While shopping, many customers enjoy picking up items from stores with generous return policies. This allows them to take home their purchase comfortable in the knowledge that, if something is wrong or if the product doesn’t meet their standards, they can simply return it in exchange for a refund or store credit.
Over the years, many internet users have shared their stories of incredible returns. For example, one user documented the many people making returns following the hurricanes in the American southeast. Another showed themselves returning a mattress to Costco after 5 years of use.
What happens to these returns once they’ve been given back to the store varies based on many factors, including the specific store and what kind of item it is.
Sometimes, these items will be put back out on the store floor to be sold. Although this makes sense in some instances, in others, such as the one shown by TikTok user @lightskin510 in a video with over 100,000 views, a store’s policy about what it does with returns can be concerning.
Did Walmart try to resell open food?
In her video, the TikToker shows a pack of cupcakes that appears to be available for purchase at Walmart. There are two cupcakes missing, and the seal on the package is broken.
The TikToker says that these are cupcakes that have been returned.
“You know how I know it was returned?” she asks. “Because I returned them. And now I can’t believe it’s up here.”
According to the TikToker, she had returned the cupcakes because they “taste nasty.” Now, she’s shocked to see that the cupcakes are on sale once more, only at a discount for $5.34.
As noted by Deal News, many grocery products, including produce, meat, bakery goods, deli items, dairy products, and fresh flowers, are covered by a freshness guarantee and can be refunded or exchanged.
That said, reselling food returns appears uncommon to unheard of, as noted by a discussion from current and former workers on Reddit.
It’s unclear what happened in @lightskin510’s Walmart store that allowed this to happen. The Daily Dot could not definitively confirm whether the cupcakes shown for sale in the video were the same as the ones she returned, even though she posted a receipt confirming her purchase.
@lightskin510 ♬ original sound – Lightskin510
Commenters share their thoughts
In the comments section, users noted that this was not a common occurrence at the store.
“They’re supposed to claim it out (aka throw it away),” wrote a user. “Literally when i worked walmart service desk any food or medicine is getting sent to claims.”
“They shouldn’t have accepted that return. Should have just gave you your money back & threw it away,” stated another.
“Back when I worked for Walmart, we would have claim tickets we would put on damaged items. we had to put all food returns on a special cart. they said it was obvious to US to not put it on the shelf but the ladies in the back would put all the food back on the shelves because customer service didn’t put the claim tickets on them,” detailed a third. “It was a miscommunication happening for years.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Walmart via media relations contact form and the TikToker via TikTok comment.
Update 9:05am CT Oct. 31: In a TikTok DM exchange with the Daily Dot, the TikToker says that she tried to reach out to Walmart before posting her video, but did not hear back from them.
“This is not to [degrade] Walmart, but this is to let Walmart know that these practices are not beneficial to their consumers,” she says of her video. “We spend our hard earned money in Walmart and we expect that in return we are able to get a quality product.”
As far as what response she’s hoping to get from Walmart, she says her interests are simple.
“I really would want Walmart to respond by saying this is not their normal practice,” she shared. Later, she added, “I expect the apology from Walmart for this incident.”
She further noted that Walmart should maintain consistent return policies across stores, as she shared that some of her commenters in similar situations were unable to make comparable returns.
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