Guilty as charged. Then again, that's why they get my business, so it must work for them as well.

I have a habit of going through big propane cook stoves. I buy one, use it for a couple years till it is crudded up and burnt out, then take it back and get another. It is almost embarassing to bring it back, receipt in hand, and get what I paid for it and walk out the door with a new one, but if that's their policy, and it's available to everyone, then it must be fair. If not, as with the electronics exception, then I figure they would change it to suit their business plan quick enough. I have a feeling they are making more than enough income to offset returns, as they are still the lowest price in town much of the time. To be honest, most of what I get at Costco I don't return, but I do a lot of shopping there because of their policy, and if I buy something spendy, like the elliptical machine that never worked right, then I much prefer the idea of simply walking back into the store with the item and the receipt and getting all my money back.

I had a friend that worked at one and he told me about when he witnessed a woman bring in a ziploc bag with what appeared to be vitamin caplets in it, explaining that she wanted her money back because they had passed through her system undigested. Needless to say, the clerk explained that she needn't have brought the undigested pills back, just the opened bottle with what was left. Even an empty bottle with a receipt would've been refunded. They asked her to throw the baggie away and they'd gladly give her money back.

Ugh!!!