A Target worker described an incident in which a person returned "a shirt that had been worn, washed, and reeked of cigarettes."
"We didn't even carry the brand that it was," the employee added. The store accepted the garment, then tossed it in the trash.
A Target employee told Business Insider that stores have a $200 limit on returns made without a receipt. Customers who return items without a receipt receive store credit in lieu of money.
The employee described witnessing a shopper attempt to exchange a razor without a receipt.
"She had hit her $200 limit, meaning that she couldn't return it," the team member said. "She left 20 minutes later. A different woman came in with the exact same razor — in the same Walmart bag, even — to return it with her license. Not surprisingly, she had also hit her limit."
The months following the holiday rush usually bring about a lull in the retail business. But it's a time that also brings some opportunistic returners out of the woodwork.
One Target team member of five years told Business Insider about a guest who took advantage of the store's 90-day return policy by "returning roughly $400 worth of Christmas decorations in late February."
Some shoppers seek to game both Target and the real-estate market.
A Target employee said they had seen "multiple returns of thousands of dollars' worth of home merchandise made after the guests have staged their homes," adding, "It is so unethical."
One Target employee told Business Insider that one man returned several sets of bedsheets, claiming that his wife had bought too many.
"They were $150 apiece," the Target worker said. "He had a limit on his ID. He didn't have the receipt. We exchanged it for a $450 camera. He bought those sheets from a secondhand store."
"Someone ordered an entire lawn set online and brought it in on a U-Haul to return it," a Target worker told Business Insider. "We had to use around 10 carts to bring it in."
A Target employee told Business Insider that they once encountered a person attempting to return an old, open box of condoms.
Two Target workers described seeing shoppers attempt to return Walmart-branded clothing.
"I don't work in customer service often, but I did have someone try to return a non-Target item," a third Target employee told Business Insider. "She kept insisting she bought it here."
Are you a Target employee with a story to share? Email acain@businessinsider.com.
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