The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that Amazon patented one-click shopping in 1999. A Globe editorial says that now, on-line shopping is effectively risk-free and seamless. There's a cost, of course. Even in this economy, Canadians' spending on Black Friday this year grew by 11 per cent and transaction size increased by 7 per cent. More money will be splashed around during the holidays and during the federal GST break, which runs until mid-February. In just a couple of taps, you can now have a heavy appliance or a used car at your door. But the premise at the heart of it all is wrong; buying something should require some effort. In America, $247-billion (U.S.) in merchandise bought on-line was returned last year, with return rates as high as 17.6 per cent. Rather than restocking, companies typically send much of what they receive to the landfill or have the products destroyed because of cost-efficiency, a lack of processing capacity or a desire to maintain product exclusivity. In the U.S., returns produce more than 3.6 million tonnes of waste and as much as 24 million tonnes of carbon emissions a year. Shoppers may expect returns to be free, but nothing really is -- and so the Earth pays the price.