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Stay up to date on all the latest conversations, interviews, and episodes we released this week here at Supply Chain Now! We kicked this week off with a special episode of Supply Chain Now featuring Mike Griswold. Scott, Kelly, and Mike discuss the key takeaways from the Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo 2021. For Monday’s This Week In Business History, Kelly gives insight on two notable figures who have made some amazing strides in theoretical economic science research. On Tuesday, we released an episode of Supply Chain Now with host Scott Luton. Scott had the opportunity to chat with Theodora Lau the Founder of Unconventional Ventures and Bradley Leimer the Co-Founder of Unconventional Ventures. They discuss some of the amazing points in their book titled “Beyond Good: How Technology Is Leading a Purpose-Driven Business Revolution.” We also released an episode of Logistics With Purpose this week. Host Enrique and Monica talk with Dave Schweidenback the Founder and CEO of Pedals for Progress. Dave shares the story behind the logistics of shipping 4,800 bikes across 45 different countries. For Thursday’s Supply Chain Now episode Scott interviews communications expert Monique Russell from Clear Communications, LLC. This conversation is all about effective communication and…

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…