Petsmart thows away returns!

I don't know if you guys know..but if you ever return something to Petsmart..expect to see it in their dumpster the next day.

I had a friend that returned a big bag of dog food that his dog didn't like on Saturday. The next day( Today )he was passing by their dumpster behind the store and saw his returned dog food bag with the receipt attached to it !

Today me and him found 3 good looking leashes, dog toys, dog food, reptile hides, etc.

Is it that they are to lazy to put the items back on the shelves? Most items are in perfectly good condition and good possibly be resold.

Instead of giving the returns to shelters where they can be used...Petsmart throws them away. How awful.
 
They can't really resell it open-box, 99% of the time it just takes up floor space they could be using to actually sell something.

I personally would take advantage of it and use it if they don't (unless there is a law against that, but people dive in the dumpster for free stuff where I live all the time and you can't do anything about it because it's on public property)..
 
They can't really resell it open-box, 99% of the time it just takes up floor space they could be using to actually sell something.

I personally would take advantage of it and use it if they don't (unless there is a law against that, but people dive in the dumpster for free stuff where I live all the time and you can't do anything about it because it's on public property)..

I understand but most of the items they throw away arent open.

Yea. We defiantly took some things back to use and give to people that would love to have and use those items.
 
Not awful at all IMO -- I have no problem with that. Just because the item "looks" new doesn't mean that it hasn't come into contact with some pathogen. For example: someone gets a puppy and buys all the stuff for it (leash, toys, bed, etc.). Puppy dies of parvo. People return puppy stuff. The puppy may have had it's mouth on that toy just once. I don't want a reptile hide that's been in someone else's herp room. As for an open bag of dog food ... I won't even go there. Too many potential problems with reselling stuff, or even giving it away. That would be like McDonald's giving their expired food to homeless shelters. Just not safe.
 
I understand but most of the items they throw away arent open.

Yea. We defiantly took some things back to use and give to people that would love to have and use those items.
I really hope you cleaned them VERY well for the reasons stated below:

Not awful at all IMO -- I have no problem with that. Just because the item "looks" new doesn't mean that it hasn't come into contact with some pathogen. For example: someone gets a puppy and buys all the stuff for it (leash, toys, bed, etc.). Puppy dies of parvo. People return puppy stuff. The puppy may have had it's mouth on that toy just once. I don't want a reptile hide that's been in someone else's herp room. As for an open bag of dog food ... I won't even go there. Too many potential problems with reselling stuff, or even giving it away. That would be like McDonald's giving their expired food to homeless shelters. Just not safe.
(though I would think for thinks like reptile hides a good cleaning with novalsan would be fine, no? that's the only reason I suggested getting anything.)
 
Hey, I'm all about taking stuff out of the dumpster if you want to give it to other people to use. If you take it out no one is going to sue you if one of their animals gets sick. It's just a write off for pet stores, so not even worth their while to do anything with the stuff, and face possible law suits (I mean really -- who wouldn't sue Petsmart if a dog toy they bought from there made their dog sick?!).
 
I doubt you would ever know the dog toy made your pet sick. This is actually the first time I've heard of a pet store policy I like.
 
I guess I wished that they had a deal with homeless shelters to provide pet food for their guests' pets. Lots of homeless people have dogs and they need food.
 
I don't know if you guys know..but if you ever return something to Petsmart..expect to see it in their dumpster the next day.

I had a friend that returned a big bag of dog food that his dog didn't like on Saturday. The next day( Today )he was passing by their dumpster behind the store and saw his returned dog food bag with the receipt attached to it !

Today me and him found 3 good looking leashes, dog toys, dog food, reptile hides, etc.

Is it that they are to lazy to put the items back on the shelves? Most items are in perfectly good condition and good possibly be resold.

Instead of giving the returns to shelters where they can be used...Petsmart throws them away. How awful.


Maybe your store. Id rather buy new items anyways. Then some thing returned for what ever reason. Anyways I know thats not true since I have about 4 exo terras that have been visibly used and I returned them back. Zoo med heat thermostats used. Waterfalls used. So I had my share of returns to petsmart for buying damaged goods that already returned and re shelved.
I used to think of them as like TJ Maxx either only selling damaged or used goods.;) But yea dumpster diving is nice. haha One mans garbage always another mans gold stop complaining.
 
I wouldnt use the food. But anything non-porous can be cleaned and sterilized. Use bleach or peroxide and thouroughly scrub and rinse them off and it should be safe to use. Hell, its probably cleaner after that than something fresh out of a box. Would have been cool if you found a cpl of exo terras and some light fixtures in the trash.....;)
 
hmmnnnn.....i think i would keep checkin out that dumpster too:) and yes it would be nice to find some light fixtures and exxo terra's there!! a good sanitizing and away ya go(to get MORE chams lol) i guess we are lucky where we live because our SPCA allows us to give them bags of food because they are so short on it and alot of homeless people have dogs as do some ppl who are just down on their luck,now im wondering where our petsmart dumpster is located lol(its only a 3 hr drive fr my house lmao) could be in for a good haul heehee:D ;)
 
Hi everyone, I used to work at Petsmart for a few years and actually they don't just throw a bunch of stuff away for NO reason lol. If a customer returns something and says they "tried it on my dog but didn't fit" we have to toss it, like someone mentioned a anything that was used on/with a pet must be thrown out because it could have some into contact with something bad. If the cash register notices it smells like smoke or something other than new, even if the buyer claimes it was never used it's thrown out. If it has pet hair on it it's thrown out. If the customer just says it was defective, we had to take their word for it. However we did keep things such as sealed boxes of product, lights, unused toys...things like that were put back on shelves. At the register there are two boxes for returns..damaged/broken (including used) or new/resale. It's all up to the register people based on what customers tell them and what they determine on their own.
 
Maybe your store. Id rather buy new items anyways. Then some thing returned for what ever reason. Anyways I know thats not true since I have about 4 exo terras that have been visibly used and I returned them back. Zoo med heat thermostats used. Waterfalls used. So I had my share of returns to petsmart for buying damaged goods that already returned and re shelved.
I used to think of them as like TJ Maxx either only selling damaged or used goods.;) But yea dumpster diving is nice. haha One mans garbage always another mans gold stop complaining.

Lol. I'm not complaining. I'm just trying to let you guys be aware.

And to all that say the items are filthy....I'm sure if you wash them well...they will be good to use.
 
That is shocking, loads of shelters could really do with that stuff. Where i work we have an animal collection, we take toys,food,leads,blankets,bowls everything really and they go to cat and dog shelters every month. It works well don't know why more places don't do it.
 
I have been the manager of a family owned pet supply, that I am in the process of purchasing. Pet foods are a guaranteed return, I then donate them to a local non-profit pet organization. Any supplies that I can get credit for that are returned are also donated. Anything our group cannot use, in turn gets donated to a local cattle dog rescue. No waste here. When people purchase collars at our store we also take the ones they do not want and donate them to the local shelter. Our shelter does not take food, because unfortunatly they have a contract with Science Diet. I also have a customer who provides food to seniors who are struggling to feed their pets, so we also give stuff to her. There are kind hearted store owners out there. I find there is more problems with chain type stores, and have heard various stories of even sick pets being found in dumpsters. I have customers who have rescued them from dumpsters and nursed them back to health, when the stores don't want the expense of dealing with it. That is much more sad to me then the dry goods. We keep a bin available for all donations year around and you would be suprised at how generous customers can be with things their pets will not use or eat. There is hope and there is kindness...
 
I would be careful taking stuff from dumpsters some states have laws against it and you could be arrested for it. I personally don't care.
 
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