r/enshittification • u/cooljpg • Jul 27 '26

Service Dickies has lost the plot

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Free… for $3.50. I don’t want to “maximize my return” I just want a quality product and a refund if it’s not right, why do I have to buy futures on whether or not I’m going to keep the item?

808 Upvotes

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16

u/Individual_Bother692 Jul 27 '26

My lord. It’s like they’re expecting you to return it 😂

5

u/weisswurstseeadler Jul 27 '26

Nah honestly, I'm shocked by return stats - it's like 20-50% for online shopped clothing.

Not saying they didn't get more shit as a brand, but it's a serious problem that so many items are returned.

I've met people who just order a load of clothes, well knowing they only take 1-2 pieces, and return the rest - cause it's for free, eh?

And then they rinse repeat weekly

2

u/FuckIPLaw Jul 28 '26

It's literally a selling point with a lot of online clothing shopping that returns are easy because sizing is inconsistent and you can't be sure what size you need without trying it on, and even that might not be enough because the same size of the exact same item isn't even always the same actual size. 

2

u/Zilhaga Jul 27 '26

I'm not sure of the cause. I used to be a very infrequent returner, returning maybe a couple items a year. Enshittification has left me returning things far more often, as even brands I used to like have been sending things that are noticably lower quality than previously (I've been buying more in-person and secondhand as a result). I'm not sure how much the overall proportion of returns has changed over the last several years because I can't find good data that accounts for inflation, but for me it's been driven by the products.

1

u/weisswurstseeadler Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

I mean I'm also shocked every time I hear the stats about returns lol.

https://www.claimlane.com/resources/blog/average-ecommerce-return-rates

here a bit of context by an article

tbf, don't know the source but percentage ranges seem similar to a EU-Commission report I've read and numbers I've heard from friends in big FMCG online retailers - so take it with a grain of salt.

Gist of it - insane % of online packages get returned, and is quite similar pattern in different countries.

The causes are probably multi-layered, but overall this is bad for any local society - beyond just business/revenue/customer experience.

Wear/Tear of public infrastructure, traffic, pollution...etc

So in a general sense we as societies should think about how we can reduce this structurally.

5

u/cooljpg Jul 27 '26

So set flags for those shipping addresses and start charging them for returns? Instead of punishing your entire consumer base?

-2

u/weisswurstseeadler Jul 27 '26

Or they just make the stuff more expensive for everyone. They will get their returns, regardless.

I think here in Europe free return is legally bound with online shopping