This story about Best Buy isn't surprising. When I worked at Target two decades ago, there were three categories of damaged goods. One set were returned to the manufacturer (presumably to salvage parts), one category went to a salvage vendor to sell in discount/surplus type stores, and the third was to be thrown in the dumpster and destroyed. There were often things of value or use that we would argue to keep, but were not allowed to by policy. The manager had purview over the items to destroy and had to sign off that he/she crushed them and put them in the dumpster. (It was also a closed style dumpster, not one with an open top, so dumpster diving wasn't an option either).
So many useful things just crushed and sent to a landfill for no real reason...
I’ve been thinking lately about how “business” people run companies nowadays instead of like “industry” people. A lot of this comes back to that, I think. I was reading about a Northeast discount chain, Two Guys, that started back in the 50s in NJ, and they got their start selling damaged RCA televisions that were probably going to be scrapped or maybe have the tubes salvaged (the cabinets were scratched but I guess the sets worked). They were able to get RCA to sell them the damaged TVs, and they turned that into an entire big-box discount chain! It doesn’t seem like most big companies either grew up that way or have any connection to those origins these days.
Losing the origin story is definitely a problem. Even with Target, we used to constantly assess what was "brand" in our store- from the cleanliness of store shelves to employee dress code to the way we spoke to customers. Every time I'm in a Target now, the shelves are a disorganized mess and there's lots of boxes staged on the floor waiting to be stocked. That used to all happen overnight or early AM before the store opened.
It drives me nuts to shop at Target these days because of that. Years ago, an acquaintance of mine worked the overnight shift at a Target. Although some restocking must have been done midday, the vast majority was done when the store was closed. And indeed now the aisles are partially blocked with pallets or crates of goods and employees are more likely to get in my way than to offer any help. Target now feels more like Walmart with better lighting.
Yeah. All the big chains feel like some version of this. I think this was a big part of the feeling people had that our economy was "bad." Not just prices, but the sense that nobody was really running or capable of running a tight ship. (The massive exodus of people from service and retail during COVID was no doubt a part of that, and I think we're still feeling those effects.)
That’s possible. I mean, technically it is stealing because ultimately a contract has to stipulate that the stuff “belongs” to someone, but it’s clearly to me a different kind of stealing from shoplifting. I don’t really know other than a carve-out for salvaging or a discretionary clause in the e-waste contract how you could avoid the same outcome
How about the manager in charge of the recycling program signing off on equipment to be given away as reusable items? The company is already claiming property that it plans to give away, but will not be used.
I don’t know technically whether the manager is given that discretion. It sounds to me like even he is bound by rules from further up. The funny thing is the recycling firm couldn’t give a crap about whether some of the usable stuff gets taken (unless those guys are the ones who skim it off the top). I did a project on e-waste in grad school and basically concluded it’s largely a scam, as a policy or environmental matter
I am trying to imagine what the company policy could be. Salvage operations are performed by people who accept other people's junk and rehabilitate it into a useable good. Nearly all the added value is the labor: the knowledge of what's salvageable and the actual rehab work. The company is just temporarily contributing storage space.
This story about Best Buy isn't surprising. When I worked at Target two decades ago, there were three categories of damaged goods. One set were returned to the manufacturer (presumably to salvage parts), one category went to a salvage vendor to sell in discount/surplus type stores, and the third was to be thrown in the dumpster and destroyed. There were often things of value or use that we would argue to keep, but were not allowed to by policy. The manager had purview over the items to destroy and had to sign off that he/she crushed them and put them in the dumpster. (It was also a closed style dumpster, not one with an open top, so dumpster diving wasn't an option either).
So many useful things just crushed and sent to a landfill for no real reason...
I’ve been thinking lately about how “business” people run companies nowadays instead of like “industry” people. A lot of this comes back to that, I think. I was reading about a Northeast discount chain, Two Guys, that started back in the 50s in NJ, and they got their start selling damaged RCA televisions that were probably going to be scrapped or maybe have the tubes salvaged (the cabinets were scratched but I guess the sets worked). They were able to get RCA to sell them the damaged TVs, and they turned that into an entire big-box discount chain! It doesn’t seem like most big companies either grew up that way or have any connection to those origins these days.
Losing the origin story is definitely a problem. Even with Target, we used to constantly assess what was "brand" in our store- from the cleanliness of store shelves to employee dress code to the way we spoke to customers. Every time I'm in a Target now, the shelves are a disorganized mess and there's lots of boxes staged on the floor waiting to be stocked. That used to all happen overnight or early AM before the store opened.
It drives me nuts to shop at Target these days because of that. Years ago, an acquaintance of mine worked the overnight shift at a Target. Although some restocking must have been done midday, the vast majority was done when the store was closed. And indeed now the aisles are partially blocked with pallets or crates of goods and employees are more likely to get in my way than to offer any help. Target now feels more like Walmart with better lighting.
Yeah. All the big chains feel like some version of this. I think this was a big part of the feeling people had that our economy was "bad." Not just prices, but the sense that nobody was really running or capable of running a tight ship. (The massive exodus of people from service and retail during COVID was no doubt a part of that, and I think we're still feeling those effects.)
Might your rant about stealing be a more general complaint about definition creep within corporate culture?
That’s possible. I mean, technically it is stealing because ultimately a contract has to stipulate that the stuff “belongs” to someone, but it’s clearly to me a different kind of stealing from shoplifting. I don’t really know other than a carve-out for salvaging or a discretionary clause in the e-waste contract how you could avoid the same outcome
How about the manager in charge of the recycling program signing off on equipment to be given away as reusable items? The company is already claiming property that it plans to give away, but will not be used.
I don’t know technically whether the manager is given that discretion. It sounds to me like even he is bound by rules from further up. The funny thing is the recycling firm couldn’t give a crap about whether some of the usable stuff gets taken (unless those guys are the ones who skim it off the top). I did a project on e-waste in grad school and basically concluded it’s largely a scam, as a policy or environmental matter
I am trying to imagine what the company policy could be. Salvage operations are performed by people who accept other people's junk and rehabilitate it into a useable good. Nearly all the added value is the labor: the knowledge of what's salvageable and the actual rehab work. The company is just temporarily contributing storage space.