Happy returns? Not as often as you think

Clothes pile up at a St. Vincent de Paul warehouse in the southern Willamette Valley. Some clothes are from online returns.

Full disclosure: I’m a tad ignorant when it comes to the business of retail. Having never worked in a typical department store or shop, I’ve lived my life blissfully unaware of what happens behind the scenes.

This lack of experience goes double for the process of returning items to an online retailer. As a…