In the beginning, Walmart was a merchandizing enterprise which took advantage of the fact that the mark-up on products was typically 100% of the wholesale price. Moreover, other large merchandizers, such as Sears Roebuck and J.C. Penny and Montgomery Ward had accustomed manufacturers to being paid when orders were delivered and sold, rather than when they were placed. American manufacturing was squeezed and that promoted moving production, first to the lower wage southern states and then overseas, where any wage was seen as an improvement over a hand-to-mouth existence.
That's the environment into which Walmart moved. Both "lower prices" and "American made" were a come-on to populations that had been discomfited and displaced by the merchandizing strategies of the day. It was easy to buy into the hope that "Made in the USA" and a challenge to the traditional monopolies would reverse the distress. So, when "Made in the USA" transitioned into "Made in China," hope lay in tatters and all that was left was the promise of low prices. Then, as always happens with the manufacture of goods, market saturation prompted a reduction in quality -- planned obsolescence -- to insure a steady stream of customers, people having to take home the same things over and over because the products just don't last. Which is where we are at now and why customers are realizing what the "associates" have know all along -- that Walmart is an abusive enterprise.
From the perspective of customers, Walmart has become little more than a waystation to the dump. Indeed, some of the products can, like the circulars in the mail box or the newspaper, go directly, along with the wrapping, into the "circular file." But, since we know where it came from and where it's going, ought we not to be recycling? Wouldn't it make more sense, whenever a purchase doesn't perform or last as long as we expect, to just take it back and, in the interest of making it easy to collect and transport, leave the junk off outside the store? Never mind trying to get a refund of the "low price." That would be a waste of time, which is the one thing that's definitely in short supply; not to mention putting an additional burden on the associates which they definitely don't deserve.
Wonder how long it would take the Waltons to realize that their customers are dissatisfied? Are they slow learners like the electric utilities and the banks, which still haven't realized what the falling consumption of energy and credit means, or will they pivot to increasing quality and wages to salvage their enterprise? Industrial producers have come to appreciate the benefits of recycling. It will be interesting to see if our commercial middlemen are sufficiently agile to welcome a change.
We could call it the Policy of Free Returns.