Walmart joins retailers refusing to take back bottled water after Hurricane Lane

Big-box giant Walmart is among a number of retailers refusing to accept returns of bottled water following Hurricane Lane.

Hawaii residents wiped out water and other items from stores, including Costco and Sam’s Club, last week as panicked customers readied their hurricane kits ahead of the storm.

The hurricane eventually was downgraded to a tropical storm, and retailers are now facing returns.

“The major challenge for stores is that they may pay to acquire merchandise that was supposed to go elsewhere, or they pay a premium to ship it through air as opposed to sea. As a result, stores oftentimes aren’t prepared for dealing with potential returns,” said Nathaniel Hartmann, associate professor of marketing at the University of Hawaii Shidler College of Business. “They don’t know if it’s tampered with, but also they oftentimes rush-ordered a lot of merchan­dise … because they’re trying to meet a surge in demand. When a storm doesn’t materialize, then there’s this surge in returns. It’s almost like a double-edged sword.”

Walmart’s return policy is similar to stores including City Mill, Don Quijote and other food retailers. City Mill said earlier this week that it would not take back bottled water, cut lumber or generators that were full of gas. Don Quijote’s return policy says, “All sales final on water, batteries, butane gas. No refunds or credit will be given.”

“In order to prepare for disaster events such as Hurricane Lane, our stores work with local vendors to secure supplies of bottled water for our customers. Our Hawaii stores will not be accepting returned bottled water at this time,” said Walmart spokeswoman Tiffany Wilson.

Walmart doesn’t resell bottled water and other food items once purchased “because we cannot maintain the integrity of these products once they leave our stores,” Wilson added.

“Because we are in hurricane season through the end of November in Hawaii, our customers should be reminded to maintain their hurricane preparedness kits, which includes having one gallon of water per person per day for two weeks as recom­mended by the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency,” Wilson said.