Recall that the Lands' End sandals which were ordered last week (see May 16) were too big for Sam at this point in his life.  Amy was ready to send them back for exchange the other day (May 23), when I remembered that I had a pair of slacks that I wanted to exchange.  I purchased these slacks on October 5, 1999.  The slacks were apparently a tad too long as some remarkable fraying was going on at the end of the pant legs.  I'd been aware of this all semester and I just kept on wearing them.  (I did notice that my undergraduate students from the Spring Semester would laugh in my general direction on occasion for no apparent reason.  Maybe they were laughing at these fraying slacks?  Maybe they were laughing at the fact that I wore khaki slacks for every single class this semester?  Maybe they thought my jokes were good and that I was a funny guy?  Ok, I shouldn't push it.  I'll admit to "checking" discretely my front fly zipper when I would hear this laughter out of the blue -- my technique was to tug my pants up or act as if I was straightening my belt and, in concert, slyly drop my pinky finger just below the clasp closure on my pants to make sure that I felt the initials YKK in the proper place.  My fly was always up during class, so, as I could imagine Spike Lee saying, it must have been the frayed pants.)

Before I returned these slacks and sandals, I had a few questions about the return process, so I cranked up Lands' End Live.

June S: Welcome to Lands' End Live! How may I help you?
Bruce: Hello June. I have a return question for an order. It has to do
............with my order (# withheld). Can you help or do I need to call 
............someone on the telephone?
June S: I can help you. Just one moment and I'll look at your order.
June S: I do have your order here. How can I help you?
Bruce: It's the slacks, it's the slacks (kind of like the plane the
............plane).
Bruce: They were obviously too long as the cuffs have frayed heavily
............from hitting the floor/ground.
Bruce: I want to replace them. I really thought I had the right length
............when I ordered them.
Bruce: I'm guessing that they need to be about one to one one quarter
............inch shorter than what I ordered.
June S: I'm not sure that I'm looking at the correct order, but
............nonetheless, you are more than welcome to return them.
June S: Can I have your last name and zipcode so I can look at the
............correct order?
Bruce: My last name is Weinberg and my zip is (withheld).
Bruce: They are Khaki slacks and I believe they were priced at $38 or
............so.
June S: I found it, sorry for the confusion! Yes, you can still return
............those pants. The inseam you ordered was 30 3/4 with a cuff.
Bruce: One question, the 3/4 part was due to the code, right? That is, I
............specified something like 30T where the T means add 3/4". yes?
June S: Yes, it does. I did check on availability however, and the color
............we now have available in those is called a desert khaki, as opposed 
............to the "khaki" that you ordered previously.
Bruce: Aha. How about this, can I just return them now and let you know
............what I want as far as size and color later?
June S: You can return them for a refund now, if you like, and then
............reorder at your convenience. The price on those was $42.00, and 
............we will reimburse your return postage as well since the bottoms 
............frayed. Just indicate that on your return paperwork.
Bruce: That is too darn cool. One more question. Do I simply specify the
............order number and my name (and order date) when returning them, 
............or do I need to specify something else?
June S: No, just refer to that order number and also include
............the date so we can give you the correct refund. Can I help 
............you with anything else this afternoon?
Bruce: Oh whoops, tell me if this will complicate things as far as the
............refund on the return shipping. I will also be returning some sandals 
............for a size exchange made on order (# withheld).
June S: No, you can return them together. Just indicate that they are
............from two separate orders and to refund your shipping.
Bruce: June S. you are awesome. Thanks a ton and please say
............hello to Susan R. for me (we're pals).
Bruce: Have a rottin' tootin' good day. And, watch for my khaki slacks
............to be coming to a mail order room near you.
Bruce: I meant rootin'
June S: I sure will, and same to you! Thanks for chatting today.
Bruce: Toodaloo.

The return shipping charge was $5.40 and I was psyched that Lands' End would be picking up the tab.  I decided to exchange the khaki colored slacks for the desert khaki colored slacks.  In addition, Sam's size 9 sandals are going to be replaced with a smaller size.  On the way home from the post office, I realized that this was my first experience of leaving  home in order to perform a return or exchange.  (My only other return/exchange experience occurred in October, 1999).  I found this return/exchange process to be straight forward and simple.  The customer service person at the post office was awesome.  She was pleasant and taped the box closed for me.  I've heard many people and the media argue that the return process associated with online orders is a hassle or inconvenient.  I do not fully agree.

If I were returning these items to a Lands' End store (assuming one existed in a mall nearby), I would have to schlep to the mall, find someone to handle the return, wait around while all of the paper work and processing is done, and then return home.  Relatively speaking, the drive to a post office is likely to be shorter than the drive to a store or mall.  In addition, the wait in line to send a package at the post office is on average, I would bet, less time intensive than finding the return area in a store and waiting for assistance there.

Imagine a situation where one was going to return items to more than one bricks store.  Wouldn't this require one going to all of the stores to which one was returning items and experiencing the return process at each of these stores?  Sounds like fun.  Now imagine a situation where one was going to return items to more than one online store.  Wouldn't this require going to only one delivery service/place (e.g., USPS, UPS, FedEx, Mailboxes etc.) and experiencing the return process only once?  Again, my guess is that the location of a delivery service/place is likely to be relatively closer, on average, to a consumer's home.  Sounds ok to me.

(For anyone who wants to get technical, I understand that it would also be important to compare the likelihood of a return when buying online versus when buying in a store.  In addition, it would be important to highlight that the individual exchanging an item at a store has a chance greater than zero of going home the same day with the desired item whereas the individual performing an exchange with an online store has zero probability of going home the same day with the desired item.  Actually, there is a way that an online consumer could get their desired item as part of an exchange process faster than the consumer who does an exchange at a store -- if the online store sends the replacement/new item to a consumer prior to the consumer carrying out the return process, ha ha.)

On a different topic, I received a lovely email from Debbie who lives in The Old Dominion State of Virginia.  She made some interesting comments.  First, she wrote "I just wanted to drop you a note and tell you how much I have enjoyed your internet shopping diary.  Believe it or not, I have read the entire diary."  I didn't ask, but I got the sense that my mom did not put her up to this.

Debbie also wrote "Give in to anything an 8 1/2 (month) pregnant woman wants or says (I gave birth to my second son March 28)."  She is 100% correct.  Congratulations Debbie and thanks for setting me straight (see May 17).  Another email comment she made was fascinating.

"Something you might not think about living in a metropolis, is that the internet is wonderful for those of us in the hinterlands.  I live in a town of 6,000, in a county of 30,000.  We don't have a mall in this county.  Although some of the internet services aren't available like the local groceries and dry cleaning, for many other things it's great not to have to travel 50 miles to a mall.  My husband has taken to giving me a list of possible birthday gifts complete with URL's to distribute to the family (or make use of myself, of course)."  Is this beautiful or what?  I'll admit to being a city slicker and I want everyone in the world to have access to and enjoy all of the benefits that the Internet has to offer.  Not to mention, that I'll now be leaving a few URLs sitting on rose petals here and there throughout the house :-).  (Oh, I just got a great idea.  How about an address plate labeled "www.InternetShopping247.com" and placing this on my house?)

She also adds "My favorite places to shop on the internet are Amazon.com and Landsend.com.  I also use Bluemountain.com all the time to send birthday, Mother's Day, etc. greetings.  It's free, will send on a day you specify, and gives you credit for the thought, even if you're too cheap, er frugal, to cough up for a present."  We obviously have much in common as far as favorite sites; I am, however, kind of wondering about the direction of the word "cheap" in her comments.  You talkin' to me?  Lemme ask you somethin'.  You talkin' to me?