Great Customer Service Involves More Than a Great Returns Policy A relationship of “we have your back, we’re here for you, regardless of the issue or concern.” It’s the backbone of a potential relationship, a ‘til death do us part relationship within which, if all goes well, no competitor can pull customer and company asunder.

But such a policy also means something more emotionally resonant, something beyond alleviating the fear of ending up stuck with a pair of ill-fitting boots. Speaking more generally, what does a great customer returns policy mean to a customer, and how does it help to build and sustain company results? Most obviously, it takes the immediate risk out of buying, which is why it was catalog companies that pioneered such policies. The Business Value of a Solid Returns Policy And, it’s only for these non-customers and shouldn't-be-customers that the policy change will matter. Here’s the thing: Since actual Bean customers, desirable Bean customers, are going to find a year for returns to be more than enough, it means that, in essence, we have, through the prices we pay, long been subsidizing non-customers (the eBay and yard sale scavengers) as well as quasi-customers (like this proudly-amoral Slate columnist) who don’t fit the friendly, trust-based model that, overall, works so well for the company. (My personal policy on whether something is ethically returnable is one I picked up from the great writer Calvin Trillin: Does the product “owe me money”? If I’ve gotten good use out of a product, or if a misguided purchase was the result of my own failings as a consumer, then it doesn’t.)

Although we Bean loyalists might joke about returning outgrown skates (and with kids, it takes less than a year to outgrow such items, so even under the new policy, we still could), we would never, ever misapply Bean’s kindness in that manner. Bean loyalists, the new, gently-trimmed policy is an irrelevant change, because loyal Bean customers aren’t looking to violate the social contract opportunistically. Bean’s change of heart has been of the “Just look what the world is coming to now!” variety.

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