Return Policy

It's not about not being "concerned with the satisfaction of their
customers," it's about the "customers" who have abused the more
lenient policies in the past. I worked for B&N stores for years and
saw many changes to the return policy; each change was meant to
tighten up the policy even more.

When I first started there as a supervisor, we still had the paper
store credits, written out by hand on triplicate forms. We kept the
store copy in a file, and we had one customer who was such a habitual
abuser of the policy that we started to collect all of his credit
slips from the file to make a case for banning him from making any
more returns. I went through and pulled out a stack that was more than
a quarter-inch thick, all from less than a year and half time
frame...and this was very thin paper.

Another time, when we had moved to electronic store credit cards, I
had a customer with an old card (we were in the second-generation of
card designs at the time, so I knew she had had this card for quite
some time) purchase around $100 worth of merchandise. When I glanced
at the receipt to tell her the remaining balance, I saw that the
remainder was over $1000 (yes, thousand). Most likely she added to it
every time she returned something, because there is no way someone
would have given a store credit for that large an amount at once.

These are the kinds of people you can thank for the strict return
policies.

I'm shocked that you have never shopped at a store that required a
receipt for returns. I thought that was a given at most, if not all,
places now.

I say congratulations to B&N. When I worked at a bookstore, many
people treated it like a library. They would buy a book then return it
during the 30 day return policy. As long as the book was in re-sale
able condition, then it was okay with corporate. Magazines were never
returnable. We also had problems with customers bringing books up to
the register for return that they had grabbed off the shelf. I know
this because we could look up that title in the computer to see when
the last time it was sold. All our books had store specific price
stickers on the back with the store number coded on it.

If you want to buy someone a gift of a book, it's better to give them
a gift card. That way, you know they don't already have it and they
can pick out whatever they want.

I didn't know people returned books. I mean...I love books, even the
bad ones. Return books?

I suppose they have such a strict policy at bookstores so people don't
treat it like a library.

Barnes and Noble actually has a very strict return policy...not only
do they require a receipt but they limit returns to 14 days. If you
are over 14 days, no return or exchange even with the receipt. This
includes books, magazines, AND all the non-book stuff they sell there
(stationary, games, etc). I get 14 days for books (that's why we have
libraries) but not for all other other gift items they sell (luckily,
I can get those items at Target or Walmart which have longer return
windows). For this reason, I choose not to shop for presents there.
It can be difficult to return a gift within that window even with a
receipt.

The fact is, their return policy is well posted- that's how I know it.
The gift giver could clearly see it when he or she checked out and
chose not to include a gift receipt. Now you can choose not to shop
there and use your money elsewhere.

I wholeheartedly support all stores that have a return policy that
protects both the store and those who shop there.

If you believe it is only small stores that do this, you must shop
even less than I do.

A gift should be treated the same way as any other item that may need
to be returned. Keep the receipt. I ALWAYS did this at Christmas,
even 25 years ago.

I remember the day when bookstores accepted no returns, at all.

So tape the darn gift receipt on the inside cover of a book, or tuck
it in the pages. Or if you're so unsure of your gift selection, give
them a gift card.

GOod luck returning anything anywhere without a receipt, other than
maybe WAlmart, which doesn't get a penny from me anyway.