Originally Posted by
0speedbike
A little trick that I found handy when fix'n friends' bikes that required tools that I didn't need for my family's bikes was to buy them- not from my LBS - but from one of those faceless corporate uber stores w/ a no-questions-asked return policy. That way, when I'm done with the tool, I just return it for my $ back or trade it for an other tool that I need for an other freind's bike.
more often than not, when a customer returns an item to a big chain store, the item is shipped across the country to a service hub where the item is inspected or refurbished and then shipped back to a store. But more often, the item is simply disposed of "properly" at the service hub to avoid liability or QC problems. So, by returning that $15 chain whip that you think you'll only use once, it gets shipped all around wasting fuel and then destroyed and thrown into a dumpster bound for a landfill.
Seems awfully wasteful when you could just purchase the tool once and add to your collection and not have to run around scamming retail stores to save a few bucks.