John Freeman

Listen up to the latest episodes, interviews, conversations, and livestreams from Supply Chain Now this week!   On Monday, Scott Luton and guest host Will Haraway welcomed JP Wiggins with 3Gtms for a conversation on transportation management and even a little baseball!   On Tuesday, Host Karin Bursa welcomed supply chain genius Criag Ablin to TEK TOK to discuss the 6 levers that drive digital and physical success.     On Wednesday, we kicked off our Reverse Logistics series in partnership with the Reverse Logistics Association featuring Chuck Johnson, COO of goTRG. Tune in for a great conversation about peak returns season, with passionate opinions from Chuck, our hosts Scott, Greg, and Tony Sciarrotta, and our audience!   On Thursday, Scott Luton, Greg White, and Enrique Alvarez sat down to discuss all the top news and biggest stories in supply chain this week on The Supply Chain Buzz.   On Friday, Scott Luton dived into the top news in business, including industry developments in the tech and talent sector, aviation, the beverage industry, and more!   And we wrapped up with a bonus livestream this Saturday to discuss Supply Chain leadership across Africa. Which was your favorite episode? Make sure…

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…