Winners Shocker!

I went to Winners today to return a few things I had bought at the final clearance sale that didn't work out for the kids. It wasn't a huge amount ($30), but enough that I didn't want to leave it.

The cashier ripped off the sales tag, then threw the items on the floor behind her. My jaw must have dropped right around the time that her co-workers did! Her co-worker asked her why she was doing that, and was informed that since the clearance sale was over, they were garbage. :eek:

I assume that anything that didn't sell on the final clearance sale was thrown in the trash too. Why couldn't they donate it to charity? I understand they have to protect themselves against fraudulent returns (after March 19, they will not accept any returns without a receipt), but could they not put a mark on the size tag or something to prevent this? Or how about shipping it somewhere like Haiti, where they would be very grateful for donated clothing and shoes?

Winners is one of my favourite stores, but honestly, I was somewhat disgusted by this.

maybe they do donate it? I have no idea what they do with returns at Winners, I thought they just put them back on the racks.

Maybe with the clearance stuff, but not the final clearance stuff. I had to ask her to repeat it to make sure I got it clear, because I couldn't believe my ears!

I have a friend who used to work at Winners and she said that all final clearance items that Winners cannot sell, they donate them to various charities like the salvation army.

In my town, Winners donate all the final clearance stuff that didn't sell to a local charity. They even told me the name of the charity. :)

This was big news back in January relating to H&M & Walmart
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/nyregion/06about.html
http://www.takepart.com/news/2010/01...e-green-claims

They were throwing away clothes after puncturing holes in them so they could not be salvaged..why not donate to third world countries?

I worked at Winners and I know for a fact that items returned as 'damaged' or 'unsellable' for any reason were cut up to prevent people from finding it in the garbage later and returning without a receipt to get store credit. My store manager once cut up a full length winter coat because someone returned it with a zipper that had broken. I guess that's what the new policy is for. I won't specify which location, but it was in Toronto.

It's sad but some stores care more about saving money than helping others. Hopefully other locations do better.

I just sent an email via their website asking them for their policy on this. I'll keep you posted!

While I was at it, I also asked them why their changing rooms are always so disgustingly filthy (not in those exact words, of course!). What's up with that?? Or is it just the changing rooms in the Calgary stores?

Is it obvious I'm PMSing????!!!! :rant:

well I certainly hope with all the poverty these days, they at least give them to charity, or womens shelters, or even ship them to Haiti or Chile...perfectly good clothing doesn't belong in a trash can..

***Oh yeah, two weeks ago, a garbage truck driver in my neighboring town was picking up garbage from the bins at the mall...he got out to do something with the bin, and he was shocked to find HUNDREDS of brand new pairs of NIKE runners in there, tags still on and everything...he contacted the news, who did a story on it and contacted NIKE, and they said "Though they are NEW shoes, they are mis-pairs (where one is bigger or smaller than the other) or they have niks or scratches.."..when the media asked them why not donate them to charity anyways, as out of the hundreds, there were sure to be shoes that could be matched into pairs of proper sizes, they said they would investigate that.."..so sad!

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Originally Posted by Goddess in this Household

I just sent an email via their website asking them for their policy on this. I'll keep you posted!

While I was at it, I also asked them why their changing rooms are always so disgustingly filthy (not in those exact words, of course!). What's up with that?? Or is it just the changing rooms in the Calgary stores?

Is it obvious I'm PMSing????!!!! :rant:

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The changerooms at my local Winners is spotless at all times, I actually enjoy shopping there, unlike the Victoria Winners which is always a mess...

when i worked at Metro stationed in the Fresh2Go department, you would not believe the amount of food we dispose of daily simply because they were "2 hours old". I guess they did not want to risk their reputation in case someone gets sick from "bad food" if they give it away for free to the homeless for example...or reduce the price in fear it would encourage people to wait two hours to get reduced food.

I guess similiar logics might apply here??? I think there are always benefits and consequences/risks to any business decision.

Wow! That`s really something... I hope they actually donate this. They would get great rep for donating it to charities or people that really need rather than throwing it out because of a few nicks... I`m going to Winners tomorrow too :O

i can't imagine why stores would cut up a perfectly good item rather than donate them to homeless shelters or something... it doesn't make ANY SENSE. i guess they aren't thinking that some people wouldn't be in their store to return it, they might actually want to USE IT. ugh. disgusting.

I work for a high end home furnishings company and we have to thrown out lamps, trays, bedding, radios- whatever we sell, that was deemed unsellable, broken or damaged. There aren't many stores in Canada, and it is too expensive to send that which might be salvageable back across the border to one of our outlets. (We once had to destroy a few beautiful crystal lamps, $500 value, because we could get the faulty socket changed out) It is a huge waste- and it kills me every time. But companies are paranoid about the bottom dollar. And they don't want things damaged "deliberately". They are just as paranoid about their employees as they are about the customers.

