Is it okay to return a book I bought

[Faith1960]

…for the reason that I finished it in one night and it’s in mint condition?

No.

 

[Faith1960]

I always thought it was okay due to these reasons:

-at least a few other people did it.
-it doesn’t really take away from the bottom line (since someone else will just buy the returned item anyway).
-the store surely assumes that some people do this and have factored it in to their costs, so they’re not going to be too upset by this.

But I’m assuming you don’ t think these are good enough reasons -why exactly?

As for another post: if the store has a “no questions asked” return policy, then is that them giving just consent to losing some money on returns, or is it still insufficient reason to return a book?

Utilize your library.

 

[Matrix_Refugee]

You wouldn’t return food to the shop once you’d eaten it, would you?

At the store where I work, a woman once tried to return an unwrapped brick of cheese with a sell-date that had expired six months ago.

It looked like a solid block of mold and it wasn’t even bleu cheese or something like it.

 

[DexUK]

At the store where I work, a woman once tried to return an unwrapped brick of cheese with a sell-date that had expired six months ago.

It looked like a solid block of mold and it wasn’t even bleu cheese or something like it.

I trust she left under no illusions about what the acceptable returns policy was?!

 

[LittleBits]

As someone who works in retail mgmt, I am telling you that legally it is wrong. When ppl use things and return them dishonestly (not saying you are) we take a loss (in the world of retail it’s called “shrink”). When stores have too much “shrink” this results in the loss of money, which in turn results in payroll hours being cut, not being able to hire, and if the “shirnk” is bad enough the store manager being fired.
Having said that, if you did not enjoy the book, or after you read it and thought about it, honestly decided that it wasn’t something you wanted, yes, you can morally and legally return it.

 

[Brywan]

Would you go to a clothing store, buy an outfit, wear it once, and then return it?

Would you go to a hardware store, buy a lawnmower, mow your lawn, wash the mower, and return it?

Would you buy a car, drive it on your vacation to get you where you needed to go, then attempt to return it to the dealership for a full refund?

Would you buy a sofa and love seat, along with a 60 inch flat screen TV, throw a Super Bowl part, and then return the sofa and love seat and TV, saying you were not satisfied?

Actually, I’ve heard of people buying an item of clothing (say, a Prom Dress), tucking the tags inside the garment where they can’t be seen, and then returning it after one wearing…

This would be a deliberate deception–trying to pass off a used item as new.

This topic is on my personal radar screen right now because I just bought a new pair of tennis shoes (without trying them on) and when I went to put them on the other day, I noticed that the soles are dirty and the inside of one of them is filthy-- some kind of brown grease smeared all over the tongue of the shoe. They’ve been worn by someone–if the store manager was aware of this, I should have been given a heads up that the shoes were “used” not new–

I’m planning on returning them this weekend…

 

[Jaypeeto4]

Immoral to return a book cuz you read it in one night and it’s still in mint condition???

I don’t know.
It isn’t very NICE to do that, that’s for sure.

I work on commission for a huge (and extremely wealthy and profitable) department store chain who pays us as little as the law will permit, and pays us commission (5%) on what we sell above our daily “draw” which, in my case, is around 1400 dollars. Anything above that, I am eligible to receive 5% commission, which my company
will STEAL (yes, STEALING is the CORRECT word and term) BACK from me
IF THE CUSTOMER RETURNS the item, for ANY reason (even though THEY encourage Returns through their “generous return policy,” which the customer does not realize is built ENTIRELY on OUR hard work and sweat and costs our stores NOTHING, ZERO, ZILCH, NADA).
So, if you bought a book at a store, where a salesman helped you buy it for, say, $30 hardback, and you read it in one night and return it, and he or she is on commission like me, you just cost that guy $1.50 from his paycheck. Not much, but if 60 people a week do that to him, you cut his paycheck out by $90.00 — four times a month, that’s $360 and can mean the difference between him being able or not able, to afford his groceries or pay his electric bill or buy clothes for his kids.
Habitual returners are thieves-on-the-installment-plan, no matter how they justify it to themselves. Unless the item is broken, or clothing that is way too big, or faulty (such as a juicer that flat out doesn’t work), etc, you should not return it, ESPECIALLY not after you used it. The STORE will get a FULL CREDIT from the vendor for the Return (it is called “damaging out” the item), but the hapless, SUBSISTENCE-WAGE earning salesperson who needs his or her commission to survive, will be the one who pays the price. Plus, deliberately returning a perfectly good item AFTER using it, frankly, is a form of theft. You used it for what you wanted it for, and now you want your money back.
You used it for free. And now you want your money back. That’s stealing on the installment plan. And it hurts hardworking people.

 

[Jaypeeto4]

**Would you go to a clothing store, buy an outfit, wear it once, and then return it?

Would you go to a hardware store, buy a lawnmower, mow your lawn, wash the mower, and return it?

Would you buy a car, drive it on your vacation to get you where you needed to go, then attempt to return it to the dealership for a full refund?

