H&M & Walmart trashing unsold clothes that could be donated to charity

This makes me SO sad! Does anyone know if they are continuing to do this?

I came across an amazing secondhand store in Worcester, MASS about 10 years ago. It was run by a father and son. Anything that they didn't sell after a certain amount of time, they would pack and ship to 3rd world countries and sell them for pennies (or really a tiny, tiny cost).

If a family-run business can bother to do that, you would think that big retailers could. In the very least they'd get a tax write-off for it...not to mention actually provide some help to people that need it SO badly! Especially in the state the world and economy is in now.

Target really IS no better than Walmart and KMart when it comes to returns.

I used to merchandise books in all three stores, and saw the waste. I'll definitely back up QuestionGeek on that microwave. How many homeless shelters, how many battered women shelters, how many group homes could have used that damn microwave?!

I'd see all the returns, since my books were in the backroom. I'd see entire flats of plants, plus potted plants, dumped into the trash. All that great, delicious potting soil! Again, just re-planing everything around a boring homeless shelter would have been a huge contribution, and the homeless themselves could have done the transplanting.

Again, I'd see a chipped teacup, and so the entire set of 20 dishes,bowls,salad plates,cups,saucers would get smashed to bits. How many places could have used 19 out of 20 of a set of dishes??? Same with utensils.

The books always disturbed me even more. Any and all softcover books had to be stripped. That means that the covers had to torn off, and then the books were tossed into the trash container. Whenever I could, I'd sneak out whatever I could and drop it off at the various shelters in my community. BOOKS, for gawd's sake!! BOOKS! Something GOOD for those without homes. And especially children's books for all those children. Wow, huh?

Lamps -- if there was a small chip, it'd get smashed. Surely those same shelters would have looked nice with some actual, real lamps in there, instead of the overhead fluorescent strip-lights.

Toilet paper rolls in bulk -- two on the end dented, so the whole package destroyed (not even recycled!).

Hell, stationery -- pens, paper, pencils, crayons, markers -- where children are living, those would have been moments of happiness for them to get these things. Coloring books by the dozens, every other day, tossed and destroyed.

Packaged sets of underwear -- bag torn open, one "panty" missing -- so the whole thing is destroyed.

Towels, bedding.

Damn, I'm getting angry again. But it's all true, and it's all so damned selfish!

What's the big surprise? I used to work at Target -- Thank God that's over with, cause like Walmart, they treat their employees like SHIT. You would not believe the incredible amount of waste and the stuff that's needlessly dumped in the trash on a daily basis.

I most distinctly remember a brand new microwave oven that we threw away. There was nothing wrong with it. It was brand new, in the box, sealed, etc..It simply had expired it's fiscal life on the shelf. It took too long for them sell it, and it didn't sell.

Now you would think that they could send it back to get credit right? Wrong. The manager didn't want to send it back, because the cost to ship it back wasn't worth what the distributor or merchant was going to give Target on return credit. And it would have taken too long for Panasonic to give Target credit.

You think Target or Walmart will give anything away or discount it enough just to sell it and get rid of it? Never. Not in your wildest dreams. They'd rather fill our land fills and pollute. That's how greedy and HEARTLESS these corporations are...

