Wirecutter buys 450 lb box of Amazon returns

I usually look at garage sales as displays of things you shouldn't buy. I feel like this is even more ... that. It would be helpful if Amazon posted to the return rates of this stuff.

Random samples being even more valuable than biased samples, it would be even more helpful if salvage services scanned all the barcodes and posted everything that's returned from everywhere.

But how do you make money on that? How does society recognize the value of that downward pressure on waste?