Jeff Shinabarger

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…

Hot off the Press! We’ve got all the latest news in supply chain this week right here. Read up and make sure you’re in the know about everything happening here on Supply Chain Now, including all the latest podcasts, livestreams, & more!   On Monday, Supply Chain Now hosts Jeff Miller (Supply Chain Is The Business) and Jamin Alvidrez (Logistics and Beyond!) sat down with Wayne Cragg – a professional driver, photographer and social media influencer.     On Tuesday, Bobby Holland from U.S. Bank and Frank Hurst of Roadrunner Freight shared the results of the on the Q4 2020 report, interpreting what they may mean for the economy and the shipping industry in the short and longer term with Greg White and Scott Luton     On Wednesday, Mario Rivera of ID Logistics joined the Supply Chain Now podcast to talk about creative, real-world problem solving with Co-hosts Greg White and Scott Luton   On Thursday, Scott, Greg, & Karin sat down with Lee Klaskow from Bloomberg Intelligence, one of the leading industry analysts, especially as it relates to logistics and transportation   On Friday, Scott Luton tackled a variety of developments including from this past week on the…