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More and more retailers charging for mail-in returns
About 40% of retailers are charging return fees on online orders that need to be mailed back, according to the company Narvar.
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — Cyber Monday is expected to break records with shoppers projected to spend more than $12 billion dollars, according to Adobe Analytics.
But that number does not take into account returns. According to a National Retail Federation (NRF) report in 2022, total returns account for $816 billion in lost sales for U.S. retailers. The NRF said, on average, about 18% of holiday sales end in returns.
More retailers are now charging fees on online returns done through the mail.
The company Narvar said this year about 40% of retailers are charging return fees on online orders that need to be mailed back. In 2022, the average was 31%.
“I was surprised it didn’t happen much earlier. There’s huge restocking costs, as well as transportation costs, and quite a few customers were quite honestly taking advantage of these companies. For instance, some individuals would be buying like five different dresses, trying them all on, and then sending the four back that don’t fit. That would pretty much wipe out the entire profit margin of the firm when they do that,” said Dave Vang, a finance professor at the University of St. Thomas.
Retailers including J. Crew, Kohl’s, H&M, Zara and T.J. Maxx all have mail-in fees for online purchases that need to be returned. More retailers with fees can be found in this USA Today article.
Earlier this year, H&M expanded its program to the UK. Meanwhile, this summer Amazon started charging a $1 fee for returns made through UPS when there’s a free option closer.
“I’m starting to see free shipping kind of decline, as well. Right now we’re enjoying some relatively low gas prices compared to the past year or so. But historically, our fuel prices and transportation costs have gone up, various supply chain issues and things like this, so I’m seeing a trend a little bit away from free shipping unless the order is really, really large,” Vang said.
Vang said we may also see big box stores benefiting from the shift. He gave an example of people visiting a store like Best Buy to learn more about a product before purchasing it through another online retailer.
“If some of these online retailers are putting these additional fees in, then it might make sense for more people to actually go into the store and actually buy from a local vendor who is actually paying property taxes,” Vang said.
It’s unclear if this shift will change shopping habits. According to Narvar, 68% of consumers say a general $3 return or restocking fee will not deter them from buying again from their favorite retailers or brands.
Some retailers charging for mail-in-returns will waive the fee if they’re a loyalty member.
There’s also the environmental impact from returns. Optoro estimates that last year returns resulted in 9.5 billion pounds of waste.
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Aitkin County crash leaves 2 dead, others hurt
The crash happened when a Suburban pulling a trailer failed to stop at a stop sign, Minnesota State Patrol said.
WAUKENABO, Minn. — Two people from Minnetonka died in a crash Friday in Aitkin County while others, including children, were hurt.
According to Minnesota State Patrol, it happened at the intersection of Highway 169 and Grove Street/County Road 3 in Waukenabo Township at approximately 5:15 p.m.
A Suburban pulling a trailer was driving east on County Road 3 but did not stop at the stop sign at Highway 169, authorities said. The vehicle was struck by a northbound GMC Yukon. Two other vehicles were struck in the crash, but the people in those two cars were not injured.
In the Suburban, the driver sustained life-threatening injuries, according to State Patrol. Elizabeth Jane Baldwin, 61, of Minnetonka, and Marlo Dean Baldwin, 92, of Minnetonka, both died. Officials said the driver of the vehicle, a 61-year-old from Minnetonka, has life-threatening injuries.
There were six people in the Yukon when the crash occurred. The 44-year-old driver, as well as passengers ages 18, 14, and 11, sustained what officials described as life-threatening injuries. The other two passengers have non-life-threatening injuries.
Alcohol is not believed to be a factor in the crash, but officials said Elizabeth Jane Baldwin had not been wearing a seatbelt.
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Runner shares his journey with addiction ahead of Twin Cities Marathon
Among those at the start line this year will be Alex Vigil.
Read the original article
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Minnesotan behind ‘Inside Out 2’ helps kids name ‘hard emotions’
Pixar’s second installment of the movie features characters we’ve already met — Joy, Sadness and Anger — and gives them a new roommate named Anxiety.
MINNEAPOLIS — Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” universe plays out inside the mind of the movie’s adolescent protagonist, Riley.
She plays a kid from Minnesota whose family uproots her life by moving to San Francisco. But did you know that what plays out in Riley’s mind actually comes from the mind of a real-life Minnesotan?
“You are one of us!” said Breaking the News anchor Jana Shortal.
“Yes, I am!” said Burnsville native and the movie’s creator and director, Kelsey Mann.
Mann was chosen for the role by ANOTHER Minnesotan — Pete Docter, the man behind the original movie, “Inside Out.”
“I don’t know if Pete asked me to do this movie because I was from Minnesota and he was from Minnesota … I just think it worked out that way,” Mann said.
How two guys from the south metro made a pair of Pixar movies that would change the game is a hell of a story that began with Docter in 2015.
“He [Docter] was just trying to tell a fun story — an emotional, fun story — and didn’t realize how much it would help give kids a vocabulary to talk about things they were feeling because they are feeling those emotions, but they’re really hard to talk about,” Mann said.
Some parents, counselors and teachers might even tell you it did more good for kids than just entertain them. It unlocked their emotions and begged for what Mann set out to create at the beginning of 2020.
“That part was fun, particularly fun,” he said. “I think the daunting part was following up a film that everyone really loved.”
But Mann knew what he wanted to do with the movie’s follow-up, “Inside Out 2.”
“Diving into Riley’s adolescence … that was just fun,” he said.
This time around, Riley is 13, hitting puberty and facing all of what, and who, comes with it. The franchise’s second installment features characters we’ve already met — Joy, Sadness and Anger — and gives them a new roommate named Anxiety.
“I think that’s what’s fun about the ‘Inside Out’ world: You can take something we all know and give it a face,” Mann said. “We can give anxiety a name and a face.”
The film follows Riley’s emotions fighting it out for control of her life. Joy wants Riley to stay young and hold on only to joy, while anxiety is hell-bent on taking over Riley over at the age of 13 because as a lot of us know, that’s when anxiety often moves in.
“I always pitched it as a takeover movie, like an emotional takeover,” Mann said. “Anxiety can kind of feel like that; it can take over and kind of shove your other emotions to the side and repress them.”
For a kids’ movie, it’s hard to watch this animation play out, even when an adult has the keys to decide.
“I’m making a movie about anxiety and I still have to remind myself to have my anxiety take a seat,” Mann said.
All of our individual anxieties have a place in this world.
“The whole movie honestly is about acceptance. Both acceptance of anxiety being there and also of your own flaws,” said Mann.
Even for our kids, we have to remember that this is life.
Anxiety will come for them; it does for us all.
The “Inside Out” world just shows them it’s so.