Creating a world-class consumer experience is no easy feat. For one thing, each customer wants something a little different. But making sure that the intent of a new program or a corporate collaboration delivers the intended value requires that everyone on the team keep every customer in mind.

Michael Prince is the Vice President of Returns and Quality with Walmart, where he has worked since 2020. Prior to that, he has experience at Amazon and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

In this episode, part of the Reverse Logistics Series on Supply Chain Now, Scott Luton is joined by special co-host Tony Sciarrotta, Executive Director of The Reverse Logistics Association, to talk to Michael about the latest programs and developments at Walmart.

• The introduction of the Walmart Restored program, which gives products another chance at a useful life while creating customer value

• The ongoing challenge of ensuring packaging is both efficient and effective

• The many sources of innovation and inspiration that help Walmart make better use of their team members, energy, and resources

Intro/Outro (00:03):

Welcome to Supply Chain. Now the voice of global supply chain Supply chain now focuses on the best in the business for our worldwide audience, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and today’s critical issues, the challenges and opportunities. Stay tuned to hear from Those Making Global Business happen right here on supply chain now.

Scott Luton (00:32):

Hey, good morning everybody. Scott Luton and special guest host Tony Sciarrotta here with you on Supply Chain. Now, welcome to today Show, Tony, how you doing?

Tony Sciarrotta (00:39):

Doing great today, Scott. Doing great.

Scott Luton (00:42):

Well, so I am too. We’ve got a big show today. We’re talking with yet another business leader doing big things, especially when it comes to the retail world and beyond. And of course, Tony, we’re continuing our reverse logistics leadership series here at Supply Chain. Now, are you ready? Are you up for this, Tony?

Tony Sciarrotta (00:59):

I am so up for this and, uh, I’m getting ready to head out of town and speak somewhere else. So it’s just an endless world of getting to talk about this stuff. And we have such a great series, Scott, uh, over the last couple years, few years now. And, uh, you know, the one broadcast that actually pays attention to that dark side of retail,

Scott Luton (01:18):

<laugh>, all things rev reverse logistics. Well, the beat goes on as you’re alluding to, cause we’ve got a great guest here today. I wanna welcome in Michael Prince, Vice President Returns and Quality with Walmart. Mike, how you doing?

Michael Prince (01:32):

Hey Scott. Good to see you, Tony. Great to see you again as well.

Scott Luton (01:36):

Well, so Tony, we have really enjoyed our appreciate conversation with Mike and I, I wish we had like six hours with him here today. He’s, he between what he is done personally and professionally. Yeah. Uh, a lot to get to. But I wanna start, Mike, you know, that we like the, uh, kind of getting to our guest first, especially with that little question. Hey, where did you grow up? So, Mike, how about it?

Michael Prince (01:55):

Yeah, I appreciate that, Scott. And first off, uh, congratulations to you. I, I’ve, I’ve had the chance to, to listen to a number of your episodes and, and saw you’re coming up on your thousandth episode, or it’s hap it’s actually happened at this point, correct? That’s

Scott Luton (02:07):

Right, that’s right. Thank you, Mike.

Michael Prince (02:09):

Yeah, that’s, that’s pretty incredible. So, um, well, well done to you and a, a really interesting podcast. I’ve, I’ve enjoyed the chance to listen to it. Um, man,

Scott Luton (02:16):

That makes my, makes our day, our teams day here. And I’ll tell you, Mike and Tony often say that podcast numbers or episode numbers don’t mean anything except maybe to the content creator, right? Yeah. But I, I, I feel every one of those episodes and I, I, I tell you what, uh, thank you for the acknowledgement and I look forward to our chat here today. So, um, so growing up, yes, we were, we had an interesting little segue in our in our pre-show conversation.

Michael Prince (02:42):

Yeah. So, grew up in, or was born in, in Holland, Michigan. It’s on the west side of Michigan. Uh, so my, my family heritage is Dutch. I don’t, I unfortunately don’t speak Dutch, but, uh, I, I, I saw that being on that side of the state. And, um, if you’ve been over there, my, my grandparents had a windmill in their front yard. They have tool up time. It’s a, it’s a really interesting community. I know Tony, you have some Michigan roots. Have, have you been over to Holland?

Tony Sciarrotta (03:03):

Absolutely. The Holland, uh, Tulip Festival is one of the, Is is so cool. And it’s amazing and it’s big and it’s gigantic. It’s, it’s a great event every year in the spring.

