speaker 1: because remember they start out as a book company and
Speaker 1: and VHS tapes and back then they they only they
Speaker 1: really so on a on a packing line. There's only
Speaker 1: so many packages you you can store. You can't have
Speaker 1: a thousand.
Speaker 4: I can't believe. Look, I've got a bell and a pen.
Speaker 4: What size? But if you see it, if you see.
Speaker 3: These two items and a box comes in front of
Speaker 3: you on the conveyor belt that you can put a
Speaker 3: toaster up and in.
Speaker 4: Do you really go, Okay, we're good. You don't have
Speaker 4: to hate your job. I'm loving that you're going.
Speaker 7: I don't know if this is her air, but I
Speaker 7: got some personal stuff I need address.
Speaker 4: So I have to make this.
Speaker 3: I haven't made a penny off of this pot.
Speaker 4: I got two pair of pants. I gotta go back.
Speaker 4: Can you take a look. It's like you don't sniffing first,
Speaker 4: that is coming.
Speaker 7: Do you think that that moving on from the the
Speaker 7: reverse logistics and the fact that so much is getting wasted,
Speaker 7: et cetera. Do you think if they let the public,
Speaker 7: if people knew or if they tested it, if people
Speaker 7: knew the impact of the returns, that they would be
Speaker 7: more reticent or they would change their behavior somewhat.
Speaker 1: Well, I think there are some companies that encourage consumers
Speaker 1: to engage. You know, if you look at Patagonia, they
Speaker 1: have a really interesting model. So you buy a jacket
Speaker 1: from Patagonia. Usually it's higher price than maybe something that
Speaker 1: would be sort of similar to that jacket, right, but
Speaker 1: they want you to keep that for the rest of
Speaker 1: your life, and you can send it back at no
Speaker 1: charge then because if it gets ripped or whatever, I
Speaker 1: can get it fixed. So you know, but not everybody
Speaker 1: wants Patagonia. Maybe you just want the change purchase price.
Speaker 1: And if you go down the street here in this neighborhood, man,
Speaker 1: I couldn't believe how many like little outlets stores ninety
Speaker 1: nine since stores, those ninety nine sense.
Speaker 2: Stores live off of overstocks.
Speaker 1: Mostly it also returns, and it's a relatively efficient way
Speaker 1: to move it to a new lifetime where you got
Speaker 1: consumers that will buy at Bloomingdale's. But then you also
Speaker 1: got consumers that will buy at Rosses or Marshals, and
Speaker 1: then the level down would be the ninety nine since stores.
Speaker 1: This there's this whole ecosystem.
Speaker 3: The overstock of not prescription medications but over the counter
Speaker 3: medications and things like Ppe where you know, everybody wanted
Speaker 3: masks and now the mask is tapered off. Everybody wanted
Speaker 3: COVID in home testing, and now that's tapered off.
Speaker 4: What happens with you? You can't is that just landfill?
Speaker 4: There's no other option for.
Speaker 2: The no no, but I mean there is a.
Speaker 1: There is a obsolescence date on some of that stuff.
Speaker 1: Right hand sanitizer and so on. But there are people
Speaker 1: trying to repurpose stuff even if it goes past the
Speaker 1: obsolescent state. Some other countries are not as fussy about
Speaker 1: end of life dates as we are.
Speaker 4: In this and should we be.
Speaker 3: I mean, are they really as far as you know,
Speaker 3: if my advil, you know, supposedly ran out six months
Speaker 3: ago and I take it, I find it still.
Speaker 2: It still works.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And and to some extent, sometimes those obsolescence states
Speaker 1: are are really for marketing purposes, like for instance, vinegar.
Speaker 1: So vinegar really has a seven year lifetime because you know,
Speaker 1: it's fermented wine basically apple juice and so on. And
Speaker 1: you know what happens to vinegar when it gets old,
Speaker 1: It turns into vinegar.
Speaker 2: I mean it's not.
Speaker 1: Really and and but you but the companies that sell vinegar,
Speaker 1: like Hinds and so on, don't feel comfortable having a
Speaker 1: seven year window, so they make it a year.
Speaker 2: So some stuff it's artificial. Now, other things.
Speaker 1: Degrade, and you really do need to pay attention to
Speaker 1: the obsolescence.
Speaker 3: This is a constant discussion with my wife, who finds
Speaker 3: that labeling. If I, you know, if I pull something
Speaker 3: out of the medicine cabinet and says, well, expired six
Speaker 3: months ago.
Speaker 4: What do you think does it? No one expired six
Speaker 4: months ago?
Speaker 3: If it said June and I took it in July,
Speaker 3: are you saying this is not gonna and she's really hardcore.
