# Pier 1/Cargo Kids



## Suzannah (Nov 19, 2001)

This is a true event with an eyewitness. I feel like I have to write that becasue it's so shocking.

The CargoKids store down where my mom lives was going out of business and was stuck with inventory. Rather than pay the shipping costs to ship the beds, mattresses, couches, dressers, chairs, etc. back to the factory, the corporation sent employees out behind the store with chainsaws and knives; they sawed desks, dressers, etc in half, and slashed mattresses, brand new wrapped in plastic, to make them unusable. There were corporate officers on site to watch this destruction. When contacted, a representative for the company said that it is the policy of CargoKids (now Pier 1 kids, owned by Pier 1) not to donate merchandise becasue it is a "liability issue."

I was stunned into silence when my mom told me this; a person in her knitting group sat in her car, the stood besdie her car, thaen walked over to ask WTF as all of this was happening as was told this was to avoid shipping back to the warehouse. She received the other answers (about "liability" via email from a representative). I am going to tell everyone I know about this, and promptly boycott both stores. The woman who saw this happened is clearing her house of Pier 1 merchandise, and they are pursuing this through the media in Georgia.

Tell your friends...


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## Suzannah (Nov 19, 2001)

Bump.


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## loving-my-babies (Apr 2, 2004)

I'm not sure if this is the same or not, but I work for Pier1 and whenever things are broken a little bit (something from very slight to severe) we do break them in half or write on them before throwing them away because we can't sell them. And they won't let the employees take the stuff for free, obviously.


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## Suzannah (Nov 19, 2001)

Not the same; this was brand-new, unopened, in some cases unassembled furniture. The mattresses were slashed still wrapped in their plastic.

Not the same.


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## Momtwice (Nov 21, 2001)

Can you please explain more about why you want to boycott? Is it because of the waste of resources (trees etc.) or the fact that they could be donating them to charity?

Wanting to understand....


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## Suzannah (Nov 19, 2001)

Both; they could have at the very least donated some of the items to charities or lower income families, but the sheer waste of destroying something brand-new adds to that.


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## Marsupialmom (Sep 28, 2003)

The liability issues might be real. I know one of the things the food pantries and corporations have fought is to change laws to “protect” donators. I know the grocery store my dh works for had to fight battles to be able to legally donate day old bread and not be held liable on the slight possiblity it caused illness.


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## Maeve (Feb 21, 2004)

I've heard of this type of thing happening before, too. My sil's mother works for Wawa and when they do some sort of product testing (like testing a single slice of bread) they will throw away the remaining food from the package, box, etc. I asked my sil why don't they donate it (they throw out MASSIVE amounts of food) and she said that they aren't allowed to. If for some reason something happens because of the food they donated, they open themselves up to a lawsuit.
That really sucks.


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## Tupelo Honey (Mar 24, 2004)

I don't see how their liability could be any more than if they sold it, since it was brand new merchandise. That is just sucky. It also points out two things: the damage caused by litigious people who have created this kind of siuation, and how insurance dictates the action of entities to a bizarre extent. Liability standards for businesses are set by insurance companies.


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## kate~mom (Jul 21, 2003)

that is all very interesting - because when i got my first apartment by myself, i bought a GREAT side table from pier 1 that was DRASTICALLY reduced because the wood on one of the legs was chipped off a *little. i wonder if their policy changed in the past seven years?


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## PikkuMyy (Mar 26, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Tupelo Honey*
I don't see how their liability could be any more than if they sold it, since it was brand new merchandise. That is just sucky. It also points out two things: the damage caused by litigious people who have created this kind of siuation, and how insurance dictates the action of entities to a bizarre extent. Liability standards for businesses are set by insurance companies.

ITA - how are they MORE liable than if they sold the items?


