It's an old saying in retail: "The customer is always right." But many companies that sell online or through catalogs have moved away from that motto — making customers pay to return merchandise. Sellers think it's a fair policy. Consumers don't see it that way, and a new study suggests that firms would be far better off in the long run footing the bill for returns.
First, there was the post-Thanksgiving sales spectacle Black Friday and then the online version, Cyber Monday. Now, charitable groups want to start a new holiday tradition — it's called Giving Tuesday and the first one is tomorrow.
It may seem a little surprising that no one came up with the idea before of designating a specific day to help launch the holiday charitable giving season.
"I mean this is just brilliant, to just give everyone time to pause and think about what's most important at the holiday season," says Jyl Johnson Pattee, the founder of Mom It Forward. The online community of mothers is one of more than 1,400 groups participating in this year's Giving Tuesday. Local Mom It Forward groups will do volunteer projects to mark the event, and they plan to host a Twitter party that anyone can attend online.
"We'll have an hour conversation about charity, holiday giving, volunteerism and how you can really make a difference over the holiday season," she says.
The weekends on All Things Considered series Movies I've Seen A Million Times features filmmakers, actors, writers and directors talking about the movies that they never get tired of watching.
For actor-writer-director Ed Burns, whose credits include The Brothers McMullen, Saving Private Ryan and the new film The Fitzgerald Family Christmas, which is available for download and opens in theaters Dec. 7, the movie he could watch a million times is Tender Mercies.
Enlarge Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images
Ed Burns' latest film is The Fitzgerald Family Christmas.