Shoppers are returning goods in record numbers. And at many department stores, the returns are having a side effect: They can unexpectedly lower a worker’s paycheck weeks or months after a sale is made.
NEW YORK — Earnestine Gay, a longtime worker in the fragrance department at Macy’s in Herald Square, clearly remembers a bottle of perfume that was returned recently. It was practically empty.
Yet Gay knew that the bottle, bought weeks earlier, would probably lower her commission because it would count against her sales for that week.
These days, people are returning goods in record numbers, and often in worse condition, encouraged by the flexible return policies adopted by e-commerce sites like Amazon and the brick-and-mortar stores trying to keep pace.
But unlike returns at online retailers, those at many department stores have a side effect: They can unexpectedly lower a worker’s paycheck weeks or months after a sale is made.
Some of the country’s leading department stores allow returns for as long as a year, like Nordstrom, or set no time limit at all, like Macy’s. The commissions paid to sales representatives at Macy’s can be affected by returns made within six months, while returns at Nordstrom affect workers for as long as a year.
“Macy’s used to have a 10-day return policy,” said Ken Bordieri, president of Local 1-S, which represents Macy’s workers in New York.
The union says that changing the return policy is among its priorities as it negotiates with Macy’s for a new contract by Wednesday.
In an email, a Macy’s spokesman, Jim Sluzewski, called the company’s return policy “fair and equitable” to employees. A spokeswoman for Nordstrom, Tara Darrow, said in an email that “we provide our employees with a commission agreement when they are hired that explains how we calculate commissions, and they can always get a copy of the commission agreement.”
For decades, department stores have used commissions as a way to motivate employees. But returned merchandise can count against an employee’s sales.
Such policies help protect retailers from some legitimate concerns. For example, it prevents an employee from trying to game the system by selling a product to a friend, knowing the product will be returned after a commission is paid.
Still, the surge of returns has changed the dynamic.
Americans returned $284 billion in merchandise in 2014, up 53 percent in five years, according to the most recent data available from the National Retail Federation, an industry trade group. Returns generally make up about 8 percent of sales, according to the group.