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## loving-my-babies (Apr 2, 2004)

well, I spoke to my boss about this (I work for Pier1) and it turns out that by doing this, WE are at loss. We are paying the people that make the stuff for us, we are losing OUR money. so I don't agree with this boycotting thing, because if it is OUR merchandise then we should be allowed to do whatever we want with it.


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## farmer mama (Mar 9, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *loving-my-babies*
so I don't agree with this boycotting thing, because if it is OUR merchandise then we should be allowed to do whatever we want with it.

It is your merchandise, but it is wasting resources, which will effect us all. But I don't shop there anyway so it doesn't matter what I do, lol.


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## User101 (Mar 3, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *loving-my-babies*
well, I spoke to my boss about this (I work for Pier1) and it turns out that by doing this, WE are at loss. We are paying the people that make the stuff for us, we are losing OUR money. so I don't agree with this boycotting thing, because if it is OUR merchandise then we should be allowed to do whatever we want with it.

And my money is my money, so I should be allowed to spend it where I please. Destroying perfectly servicable "stuff" and wasting resources is not acceptable to me, so


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## Kinipela79 (Apr 8, 2003)

Quote:

Destroying perfectly servicable "stuff" and wasting resources is not acceptable to me








:

I'm at a loss for words at the moment but what a horrible practice.







:


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## 5796 (Oct 19, 2002)

I think this same thing happens with farmers. Right? doesn't the us government buy some foods then destroy it?

sadly I think it is part and parcel of our economics...I don't know,though... I haven't been in an econ class in decades.

i'm old.


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## georgia (Jan 12, 2003)

This happened in my town. There was a blurb in the newspaper.....rather than pay shipping, they destroyed BRAND NEW merchandise!!! They can do whatever they want with their products, but certainly cannot expect customers w/a conscience to support their actions buy patronizing them. Of course they are at a loss, as they paid for the items to be built, shipped, stored, etc. but b/c Pier 1 loses, everyone else should, too? I don't agree with their business model.

What a complete waste of natural resources









If liability was the only issue at work, NO company would ever donate goods. There would be no day old bread, as someone might choke on it and sue....IMO, whoever was in charge of the decision-making made a HUGE mistake. PR nightmare if the word gets out!


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## Nurturing Mama (Nov 11, 2003)

I agree with others that this is a sickening waste of resources. I worked at Bed Bath & Beyond and we had to throw things away that were still usable all of the time. The main reason that was always given by management for this waste was that the damaged merchandise could come back as a return and the store would exchange it for new merchandise (BB&B has a very lenient return policy), so the company would lose money.

I think this type of waste is pretty common in retail.


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## umbrella (Jul 25, 2002)

Quote:

I don't see how their liability could be any more than if they sold it, since it was brand new merchandise.
I don't get it either.

Yeah, it's their money, and they _can_ do it. Can and should aren't always the same thing.


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## Artisan (Aug 24, 2002)

It's an accounting issue. This happens everywhere all the time. If the merchandise is destroyed, they can mark it as a loss in their ledgers. It's not a Pier1 thing.

It would seem to make more sense to just mark the stuff down drastically so they could sell it instead, though.


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## Momtwice (Nov 21, 2001)

reader...from that POV they could donate and take a tax write off too, yes?

This whole thing makes me want to look even harder for second hand furniture, for environmental reasons.


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## farmer mama (Mar 9, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Momtwice*
This whole thing makes me want to look even harder for second hand furniture, for environmental reasons.


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## User101 (Mar 3, 2002)

They do something like this with books as well- tear off the covers and throw the rest of the book away, and then send the covers to the publisher for reimbursement.

It still doesn't make it any easier to swallow, though.


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## kama'aina mama (Nov 19, 2001)

When I was in college a good friend of mine worked the produce aisle at the local supermarket (part of a huge grocery chain.) The store had a policy that after the produce clerk culled out slightly bad fruits and vegetables (Not rotten, but limp lettuce, bruised apples, etc...) they were supposed to throw them in the dumpster behind the store and then pour bleach on them. I helped he reach a decision to stop doing that, even though he would have gotten in trouble (write up? fired? not sure) for breaking the policy. I was proud of him.


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## farmer mama (Mar 9, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kama'aina mama*
When I was in college a good friend of mine worked the produce aisle at the local supermarket (part of a huge grocery chain.) The store had a policy that after the produce clerk culled out slightly bad fruits and vegetables (Not rotten, but limp lettuce, bruised apples, etc...) they were supposed to throw them in the dumpster behind the store and then pour bleach on them. I helped he reach a decision to stop doing that, even though he would have gotten in trouble (write up? fired? not sure) for breaking the policy. I was proud of him.

Eww. I am assuming the bleach was used so people couldn't dumpster dive? Our co-op first sells distressed produce as mark down, then gives it to me to feed my chickens.


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## User101 (Mar 3, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kama'aina mama*
I helped he reach a decision to stop doing that, even though he would have gotten in trouble (write up? fired? not sure) for breaking the policy. I was proud of him.

That's awesome!








Sometimes you just have to take a stand.


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## Suzannah (Nov 19, 2001)

It's about resources and waste in general, not about whose money is being wasted. I think that kind of head-in-the-sand thinking is harmful (to be polite about it). Yes, the store may be your boss, and I'm assuming you don't want to lose your job, but to say "OUR money, not YOUR business" is ludicrous. Too many people can't/won't look beyond the edge of their nose, and it's killing the humanity of the world off.


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## kama'aina mama (Nov 19, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *farmer mama*
Eww. I am assuming the bleach was used so people couldn't dumpster dive?

Yes, exactly.


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## stacey0402 (Aug 16, 2003)

This kind of thing happens in almost every retail store. I used to work at Target and I saw a lot of things that made me furious. If a Jumbo pack of TP was opened a tiny bit the whole thing went in the trash compactor. Same with bulk packages of bar soap and disposable diapers. Huge bags of dog food were always getting ripped. Instead of taping the bag back up the entire thing was tossed. The list goes on and on.....The one instance I remember being most outraged by was when a customer returned a travel system (car seat and stroller) because the stroller was missing a part. The *entire* system, car seat included, was dumped in the trash compactor. I cannot imagine how much is tossed in the trash everyday at every retail store







:


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## Cutie Patootie (Feb 29, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Suzannah*

the corporation sent employees out behind the store with chainsaws and knives; they sawed desks, dressers, etc in half, and slashed mattresses, brand new wrapped in plastic, to make them unusable...

Okay...I haven't read all of the posts, but I would think that sending your employees out with chainsaws and knives would be much more of a liability to the company. Really?! How completely idiotic!









ETA: The waste just doesn't sit well with me either...especially when I think of the fact that there are familys living in boxes with nothing just an hour away as I sit here all cozy.


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## Ilaria (Jan 14, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Suzannah*
It's about resources and waste in general, not about whose money is being wasted. I think that kind of head-in-the-sand thinking is harmful (to be polite about it). Yes, the store may be your boss, and I'm assuming you don't want to lose your job, but to say "OUR money, not YOUR business" is ludicrous. Too many people can't/won't look beyond the edge of their nose, and it's killing the humanity of the world off.

Exactly.


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## Greaseball (Feb 1, 2002)

Kama - A Safeway in my hometown does that with the bleach. No one wants homeless people digging through their dumpsters.







It is a huge waste.

And the liability issue is a cop-out, because the food banks in town give out expired cartons of milk that are bulging! I think it's more an issue of "If you don't pay for it I'm just going to throw it away; no free lunch!"

When I worked at McDonald's we were told to throw away food that was past a certain time limit. We couldn't eat it, sell it or give it away because of "liability," but the managers could eat it for a "quality check." So which is it? I was the one who always gave the food away to the homeless. I would have been so fired if I'd been caught...big sob there!


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