Victoria's Secret Quietly Destroys All Returns

Marie Wolf got quite a shock when she returned an unworn $70 pair of sweatpants to Victoria’s Secret a few weeks ago. A clerk happily refunded her money—then took out some scissors and sliced the pants to shreds, explaining that it was store policy. Wolf was outraged, she tells the Tampa Tribune. “I asked them about donating them to the Salvation Army, what about Goodwill, what about all the people who lost everything in the tsunami?”

But after calling the company, Wolf confirmed that destroying the products is indeed company policy; the clerk erred only in doing it in front of her. Retail experts say Victoria's Secret isn't the only retailer with such a policy, even if it's not the industry standard. “If I’m Kenneth Cole, I don’t want my stuff sold down the street for $5 a unit,” explains one consultant. But it’s usually kept hush-hush, because it upsets customers. “People walk out and wonder, are we really so rich as a nation that we throw perfectly good stuff in the garbage?” (More Victoria's Secret stories.)