Speaker 7: I don't even show my wife. I just take like
Speaker 7: Ada from nineteen seventy eighth, so it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: Well, I can't hide any Yeah, you know, it's interesting
Speaker 1: because there weren't There weren't generally open code dates on
Speaker 1: consumer products until Procter and Gamble in nineteen ninety seven
Speaker 1: really pioneered that, and Walmart said, look, if you're going
Speaker 1: to sell something in our store and it's a product
Speaker 1: can expire, you got to make the date an open
Speaker 1: code date. But a lot of stuff really lasts longer,
Speaker 1: and we call them the dinnet can stores.
Speaker 2: There's a in fact, there's a bunch of them around.
Speaker 1: LA where you've got these grocery outlets and you even
Speaker 1: have grocery auctions where stuff will be out of date
Speaker 1: and folks will go up and bid on it. And
Speaker 1: what really happens in this secondary market for food and
Speaker 1: advil and all the other stuff is that it keeps
Speaker 1: it out of the landfills, and maybe people that couldn't
Speaker 1: afford it at this price, shot at the higher price
Speaker 1: can can can pick that stuff up. So it's mostly
Speaker 1: a good thing. Actually amazing.
Speaker 7: Before the last thing, I'm going to ask, because we
Speaker 7: had that supply chain issue during COVID. Everything's made overseas.
Speaker 7: China is the enemy, it's hard, we're negotiating with them,
Speaker 7: blah blah blah, all of that talk about China.
Speaker 4: China. By the way, China, I'm gonna.
Speaker 7: Never punched you on camera. It just could be a
Speaker 7: very special episode of.
Speaker 3: Really really really trying to say I'm trying to contribute.
Speaker 7: Is China is as the supply chain chain is kind
Speaker 7: of making less merchandise for us of the world. How
Speaker 7: how what has changed since that supply chain if you
Speaker 7: kept doing about every day.
Speaker 1: Well, so, the tariffs that were put on the previous
Speaker 1: administration and then kept on by the current one didn't
Speaker 1: help that. But the truth is is that the cost
Speaker 1: of manufacturing in China was increasing. So when we started
Speaker 1: going over there thirty forty years ago, forty years ago,
Speaker 1: you know, they're making one or two dollars an hour.
Speaker 1: And now the you know, they have a big middle
Speaker 1: class and the price that's gone up.
Speaker 2: So we're looking around.
Speaker 1: Companies are looking around, and also you want to go
Speaker 1: you want to look at pricing. I mean I had
Speaker 1: to call this morning on this very topic looking at
Speaker 1: manufacturing a particularly commodity in Central America and can we
Speaker 1: do semiconductors in Central America? In Panama? And so there's
Speaker 1: a lot of moving around. If you're a vice president
Speaker 1: of supply chain for a computer company, you're saying, wait,
Speaker 1: we've got way too much stuff in China.
Speaker 2: Because there's political risk.
Speaker 1: There's also already we wanted to diversify a little bit
Speaker 1: because those costs were coming up, and so we've got
Speaker 1: to really think about how are we going to do this.
Speaker 1: And now we're seeing mostly healed supply chain. And that's
Speaker 1: the main reason that inflation has gone down. It's not
Speaker 1: some clever political deal. It's really because supply chains broken.
Speaker 1: Supply chain is what caused inflation.
Speaker 7: Would have never known unless you can The funny thing
Speaker 7: is we buy so much stuff we don't eat. I
Speaker 7: was talking to Google him and I said, we buy
Speaker 7: so much stuff we don't eat. And there's a long
Speaker 7: pause and he said juicer.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I used the juicer. What you every topped? Because Juicer,
Speaker 4: at least there's a function. You go.
Speaker 3: Okay, Instagram really thinks it knows me. It thinks it
Speaker 3: has my number right now.
Speaker 4: All right.
Speaker 3: So if I'm flipping through my Instagram feed and there's
Speaker 3: an item and I look at it, I don't top it,
Speaker 3: I don't touch it, I don't ask for more from it.
Speaker 4: I looked at it. I looked at it for three sections.
Speaker 3: There's a there's a thing now Instagram is trying to
Speaker 3: sell me, and and I may buckle.
Speaker 4: It is a it is a ball. It's a ball
Speaker 4: about the size of the magic eight ball. Yes, it
Speaker 4: seems to be all vents.
Speaker 3: Yes, And if you charge it for two and a
Speaker 3: half hours, for eight minutes, it'll hover and you can
Speaker 3: push it in and it'll go.
Speaker 4: I couldn't tell you I am.
Speaker 3: So I'm sitting there going and I know woul happen.
Speaker 3: If I get this day, I'll take it out of
Speaker 3: the box. I'll charge it and go, oh, oh, look
Speaker 3: at that.
