Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Amazon warehouse destroys 130,000 unsold items per week: report (Scotland)
NY Post ^ | 6-22-21 | Will Feuer

Posted on 06/22/2021 2:09:34 PM PDT by dynachrome

An Amazon warehouse in Scotland reportedly destroys millions of unsold products every year, according to undercover footage and anonymous employees at the facility.

British news outlet ITV obtained footage from inside the e-commerce giant’s Dunfermline facility that showed laptops, books, jewelry and other still-packaged products being sorted into boxes marked “destroy.”

The items, some of which were new and others which were returned, were then sorted into trucks and taken to recycling centers or landfills, according to the outlet.

“From a Friday to a Friday our target was to generally destroy 130,000 items a week,” a former employee at the site told ITV.

“I used to gasp. There’s no rhyme or reason to what gets destroyed: Dyson fans, Hoovers, the occasional MacBook and iPad; the other day, 20,000 Covid (face) masks still in their wrappers.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: amazon; destroy; scotland
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-65 next last
To: dynachrome

How much money does Amazon really make when they can destroy millions of products?


21 posted on 06/22/2021 2:34:38 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: yldstrk

Try gauging demand accurately for products and figuring out how much to manufacture. If things are popular, you run short. If they aren’t, you have surplus. Optimizing the inventory quantity is really hard. You have to introduce new products to keep up and customers just don’t want the old stuff.

When I worked in China in the mid 70s, I went to three different remote job sites all over the country. The entire country had ONE table lamp for sale everywhere. I swear the entire country had only ONE architect as well and he ordered all building materials in gray. Would you rather have that business model?


22 posted on 06/22/2021 2:35:59 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom ("Pour les vaincre il faut de l'audace, encore de l'audace, toujours de l'audace")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: dynachrome
I don't understand why they are destroying merchandise when there is currently a huge business in purchasing Amazon returned items by the pallet or truckload thru liquidation companies. You bid on the pallets without knowing the contents.
Plenty of videos on youtube showing people making some nice scores for low prices.
23 posted on 06/22/2021 2:36:04 PM PDT by dainbramaged ( Your friends might get me in a rush, but not before I make your head into a canoe.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freedumb2003

“Gone within an hour.”

We remodeled my wifes office. We replaced two of those old style standing stainless steel water fountains.
I dollied one outside and went back in for the other but had
several phone calls to make. Maybe 15-20 minutes later somone had stopped and started lifting it up into their truck. I yelled out we had another and he came and got it too.
Both were gone in a half hour.

This was about 10 years ago when steel and metal was sky high. I was told the stainless water fountains would have brought major bucks.


24 posted on 06/22/2021 2:36:34 PM PDT by setter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: drSteve78

My daughter is remodeling her house. She has sold plenty of her old things on Facebook MarketPlace. She got rid of chainlink swinging gate doors, french doors, oven, cooktop, all of her old kitchen cabinets, and lots more. It’s really surprising how well used stuff sells.


25 posted on 06/22/2021 2:37:28 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom ("Pour les vaincre il faut de l'audace, encore de l'audace, toujours de l'audace")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: dynachrome

All these so-called disadvantaged people, as Communist Chinese supporting companies like Amazon throw away millions of their products.


26 posted on 06/22/2021 2:37:34 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dainbramaged

“I don’t understand why they are destroying merchandise”

Because they can write it off 100%


27 posted on 06/22/2021 2:37:58 PM PDT by setter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: dainbramaged

Anti-Trump Communist Chinese supporting companies like Amazon probably just write it off as a loss.


28 posted on 06/22/2021 2:39:47 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: dynachrome

Amazon filling up the landfills with perfectly good products they throw away. This is a green environmentally friendly company? What a joke.


29 posted on 06/22/2021 2:41:26 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rlmorel
I am going to take a guess that it costs more to return some items to the manufacturer then it does to simply destroy them.

Last week my wife received a huge box that she hadn't ordered. Our address and her name but not ours. She called to inform them that it could be picked up from our place and resent to whoever ordered it, but she was told "thanks for informing us and just keep it". Several items worth $150. The week before that, she called about another delivery that was slightly damaged and wanted to return it for replacement. They also said keep it and they'll send a replacement.

So yes, they seem to not want to bother with returns at all.

30 posted on 06/22/2021 2:56:30 PM PDT by roadcat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: dragnet2

Their actual profit % is fairly low according to a couple of articles I read lately, but they make up for it on the huge volume. I’m sure they get manufacturer credit for a lot of the destroyed stuff by just reverse invoicing.


31 posted on 06/22/2021 2:56:59 PM PDT by RetiredTexasVet (Corrupt Slow Joe Biden is the Bolshevik sock puppet.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: setter
Both were gone in a half hour.

Our scavenger service allows free pickup of large items twice a year. A few weeks ago I put a rusty 5-foot tall compressor tank with a motor outside, along with a stainless steel BBQ stove that was nasty and rusted out inside, and notified the scavenger company for pickup. An hour after putting it outside, an SUV stopped outside and a man tossed them into his car. Scrap metal is money to some people.

32 posted on 06/22/2021 3:02:37 PM PDT by roadcat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: roadcat

Anything you receive in the mail, unsolicited, with your name on it, you can keep...No need to contact anyone...It’s the law.
The law is there to prevent low-lifes from sending you something you didn’t order, then sending you a bill for it later.


33 posted on 06/22/2021 3:10:05 PM PDT by lewislynn ( How long before they replace Martin Luther King Blvd with George Floyd Blvd?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: dynachrome

probably some way of funneling off items to other people or countries, Amazin likely write it off as donation or some noble thing.


34 posted on 06/22/2021 3:19:05 PM PDT by b4me (Repeated lies does Not equal TRUTH. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rdl6989

“Ive never heard of getting a refund and keeping the goods.”

Old policy. If too many Amazon will ban you.


35 posted on 06/22/2021 3:22:53 PM PDT by TexasGator (UF)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: dynachrome

Amazon warehouse destroys 130,000 unsold items.

Tax loophole?.


36 posted on 06/22/2021 3:23:18 PM PDT by Vaduz (women and children to be impacIQ of chimpsted the most.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rdl6989

>>Why?

Why, because bezo’s is evil that’s why. Preaching ‘green’ and ‘raise my taxes’ and ‘take care of the poor’ all the while destroying the environment, avoided taxes at all costs and destroying, rather than donating surplus goods - and the stupid dems lap it all up.


37 posted on 06/22/2021 3:32:47 PM PDT by qwerty1234
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: dynachrome

There were a few you tubers who actually had thriving businesses buying Amazon returns sold at company auctions. They would just buy big boxes labeled “electronics” or “sporting goods” but you did not know what was in the boxes until you bought and paid for them. Surprisingly quite a decent amount of cool unopened stuff was in those auction boxes and sometimes they would get well over $1000 in retail on a couple hundred dollar investment. Just seemed too time consuming to me though.


38 posted on 06/22/2021 3:43:11 PM PDT by XRdsRev (Justice for Bernell Trammell, Trump supporter, murdered in 2020)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dragnet2

I work for a big box store. You would not believe the mark- up on products manufactured in China which is just about everything we sell. Try a total cost to manufacture of five dollars versus a sale price of two hundred dollars. Is it any wonder all of this stuff goes to landfill just because the packaging is broken and the item cannot be hung on the display peg?


39 posted on 06/22/2021 3:44:12 PM PDT by 4Runner
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: 4Runner

Overly-permissive retail return policies are what has created this consumer and environmental disaster.


40 posted on 06/22/2021 3:47:58 PM PDT by 4Runner
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-65 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson