After eight years in retail, I've seen return policies swing from 'no questions asked' to 'receipt required within 14 days' and back again. Customers often demand lenient returns, but do those policies actually build loyalty or just encourage people to treat stores like free rental services? I'm leaning toward the latter, though I'll admit our data isn't conclusive—some repeat buyers seem genuinely grateful for easy returns, so maybe it's more nuanced than I think.