My wife has been addicted to watching dumpster diving videos where people end up finding brand new expensive things thrown away by retailers. It made me remember reading somewhere that the reason they do this is because it’s cheaper for them to throw away or destroy their inventory than it is to give it away or sell at discount. HOW???
I don’t see how they could possibly save money by destroying inventory rather than putting it on extreme discount. Surely they could make more money selling at an extreme discount versus no money at all by destroying .
In: Economics
1. Dumpster diving videos are often faked/exaggerated to generate views.
2. A company is likely taking in more deliveries of product and they need room. Inventorying a single product that went “obsolete” is not worth keeping.
3. The products that go into the trash might be defective, dangerous, or broken. Things unfit for sale, and it might not be obvious, so selling them might be a legal issue. Think expired food, or a consumer good that was recalled for safety reasons.
4. Discounting a product too heavily means people will start looking for those extreme discounts instead of buying the regular priced goods. If it’s incentivized too much, people will take steps to try and make it happen, such as hiding products in the store till it hits “clearance”.
5. You have to provide support for a item that is sold. There is a return period and warranty period, the products might not be made anymore so you can’t sell the product that no longer is in warranty.
6. Stores are often based around having a certain “Clientele” and selling things below your normal price range attracts a worse clientele.
7. It’s often viewed as “cheapening” the brand if it’s sold below price control/restrictions (Such as apple products).
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