Trudy Hall

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…

Stay up to date on all the latest conversations, interviews, and episodes we released this week here at Supply Chain Now! We started this week off with an episode of Dial P for Procurement with host Kelly Barner. She is accompanied by Bull Demartino Chief Product Officer and Constantine Limberakis the Senior Director of Product & Solutions Marketing for Riskmethods. During this show, the real meaning of creating a demand for new risk management gets discussed. In Monday’s episode of This Week In Business History, Kelly Barner shares the very interesting story of Clarence Birdseye, inventor and innovator of the frozen foods industry. Kelly talks about the initial challenges that Birdseye had to endure to become the legacy it is today. On Tuesday, we published an episode of Supply Chain Now with host Scott Luton and special co host Kelly Barner. This episode features Bob Gay, Rebate & Incentive Program Specialist for Advance Auto Parts. Scott Weir, the former Vice President of Purchasing for Thos. Sommerville Co, and Oisín Cooke the solutions consultant at Enable. They all put an emphasis of rebates and how they can be an effective way to reward and incentivize specific buying patterns and behaviors. On…