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If you're throwing money away, throw it my way.
Posted Sun May 6, 2012 3:16 pm, by Ruth H. written to CVS
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I went into my local CVS today as I do almost every week, store #1903, and found a clerk bagging up all of the remaining Easter items. They'd been marked 75% off. Most seasoned customers were waiting until the stuff hit 90%, but that never happened. There was a lot on the shelf as a consequence.
The clerk said it was all being discarded, and could no longer be sold to a customer. It was all going in the trash. This was hundreds of dollars, retail at least, in candy and small toys.
Why isn't this merchandise, if it's being ragged out, being donated to a local shelter or children's hospital? You can't ship chocolate this time of year to military bases, it would melt, but tossing it is just wrong. The candy is still perfectly fresh, toys don't go bad, and egg dye lasts forever. Marking it down to 90% off tends to have things cleaned out in short order too - the customers do the work and pay you for the privilege. Either is better than simply throwing money away, literally.
Why throw it all in the garbage when you could get credit for a charitable donation instead? I left the store scratching my head and still don't understand it. CVS has done a few things recently that had me confused; this is just the latest.
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by SuperstarSweets Posted Sat September 8, 2012 @ 6:38 PM
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Just saw this and my CVS threw out entire garbage bins of all summer stuff. From scooters, to beach chairs to pillow pets and I thought the same thing. Was thinking of sending a letter to CVS corporate. THey should be ashmed of themselves as it could be donated to soo many people in need. Just ridiculous!
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by PepperElf Posted Sun May 13, 2012 @ 11:13 AM
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it bears repeating though.... the store might have their hands tied.
if the contracts state "toss it" and they donate it instead, they can be fired for stealing.
i don't think it's right to expect that... not if it means being punished with loss of income.
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by cissy Posted Sat May 12, 2012 @ 1:11 PM
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Could it be that there is an expiry date on the product? The clerk might not be aware but told to pull it.I also take advantage of "after holiday" sales but it usually involves wrapping paper, decorations and cards. I have enough christmas cards and wrapping to get me to 2020. But it was cheap and doesn't spoil.
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used to sell holiday stuff at 90% off, but it wasn't all the locations. The individual stores apparently made the decision.
It was great for me. One year I stocked up on Halloween decorations. I bought about $150 worth of stuff for about $15!
Honestly, I have so much now, that I never thought to go back and look again, but I would guess that some stores still do it if they have a large amount of seasonal merchandise to unload.
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ITA. ABsolutely wasteful. When it gets to the point where they're going to toss it all, why not call any one of a variety of nonprofits (especially small ones) and see if they can use the items?
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at 90% off they are not only selling it way below their own cost, but using up space that newer, full priced merchandise coul occupy. 75% off is also likely below their cost, and you said it yourself, it didn't sell because people were waiting for an even further markdown. maybe next time they won't wait.
Additionally, in some states there are some specific guidelines, tax implications, etc that make donating items more time consuming than it should be. The sad fact is that it is more cost effective to throw away.
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by PepperElf Posted Mon May 7, 2012 @ 5:39 PM
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only thing is it has to be destroyed.
I know you want to see it go to a charity but think about this... why does it have to be this specific store that donates? Why not donate to those charities yourself too? And why does it have to be old stuff? Why not buy new things that aren't left-over junk to give to charity?
I say... before demanding a store do all of this, one should be doing it themselves too.
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by Kelshir Posted Sun May 6, 2012 @ 9:40 PM
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A lot of a time in cases like this it is contact issues between the store and the supplier. If it does not sell the store gets a certain percentage back (can only mark down so low) and must discard of the remaining supplies.
When I worked retail I would see thousands of dollars of good items just thrown away for this reason.
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It may be in the contract, but that doesn't make it any better. Sending it back would be fine, but just tossing it...ugh. The waste in this country is ridiculous. The kicker is some of it was CVS-branded stuff.
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