I was once a vendor to Walmart, the newspaper vendor for the leading newspaper in our area. My ex wife was in school after 6 successful years serving our country in the Navy. We had two children. I saw many things some of which have been stated here. I can give you this story however as a first hand account. It happened in my hometown years after the local family hardware store and the local family clothing and shoe stores and others had gone out of business. As a vendor I had to count with the recieving person every paper I brought into and took out of the store. I often had to wait as long as an hour in the dead of winter to get in the door. At some point an inner office accounting person realized that Walmart was paying for several newspapers a week that didn't show up on a SKU scan. The receiving person and I began to count the papers twice...more time out of each day. The management decided they would only pay for papers they sold and not papers that went missing. The day that this happened I went through the store into areas only authorized to employees and picked up all but one of the missing papers. I picked them up from the break room. I picked them up from workstations. I found all but one. I took them to the managers office and demanded to see him. I found the last one on his desk. I told him that I would not be held accountable for his employee theft problem nor was it my responsibility to search 200000 square foot of retail space. "That" he said, "is the cost of doing business with walmart." I had worked diligently to build my route numbers. I never missed a day - 487 days in a row of leaving the house and my family at one o'clock in the morning to provide a delivery service, a humble honest profession. I delivered the 9/11 headlines as my youngest son was being born. As an independent contractor I bonded my route out of my own pocket, and earned the right to work. I refused from that day forward to deliver there. I defended my route for two months as Walmart tried to sneak papers in its door or coerce the newspaper to lean on me. The newspaper eventually ended my contract and replaced me with a fresh vendor. They took away my livelyhood and disregarded two years of hard work and commitment. We lost our home and eventually each other. My wife left after six months of homelesness, after good friends took us in but we were unable to regain our footing. My children now live 2500 miles away after she went back home to start over without me. I was unable to defend the interstate custody battle, and now can't afford to travel to see them. So...as an honest American, a humble paperboy, I reach out to all of you in this conversation. American lives are held in the balance. The true cost of doing business with walmart is the dehumanization of our population one customer, one vendor at a time. I say if you continue to shop at walmart, if you continue to deliver to them, if you continue to work for them after you recognize their business ethic...you can go straight to hell, do not pass go, forget the $200 bucks. You are not my countrymen. These people destroy communities and families as part of their standard business practice and should be openly condemned for it. If you defend their practices then you defend thievery and barbarism and if you've heard nothing else in this discussion then hear this: eventually your views will be tainted like the rest of us through some hideous act committed by a Walmart or its employees: eventually your hometown won't look like your hometown and good families will be forced to look elsewhere for a sense of community and a better place to raise their kids. After that day, reflect on your own spending patterns and those little immoral practices like shredding useful goods, and remember what was said to me by the manager of the Walmart in the state capital of Kentucky: That is the price of doing business with Walmart.

In response to Calm Insence, I don't know what you are smoking but those impoverished workers are basically slaves. They are locked in the stores, some have to live there, and they work overtime without pay. When Walmart auditors come, the employees have a list of what they are allowed to say and not to say. Check you facts before you make sarcastic comments.

I like using small town mom and pop businesses. I am not a number or a mere face in the crowd. The employees are so oppressed that they don't care if you come back. And yes I will pay more for my cat food at another store. I have a Walmart within a mile of my house. I will not shop there. I don't even live in a big city and I think we have three stores now. All in low income areas. Buying power doesn't mean I can get better prices. To me it means giving power to the American workers. Florida is a non union state and Walmart employees here don't have a chance in Hell to improve their working conditions. joan marie

Fucking Walmart.....ha ha when will people actually get it. You fuck yourself every time you shop there. Oh but I get good deals.

I despise this company more every time I hear something new about their practices and the "people" running the show. Wal-Mart itself is trash

We all need to watch the New Age of Walmart on CNBC. They are not changing and they are using slave labor in China. Some workers are forced to stay 24 hours for 'overtime'. BS. The factories have hard copy plans of how to act, what to do with work areas, and how to answer WalMart auditor questions. These people have less rights than American WalMart employees. The pay is too low, the health insurance is too high, and there are very few success stories for women in there operation. jm

Bastards! Don't they know that poor people have an inalienable right to free clothes??

In response to Caine and his idea of unionizing Walmart employess. It's a wonderful idea, but I live in a no union state, Florida.

Caine:

Was it really necessary to post that a bajillion times?

There’s no justification or rationalization for Walmart’s existence. They’ve destroyed main streets across this country and by importing goods produced under vile inhumane conditions. Even previously Ameican made clothes are produced over seas for a fraction of the cost, yet we still pay the same as we did for the American made version. Don’t shop at Walmart unless you have too, if you do, reduce your negative affect by leaving nonperishable items in carts or on the wrong shelves. Force Walmart's cost up. Keep your dollars in your communities and make it more likely for small business to succeed.

In response to leaving full carts at the check out. There is only one problem, the underpaid, underinsured employee that has to put them back.

sadly i frequent both of these stores. i loved wal-mart, until i heard this story. if i didn't know this was happening it would be okay if i continued to give these businesses my patronage but that's not the case now. i cannot willingly give my money to a company that would be so inconsiderate and wasteful :-( damn you h&m!!

The laws recently were changed. They can no longer use donation as a write-off so this is 'the solution'. If they just put them in the trash there are people who will take them back to a Wal-Mart and fight for a money back return policy situation.
How do the clothes end up in a store like Gabe's or Gabriel Brothers? Does anyone know?

discarding unsold merchandise is just one of the many reasons why walmart's are so succesful.

that's horrible, all that wasted clothes for nothing? not only is that wasting company money, but it could be used for charity. that disgusts me. they had enough time to sit there and rip the clothes until they were unwearable. I refuse to shop at either of those stores until they clean up their act.

I just called this number!

