LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Businesses are into their busiest season of the year, selling and shipping all kinds of gifts. In a few weeks, stores will be swamped with returns and exchanges. A study over at UK found that the more emotionally intelligent you are, the more willing you might be to lie about those returns.
Inside The Kentucky Shop warehouse on West High Street, it's buzzing.
"This is our busiest two weeks of the year, throughout the entire year," said Rick Paynter, co-owner of The Kentucky Shop. "It's a little bit crazy. It's fun for us. We're a small staff of about eight people, so processing thousands of orders online, it can be overwhelming, but we eat plenty of pizza throughout the day and sustain with some coffee!"
Paynter and his wife have run the apparel store for about a decade, so they know that with the holiday rush also comes the post-holiday return and exchange season. Like a lot of retailers, The Kentucky Shop will refund or exchange unworn merchandise.
New research from a University of Kentucky professor suggests that some of those returns might not be on the up-and-up. In a study looking into consumer fraud, David Hardesty and other researchers found that the higher a person's emotional intelligence — the better they're able to recognize and regulate their own emotions — the more likely they are to lie about the nature of the return. Hardesty said they are able to suppress the feelings of embarrassment that might otherwise stop them from lying.
Paynter says they do sometimes see returns that don't quite fit their requirements.
"For us, it's always that they wore it and then they're saying that they did not wear it. I don't know many people that cover themselves in Drakkar Noir the way that some of the people have over the years, but we open up some of those packages and they smell like cologne," Paynter said.
Paynter said they've found that a good online description leads to fewer returns.
"One of the biggest things I think, is educating the customer, saying, 'Hey, this is our size chart. This is how it fits.' Showing them a good image of the product, as well," he said.
Paynter says they usually work with people to make the exchange, but as with most things, honesty is the best policy.
