Unsold Items From Online Retailers Also Burned To “Maintain Exclusivity”
The report also states that in many cases, online retailers have been caught destroying products simply because they remained unsold. But why not donate them? The answer, apparently, is that “it’s an image thing. They’re trying to maintain exclusivity.” In other words, if a luxury brand name donated all of its clothes to charity, we would see them everywhere and they could lose their sense of rarity. By destroying unsold goods, consumers will only see those items that were paid for at or near full price. Just ask yourself this – would you pay $500 for a Burberry shirt if you knew you could buy that same shirt three months later at a secondhand store for just a few dollars?
The report ends with a little bit of good news. Specifically, France will be among the first countries to ban the destruction of undamaged returned goods. This will mean that companies will be forced to either take the time and effort to repackage and resell these items, sell them at a discount as secondhand, or donate them. Either way, it will be a lot less wasteful and will have less of a negative impact on the environment.
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Source: CBC
