Amazon destroying millions of unsold products

[xsquared]

I saw this story on my Yahoo feed but there's more information on ITV News link.

ITV News

I'm astonished how a billion pound company can just do this to save money. I guess it's decisions like this is why they are so profitable!

They could redistribute them to schools, hospitals, charities, shelters, prisons etc...

I think I will use Amazon even less in future. There was a thread a while back for alternatives to shopping at Amazon, I shall find it and post the link here in a bit...

Assume you are an Amazon bot AdvendtureCode?

@ohidoliketobe

It doesn't make it OK at all, but every retail outlet I've ever worked in has done similar (clothing, grocery and DIY). Unfortunately it's not as simple as being so outraged by Amazon you're going to take your custom elsewhere, as it happens everywhere.

I agree. And we also have to consider the wider context. A single shop dumping a couple of items per week isn't headline news. But Amazon are huge, and given the number of small business vendors using their platform, it will probably work out at being 1 or 2 items per vendor. So, exactly the same. In proportion to the sheer scale of what goes through the Amazon warehouses, it's trivial.

It's not ideal but as someone has said they are not alone in doing this and unless someone can tell me of an online store where I can place one order which includes items like a jigsaw puzzle, soy wax for making candles, wild bird food, a bottle of alcohol, a paper shredder, a plant and a table, I will continue to use Amazon.

Oh gawd I worked in a high street retailer many years ago and when the final sale was finished - anything unsold - we had to destroy the unsold clothes - it was a horrible job! And I haven’t ever shooed there since - why couldn’t the staff have taken the clothes or something? We were warned it was stealing !! It’s just terrible

There’s an organisation called In Kind Direct, they take in returned or unsold stock which was destined for landfill and redistribute to charity. There’s schemes out there, it makes me sad when companies still send to landfill

@Badbadbunny

Most of it won't be "Amazon" though. A huge amount of what Amazon sell is actually sold by third parties under their "fulfilment" system. Amazon are merely handling the goods on behalf of thousands of small businesses. It's the small businesses who don't want it back, mostly returns from shoppers, due to the costs of postage back to them, Amazon handling fees, and then, of course, having to check, repack, etc before trying to sell it again. Amazon warehouses don't check/repack items that are returned to them. Hence why it's cheaper for the stock just to be binned. It's not right, but that's how it is. Especially electrical goods - if they're returned, they can't just be resold again without being properly checked over, and even charities don't always accept electrical goods. I think the main problem is how easy it's become to buy things on line and then just send them back and get refunded.

This.

And the further issue is that if Amazon keep for resale or charity things that aren't theirs, there's a real conflict of interest risk there. Imagine yourself as a small business selling through Amazon, Amazon have the power to make sure your products don't sell, you really don't want them having the financial incentive to do so.

@DaisyDreaming I believe Amazon is one of In Kind Direct's largest donors.

@ImbarbaraB no, how weird . I'm just saying as a person who deals with getting what Amazon sends, it works out well for the charity and brings in a fair chunk especially to our high street shops, I'm just offering balance. And as a side note I'm not particularly a fan of Amazon anyway as I dislike what it's done to the high street on the whole.

This is not just Amazon. I recall going to a sample sale of a very expensive shoe designer. I asked what happens to unsold stock and I was told it gets destroyed. I don’t understand the logic here.

@BadLad

I am aware that Amazon isn't the only one, but common in business does not make it okay.

OK. From your OP, specially "I guess it's decisions like this is why they are so profitable!" it didn't seem as though you realised that.

And they can't just redistribute the stuff, for a number of reasons. For starters many of the items don't actually belong to Amazon.

Seems that is the flaw then - items not belonging to Amazon. Just means that as a huge company with massive turnover of profits they can be less accountable.

@DaisyDreaming - the charity i work for received some of these goods.

80% of it was utter rubbish.

A lot of it was fake, which you are not allowed to sell on. Some was unusable as in electrical items withnon UK plugs... so either you sell it very very cheap or give it away (not worth the effort as it has to be PAT tested)
Then there are the items that are challenging to sell on like job lot of 99p paperbacks or bicycle saddle covers! (Nope, I am not kidding!)

All arrived on a big pallet, so you spent hours working through the stuff... grated there was the odd item like a job lot of bath towels or genuine kids toys that are great. But we won't take any more "donations" from Amazon.
They use charities in oder to look good. Giving fake goods to charities for re sale is disgusting!