Dollar Scholar Asks: Why Are Store Return Policies Suddenly Getting Worse?
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This is an excerpt from Dollar Scholar, the Money newsletter where news editor Julia Glum teaches you the modern money lessons you NEED to know. Don't miss the next issue! Sign up at money.com/subscribe and join our community of 160,000+ Scholars.
Have you ever heard of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon? Technically it’s a type of cognitive bias, but it’s most simply defined as “that weird experience where you notice something one time and promptly begin noticing it everywhere, so you start believing it’s occurring more often.”
And I think I’m falling victim to it.
Last year, I tried to return a trio of ill-fitting shirts to Big Bud Press, and… the company wouldn’t take them back. It said my two-week return window had closed. I argued that was too short, as I’d been out of town, but no dice: I couldn’t even get store credit.
Then, in April, I learned of Amazon’s decision to charge customers a $1 fee if they return items to a UPS store instead of a nearby Whole Foods, Kohl’s or Amazon Fresh. By summertime, I straight-up couldn’t escape stories about America’s changing return policies — The Atlantic and the Wall Street Journal published features within days of each other — and now I’ve grown fully suspicious.
Is it the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon? Or...
