H&M and Wal-Mart Destroy and Trash Unsold Goods

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This week the New York Times reported a disheartening story about two of the largest retail chains. You see, instead of taking unsold items to sample sales or donating them to people in need, H&M and Wal-Mart have been throwing them out in giant trash bags. And in the case that someone may stumble on these bags and try to keep or re-sell the items, these companies have gone ahead and slashed up garments, cut off the sleeves of coats, and sliced holes in shoes so they are unwearable.

This unsettling discovery was made by graduate student Cynthia Magnus outside the back entrance of H&M on 35th street in New York City. Just a few doors down, she also found hundreds of Wal-Mart tagged items with holes made in them that were dumped by a contractor. On December 7, she spotted 20 bags of clothing outside of H&M including, "gloves with the fingers cut off, warm socks, cute patent leather Mary Jane school shoes, maybe for fourth graders, with the instep cut up with a scissor, men’s jackets, slashed across the body and the arms. The puffy fiber fill was coming out in big white cotton balls.â€

The New York Times points out that one-third of the city's population is poor, which makes this behavior not only wasteful and sad, but downright irresponsible. Wal-Mart spokeswoman, Melissa Hill, acted surprised that these items were found, claiming they typically donate all unworn merchandise to charity. When reporters went around the corner from H&M to a collections drop-off for charity organization New York Cares, spokesperson Colleen Farrell said, “We’d be glad to take unworn coats, and companies often send them to us."

After several days of no response from H&M, the company made a statement today, promising to stop destroying the garments at the midtown Manhattan location. They said they will donate the items to charity. H&M spokeswoman Nicole Christie said, "It will not happen again," and that the company would make sure none of the other locations would do so either. Hopefully that's the final word. [NY Times][Huff Post]

Source

 
Restuarants do the same with leftover food at the end of the night....its sad.

 
how strange that it didn't occur to them to give them to charity earlier - really, very strange and foolish!

 
Uhm....that's business.

In the case of Walmart, they reduce (prices) as much as they can, then they trash it and write it off to be refunded from the vendor. In accordance with an agreement with their vendor, the clothes have to be destroyed in order to be compensated. Otherwise if they do not, they still have to pay for them, and then the masses with complain about how high prices are on items because that step is skipped.

In the case of restaurants, they have to do the same thing. Donating food is actually more costly than simply throwing it in the trash and being refunded for the inventory.

We live in a day and age where cost to us matter over donating to the poor. More people would complain about rising costs then they would what the less fortunate has. Sad...but true.

 
Yeah, not surprised. It it is business. Just like McDonald's throwing away a burger after 10 minutes or whatever.

 
that is really disturbing. it seems to me that cutting holes in each item is more energy consuming than just packing the things up and donating them... I don't get it...
 
We just donated 285 double and king size mattresses, *less than a year old*, to the Veteran's Center for the homeless Vets as well as hundreds of towels, hand cloths and other linens. The cost to us was very minimal as they were more than happy to come and pick them up. Awesome people. In most cases they would be more than willing to do such a thing so the many places that claim it cost more to donate than to trash really have a weak argument. If they aren't because of a contract clause, then maybe they should renegotiate those contracts with their vendors.

 
To the people that live in the United States...where have you been all this time that it is now some big shock!

I mean no offense but after reading this article in 1939482349 other places...the shock is more disgusting than the story itself as a consumer you should know by now:

* some of your items are made in sweatshops, they have claimed to stop and still do

* cost to manufacture is 10 times less than what you pay

* items not sold are destroyed after constant markdown

* Donations are simply for PR and tax purposes, not for love

*workers are treated poorly (walmart anyone? Nike sweatshops anyone?)

If you are looking for a loving business, then support your SMALL BUSINESSES. But if you are expecting love and consideration from big business, then boycott!

Are we attacking Louis Vuitton because he destroys bags that are defective or returned? Or MAC that throws un-used returned products in the trash? You make the monster, you feed the monster and then you want to kill the monster? Cant have your way people....sorry you're tardy for the party.

 
Target donates to Goodwill. I don't see why Walmart or whoever else can't do the same.

 
Originally Posted by Aprill /img/forum/go_quote.gif To the people that live in the United States...where have you been all this time that it is now some big shock!
I mean no offense but after reading this article in 1939482349 other places...the shock is more disgusting than the story itself as a consumer you should know by now:

* some of your items are made in sweatshops, they have claimed to stop and still do

* cost to manufacture is 10 times less than what you pay

* items not sold are destroyed after constant markdown

* Donations are simply for PR and tax purposes, not for love

*workers are treated poorly (walmart anyone? Nike sweatshops anyone?)

