Amazon UK allegedly destroys millions of unsold items a year, including Apple products
A new report has revealed that Amazon destroys millions of unsold stock items each year in the UK, including unused and unopened Apple products like AirPods, iPads, and MacBooks.
Credit: CNN
The undercover investigation, which was carried out by media outlet iTV News, gathered footage of merchandise slated for destruction at 24 fulfillment centers around the United Kingdom.
According to iTV, the scale of the waste includes computer drives, books, sealed face masks, top-tier headphones, and drones. Reportedly, nearly 130,000 items a week are organized into boxes marked "destroy." Eventually the items are dumped into bins and shipped to recycling centers or landfills.
"I used to gasp. There's no rhyme or reason to what gets destroyed: Dyson fans, Hoovers, the occasional MacBook and iPad; the other day, 20,000 Covid (face) masks still in their wrappers," an Amazon employee told iTV News.
There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the products, either. The Amazon employee said that about 50% are unopened, while the other half are returns that are still in good condition.
"Staff have just become numb to what they are being asked to do," they said.
Amazon also appears to donate some items. however, it does so at a much smaller scale. At a warehouse in Dunfermline, about 28,000 items were labeled for donation during one week in April. That's compared to 124,000 items marked for tossing in that same period.
The practice is a result of Amazon's business model. Many vendors choose to store their goods at Amazon warehouses. If those products remain unsold, Amazon charges them for storage. Eventually, it becomes cheaper to simply dispose of the merchandise.
An Amazon spokesperson told iTV News that the amount of stock that the retail giant destroys is "extremely small."
"We are working towards a goal of zero product disposal and our priority is to resell, donate to charitable organisations or recycle any unsold products. No items are sent to landfill in the UK. As a last resort, we will send items to energy recovery, but we're working hard to drive the number of times this happens down to zero," Amazon said.
iTV News reached out to members of the U.K. government -- including Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Officials said they would "look into it," and are considering regulations around reuse and recycling for items like electronics.
Keep up with everything Apple in the weekly AppleInsider Podcast -- and get a fast news update from AppleInsider Daily. Just say, "Hey, Siri," to your HomePod mini and ask for these podcasts, and our latest HomeKit Insider episode too.If you want an ad-free main AppleInsider Podcast experience, you can support the AppleInsider podcast by subscribing for $5 per month through Apple's Podcasts app, or via Patreon if you prefer any other podcast player.AppleInsider is also bringing you the best Apple-related deals for Amazon Prime Day 2021. There are bargains before, during, and even after Prime Day on June 21 and 22 -- with every deal at your fingertips throughout the event.
Credit: CNN
The undercover investigation, which was carried out by media outlet iTV News, gathered footage of merchandise slated for destruction at 24 fulfillment centers around the United Kingdom.
According to iTV, the scale of the waste includes computer drives, books, sealed face masks, top-tier headphones, and drones. Reportedly, nearly 130,000 items a week are organized into boxes marked "destroy." Eventually the items are dumped into bins and shipped to recycling centers or landfills.
"I used to gasp. There's no rhyme or reason to what gets destroyed: Dyson fans, Hoovers, the occasional MacBook and iPad; the other day, 20,000 Covid (face) masks still in their wrappers," an Amazon employee told iTV News.
There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the products, either. The Amazon employee said that about 50% are unopened, while the other half are returns that are still in good condition.
"Staff have just become numb to what they are being asked to do," they said.
Amazon also appears to donate some items. however, it does so at a much smaller scale. At a warehouse in Dunfermline, about 28,000 items were labeled for donation during one week in April. That's compared to 124,000 items marked for tossing in that same period.
The practice is a result of Amazon's business model. Many vendors choose to store their goods at Amazon warehouses. If those products remain unsold, Amazon charges them for storage. Eventually, it becomes cheaper to simply dispose of the merchandise.
An Amazon spokesperson told iTV News that the amount of stock that the retail giant destroys is "extremely small."
"We are working towards a goal of zero product disposal and our priority is to resell, donate to charitable organisations or recycle any unsold products. No items are sent to landfill in the UK. As a last resort, we will send items to energy recovery, but we're working hard to drive the number of times this happens down to zero," Amazon said.
iTV News reached out to members of the U.K. government -- including Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Officials said they would "look into it," and are considering regulations around reuse and recycling for items like electronics.
Keep up with everything Apple in the weekly AppleInsider Podcast -- and get a fast news update from AppleInsider Daily. Just say, "Hey, Siri," to your HomePod mini and ask for these podcasts, and our latest HomeKit Insider episode too.If you want an ad-free main AppleInsider Podcast experience, you can support the AppleInsider podcast by subscribing for $5 per month through Apple's Podcasts app, or via Patreon if you prefer any other podcast player.AppleInsider is also bringing you the best Apple-related deals for Amazon Prime Day 2021. There are bargains before, during, and even after Prime Day on June 21 and 22 -- with every deal at your fingertips throughout the event.
Comments
CBC Marketplace did an episode on this subject last year:
Seriously, this fupping company. Cancel Prime. Sell your Kindle and Echo devices. Delete your account. Amazon is only as big as it is because we put it there, and we can put it somewhere else.
It's absurd how Amazon can do this and still make money, why they don't sell as used or put more returns in their "warehouse deals" I have no idea.
At least Apple makes durable long-lived products.
This is yet another example of politicians not seeing larger issues-like going after the Apple App store as a pseudo-monopoly on iOS when Amazon Marketplace is cannibalizing the entirety of the online economy and engaging in wholesale destruction of products, not to mention purposefully making products that directly compete with their sellers and undercut them. They are actively using their size to consume every larger parts of the economy.
I find anything I need on eBay and it is usually cheaper for exact item.
Buy my ebooks from B&N.
I really hope that the Jeff 'I'm gonna rule the world' Bezos company does not send and recyclable packaging to incineration.
There again, if it costs £0.05 per unit to remove the packaging and a new fresh box costs £0.04 then guess which path they will choose.
Cheaper is not always the best Mr Bezos.
I honestly didn't understand how Amazon could possibly exist (early 2000s), because Bezos was like "and we'll have and sell every product"
And I am seeing the tail end of early day thoughts. I mean think about this, most stores like Walmart Target etc, have:
A Blender, but they usually carry at LEAST two choices, maybe up to 4 or 5, right?
Dude freakin' Amazon is like SERIOUSLY every product; So, External Laptop/Phone Battery Charger?
How many guys? like 300? 400+? pages of external battery chargers? just competing with themselves internally.
Price for Price, crazy silly 3rd party company name after company name?
WTF...
Amazon Choice, Amazon Choice, Amazon Choice, ...
The huge profits are from the cloud services.
Me too! Its not an Apple product it is Independent Television News