Michael Prince (03:14):

It, it is, and we would joke it, it’s hard to time the tulips every year cuz you don’t know when they’re gonna bloom. So they would refer it to it as the STEM festival, uh, if they got it on the wrong time, either a week earlier or, or a week late. Um, uh, I wouldn’t choose from when I was a kid. The, the clump and dancers they call ’em, and they do traditional, uh, Dutch routines and things. So that, that’s really, uh, kind of my lifeblood there. Lived there till I was five. And then we moved over to the east side of Michigan to Brighton, Michigan. Um, where I grew up, did first through 12th grade, was, uh, was really into sports. Did soccer, baseball, basketball, golf. Um, really golf was probably my, my primary sport to being over there as well. So

Scott Luton (03:52):

My, You still play? Still

Michael Prince (03:54):

Play? I, I do. Um, I like to play as much as I can. That, that’s hard. I have four kids and, and we have a lot of activities that we do. Um, I, I’m not sure how I convinced my wife, but, and, and she’s great for this, um, we built a golf simulator in our attic, so, uh, I’m starting to, to pick that up a little more. It, it shows movies, uh, the kids can play Xbox on it. It’s, it’s a phenomenal addition to have to the house. So that’s been, that’s been a lot of fun and help the golf game more than, uh, than I’ve been able to play in the past.

Scott Luton (04:21):

That is awesome, Mike. As like big golden tea fan back in the day. Golden

Michael Prince (04:28):

Tea. Uh, Golden Tee’s phenomenal. I love that game.

Scott Luton (04:32):

All right. So we’re, we’re gonna have a lot of feedback around that, I’m sure, from across our listenership. Um, so speaking of sports, as we’re getting know Mike Prince, uh, with Walmart, um, what is, so I understand our due diligence front. You’re a big Michigan fan, right? Big Blue, uh, Detroit Tigers, Detroit Lions, you know, your fans of all these teams, but what is one of your favorite all time teams?

Michael Prince (04:55):

One of my favorite all times, and I, and I wish, uh, I wish they’d made it all the way about the oh six Tigers, um, were a phenomenal group. They had, uh, if you remember Justin Verlander Mag Ordon, they had a a a Jeremy Bonderman. They, they had a group that was just, uh, set to, to win a World Series. And, um, I think that the memories of the team are great, but going with my brother and dad to the games and, um, really the, the, the whole family element of that with friends is, is really what I remember the most. And, um, that was an incredible group. They fortunately fell to the Cardinals. I’m sure there’s some Cardinals fans out there that also remember, uh, the oh six World Series very well. But, uh, that was, that was a great team,

Scott Luton (05:32):

Excellent team. And, and of course, Berlin’s still pitching. Uh, he’s gonna pitch maybe just he sixties. Yeah. Um, so Tony, uh, he, he, he dropped some sports history, especially for folks, uh, that are big Michigan team fans. What about you, sports wise? Who’s your, what’s your favorite team?

Tony Sciarrotta (05:48):

Well, I, I, I think I got a few years on Mike, so I get to go back and say, Well, actually I was around for the 68 Tigers. And, uh, and what they did, did, and that was great with Willie Horton and some of those, Mickey, some of the great classic players, but 84 is still my favorite. Um, uh, the duo of Alan Tramel. And, uh, and Lou would occur, uh, second and short. Um, and, and Lou just got his number retired, uh, this year at Tiger Stadium, the new Tiger Stadium. Really cool. And I was there for it. And, uh, I was a little older so I could understand a little bit more of what was going, but phenomenal. 84 Tigers,

Scott Luton (06:25):

Love that Sweet Lou would occur, I believe. Uh, and those eighties teams, of course, Cecil fielder, I think we’ve talked to poor, that, that, that all those home runs you hit, including those, that one or two that went that left the park entirely. Uh, and then of course, Rob Deer. Yeah, I think one of the few catchers or baseball players that’s maybe struck out 300 times in the season, it feels like. But, uh, when he connected that ball was, was being launched to Holland, Michigan. So, uh, well, thank y’all, Uh, Mike and Tony. I love looking back at, at all these great sports teams. Uh, it’s such a great departure from, uh, some of the stresses of industry. Right? Um, and we’re gonna make a visit, Tony, let’s make add it to our list. We’re gonna make a visit to that golf simulation, uh, studio, uh, print household.

Michael Prince (07:07):

Do the next one

Scott Luton (07:08):

There. That’s right. So, so speaking of departures, I’ll tell you what, uh, last couple years, we all probably have, have, uh, found different ways to, uh, you know, take that mental break from, from a lot of the challenging backdrop that we’ve all been experiencing. But if you go looking for it, there’s been good news, right? And there’s gonna be lots of developments that have come to the service in the last couple years that will continue to pay dividends and change how we do business for years to come. And that, that, and the way I look at it, that’s definitely good news. So, those eureka moments, uh, Mike, so if you look at the last couple years, a eureka moment that really is maybe related to leadership or supply chain or life in general, for you, what was one that comes to mind?

Michael Prince (07:49):

Yeah, It, it, I really like that, that question. Um, and, and it’s kind of an interesting one. It is supply chain, uh, related, but, uh, but I think there’s a life lesson there as well. And, um, about a year and a half ago, um, as we were, as we were still in pretty heavy, Covid was talking to somebody about how they had groceries delivered for their mom from Walmart. And, um, it was, she was calling him, it was a couple hours late. She had, uh, he had let her know that, that they were coming and she’s looking for him and, and, uh, and not seeing him. And so as she was talking to him on the phone, uh, she got interrupted for a second and he said, Oh, are you taking another call? She said, It’s DoorDash. They, they keep calling me. And this is back when Walmart partnered with DoorDash.

