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L.L. Bean Eliminates Its Legendary Lifetime Returns Policy
Thanks to widespread abuse, you’ll no longer be able to return duck boots after years of hard use.
The L.L. Bean Inc. manufacturing facility in Brunswick, Maine.
Photographer: Scott Eisen/Bloomberg
For more than a century, L.L. Bean Inc. has offered lifetime returns on its products. Now, thanks to growing abuse of the program, the bootmaker is drastically cutting back its generous policy.
The Freeport, Maine-based company will impose a one-year limit on returns, executives announced Friday. The return policy was a part of a lifetime satisfaction guarantee, never meant to be used as an unlimited replenishment method. Shoppers may still return products for any reason within the one-year limit.