People Returning Used Christmas Trees to Costco Sparks Debate

Costco's return counter is already piled up. More and more consumers, after Christmas, are returning fully used Christmas trees, sofas and other furniture to Costco, taking advantage of the company's generous return policy to use them for free for the entire holiday season. These items clearly aren't defective. Boxes are torn apart, branches bent over and over again.

Costco's return policy was originally built on trust, trust that customers wouldn't treat consumer protection as a loophole. In the end, the ones who pay the price are never Costco, but ordinary customers who follow the rules. Costs go up, prices rise.

As long as the rules don't explicitly say, you can't do this, some people feel justified in abusing them. Christmas trees stop being products and turn into holiday rentals. Use them, return them. No guilt, no hesitation. This isn't fraud, but it's slowly killing good policies. So the question is, are these behaviors exactly why we're losing consumer

the question is, are these behaviors exactly why we're losing consumer friendly systems altogether?