C'est la REI

What's the favorite sport of the great outdoorsy; returning merchandise, with novel excuses;

Chad Thomas, a longtime REI customer who has returned used items, put it another way: "Some people think I'm a scumbag," he says.

Perish the thought;

Earlier this year, Mr. Thomas, says he returned a backpack he bought in 2004, which he had hauled up the tallest mountain in Yosemite National Park and hundreds of miles across a number of states. But it "was getting old and dirty, and I didn't like it anymore," he says.

Mr. Thomas returned the nine-year-old backpack to the REI store near his home in San Ramon, Calif. REI gave him a brand-new backpack plus $17 in cash—the difference between his purchase price and the item's new low cost. He later returned that one, too, when he realized there was a newer model.

His justification: Since he bought hundreds of REI products over the years, he says, the retailer still has made a healthy overall profit on his purchases.

Others have come up with;

...a customer recently returned a pair of women's sandals, designed for hiking and wading in rivers.The problem? According to the tag, "not sexy enough." 

Also;

In a bin by a window, an unraveling scarf is marked "too fuzzy." On the next rack over, a well-worn man's shirt has "buttons that are too clangy on hard surfaces."

And nearby, a pair of child's sandals that are coming apart at the soles. The complaint on the tag: The sandals are "not good for mud wrestling."