Speaker 4: That's cool. I'll call my kids, I'll go look at that.
Speaker 4: That's cool, and they'll be in the and I'll go
Speaker 4: I don't want to. But you told me the other
Speaker 4: day too.
Speaker 7: Back to Jesus for a second. You said you were
Speaker 7: in packing the kitchen. They're doing stuff, and you said
Speaker 7: to Dana, which is the three justicest you want to keep?
Speaker 4: All I know is in my house.
Speaker 7: I spend a third of the day prepping for this show.
Speaker 7: I spend a third of my day doing family stuff,
Speaker 7: and a third of day breaking down boxes from.
Speaker 4: Oh my god, right, the boxes things.
Speaker 7: He's just it's making me cuch google hime. Hello, Well, professor,
Speaker 7: you're doing that too. You're breaking down boxes all day long. There,
Speaker 7: that's why he's going home deep.
Speaker 4: Feel better, feel better, Yes, David.
Speaker 6: You got to keep up with it.
Speaker 4: You got to keep up with it.
Speaker 9: Well, one thing I just want to this is actually
Speaker 9: there's not a correction, but I just want I don't
Speaker 9: even get into that.
Speaker 4: There is some real angry in there.
Speaker 9: To my friends at Victorious Secret, the scientific name is
Speaker 9: called bromey drophilia because those are the folks that really
Speaker 9: really enjoy the sniffing of the underground. So I think
Speaker 9: they could be your your power sniffers. You know, there
Speaker 9: might be a twelve step program around.
Speaker 7: By the way, they can knock the cost of sniffing. Wait,
Speaker 7: these people, volunt you're speaking about return.
Speaker 9: So I was thinking that perhaps we wanted to talk
Speaker 9: about the top five most famous returns in history.
Speaker 4: Yes, please, professor, Actually, and you know sometimes you can
Speaker 4: find these lists online.
Speaker 9: I actually have compiled this list myself because no one,
Speaker 9: I don't think, has ever deemed it worthy.
Speaker 4: Five returns of all time, of all time. But let
Speaker 4: the professor. Is there a famous praturnity you know about? No,
Speaker 4: you have stumped the band, moving on.
Speaker 7: To another carrigan. No, there's another category. Yes, all right,
Speaker 7: so go ahead.
Speaker 9: Number five General Douglas MacArthur return.
Speaker 2: I shall return.
Speaker 3: I shall return.
Speaker 6: The Philippines he left in nineteen forty two horses.
Speaker 7: While you're listening, I'm going to be nodding.
Speaker 3: Though, you Knowqueen Victoria but a pencil and then she
Speaker 3: went this thing.
Speaker 7: Bro he does the rest of I'm going to be nodding.
Speaker 7: My shoelacens into into a noose. Okay, just because I
Speaker 7: know where this is going, I don't think you do.
Speaker 4: I don't think larger amount of money.
Speaker 2: Number four Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Speaker 7: Famous, Oh my god, Yeah, I'll be back and then
Speaker 7: he's like a medial jumper.
Speaker 4: It's like a remedial like this can't be long category.
Speaker 4: You know what she cares about.
Speaker 10: Here we go number three, No, no, no, number three,
Speaker 10: number three Sean Connery.
Speaker 9: Yeah, he left the role of James Bond after Diamonds
Speaker 9: Are Forever, but.
Speaker 4: He came right.
Speaker 6: Nineteen eighty three.
Speaker 10: Okay, the professor, Yeah here I think he might be
Speaker 10: able to get the Jeopardy play professor smart people on
Speaker 10: March nineteenth, nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 9: At the Sports World on Fire with the two words I'm.
Speaker 2: Back as you returned.
Speaker 4: Yeah, wow, to professional basketball.
Speaker 9: And the number one thing that was the churn.
Speaker 4: Of all time, Yeah, Tom Brady.
Speaker 6: No, the McRib, which makes you.
Speaker 3: To really twist the night because you know, the McDLT
Speaker 3: went down in flames and it's never coming back.
Speaker 4: So you went with the McRib.
Speaker 9: Oh my, And if you have a hankering for it,
Speaker 9: you could go to mcriblocator dot com and find.
Speaker 4: The McRib in your area. Do you know who needed
Speaker 4: to help?
Speaker 3: Just answer your question, do you make a salary from
Speaker 3: this this podcast?
Speaker 7: You know who's the biggest McDonald that's why are you
Speaker 7: kidding me?
Speaker 3: If folks, if you would like to give this episode
Speaker 3: of the show back, it will be here restocking fee.
Speaker 3: You know, I will tell you the one thing that
Speaker 3: I that I should have asked for a refund, and
Speaker 3: I never did.
Speaker 4: Did I tell you the story? Years ago?
