Don Bruder wrote:
...
The mower you found was deliberately mangled, specifically to stop
dumpster divers from pulling it out and fixing whatever minor problem it
might have had. The logic is *SOMETHING* like "If they can pull it out
of the dumpster, why would they spend any money in here?", which, to be
honest, does make a certain amount of sense, ...

What also makes sense of mangling it is to prevent someone from pulling
it out and bringing it into the store for a refund! "Gee, I lost my
receipt for it."

A "Returns" clerk at HD once told me that they've caught people bringing
stuff from the store floor up to the Returns desk for a refund!
("Security!")

Bob