Walmart Ethics 1-800-WM-ETHIC Questions regarding Walmart Ethics

And I was told that it wasn't an "ethics" situation, but a "customer service" problem...

Let's see where 1800-walmart gets us....

*busy signal*

Let us also not forget that most of those clothes were manufactured in sweatshops by thirteen year old girls for three cents per shirt. So all of that painstaking labor is also wasted. It's such a fucked up system.

This is HIDEOUS! I worked for H&M for 3 years and would have never done this! I'm really surprised that a company that claims to be socially responsible would do this. They should be ashamed.

It doesn't make any sense to me at all. It is sad thing when there are cloths available that could be used, and instead wasted.

I volunteer at Household Goods Recycling of Massachusetts (www.hgrm.org) and have also helped sort clothing donations for local charities. I've seen up close how critically needed secondhand items are for individuals who have little to nothing. This is a disgusting corporate practice. Walmart doesn't surprise me, as this adds to their already abundant list of ethical offenses; but H&M has lost my previous respect if this is true. Their corporate responsibility image may only be a mirage. Where is the public outcry???

That's ridiculous. Walmart sucks.

i cant believe they are throwing away good brand new clothes.
where can i get these thrown out clothes ?

As horrible as this sounds at first glance, donated clothes either unsold new or the Good Will variety wreak havoc on economies. I spent time in Bolivia and the local clothing manufactures cannot compete with used clothing imported from the US which is sold by the pound. Sometimes charity does more long term harm than any short term positive impact.

Donating the clothes would do a lot to change the image Walmart has garnered since Sam died. The family has dropped the ball. It's bad enough they have put many small business' out of business in my area, not had safe parking lots, have most Florida employees on Medicaid, but to destroy perfectly good merchandise? I can't even begin to think of a reason why this would be a corporate policy.

That's how the cooperate world works. Only thinking of themselves. Other companies do it too.

I haven't been to NYC for a while. Where is Wal-Mart located there? It shouldn't have ever been allowed to open!

Save money, live better on your lower wage you caused for yourself by saving pennies at Wal Mart. We reap what we sow

add ralph lauren and probably most big designers to this as well. i used to work for them and i have NEVER SEEN SOOOOO MUCH WASTE! it was pathetic.

Some of the best clothes that I have come from Goodwill.

Yet another reason to not shop at Walmart.

Hey I used to work for Holister for a hot minute and they did the same thing. But I used to take as much of that stuff as I could and gave it away (if i still worked there I'd be fired as the policy would have it). The key to all to fixing waste is to get government involved through incentive programs that link non profit companies with corperate companies that benefit both parties. An example of this would be to link non profit homeless shelters with these clothes companies where the companies donations would give them credit towards taxes or what not. The same thing is seen in the food industry where tons of organic waste is thrown into the regular trash--this waste could be donated to farmers or just be recycled in general. The same thing with chemical companies-- a non for profit could collect chemicals and offer to seperate and purify them and sell them back to the companies. There's just no incentive, but governments could create incentive just like they subsidize corn and enforce unfair trading laws. It's not even a science to figure this all out, but it is to understand why we don't do it.

I must admit, this is the first time I heard of clothes being destroyed, instead of discounted, or donated. Did they get to write off the clothes they destroyed? Maybe if they didn't try to make such high profit off each item, they would sell more items and destroy less. More people could afford to buy their junk.

It's no wonder ordinary Americans are having such a hard time. This kind of shit is just crazy. I have chosen to shop at resale shops for over 10 years now. I decided resale shops were the way to truly buy American, while helping Purple Heart Vets, or some other charity.

Haven't shopped at Walmart for 5 years and there's not an H&M in this area, but this just reinforces my decision not to. What crap

Why don't we just give all clothes away and food and everything can be free? Because it's stupid. Get with the program you dirty hippies. things cost money and that money goes to people who make and sell the clothes so they can feed their families. Now the garbage man is getting paid instead of me having to see some bum wearing the same shirt i have on drinking a 40 in the gutter.

during these hard times you would think they would be more considerate and find a way to quietly get the excess merchandise to charity.

i really dont care what the evil walmart does. You should shop them bastards anyway, they run all mom and pop stores out of business. Every state. they get local tax money and destroyed small business. so fuck walmart. I dont care what they do. I dont shop at the illuminati store.

