[♪♪♪] [David] This is
your Marketplace. The season premiere starts now. [♪♪♪] [David] What Amazon
doesn't want you to know. I would love to see
where Amazon returns end up. We couldn't
handle all of Amazon. It's like
cockroaches, it multiplies. [David] Opening up the
secretive world of your returns. That's disgusting. [David] Liquidation deals? Or did we just buy a
whole truckload of trash? This is
returns, this is garbage. That's insane. [David] The true cost
of those free returns, only on your Marketplace. [♪♪♪] [David] Amazon is a giant, and
one of the first e-retailers to introduce easy,
often free returns. But ever wonder where
those returns end up? What is this, all Amazon stuff? Amazon won't tell us. They want to keep it a secret.
How many customers you got? A lot. [David] So we're picking up
pallets of their returns we bought on a
third-party virtual auction. Crock pot, camp toilets. Lots of them are happening. Could be because in stores, only
around one in ten purchases is brought back. But online that number
can jump to 40%. Just take a look
inside this warehouse, shelves filled with
unwanted Amazon returns. [David] These men don't
know Marketplace producers are filming on their phones, and probably tell us
more than they should. We're blurring their
faces to protect them. [David] We're talking about
billions of dollars worth of merchandise being sent
back across North America. But where does it all go? It's the hidden side of online
shopping that most of us don't know much about but should. We're about to find out the
true costs of free returns. [♪♪♪] All right, let's open these up. [David] We buy these
on Amazon ourselves. Boots.
Look at that. Oh, those are nice boots. We've got the ladies'
backpacks here. I've got overalls. We've got lots of pockets. [David] There's bedsheets,
diapers, a train toy. Lots of blocks, too. Okay, are we ready? Let's get these trackers in. [David] All Amazon purchases,
all going right back and all with these GPS
devices hidden inside. I'm going to put the tracker
in the toe of the boots and it just fits right in there. We're going to tuck
the tracker in here. I'm gonna put the
tracker in the overalls. Okay.
That looks good. That looks good, right? I'm gonna actually
stick it to a block, and then I'm going to throw some
blocks around it. Hey there, guys. [David] We team up with
the Basel Action Network. All right, guys, we want to
check to make sure that you have a signal for each
of the trackers. Definitely. [David] It's a Seattle based
environmental group specializing in tracking waste
across the globe. The tracker inside and taped down. Can you let
me know if it is pinging? I'm looking
at our portal back here. That handbag is
live and pinging. [David] These devices become
our guide into the secretive side of e-commerce. I'm going to
hit the tracker now. Yeah, it's right at the CBC. [David] Next, send them back. It couldn't be easier. Print the shipping label. Drop off all the
returns, trackers inside. And we're not the only
ones sending stuff back. Eddie, you want
to hold the balloons? Wanna hold this? [David] Meet Magida el
Tamani and her sister, Sarah. Okay, let's see
the baby duck. [David] Hi, there. They're big Amazon shoppers. Tell me about some of the things
you've got here. Sure, so I've
purchased a juicer, a grill for the summertime,
also the starfruit pump 'n' slice. You got an alligator? The alligator-- I have a
friend who's obsessed with alligators. What do you
like most about Amazon? I personally love the
fact that I can price match. There's also endless options. So, I like that everything is
centralized in one spot for me. Anything you'd add? I love the fact that
their return is so seamless. They'll send you by e-mail, you
know, the return label and you just send it off in
case you're not-- -Easy peasy.
-Yeah, so, I love it. [David] Magida is
helping us with our test. I'm going to put this
tracker into the box, put the screws back in. Take it back, let's
see where it goes. -Thanks a lot.
-Thank you. [David] See you. Within hours of dropping the
returns off at our local post offices... ..they're on the move. All passing through
this Canada Post facility in
Mississauga, Ontario. -[David] Then...
-What is this building? Your destination
is on the right. [David] ..an unexpected turn. Should we just walk
around a little bit? Yeah. We know we have
the blocks here. What else is here? I think the
blocks and the boots. [David] Turns out, it's where
Canada Post processes returns. So we ask them how many Amazon
packages they get a day. Canada Post won't tell us, saying they can't
share client info, so we keep digging. Our tracked packages make their
way to this Amazon warehouse, west of Toronto. But most don't stay long. They're spreading. Just like Amazon itself,
with massive warehouses opening across Ontario. With that enormous growth comes
an enormous environmental cost. Amazon admitted in 2019 it spews
out as much carbon dioxide as a small country. So last year, a pledge
from CEO Jeff Bezos. Today, we are announcing
the climate pledge. Amazon becomes the first
signatory to the climate pledge. [David] But as
Amazon goes green, we're asking whether returns
are included in that pledge. Online returns are not
just an Amazon problem. But they are the biggest
e-retailer in Canada. So we ask them repeatedly, what happens to
all those returns? They won't tell us. But do say that they are
committed to the environment, and also to reducing waste. [♪♪♪] [David] Eco-blogger Meera Jain
would like to see Amazon say more. Amazon is a
multi-billion corporation and I think they have a lot
of clout to do good, but I'm not sure that they're
using their power and influence in the right way right now. I expect them to be conscious
of their carbon footprint. What do you
guys feel like doing? Painting! Painting?
