Seth Deitchman

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…

We continued this week on Supply Chain Now with more great interviews, conversations, livestreams, and episodes! Did you miss any episodes? On Saturday, we published an episode of Logistics & Beyond where Jamin interviewed Ryan Schreiber for a great episode on the power of authenticity.     Then on Monday, Scott and Greg welcomed self-proclaimed supply chain enthusiast and ambassador, Sofia Rivas Herrera to the podcast. On Tuesday, we published a recent episode of Supply Chain is Boring, with the Supply Chain Doctor Chris Barnes interviewed Ted Stank.     We published our Supply Chain Buzz on Wednesday, where Scott & Greg discussed the top supply chain news of the week, as well as great tips and information about breaking into and advancing in supply chain.     On Thursday, Scott interviewed Anne Robinson, PhD with Kinaxis for a great conversation on the significance of resiliency versus efficiency in the supply chain, and other corporate leadership topics.     And on Friday, we published the first half of Greg’s interview with Sarah Barnes-Humphrey for TECHquila Sunrise.     Which was your favorite episode this week? Never miss an episode by subscribing to Supply Chain Now! Make sure you tune in…