I hate it when a company puts merchandise protection above customer respect. They assume everyone is a thief before being a customer, and that’s insulting. Software activation that is taxing the legitimate users, not the pirates. Hard to open huge blisters for items the size of a stick of gum. Those horrible anti-theft tags on clothes that damage the material.

Here is a sad statistic: out of 5 shirts and 2 t-shirts bought from Benetton, 4 shirts and 2 t-shirts have a hole on the back right under the collar. That’s a little over 85% of purchases being pre-damaged.

OK, I can understand that Benetton doesn’t want their shit stolen, but that doesn’t entitle them to sell broken shit. Don’t create rips where there are high stress points, ie. where the material gets stretched every time you put it on or take it off. Add a few wash cycles to that, and you’ll be able to put your head through that hole.

You wouldn’t sell me something if I offered to pay less than the listed price, and yet you are selling me something worth less than I paid for.

Now, if 85% of your merchandise ends up being returned (and then destroyed) maybe you should start thinking of your customers first, and the thieves second. Wouldn’t it be easier to just let some of it be stolen for the sake of happy customers?

Your costs will also go down because your employees will focus on selling rather than carelessly putting and removing anti-theft tags, not spending money on an anti-theft system in the first place, and as an added extra, you won’t have to deal with returned stuff that cannot be resold.

That’s my tip to you, United Colors of Benetton. Now I want my money back, in cash please, not that store credit crap (don’t get me started on that).