Would you buy a sofa and love seat, along with a 60 inch flat screen TV, throw a Super Bowl part, and then return the sofa and love seat and TV, saying you were not satisfied? **

Actually, Catholic90, that’s precisely what many customers (though thankfully not most) of my nationwide, huge department store chain do regularly. And our chain actually ENCOURAGES IT, NOT merely to make it easy to return a bad product, but TO MAKE THEMSELVES MORE POPULAR. In 99% of cases, the return costs them NOTHING because we damage-out the item and send it back to the vendor for a full credit. What they do, to retain their profit, IS STEAL BACK the commission that WE did the work to earn by selling the item. WE, the little guys who are paid a subsistence wage, actually not even a subsistence wage, this minimum wage, in most places in America, plus commission. We have recently been told that we now have to take back everything, with or without a receipt, with or without ANY proof of purchase from our company, and no matter HOW OLD, USED, FILTHY, ABUSED and DECREPIT the item IS. And boy are the customers (who if on a jury would gladly convict a welfare queen of fraud) EVER taking advantage of it, to OUR, the little salesguy’s, DETRIMENT. They are returning blenders that are used, grimy, smelly, filthy, all scratched up, and haven’t been made or sold in 5 years or more. These aren’t poor people needing a quick buck either. These are middle class to wealthy people doing all this nonsense. But it makes our company “popular.” Disgusting. It’s the same reason they, my company, make a public show of giving to charities. That reason is, as they themselves put it in our meetings,
BRAND IMAGE. They don’t give to charity because they TRULY give a rat’s behind about the poor or children at Christmas, etc, they give for the purpose of enhancing their BRAND IMAGE. What typical, corporate America douchebags. Jesus would blast these corporate bigwigs from hell to breakfast if he were here among them. But rightwing “Christians” won’t, they consider them "successful entrepreneurs,’ to read their political propaganda emails that they send to me. Unlike Jesus, they are in love with the wealthiest upper class and their multibillion dollar corporations. After working in sales, let me tell you, receiving the corporate abuse firsthand, my political views have changed drastically and for very good reason. Try it. Yours probably will too.
The company is at fault for the “generous return” policy, and the customer is at fault for using this stupid and evil (because it hurts the low paid workers) policy to GET SOMETHING FOR ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. We are giving customers free merchandise for returning blenders and food processors and cookware and stuff that is years and years old, used, abused, messed up, dirty and grimy. And we are TOLD to take it back.
These customers are basically stealing. They don’t call it “a steal” for nothing.

 

[TheRealJuliane]

As someone who works in retail mgmt, I am telling you that legally it is wrong. When ppl use things and return them dishonestly (not saying you are) we take a loss (in the world of retail it’s called “shrink”). When stores have too much “shrink” this results in the loss of money, which in turn results in payroll hours being cut, not being able to hire, and if the “shirnk” is bad enough the store manager being fired.
Having said that, if you did not enjoy the book, or after you read it and thought about it, honestly decided that it wasn’t something you wanted, yes, you can morally and legally return it.

No, he can’t. He read the book all the way through, which means he derived something from it and should not return it. He “borrowed” the book and stores aren’t meant for borrowing. He has to keep the book or sell it some other way.

 

[Mrs_Sally]

…for the reason that I finished it in one night and it’s in mint condition?

You’ve gotten plenty of explanations of why this isn’t right. My question is why wouldn’t you want to keep the book? If yo read it in one night, I assume you liked it, it was a “page turner”. Won’t you ever re-read it? Want to lend it to a friend?

If you don’t usually re-read books, then why not just use the library? Or borrow from a friend, buy used, or get an e-reader (books are usually less expensive)?

 

[Newbie2]

At the store where I work, a woman once tried to return an unwrapped brick of cheese with a sell-date that had expired six months ago.

It looked like a solid block of mold and it wasn’t even bleu cheese or something like it.

Hey, as long as she didn’t actually eat any of it…what’s the problem?

 

[fakename]

-the store surely assumes that some people do this and have factored it in to their costs, so they’re not going to be too upset by this.

Which translates into increased costs for everyone. Store makes less, has to increase prices over time to make up for lost sales. So…a seemingly minor action, when compounded, affects everyone who works there or buys books from them.

Here’s another way to look at it; no one is obliged to make use of his rights so I meant that if the store wants to accept the loss of its rightful money then it can. And so I would not be doing anything wrong by returning a used but otherwise fine book since no injustice is done when the right is abdicated.

How would this not apply in this case (I guess if the store intends the exact opposite policy, but returning stuff “with the tags in” happens so often, that it would be likely that they would be alright with some “shrink”)?

(of course I’m still not going to do it probably)

 

[agnes_therese]

…for the reason that I finished it in one night and it’s in mint condition?

No.

 

[JanetF]

Nope, you read it. Donate it to a used book store. Mint condition or not, you read it, the author worked hard to write it and deserves payment

 

[Tenofovir]

…for the reason that I finished it in one night and it’s in mint condition?

Was the book up to your expectations? Was it as advertised? If not, then it was not fit for its given purpose. It would be OK, IMO, to return it. Had you bought a vacuum cleaner and cleaned your house with it but found it more cumbersome than your previous machine, say perhaps it’s too heavy, it would also not be wrong to return it to buy a different unit perhaps from a different shop.

