The Option to Return It

A reversible decision is usually safer than an irreversible one.

Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper ran a jam tasting in a shop. A large table with many varieties drew more attention, but the smaller selection ended in a purchase more often. The study became a famous illustration of choice overload.

Later work showed that the effect depends on complexity, knowledge of the subject and the ability to compare the options. Not every kind of variety paralyses. But reversibility really is valuable where a choice is hard: a trial period turns a decision from a final exam into a way of getting new information.

Before buying it helps to know:

• whether the item can be returned;
• within what period;
• who pays for shipping;
• whether there is a warranty;
• what counts as signs of use;
• whether the thing can be resold.

The last item on the shelf is not necessarily defective. It may be last because the others sold well. But the absence of choice and traces of display use really do call for a check.

Instead of an absolute ban, it is more sensible to inspect:

• the packaging;
• the completeness of the set;
• the date;
• damage;
• the terms of the discount;
• the warranty.

Sometimes the last unit is a normal purchase. Sometimes it is an object that spent three years demonstrating the effects of ultraviolet light to customers.

Reversibility matters outside the shop as well.

A trial period, a rental, a small batch, a fixed-term contract and a pilot project all let you get information before a large bet.

Not every irreversibility is bad, though. Marriage, a child, surgery, moving and a choice of profession can all contain irreversible parts. A person is not obliged to avoid them merely because there is no return button.

What matters is different:

Do I understand which part of the decision is irreversible?

Is there enough information?

Can the bet be made smaller?

Am I destroying the way back only so that my future self cannot object?

Burning bridges sometimes increases resolve. It also removes the right to be wrong. Better to set the fire only after checking that the bridge really does lead back to danger, and not merely to a different opinion.

The cost of information is usually lower than the cost of a mistake, and it can be counted. Renting a tool for the weekend, a month’s lease in the district you plan to move to, a fixed-term contract instead of a permanent one — these are paid ways of learning what would otherwise emerge after an irreversible step. A month in a new district costs one month’s rent. Finding out the same thing after buying costs the agent’s fee, the move and several years next to a motorway that is visible on the map and audible only in person.

What usually gets in the way is not the price of the trial but the reluctance to look unsure. A trial step honestly tells everyone that the person has not decided yet, and many prefer to pay full price for certainty rather than announce their doubt out loud.