All right! [David] Meera is a mom of
two, a teacher and tries to live waste free. What do you
have going on there? Rainbow. [David] She worries about the
impact online shopping has on the environment and
wants to know more. I would love to see
where Amazon returns end up. I think accountability and
being open as a business is so important especially as
a conscious consumer. And so for me to know-- even to
find out that they were not going in the right place would
help me make my decisions a lot more effectively. [David] From this one warehouse, most of the returns
hit the road, quickly adding up kilometres
and carbon emissions. Remember those
overalls we returned? They criss-cross the
Greater Toronto Area. After 170 kilometres,
they stop here. We look up what they
do at this facility. Electronics recycling
and product destruction? But there was nothing
wrong with the overalls, so why are they here? I got the mug here. The mug hidden camera is on. We're gonna
turn this thing on. [David] We're going in
undercover to find out. That's a nice, clear shot. [David] Our cameraman's
filming from inside his van too. [David] We're posing as
potential clients with pallets of Amazon returns. [David] We're not
showing this manager's face because she's
just doing her job. [David] What's that? Three to five truckloads
a week?! She gives us a tour and shows us
the industrial size shredders inside. [David] After shredding,
she says most gets recycled, but admits not all. [♪♪♪] [David] Inside those walls is
a place that takes truckloads of Amazon returns every single
week and they have a massive industrial shredder in there. Why?! Our recycling system, not only
in Canada but around the world, is extremely, extremely broken. Recycling is, like, our last
resort when we think about how we want to dispose of items. We could re-sell,
we could re-gift, we could re-home
somehow, re-use it somehow. That would be, like, way
preferable to recycling. [David] Amazon says the
overalls were sent to the e-waste facility by mistake. One that led us here to uncover
how some Amazon returns are ending up recycled or destroyed. But those overalls
are still on the move. This is
returns, this is garbage. These online companies, they
can't keep up with the returns. [David] The true cost of those
free returns continues on your Marketplace. Get more Marketplace. Sign up for our
weekly newsletter, cbc.ca/marketplace. [David] This is
your Marketplace. [David] We're tracking what
Amazon does with your returns. I got overalls. [David] Including a perfectly
good pair of overalls that we sent back. That looks good. That looks good, right? [David] We follow them to this
facility and learn truckloads of Amazon returns end up here
to be recycled or destroyed. We do product destruction. [David] But unlike all
those truckloads of returns our overalls keep moving and the
tracker shoots us a signal from the road. Since we sent
them back to Amazon, the overalls make five stops and
travel over 200 kilometres, to get here. [♪♪♪] [David] See anything there? You can't really see
anything through here. [David] All right, let me take
a look over the door. Well, it's kind of
like a warehouse. There's all sorts of
Philips head shavers. There's just boxes and
boxes of all sorts of things. It almost looks
like a liquidator. [David] Turns out a lot
of online returns, including Amazon's,
end up at liquidators. -Roy!
-David, how are you? Nice to meet you. Good to meet you. So, we got three pallets
in here. You willing to take a look at it
for me? Yeah, I'll take a look! You got a little
more experience. Roy Dirnbeck's been in the
liquidation business for over 25 years with several stores
across the country. I'm going to put
these three out here and we'll
see what you got. All right, let's do it. Remember those pallets of
Amazon returns we bought from a liquidator? We're about to find out
what they're really worth. They put the best stuff on
the outside, so any good, big brand names like
Weber or whatever, the good stuff's going to
be all on the outside. When you start digging in the
middle that's where they're gonna throw in the rest
of the junk. When you
see this, right now, what do you think? This is returns,
this is garbage, this is stuff companies,
especially these online companies, they can't
keep up with the returns, so they just find fast
ways to sell it by the skid, the truckload,
trailer-load, whatever. You seeing more of this? Trailers and
trailers every day. Okay, let's crack
it open and see what we got. Let's see what you've got. [David] We've got
two piles going. Things he can sell again,
and things he would lose, or toss out. It's a used food product.
I would get rid of it. -[David] Okay, what about this?