If you enjoyed the book and it was as per expectations then it’s a different affair.

 

[Bran_Stark]

Is that ever a reason to do things?
Also, what if someone came in to buy that book and there were none on the shelf, leaving empty handed. They are then out the sale completely because the item was on ‘loan’ to you.

But what if you just go to the bookstore to browse, read the book while in the store, and then leave without purchasing it. In this case you are preventing other people from buying the book during the period it is “loaned” to you, and you are also gaining the pleasure of reading of the book without paying for it, which seem to be the two main objections here against returning a book you have read. But is anyone going to seriously say that reading a book while browsing in the store is immoral?

 

[Tenofovir]

But what if you just go to the bookstore to browse, read the book while in the store, and then leave without purchasing it. In this case you are preventing other people from buying the book during the period it is “loaned” to you, and you are also gaining the pleasure of reading of the book without paying for it, which seem to be the two main objections here against returning a book you have read. But is anyone going to seriously say that reading a book while browsing in the store is immoral?

Oh I agree. And if the stores are so worried about running out of stock, they should keep spare inventory under the counter, except they don’t because they want to keep their stock levels low to avoid investing too much money in inventory. They can always order a book from the publisher and the customer can come back a few days later or he may as well just buy the book online. Which brings us to those internet shops (especially the budget variety such as the ones found through froogle.com) which undercut brick and mortar sellers. Surely they’re immoral too.

I don’t see a reason why you should pay for a book you “enjoyed” if the book was not what you expected it to be. We would do the same with any physical object. You buy an Espresso machine. You use it several times to find that it’s cumbersome and difficult each time. You hope it gets better with practice but it doesn’t. Sure you made a cup of coffee each time but after 3 or 4 times you give up and return it for a refund. Now obviously you may have enjoyed the free cups but that’s no reason to keep the machine or donate it to someone else. You wasted your time buying the machine, dragging it home, unpacking it, washing it, later repacking it, returning it = your enjoyment was curtailed by the excess activities of handling a product which was not fit for its advertised purpose. Everyone loses. The customer and the shop but it pays to have stock of items which are honestly described and of good quality.

 

[fakename]

To Tenofovir:

That’s interesting.

So you wouldn’t think it is immoral to read a book at a bookstore w/o buying it?

and does anyone have an answer for my previous question?

Here’s another way to look at it; no one is obliged to make use of his rights so I meant that if the store wants to accept the loss of its rightful money then it can. And so I would not be doing anything wrong by returning a used but otherwise fine book since no injustice is done when the right is abdicated.

How would this not apply in this case (I guess if the store intends the exact opposite policy, but returning stuff “with the tags in” happens so often, that it would be likely that they would be alright with some “shrink”)?

 

[Tenofovir]

To Tenofovir:

That’s interesting.

So you wouldn’t think it is immoral to read a book at a bookstore w/o buying it?

and does anyone have an answer for my previous question?

It depends on your intention. You buy a book by looking at the synopsis on the back. You read it but it’s not what you expected. You find that although it’s enjoyable it’s not what you expected. You wanted a romance, the book suggested it was a romance and got a comedy instead. In that setting it would be fine to return it for a refund. You may have finished the book hoping that the promised romance would appear but it didn’t.

However, if the book is what you expected it to be, and you read it and enjoyed it, then I think you should keep it, sell it or give it away.

If however your intention was to return the book anyway, well you’re being dishonest.

An easier point may be a reference book. You buy a reference textbook and although initially you find it may suit your needs, after several days you discover the book is cumbersome or has too much or too little detail and so on. It would be fair to return it, despite having used it several times. Again your intention originally was to buy a book and keep it for good, but sadly the book or your expectations let you down. It would not be immoral to return it then. In fact not returning it may be dishonest too.

Again it depends on your intentions and you should be honest with those. If the book was so good that you read it in one night, keep it.

Same with clothes. You buy a suit. You go to a party wearing it. At the party you find it makes you look fat. Is it moral to return it? I think it is.

I think what makes the issue cloudy here is the issue of intellectual property. If such a thing really exists, and such a thing did not exist before the Enlightenment - all works were communal viz folklore, folk music, folk tales etc. it should be treated as a physical property. Hence my comparison to a vacuum cleaner or an espresso machine. The issue is much easier in works of reference or a technical book. Hence I think if you buy a movie, it was not enjoyable you should return it for a refund too or if you went to a cinema and the film was not what you expected you should be allowed to get a refund the same way if you buy a car and the car does not perform to your expectations you should get a refund.

The key is intention and honesty. If you want to cheat the system by pretending to not like a book, it’s dishonest. If you never intended to buy the book, you’re dishonest. If you did intend to buy the book but the book was substandard it’s fair to return it, after all your intention was not to buy a substandard book.

 

[fakename]

user "Tenofovir":

You buy a book by looking at the synopsis on the back.

do you mean that by looking at the synopsis constitutes buying the book, or do you mean that looking at the synopsis encourages you to buy the book w/o itself constituting a purchase?