@ the very least ship them back to the foriegn workers who make the damn things for the company!
p.s.-- If Wal-Mart was a country, it would have the19th richest economy in the world. FACT.

i'm with lopinjop 100% :)

Seriously people--our culture has never never never never ever allowed for people to care for each other. We hate and deplore the idea of welfare or social security or food stamps or as seen recently the idea of universal health care for all our citizens--if anyone even mentions the notion of donating these clothes or donating food -- every person within hearing distance of the statement will launch into a story of how they know with 100% certainty that the homeless person who got the clothing or food donation is completely totally undeserving because: they are just running a scam or just going to get drunk or would trade the coat for drugs or would just try to return it or would climb in their SUV and go home because they really were not needy in the first place or would fund their abortion or would pay their pimp off--or whatever other stupid idiotic stereotype they have heard--and therefore of course assume its true of all people who are seeking assistance.

Then if the store manager actually does cut through all the crap he/she takes from all sides to even float the idea of donating outdated products--along comes the government and the lawyers who make his/her life a living hell with red tape and bureaucracy and legal documents and tax forms until the manager basically just says fuck it-its easier, cheaper, and less hassle just to be called an asshole by one person in passing than to fight the hundreds of people who will have kick my ass, bite my head off, and maybe even kill me for trying to be a nice person.

omg. that is so pathetic, selfish, greedy, fill in the blank. Geez, I hate WalMart. Every time I read the news, there's something bad about Walmart. Why do people keep shopping there?!? Oh, yeah, I remember that South Park episode...nevermind.

I liked that one article about how you could turn wood into bone and help millions of people worldwide... but what a diamond in the rough. Ignorance is bliss and ignorance is the root of all evil pretty much sums this article up.

You know what that says? If I can't make money off of it then you can't have it. Who cares if homeless people wear their stinking clothes! If I was their ad person I would drive around town taking pics of all the homeless in their clothes - THEIR coats when it's cold outside - THEIR tents to keep the rain out - what better advertising?!

I really thought H&M was better than that. Walmart... Kinda expected.

This is nothing unique to Walmart; most restaurants—including the university campus dining commons I work at—throw away TONS of perfectly good food every day and night.

Haha, with how expensive all of their crap was I'm surprised they would just throw it away. H&M is overpriced...

This doesn't make any sense and sucks to hear. Manhattan anyone?

We live in a world of carelessness! This is just one of the many examples! Sad strange world we live in!

the reason is some yahoo clothing designer would sue because Wal-Mart or H & M or whatever other retailer gave away their product violated their copyright by not giving them money from the sale of their brand or image.

That and/or some idiot would try to take the clothing they got from donation back to Wal-Mart or another retailer and get their money back or demand a store credit.

You would think they would donate these items and take the tax deduction... but I guess they don't want Goodwill to become competition...

I hate to say this but I've seen this behavior with my own eyes---- Stores don't give their surplus stuff away because folks who don't need it take advantage of the new, free stuff. People who claim to have good intentions will give the stuff to their families and friends, or worse, save it to sell in their yard sales. People always take advantage of a good thing.

As an aside.... the stores and restaurants in my area use to donate their leftovers to homeless shelters until some homeless guy got sick, claimed it was food poisoning, and sued some of the restaurants. Now, it's illegal to give food to the shelters. People always take advantage. As they say- "No good deed goes unpunished."

the NY Times is pretty despicable, but H&M is even moreso. I wouldn't put it past walmart for doing similar things but don't believe this article as there is no Walmart in NYC...

Sad, but from a business perspective, it makes sense. Also, as a corporation, they are obligated to maximize profit. Even if a CEO decided to be nice and donate the clothes, he would just get fired.

Here's a solution. The clothes should be altered to a different brand, one that cannot be returned and does not reflect the H&M or Walmart brand image. It would probably be cheaper than destroying and disposing of them, and tax deductible.

lots of other retailers sell left overs from last season to places like TJ MAXX. I love that store and get almost all my clothes there. Some stuff is irregular, but alot are just overstock, or @EthicalVegan for instance a dish ware set that had a teacup with one broken handle.

Just working at the Walmart Bakery I saw how many of the bakery products got trashed after they had gone past their date.. many if not all of them could have probably been eaten or preserved for another week. But, for health reasons I understand why they do that.

However, they didn't ever recycle any of the products that are just thrown out.. nothing is eaten everything is wasted.. no profit in the product and it's now just trash with plastic rotting in the garbage with food that was once good. This seems the same way, pretty sad I must say - but thats how the cookie crumbles. It's like, it's a perfectly good product for someone somewhere.. but instead of conserving it and possibly helping out planet in the same time and others who gain from whatever is given - it is now just trash to sit and rot in the ground.. sigh and people wonder why everyone's complaining about our trash??

what's *really* stupid, is that the donation could be written off for taxes.