I worked at Canadian Tire back in 2001 or so, and I remember being very disappointed when I learned that they threw a lot of unsellable merchandise out. For example, someone had returned a sleeping bag that had a tear in it, and it was disposed of in the locked garbage bin in the back room... Boo.

one of the people I regularly ride the bus with does dumpster finds...he has found lots of things in the trash behind Winners and Home Sense. Many things that weren't missing very much at all or that could be fixed easily. His house is full of such items like that...

Maybe one or two such days we go all look in their dumpsters in the back of their store for stuff they throw out might be treasures...there waiting to be had too.

When I worked in retail we took all returned damaged items, cut off the store tag and gave them to a local womens shelter.

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Originally Posted by rhiannon1891

When I worked in retail we took all returned damaged items, cut off the store tag and gave them to a local womens shelter.

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that would be an ideal thing, and greatly appreciated by those who have left everything behind...

These stories are very sad! :(

But I know for sure that, in my town, Winners and Walmart donate the unsell clothes to charity. I even volunteer in a charity that receive clothes from Walmart.

I can't speak for all Winners locations, but I can tell you that at our store, we charity anything we possibly can. Anything that was left over from final clearance all went to charity. As long as we can remove all of the labels, it goes to charity.

ughh its like at timmys today the baker was tossing all the cookies because they were "old" it annoys me that they just throw them out...I was trying to get him to give me the cookies to take back to work haha (The baker is good friends with my dad) but I used to work at timmys so I know the reason they claim to throw them out but its annoying!

CHECK THIS OUT:
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beaut...-goods-562909/

Your story reminded me of this one.

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Originally Posted by Goddess in this Household

I went to Winners today to return a few things I had bought at the final clearance sale that didn't work out for the kids. It wasn't a huge amount ($30), but enough that I didn't want to leave it.

The cashier ripped off the sales tag, then threw the items on the floor behind her. My jaw must have dropped right around the time that her co-workers did! Her co-worker asked her why she was doing that, and was informed that since the clearance sale was over, they were garbage. :eek:

I assume that anything that didn't sell on the final clearance sale was thrown in the trash too. Why couldn't they donate it to charity? I understand they have to protect themselves against fraudulent returns (after March 19, they will not accept any returns without a receipt), but could they not put a mark on the size tag or something to prevent this? Or how about shipping it somewhere like Haiti, where they would be very grateful for donated clothing and shoes?

Winners is one of my favourite stores, but honestly, I was somewhat disgusted by this.

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As you yourself stated, her co-workers were confounded by her actions. This seems to indicate that it was an arbitrary decision on her part - and, thus, not a product of official Winner's policy.

We must remember that, often, cashiers pull rules out of thin air and tend to improvise when handling deals and coupons - because they don't know any better.

So, yeah, let's not blame this on Winners yet, but on a cashier playing a little game of impromptu rule making. Until you hear from the headquarters...

wow, some people are so dramatic!

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Originally Posted by eleventh0fapril

CHECK THIS OUT:
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beaut...-goods-562909/

Your story reminded me of this one.

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Thanks for sharing that eleventhOfapril; I was aware of the practice with some food industries but I had no idea of the clothing ones. This is so wrong. Good for that student for bringing attention to those stores.

Oh gosh. These stores throw away so much stuff its disgusting. When I worked at Walmart years back I watched them "destroy" so many items because they were told by the manufacturer to destroy so theyd get refunded.

Its very upsetting at just how much stores discard.

This is why people dumpster dive.

Final clearances and damaged stuff will be wrote down 1 for charity and 1 for garbage! depends!!!!!

When I worked in a big box store, it was company policy to garbage any food that had left the building then been returned. It was really, really hard to be nice to people who knowingly purchaed too much meat or produce then returned it the next day. Don't get me started on people who would put a large cut of meat in their carts, change their minds then 'hide' it in the clothing section or down another aisle rather than take the time to reurn it to the meat dept.

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Originally Posted by Onshopper

When I worked in a big box store, it was company policy to garbage any food that had left the building then been returned. It was really, really hard to be nice to people who knowingly purchaed too much meat or produce then returned it the next day. Don't get me started on people who would put a large cut of meat in their carts, change their minds then 'hide' it in the clothing section or down another aisle rather than take the time to reurn it to the meat dept.

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I can understand this though - you would have liability issues if the food was tampered with. Unfortunately, there are some sick people out there.

As for the perishables in the aisles....this is one of my pet peeves too. How lazy can you get?

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Originally Posted by trucks12trucks

They were throwing away clothes after puncturing holes in them so they could not be salvaged..why not donate to third world countries?

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a lot of these so-called "donations" to charities will be cleaned, sewed, and sold to third world countries. the money they earn in turn will pay for their round-trip vacations. heard this from a friend's friend, who was boasting her many free vacations with her family because of her involvement and position in some charity organization.