Speaker 3: I went to an elite resort with my wife where
Speaker 3: you know, you pay for everything up front, you don't
Speaker 3: pay for everything else. And we get there and everything
Speaker 3: about it was wrong. They lost our bags for a day,
Speaker 3: we had no bags. You go to the rooms, there's
Speaker 3: no lock on the door. Everything's fine here in paradise.
Speaker 3: You don't need a lock on the door. You never
Speaker 3: eat alone, you eat with the community. You don't know anybody. Sure,
Speaker 3: you pay for everything. The big thing was tennis. This
Speaker 3: was a tennis resort. Don't bring your rackets, leave your
Speaker 3: rockets at home. We got everything no cost. Well, that's true.
Speaker 3: They give you the court, they give you the rackets,
Speaker 3: they'll give you a trainer, they give you everything you want.
Speaker 3: Balls are twenty five dollars a dam for a three dollars.
Speaker 4: Can of tennis balls. I went, oh, are you kidding?
Speaker 3: And there was that, and then there was like a
Speaker 3: topless beach and the staff was hitting on my wife,
Speaker 3: and I went, we're out of here. She's supposed to
Speaker 3: be eight days after three days we left, and my
Speaker 3: wife is, will never get the money back?
Speaker 4: I said, I'll get the money back. I will.
Speaker 3: I'll get an excuse and I'll get the money back.
Speaker 3: Never applied. I never applied for the money because I
Speaker 3: was I thought that I don't very rare do I return.
Speaker 7: So the other part of that we return is your
Speaker 7: wife yours also stayed in touch with the Combana people,
Speaker 7: so that, by the way, do you know, professor the
Speaker 7: number one stowaway at him? It's returned accidentally with other returns.
Speaker 7: Do you know what that is? No underwear? Underwear? Underwear
Speaker 7: comes back a lot tangled up in underpants. Number two
Speaker 7: is they vape pins?
Speaker 3: Because return jewelry and then jewelry and jewelry because they're
Speaker 3: in what how are they returned accidentally?
Speaker 7: Because the wife saw the husband sniffing somebody's underwear and
Speaker 7: I said.
Speaker 2: Wow, And a lot of wedding dresses come back, Yes
Speaker 2: they do. Rice, there you go.
Speaker 4: The San Francisco try.
Speaker 3: All right, thank you everybody, We'll be back. And like
Speaker 3: I said, we watch this one. We shall return Really.
Speaker 4: Now, Really.
Speaker 7: Really Now Really.
Speaker 5: A's another episode if Really No Really comes to a close.
Speaker 5: I know you're wondering, are there any purchased items that
Speaker 5: you really can't return? Oh? Of course there are, and
Speaker 5: I'll tell you in a moment. But first let's thank
Speaker 5: our guest, Doctor Dale Rogers. Follow Doctor Dale Rogers on
Speaker 5: x slash, Twitter at Cariska prof find all pertinent links
Speaker 5: in our show notes, our little show hangs out on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube,
Speaker 5: and threads at Really No Really podcast, And of course
Speaker 5: you can share your thoughts and feedback with us.
Speaker 6: Online at reallynoreally dot com.
Speaker 5: If you have a really some amazing factor story that
Speaker 5: boggles your mind, share it with us, and if we
Speaker 5: use it, we will send you a little gift.
Speaker 6: Nothing life changing, obviously, but it's the thought that counts.
Speaker 5: Check out our full episodes on YouTube, hit that subscribe
Speaker 5: button and take that bell so you're updated when we
Speaker 5: release new videos and episodes, which we do each Tuesday.
Speaker 5: So listen and follow us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
Speaker 5: podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 6: So are there items you can really never return?
Speaker 5: There absolutely are, and they include any hazardous materials containing
Speaker 5: flammable liquids or gases, like lighters and nail polish. Most
Speaker 5: electronic devices can't be returned after thirty days of purchase.
Speaker 5: Digital downloads of books, games, music, or movies can't go back.
Speaker 5: Gift cards are not refundable. Food, wine, beer, and spirits.
Speaker 5: You get them, you own them. Live insects and fresh flowers.
Speaker 5: They are yours till death.
Speaker 6: Do you part.
Speaker 5: Prescription medications Hope you don't need them, but you sure
Speaker 5: can't return them.
Speaker 6: Pet food same as people food. You're keeping it.
Speaker 5: And any product missing its serial number or universal product
Speaker 5: code is yours for life. But take heart you can
Speaker 5: sell just about anything, and a number of online sites
Speaker 5: from Facebook, Marketplace to eBay.
Speaker 6: Thanks for listening and to hope you return soon.
Speaker 5: Really No, Really, really no Really is the production of
Speaker 5: iHeartRadio and Blase Entertainment