-Toys are always easy to sell. It says "defective", then just
throw it out because now we already know it doesn't work. [David] Foldable burlaps
storage cubes? Storage cubes, everybody
is always trying to organize. Here, we got a guitar, man. Let's see what kind
of guitar we got. [David] Strings are
broken and so is the guitar. Roy shows us that at least
a third of these Amazon returns that ended up in liquidation, he
thinks would probably be tossed in the garbage. When you think about the volume
of stuff you've seen over your career, like, a lot of
this stuff comes from Amazon, returns from Amazon, how much
of that is just ending up in the dumpster? I'm scared to think about how
much stuff is going back to the landfills because it's endless
amounts of this stuff every day. [David] You're actually trying
to filter some of it and give it -a new life.
-I do. I try not to send
it to the landfill. If it's something
that's got some value, I can save somebody some
money, I'll try and resell it. But can you
save everything? No, obviously.
Look. Look how much trash we
got out of your three skids. [David] All this trash shows
that even returns Amazon sends to liquidation for a new life
can end up as garbage. While there are
no Canadian stats, American experts estimate five
billion pounds of returns from all retailers end up in
US landfills every year. -Hi, David.
-[David] How are you? Good.
How are you? [David] Meera's tagging
along as we see where one of our returns ended up. [David] We're here to
show you something here. Oh, no.
I'm worried. So I'm thinking that this
is where the Amazon returns get stored. [David] Not quite, but she's
about to find out and Magida joins us, too. Remember, she's a
big Amazon shopper. Meera, not so much. So we bought all these things on
Amazon including a bag just like this.
You like it? -It's awesome.
-[David] It's awesome. Okay. So we returned it,
totally good condition, and we wanna show
you where it ended up. Okay. I'm not thinking
it's anything good. I just truly have
so many questions. It does make you
rethink shopping at Amazon. Ultimately, it's the consumer
who's actually paying for that. [David] Digging for
answers on your Marketplace. Do you have a story
you think Marketplace should investigate next? Tell us all about it
on email, Twitter, and Facebook. [David] This is
your Marketplace. We're tracking
Amazon returns. And we're about to reveal where
the retail giant sent a brand new bag like this one. -I love it.
-[David] Would you buy this? I, for sure, would. Like, you would
buy it from me right now. Of course. [David] Okay, so we
took one just like this, in just as good condition,
and returned it to Amazon. And where do you
think Amazon sent it? I would love to
guess right here. That garbage location
across the street. That's insane! Oh, my God! -I'm not happy.
-[David] You're not happy? I'm not happy! I'm just truly shocked by
that because it's in perfect condition, so for it to end up
in a waste management facility to me is truly
shocking because, like I said, I would want that bag. What's upsetting about that
is that if I'd known that they were going to the
garbage anyways, then I would just re-sell that. Right? Or donate it, or let
someone else have use of it. Yeah, exactly. My question, too, is why are
they offering returns for free if this is what's happening? [David] All great questions. Unfortunately, we have
some recyclables that should not be in here. [David] And we take them to
Professor Kevin Lyons at Rutgers University in New Jersey. He spends as much time in
the landfill as the classroom. He's got a PhD in supply
chain environmental management. So a backpack just like this
one, we returned it, Amazon... tossed it in the garbage. What do you think about that? That's disappointing. They did-- probably, I don't
know this for a fact, obviously, but some kind of cost value analysis and found out
you know what, this is gonna cost us more to
try to sell it again than to just toss it in the trash. So that's unfortunate. I think most folks
would be outraged. When you look at things that
could have been utilized by others who might be in need,
it absolutely disturbs me and I think a lot of other consumers
would be very disappointed as well. [David] When we ask
Amazon why the bag was tossed, they say it arrived
damaged and couldn't be resold. So in this case, who
decided it couldn't be resold? Amazon did. We dig up Amazon Canada's
business agreement with those who sell on the site. Sellers are only given two
options when a customer returns a product, either pay to ship it
back or pay Amazon to dispose of it by selling,
recycling, donating, or destroying it. [ Speaking French ] [David] An investigation
in France found Amazon throwing out
hundreds of thousands of unsold goods and returns. Shortly after, Amazon starts a
new donations program for their third-party sellers. There's one in the US, and UK,
too, but none in Canada. The environment is actually
paying a deep toll on it and I know that folks are gonna say
it's just one item, but if you think about the millions
and sometimes billions of transactions that are
happening on this space, the impact is incredible. [David] Do you think you and
the consumers of Amazon are owed an explanation by the company? Yeah, I would say 100%
we're owed an explanation. [David] Our trackers show some
returns are still inside Amazon. Others, the blocks, printer and
boots have moved to new homes but in doing so, cover more than
5,000 kilometres. I just truly have
so many questions for everybody at that company. It does make you
rethink shopping at Amazon. Again, I'm truly shocked. I don't know what to say. We want answers from
Amazon, too, and again ask for an on-camera interview. They decline and say in a
statement that our reporting is inconsistent with
their findings. They say the majority of
Amazon returns are resold, recycled, or donated,
though they do acknowledge some ends up in the garbage. Exactly how much? They won't tell us that. What colours do you guys want? I want green
and black and brown. -Please.
