Among the quirks I picked up from my mom was an aversion to return lines. There’s nothing inherently scary about going to customer service to return something that didn’t work out, but it always made me uncomfortable. More often than not I’d rather chalk it up as a mistake, accept the loss, and avoid any awkwardness about repackaging an item or debating whether it met a store’s policy.
Then I met Sherry, the self-proclaimed Queen of Returns, and my feelings about return lines changed completely.
Sherry takes the opposite approach. If something doesn’t fit, match, or function the way it should, she returns it without hesitation. Maybe that confidence comes from years of working retail on 34th Street in Manhattan, handing out refunds and store credit to customers who returned items without tags or receipts. Whatever the reason, Sherry’s no-fear attitude keeps our home free of “oops purchases” and prevents us from settling for items that aren’t quite right. Over the last four years I’ve gotten much better at returning things — for example, we returned a set of flashcards we bought for the office clothesline after finding cuter ones elsewhere.
In the past five years I’ve moved past my hesitations. Returning items is now part of our DIY process. Some things simply need to be seen or tried in our space to know whether they’ll work. That’s why we’ll bring home an armload of curtain samples or multiple lamp options, and return what doesn’t fit. We recently returned a surge protector that wasn’t Mac-friendly, and that simple act saved us time and prevented settling on something that wasn’t ideal. Rather than spending hours debating in-store as if whatever we buy must remain in the house forever, a “no-fear” return policy speeds things up and reduces clutter. It also saves money — we spend time on returns, but we frequent stores like Target and Home Depot so often that we rarely make trips just to return items. The small investment of time keeps our home from filling up with unnecessary things.
The good news is many of our favorite stores make returns easy. While we haven’t memorized every policy, we can breeze through Target or Home Depot because neither always requires a receipt — Target can often look purchases up using credit card information, and Home Depot can do the same. That means fewer receipts to keep and less wallet clutter. We’ve mentioned elsewhere how minimizing paper can be a small but useful habit for reducing clutter and keeping things streamlined.
We can also tell you from experience that some stores have stricter rules: Michael’s typically requires a receipt for a cash refund and otherwise issues store credit; Walmart sometimes has long return lines; and Babies R’ Us generally won’t process a return without a receipt. Still, most stores will accept returns without much explanation, even for opened items (excluding things like DVDs or medicine). If a cashier asks why we’re returning something, a simple “we didn’t end up needing it” usually works. Sherry, who likes to chat, often gives a bit more detail — for example, “we bought several pillows to see which looked best in the den, so we’re returning the ones that missed the mark.” That usually prompts sympathetic banter with the cashier about how tricky decorating decisions can be, and sometimes the cashier admits they’ll try the same strategy at home.
So while I still feel a little guilty watching a team of red-shirted Target employees handle cartfuls of returns, I now see the return line as a valuable part of our money-saving, clutter-minimizing design process.
How about you? Could you join Sherry on the Queen of Returns throne, or would you and my mom compare notes on avoiding returns at all costs? Maybe working in retail has shaped your view, making returns stressful — or maybe it reminds you that returning things is a consumer right. We’d love to hear your return-related stories and thoughts. Spill it.