Their future doesn’t look too bright.
This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning.
When my colleague Amanda Mull “ventured into the belly of the holiday-returns beast,” she learned that somewhere in the midst of a complex system of transporters, warehousers, and resellers, a guy named Michael has to sniff the sweatpants.
“Michael,” Amanda explains, “is one of dozens of material handlers—the official job title—at the Inmar Intelligence returns-processing center in Breinigsville, Pennsylvania … Material handlers are charged with determining a return’s ultimate fate—whether it goes back to the retailer to be sold anew, gets destroyed, or something in between.”
Today’s newsletter explores the possible fates of your holiday-reason returns. Their future doesn’t look too bright.
On Returns
This Is What Happens to All the Stuff You Don’t Want
By Amanda Mull
I ventured into the belly of the holiday-returns beast.
The Nasty Logistics of Returning Your Too-Small Pants
By Amanda Mull
What happens to the stuff you order online after you send it back?
‘We Are All Accumulating Mountains of Things’
By Alana Semuels
How online shopping and cheap prices are turning Americans into hoarders
Still Curious?
Other Diversions
P.S.
If you’re hoping to buy a loved one something they won’t return, Kelly Conaboy has one tip: Don’t use a gift guide.
— Isabel
The Fate of Your Holiday-Season Returns
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16.12.2023
Their future doesn’t look too bright.
This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning.
When my colleague Amanda Mull “ventured into the belly of the holiday-returns beast,” she learned that somewhere in the midst of a complex system of transporters,........
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