L.L. Bean Eliminates Its Legendary Lifetime Returns Policy

[Porthos]

In these times you cant have a good return police because so many will abuse it.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...dium=bd&utm_campaign=hosted&cmpId=yhoo.hosted

The Freeport, Maine-based company will impose a one-year limit on returns, executives announced Friday. The return policy was a part of a lifetime satisfaction guarantee, and never meant to be used as an unlimited replenishment method. Shoppers may still return products for any reason prior to the one-year limit.

“Increasingly, a small, but growing number of customers has been interpreting our guarantee well beyond its original intent,” L.L. Bean chairman Shawn Gorman said in a letter to customers Friday. “Some view it as a lifetime product replacement program, expecting refunds for heavily worn products used over many years. Others seek refunds for products that have been purchased through third parties, such as at yard sales.”

About 15 percent of recent returns abused the guarantee, said Mac McKeever, a spokesman for L.L. Bean. That includes items that were returned after decades of use, were damaged beyond repair or had been re-sold at stores such as Goodwill. The rate of abusive returns has doubled over the past five years, costing the company around $250 million during that time, according to McKeever. “It’s not fair to the customers who honor the original spirit of the guarantee, and it’s certainly not sustainable from a business perspective,” he said.

 

[fencepost]

I'm pretty sure I saw something some years ago about people who were making money by scouring resale, etc. shops for items from LLBean then returning them. I think this has been happening for quite a while, it's just that recently it's really cranked up and it's having a serious impact now.
Heck, I read a book probably 20+ years ago about early startups with one funded in part by someone going through and returning all of the clothes he'd ever bought from from LLBean (or similar, disguised in the story). Can't recall the name at this point.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Leave it to some selfish bottom feeding trailer trash people to ruin things for the majority of people.

LL Beam made great stuff way back in the day. Heck I STILL have a pair of their winter duck boots I got back in my teenage years...I put soooo many miles on those boots, and I still have them. Bottom is worn smooth...so shoveling snow in my driveway is a slippery task now! But my feet stay warm and dry!

I still also frequently get their henley shirts and a few dress shirts from them.