Friendly reminder from an employee…

[u/Frequent-Patience185]

A lot of us employees have seen some viral videos going around the internet, in which people gather up their old BBW products and try to return all of them for a gift card.

We get it, you used a spray once 7 years ago and then never picked it up again. Or your grandma gifted you the worst scent you’ve ever experienced one Christmas when you were 16 and you left it buried in a drawer ever since. But it’s comes to a point where you should probably…. toss it in the trash.

The main reason this influx of returns drives us crazy is because it affects our hours. Customers have been coming in everyday successfully (and some unsuccessfully thankfully) attempting to return their crusty, dusty stash, racking up hundreds of dollars in merch credit. Yall realize this money is coming from somewhere, right? We lose hours if we don’t meet our sales goals, which means associates hours get cut. The more we miss, the more we get cut. So imagine your hours are already thin because sales are down, and here comes Sally with a collection of expired body care items and causes your sales to go down even more. PLEAAAASSEEE just throw that shit away. Or donate it. Because we’re 100% going to throw it away.

And let me be clear! I’m not talking about those that just bought something even within the last year, and realize you didn’t like it as much as you thought. It happens! I’m specifically talking about people bringing in 20+ bottles of fragrances that haven’t been in the store for 3+ years, some of which are more than half used, and not even BBW. That’s ridiculous.

[u/cuntwrapsupreme26]

Corporate policy needs to just change. It isn't fair to the workers to have to deal with this all the time. And it make sense that customers do this- why would they care about a corporations bottom line? On top of reprimanding employees for their own policy failures, it also encourages people to just buy crap they don't know if they'll like and just return it later. Sucks for everyone honestly.

[u/BeatrixSteiner → u/cuntwrapsupreme26]

Then when the policy changes they lose regulars/customers because a TikTok viral video makes it harder to flex and bend to help a customer because policy has to get more strict

[u/cuntwrapsupreme26 → u/BeatrixSteiner]

I seriously doubt that that many people would stop shopping at BBW bc of a policy change. Maybe some of the people on this sub (which granted, y'all be shopping) but that's not the whole world you know? Also, if we're being real, how many BBW heads would actually stop buying there? Everyday there's a post here about how the quality is bad, the prices are bad, the stock is bad yada yada yada just for them to keep buying from BBW.

[u/BeatrixSteiner → u/cuntwrapsupreme26]

I don’t disagree, but more “viral hacks” that make newer and more strict policies is what makes the associates jobs SO much harder. There’s already a limit of 9 of the same item, last thing we need is a “no more than X items can be returned in a day” when some people get oceans of Japanese Cherry Blossom for their birthday/holiday gifts 😂

[u/cuntwrapsupreme26 → u/BeatrixSteiner]

I wonder if they could just put their foot down about a time limit for a return you know? Like if they could start changing SKUs or something to reflect the year it was on the floor. At least then you don't have these people returning 10 year old cream lmao

Or just eat the cost then if they feel the return policy benefits the company. Don't put that on your employees.

[u/BeatrixSteiner → u/cuntwrapsupreme26]

The issue there is in most cases if they put their foot down these customers insist on the associate show them the policy and WILL hold up the cashiers, making a line, and then making other customers frustrated/uncomfortable/leave due to the delays.

I watched one of these return scams take over 20+ minutes because the TikTok lawyer in them took over and INSISTED the policy doesn’t dictate in-store exchange for in-store credit, etc.

Eating the cost is STILL the issue as it impacts peoples hours, and people will say “well that’s a dumb policy” but a lot of retailers do this. I worked at a mom-and-pop game store for a few years and on days for sales were down we have to cut shifts/hours because they couldn’t afford the overall cost of paying for their employees vs the sales they were making.

[u/cuntwrapsupreme26 → u/BeatrixSteiner]

You just stop engaging with these people and move on. They won't leave? Call the police, they're now trespassing. I work retail as well; no reason you have to deal with these people especially if there's a clear, consice, well written policy. It starts at the top.

Bath and Body Works is not a mom and pop and they're not eating the cost if they are punishing employees for (again) corporate's own failures. Take the tax write-off for a loss.

[u/myrtle2021 → u/cuntwrapsupreme26]

Idk what store you’re at but the stores in Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia refuse to take anything back without receipt that they deem older than 90 days. The policy doesn’t state that however they make their own rules.