Brian Russell

Another busy week full of new episodes and livestreams at Supply Chain Now! If you missed an episode, get a quick summary and listen here. On Monday, our very own Clay “The Dawg” Phillips gives some insight on his job at Supply Chain Now. Supply Chain Now · “Recent Key Takeaways with Clay “The Dawg” Phillips”   On Tuesday, Scott & Greg welcomed Shannon Vaillancourt with RateLinx and Tim Judge with Agillitics to the show to share about optimizing supply chain decision making.   Supply Chain Now · “Optimizing Decision-Making in Supply Chain in 2020 & Beyond”   On Wednesday, we published this week’s Supply Chain Buzz, complete with the Retail Rundown and with special guest Chris Lingamfelter with 6 River Systems.   Supply Chain Now · “The Supply Chain Buzz for August 31st: The Retail Rundown & Chris Lingamfelter”   On Thursday, Scott and Greg welcomed co-host Paul Noble with Verusen to the show and featured Scott Armstrong with CONA Services LLC as their special guest.   Supply Chain Now · ” A View from the CFO’s Office: Scott Armstrong with CONA Services LLC”   And we wrapped up the week with Greg’s TECHquila Sunrise as he gives some…

Inside the reverse logistics education gap and the economic blind spot keeping it invisible Special Guest Blog Post written by Deborah Dull   Tony Sciarrotta has been asking the same question at industry conferences for years. As the Senior Director of Circularity and Reverse Logistics at the National Retail Federation, he knows what answer he’s going to get. But he keeps asking anyway. “Anybody in here go to school for returns management, reverse logistics, circularity? Any degrees in those fields the room?” It’s rare that anyone raises their hand. “That’s what’s wrong with our industry,” Sciarrotta told me at NRF Rev this January, the first conference under NRF’s new reverse logistics banner. “We still need to fix it.”   The Numbers That Should Make Headlines Here’s what makes reverse logistics so fascinating: the scale is staggering, but the infrastructure to support it needs to be stronger. According to the National Retail Federation, American retailers processed approximately $890 billion in returns in 2024 which is roughly 17% of all retail sales – and it’s higher for ecommerce. But that number almost certainly understates reality. “We have a fragmented industry,” Sciarrotta explained. “Where are all those returns going? It has to be…