If you are looking for a loving business, then support your SMALL BUSINESSES. But if you are expecting love and consideration from big business, then boycott!

Are we attacking Louis Vuitton because he destroys bags that are defective or returned? Or MAC that throws un-used returned products in the trash? You make the monster, you feed the monster and then you want to kill the monster? Cant have your way people....sorry you're tardy for the party.

Yeah.This isn't new news, people.

People just blindly go about their lives and don't examine the world around them which is sad that throwing out clothes.

Cutting up clothes has been the standard in retail for a very long time, sad but true.

It's never been a secret but one news report comes out and everyone is dismayed because no one ever looks at what's going on, they just spend, spend spend and don't examine how the industry works.

Hell yeah, most of the lower priced clothes are from sweat shops- they can't be that low of a price without sweatshops.

Hell yeah the clothes get trashed because they have to be proactive to make sure people don't resell what the stores have contracted for already rock bottom pricing.

I just think they could probably put a donation clause in the contracts for unsold merchandise, though.

 
I worked at CVS for years. When we couldn't get rid of makeup...I can't belive I'm telling this we had to throw it out. Bag and bags full of over stock. I lived in a small town. Let me tell you even when my boss let me set grandma, sisters and everyone up that I knew, you couldn't do anything else with it. I does go bad. One good thing to know my sister works for Starbucks and they do get to take the goodies home when they get a lil out of date, but are still good. So they don't waste them.

 
Originally Posted by akathegnat /img/forum/go_quote.gif I worked at CVS for years. When we couldn't get rid of makeup...I can't belive I'm telling this we had to throw it out. Bag and bags full of over stock. I lived in a small town. Let me tell you even when my boss let me set grandma, sisters and everyone up that I knew, you couldn't do anything else with it. I does go bad. One good thing to know my sister works for Starbucks and they do get to take the goodies home when they get a lil out of date, but are still good. So they don't waste them. Oh, I believe it- there is a thread or two on her about mac being thrown out and other brands, I am sure.
 
Originally Posted by Jinx /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah.This isn't new news, people.

People just blindly go about their lives and don't examine the world around them which is sad that throwing out clothes.

Cutting up clothes has been the standard in retail for a very long time, sad but true.

It's never been a secret but one news report comes out and everyone is dismayed because no one ever looks at what's going on, they just spend, spend spend and don't examine how the industry works.

Hell yeah, most of the lower priced clothes are from sweat shops- they can't be that low of a price without sweatshops.

Hell yeah the clothes get trashed because they have to be proactive to make sure people don't resell what the stores have contracted for already rock bottom pricing.

I just think they could probably put a donation clause in the contracts for unsold merchandise, though.

Exactly. I negotiate and then I renegotiate contracts almost daily. Very rarely do I ever not get what I am ultimately after in the contract.
 
Originally Posted by ~Angela~ /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah, not surprised. It it is business. Just like McDonald's throwing away a burger after 10 minutes or whatever. Yup, it's 10 minutes. After, it's cold, and also why they do that is to keep the bacteria at bay, you need to be between certain temperatures, lower and higher means proliferation. Bacteria is the #1 ennemy in a restaurant, it only takes a few to put you down, like e coli or listeria. So each day, it's standard procedure to check the temperature the meat is cooked. So always check that this time is respected, because it's your right as a customer to have a freshly made burger with a minimal risk for your health.

Back to the original subject, it's not really surprising, we're too busy buying to notice how it works. It's all about image i suppose, once outed, you put a good face in public by swearing to donate more. Still, i understand it can shock people in nowadays' context.

 
The food thing I get...bacteria is never a good thing. But as someone pointed out in this thread, they get credited by the vendor for unsold merch....so why the need to cut holes and destroy the clothes?!

 
Not surprised. It's faster to trash unsold stuff than it is to pack it up for donations or for store credit. Nothing wrong with being public shamed if it gets companies to straighten up and fly right.

 
they cut it up so that it can't be resold somewhere else by dumpster divers or employees that might steal.

if they donate it, I assume that counts as being resold as thrift stores do just that- sell it.

But like I said, I think there could be a donation clause for unsold merchandise written into a contract.

 
It would be nice if they donated it but I doubt it will happen. Too much money is at stake.

 

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