Bin Stores: The Final Destination for Amazon’s Endless Returns
Each and every day we are bombarded by ads to buy stuff. The internet’s literally built for this because the com in .com is short for Commercial. The early days of the web were filled with the promise to see something you wanted, click a button, and it would arrive on your doorstep. Amazon made that a reality and the place where you once could only buy books has turned into the largest flea market in the world.
But when that thing arrives and it’s not what you ultimately want, the underbelly of that 90s promise begins to emerge: returns. Sure, returning an item makes sense and is generally free. You click some buttons on your order without even needing to talk to a human, pack it back up, and either drop it off or Amazon picks it up from your door. Done and done. However, a return is far from the idea of ‘this item will be resold’ and you don’t need to be an investigative journalist to see why.
Because a new kind of store is popping up across the country. They’ve been around for a few years and recently came to my neck of the woods. And it’s where Amazon returns have one final chance at use before their untimely end.
They’re known as Bin Stores.