-Thank you. [David] Meera is doing her
part and wants Amazon to do theirs, too. What about the rest of us? Well, you can find some
perfectly good returns on Amazon's warehouse deals site, and did you know
that clothing is the most likely type of
return to end up tossed? Ultimately, we
could all buy less and return less. I expect Amazon to listen
to me when I have a concern or desire. They're a huge company,
they have a lot of capability of making change. [Asha] We're wiring up... [Makda] We have as many
cameras as possible. [Asha] ..to get the low down
on appliance repairs. It's $200 to do the
work on the machine, $80 to come to your house. Okay. But they didn't tell me that. Because if they
tell you it's $280, nobody's gonna come. Will the easy fix
come with a huge cost? [Makda] In total,
she paid just under $700. Wow. There's no need to
replace this pump. In the men's bathroom, we'd
ran out of soap in early May. [Asha] The dirty truth
about the biggest chains. Excuse me. There's no
soap in the bathroom. [Asha] Caught on camera. Are supermarkets doing enough
to keep you safe? Were you worried about
getting COVID when you would go into work? Yeah.
All the time. [♪♪♪]
I recognize that facility where they are shredding returned items, Toronto's best rave venue was in that complex. I did a lot of cocaine in that parking lot at 8:28.
This would be great if it wasn't filmed like a 90s skate video
We actually got someone's package once. Called Amazon to let them know and they said thanks we'll send the original party a replacement. When I asked what to do with the box at my place they said keep it. I opened it and it was a bunch of baby supplies. The address was in LA so I drove it up to them. I'm in San Diego. I told them it was delivered to me by mistake but they'll get another box just like this from Amazon because they're sending a replacement. Now they have 2wice the amount of baby supplies. Honestly if it was one or two items I would have donated it but it was easily 6 months supply of stuff.
The people blaming Amazon here because they’re returning useless garbage like “my friend likes alligators” are about as useless as their returns.
So many items in the liquidator bundle were absolutely unsellable. Smashed guitars, used food processors, perishable items, etc. Are people mad that the liquidators have to throw away and recycle items that customers destroyed, what’s the alternative here? Not everything is recyclable, and Amazon is already recycling as many items as possible, the show even briefly mentioned how the overalls went to a proper facility; but only after railing amazon for an entire segment because they had a stop at an electronics recycling facility on the way...
The lady is mad that Amazon is offering returns? This is why they’ll continue to do great. Ma’am it’s the customer’s responsibility to decide whether to return or not, and in most places including beautiful Canada, most retailers have to accept returns within a certain period.
What’s the issue with transportation? They spent 15 minutes talking about how reselling the product is the best outcome, then when items DO get resold the show complains that they travelled “too far” to their customers. What is Amazon to do here, start limiting who can buy which products based on radius from current location? What a joke.
People want to be absolved of all responsibility for their actions, in this case their insatiable consumerism. Until people stop demanding easy returns, Amazon is just going to provide it, as they should.
this is interesting but they could have done better editing. at 18:00 in or so, they got the one guy in the landfill and host of the show doing reaction shots indoors somewhere.
I use to frequent an auction site that sold Amazon or various retailer returns. They would post pictures of the items and say if the product was unopened, opened but appear together, and damaged/missing. I found this site before these sites got super popular.
You could honestly find some great deals on there. You could also get screwed over by a defective product. It was a gamble at times but that was half the fun. I got a $400 telescope for $70 and it was brand new. I couldn't figure why it was returned.
It was quite difficult to assemble it, since the instruction were in German. Yet, everything was there. On the opposite end, I bought this $120 weather station for like $25. The box was taped and it didn't look opened. When I opened it, instead of having a new weather station, it had an old moldy one in it.
It did have the display and the other attachments but the main weather station didn't work. Luckily, I could buy a replacement weather station for $50. So It wasn't a complete bust.
I had more good experiences than bad ones. Then the auction site got very popular and the bids went up. People were willing to pay almost retail for certain high end items. Even though these items could potentially be broken.
why are they surprised that the returns go...somewhere? are they mad because they aren't all individually repaired, that's just not cost effective
Amazon needs to start doing better.
The same is true for Costco. All non-perishable edibles are destroyed when they are returned. If you returned a bag of Halloween candies, they don't get put back on the shelf. Part of it is risk management. They don't know if the item has been tainted and put the buyer of the said item at risk. Because of that, we'd rather share the candies with the office instead of getting money back from Costco.