- Costco has a particularly generous returns policy.
- It's not unheard of for members to get away with returning gross or old items, although consistent fraud could prompt the company to terminate a person's membership.
- Costco employees say that members occasionally take advantage of the policy to a ridiculous degree.
And there's a reason for that. One former Costco manager explained the reasoning behind the policy, telling Business Insider that the "liberal return policy" creates a sense of confidence in members.
"They know that if it does not meet expectations they can return it," the ex-manager said. That confidence then prompts them to shop and spend more.
What's more, the former manager said that, despite the horror stores, "this policy is not taken advantage of as much as you might think."
"Being a membership club, the members have a vested interest through their membership fees to follow the rules," the manager said. "Sales and returns are tracked and fraud is easy to spot. In these cases, memberships are canceled. Many times members would have rather me call the police than cancel their membership when caught shoplifting or committing return fraud."
That being said, most Costco employees have at least one or two stories about particularly bizzare returns.
"We've seen it all," one employee told Business Insider.
Here's a few of the wildest things that members have tried to exchange at the Costco returns desk: