| Online merchants changed the way we shop—and made “reverse logistics” into a booming new industry.  Illustration by Shira Inbar You’d be amazed what you can return. A big-screen TV you bought just for the Super Bowl. A dress you wore to a party and spilled something on. And, as David Owen details in his fascinating report on what’s known as the reverse supply chain, the possibilities extend in more morbid directions as well. “Petco takes back dead fish,” a source says. “Home Depot and Lowe’s let you return dead plants, for a year. You just have to be shameless enough to stand in line with the thing you killed.” You’d be amazed, too, at what happens to more forthright returns—shoes that don’t fit, whatever thing you bought after your third glass of wine and then regret upon receipt. Most of these unused items do not simply go back to the seller to be restocked and sold at full price but, instead, are filtered through a sprawling industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars that is dedicated to “seeking profitable, efficient, and (to the extent possible) environmentally conscionable ways of managing the detritus of unfettered consumerism.” Owen’s reporting might make you rethink the way you shop. Or maybe not—it turns out that the system of easy returns has become an essential component of the current American way of life, and few people, from businesses to consumers, have much of an incentive to change it. Support The New Yorker’s award-winning journalism. Subscribe today » | 
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