In this paper, we present some simple new criteria for the non-ergodicity of a stochastic process (Yn ), n ≧ 0 in discrete time, when either the upward or downward jumps are majorized by i.i.d. random variables. This situation is encountered in many practical situations, where the (Yn ) are functionals of some Markov chain with countable state space. An application to the exponential back-off protocol is described.