Amazon has announced a new fee that will be affecting some product returns—and shoppers are not happy.
To help deter the large amount of returns Amazon receives from customers, the company will start charging customers a $1 fee if they choose to return items to a UPS store when a Whole Foods, Kohl’s, or Amazon Fresh grocery store closer to their delivery address.
Shoppers are already voicing their frustration with the new policy: “So, no more fast shipping, no free returns…no reason to shop there,” stated one Reddit poster.
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by u/bigbabytdot from discussion CNN: Amazon is attempting new measures to get customers to return fewer of their online orders, including charging a fee to return items to UPS stores
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Fans Comment: 'They Are Making All The Wrong Decisions'
Unlike UPS, Amazon owns Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh, and has a partnership deal with Kohl's—so there's certainly more incentive to have people make returns there than at a UPS store. Though to this point the fee will only come into play if a customer is choosing to go to a UPS store rather than a retail location on the list closer to the delivery address, customers are still furious that it's yet another change to Prime benefits.
Comment by u/queenchanel from discussion CNN: Amazon is attempting new measures to get customers to return fewer of their online orders, including charging a fee to return items to UPS stores in amazonprime
On a Reddit post about the upcoming change, one user summed up their feelings by saying "They (Amazon) are making all the wrong decisions, and it will eventually show." Another user agreed with the sentiment: "I’m not even sure what the point of prime is…I get stuff in a week now instead of 2 days."
Despite concerns, an Amazon spokesperson told CNN business that the feed would only apply to a small number of customers, and reminded readers that free returns will still be available through Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh, and Kohl's.
Only One Of Recent Changes To Prime Membership
The $1 UPS store return fee is not the only recent change customers have seen to their Amazon Prime benefits, and to Amazon's system itself. For instance, certain products on the site have now been flagged as "recently returned," with an added badge to listings with "significantly higher return rates for their product category."
Amazon Prime membership costs were raised from $12.99/month to $14.99/month last year, and new fees were recently added to Amazon Fresh delivery orders under $150, despite the grocery delivery service ostensibly already being included in the membership fee.
Also docked from the list of Prime membership benefits was free delivery for certain orders from Whole Foods—which went from $0 to $9.95 for orders under $35.
