You’re Getting Screwed By Free Returns (feat. ‪@Danny-Gonzalez‬)

We made this episode in collaboration with famed internet historian Danny Gonzalez, which means he also made his own ENTIRE EPISODE about getting a box of free returns and having that ruin his life. Check out that video and also a TON of other great videos on his channel: Unboxing Abandoned Amazon Returns (w/@Clim...

And if you’re still not sick of watching me and Danny unbox stuff, check out the full unboxing clip on our patreon page. IN FACT, there are a ton of actually good perks over on the patreon, and support from our Patrons allows us to make videos like the one you probably just watched:   / climatetown

Our good friends at Climate Changemakers made this action playbook, which guides you on the path to getting your state to do something about all this insane waste: https://www.climatechangemakers.org/f...

We referenced Amanda Mull’s writing for The Atlantic a ton in this video, and if you want to check out more yourself, here’s a link: https://www.theatlantic.com/author/am...

We also referenced a great piece by David Owen in The New Yorker throughout the episode, which you should read for yourself: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...

Thanks to Christian Piller from Pollen Returns (https://pollenreturns.com/), Jordan McBain from McBain Recoveries (https://www.mcbainrecoveries.com/), and Brandon Dupsky from Back-Track (https://back-track.com/) for their knowledge and help on this episode.

And a very special thanks to Nice Find Wholesale. They not only let us shoot in their warehouse for an entire day, but they also taught us a bunch about liquidation. Check out their website (https://nicefindwholesale.com/) and also their very own YouTube page  / nicefindwholesale.

And another special thanks to Big Reuse. If you’re in NYC, and you’re looking for secondhand clothes or furniture or books or a bunch of other stuff, you gotta check them out: https://bigreuse.org/pages/big-reuse-...

Sources & Citations

Citations reference first appearance, without repeating for subsequent usage:

• ITV News: Amazon destroying millions of items of unsold stock in one of its UK warehouses every year, ITV News investigation finds (2021)

• CBC News: Tracking Amazon returns: Here's where they really go (2020)

• New Yorker: What Happens to All the Stuff We Return? (2023)

• Optoro: The State of Returns (2024)

• CNBC: Amazon’s Plan To Fix Its Multi-Billion Dollar Returns Problem (2022)

• Harvard Business Review: How I did It: Zappos’s CEO on Going to Extremes for Customers (2010)

• KING-TVs Evening Magazine: Interview with Jeff Bezos (2000)

• Mike789/YouTube: Jeff Bezos BEST laughs compilation EVER !!! (2015)

• The New York Times: Amazon’s Expanding With Deal for Zappos (2009)

• The Atlantic: The Rise of Return-Anything Culture (2015)

• The Atlantic: The Nasty Logistics of Returning Your Too-Small Pants (2021)

• NPR: What Happens When Stores Let Customers Return Whatever They Want? (2013)

• Klarna: Retailers risk losing loyal customers if they get returns wrong, Klarna warns (2021)

• Optoro: The Returns Dilemma (2023)

• Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: E-Commerce Retail Sales as a Percent of Total Sales (Accessed 2024)

• Narvar: State of Returns (2024)

• The New York Times: Returns Are a Headache. More Retailers Are Saying, Just ‘Keep It.’ (2024)

• NBC News: Why ‘wardrobing’ retail fraud soars in the summer (2024)

• Oberlo: How Much Do Returns Cost Retailers? (2007–2023)

• The Atlantic: America Is Drowning in Packages (2023)

• The Wall Street Journal: Amazon to Launch Delivery Service That Would Vie With Fedex, UPS (2018)

• Capital One Shopping: Package Delivery Statistics (2024)

• The Atlantic: This Is What Happens to All the Stuff You Don’t Want (2023)

• CNBC: The Hidden Costs Of Amazon Shipping And Returns (2022)

• McKinsey & Company: Returning to order: Improving returns management for apparel companies (2021)

• CNBC: That sweater you don’t like is a trillion-dollar problem for retailers. These companies want to fix it (2019)

• How-To Geek: What Happens to Amazon Returns? (2023)

• Amazon: Amazon donates 100 million returned items to nonprofits (2022)

• The Saturday Evening Post: Ready-to-Waste: America’s Clothing Crisis (2018)

• Rich Bulger: Going Circular: The Evolution of Reverse Logistics into a Competitive Weapon (2024)

• CNBC: How Amazon plans to fix its massive returns problem (2022)

• The Conversation: Fast fashion: why your online returns may end up in landfill – and what can be done about it (2022)

• Harper’s Bazaar: Why Does Fast Fashion Fall Apart So Quickley? (2023)

• NBC News: Some bargain gifts on Temu come at the cost of quality (2024)

• Vox: Your stuff is actually worse now (2023)

• The Washington Post: Why furniture got so bad (2023)

• US PIRG: You’re not crazy: your appliances were built to fail you (2021)

• Forbes: Planned Obsolescence: Apple Is Not The Only Culprit (2017)

• Changing Markets: Synthetics Anonymous (2023)

• The Guardian: ‘It’s the industry’s dirty secret’: why fashion’s oversupply problem is an environmental disaster (2024)

• Bloomberg: How Fast, Cheap Fashion Is Polluting the Planet (2023)

• Transport Topics: Industry Takes Fresh Look at Reverse Logistics (2024)

• CBC News: Hidden cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up (2020)

• Optoro: 2022 Impact Report (2022)

• CNET: The Metals Inside Your iPhone Are More Precious Than You Thought: Here's Why (2022)

• Narendra Singh, Oladele A. Ogunseitan: Disentangling the worldwide web of e-waste and climate change co-benefits (2022)

• The Guardian: Past the Parcel: how the end of free returns will change the way we shop (2022)

• CNN: Amazon will charge customers a fee for some UPS returns (2023)

• Digital Commerce 360: Retailers are in for a 'tsunami' of holiday returns this year: Salesforce (2023)

• National Retail Federation: 2022 Consumer Returns in the Retail Industry

• Forbes: Italian Court Reveals Dior’s Unethical Supply Chain And Puts Other Luxury Brands On Notice (2024)

• Follow the Money: Sustainable clothing brand Patagonia manufactures in the same factories as fast-fashion; textile workers are being exploited (2023)

• Euractiv: Three years later, a first stock-take of France’s anti-waste law (2023)

Episode Credits

Creator/Host: Rollie Williams

Writers: Rollie Williams & Matt Nelsen

Danny Gonzalez: Danny Gonzalez

Director: Matt Nelsen

Editor: Rollie Williams

Executive Producers: Rollie Williams, Matt Nelsen, Ben Boult, & Daniella Philipson

Cinematography: Ben Boult & Matt Nelsen

Producers: Miranda Manganaro, Kelsey McLaughlin, & Daniella Philipson

Assistant Editors: Laura Conte & Xola Thompson

Production Assistants: Jonathan Gringauz & Milton Vargas

Intro Animator: Ian MK Cessna (https://ianhasawebsite.com/) 

Theme music by: Gratis (https://www.youtube.com/@gratis3241)

Special thanks: Brandon Dupsky, Jordan McBain, Christian Piller

Special thanks to the Civil Liberties Defense Center (https://cldc.org/) for their continued support.