Michael Prince (08:27):

And, uh, and so it turns out it was DoorDash calling her to try and deliver her groceries, um, because of Walmart’s partnership with them. And they hadn’t been able to get ahold of her to, to drop them off. So everything was working as planned as anticipated. The groceries were on time. DoorDash was there to deliver ’em, but she hadn’t made the correlation, as many people might not between at the time when we were working with DoorDash and Walmart, that those two might be linked together. And so I think the, the eureka moment for that with me was, we spend so much time making plans. We put together what we think, uh, is, is what the customer wants, and we try and take customer feedback and do that. And then sometimes when you roll these things out, you realize that, uh, it’s actually not exactly what you thought it would be.

Michael Prince (09:11):

Um, and, and you run into instances like this where if the customer’s not educated on the fact that DoorDash is gonna drop off their groceries, and now it’s Walmart Spark and we’ve integrated that, but, um, you run into these issues. And so that was a moment for me to say, even when you think you have a perfect system figured out and you go to implement it, you need to be on the ground. You need to have that frontline mentality and understand it and, and get into the details because it might not actually translate to the way that you think it should.

Scott Luton (09:38):

Mm. Mike, I love that story, a ton of your quick comments. And Tony, you gotta share your eureka moment too.

Tony Sciarrotta (09:45):

Well, I, I, um, I appreciate, uh, Mike’s, uh, comments about that, that whole, and Walmart has always focused on the consumer, the end consumer and the experience. And, and Mike, of course, is, is involved in that a lot. And, and so my, uh, Eureka moment, the, the newest one is talking with Eileen Fisher Apparel, uh, one of their spokespersons. And they have it, they’ve been running this Take It Back program for over 10 years, and it’s a real focus on, okay, the clothing, you’re buying better, you’re buying less. But when you are done with it, we’ll take it back and give you a credit. That’s a leadership role in the apparel industry and other industries. We’re starting to see it, take it back and do something else with it. And, and the woman, uh, Carmen Gama, uh, is in charge of making sure they not only take it back, but they either repair it or recycle it or return it ba and and donate it. And just amazing concept. And this is, the manufacturers have to start doing this. It’s, it’s not Walmart’s job to take that back, Eileen, uh, Fisher Apparel or electronics and, and and other things. Nike now is doing it. Patagonia is doing it. They’re all doing these take back programs, and it’s so cool. It’s a eureka moment for the planet, really, Scott, for the planet.

Scott Luton (11:06):

Uh, completely agree. Uh, thank y’all very much for sharing, uh, those moments. Now, we’ve had so many, Mike, I’m gonna share one, and I really wish, cuz it dawned on me kind of as we were talking pre-show and, and, and moved into the episode one of your associates that’s based in the low country of South Carolina, He is a, uh, full-time school administrator. Um, and, uh, a couple years ago I saw this story where he was trying to help all of his students and, and I don’t have his name handy, but he was working part-time at Walmart and he was donating his full paycheck. This is in the height of the pandemic. He was donating his full paycheck to students that their family was in need and didn’t have the stuff they needed. And goodness gracious, if that doesn’t make you, you know, ready to run through walls and, and really celebrate the wide diverse workforce that make up, you know, global supply chain, I don’t know. What does, you gotta, if that doesn’t get you going, gotta check your poll.

Michael Prince (12:01):

It does, it does, Scott. And we saw it, um, we had the, the, fortunately the Indianapolis fire in March, and you saw associates come together with that and, and, and now with the, um, the hurricane coming through, uh, Florida and then back up the coast, I mean, you, you just see people step up and it’s incredible to watch. And our associates have such a passion for it that, uh, it’s, there are thousands and thousands of stories like that. And I, and I applaud the associate in South Carolina that that’s incredible. Um, but man, there we have some really, really good people working at

Scott Luton (12:31):

Walmart. Absolutely. And then certainly bless, bless our school leaders. They got their hands full. Uh, they

Michael Prince (12:37):

Do, but they

Scott Luton (12:38):

Do. Um, so kind of moving right along, you know, we wanna dive into, uh, the craft, uh, as one Greg White has put it, uh, and I wanna break this up. I wanna kind of get your general thoughts on what we’re seeing an industry, and then we’re gonna talk more about Walmart of course, and all the cool things you are doing there. So generally, when it comes to trends in the reverse logistics and returns management world, what are some of the things you’re seeing there, Mike?

Michael Prince (13:02):

Yeah, I, I think, um, what, what we’re seeing in general is returns are getting a much bigger focus by companies today. And if you look at the market, it’s a, about a 550 billion market today going to 800 billion in, in 2027, uh, globally. And what that means is those are costs that, uh, companies are paying. And so returns have always been a cost, but now they’re really becoming a cost, and companies are having to look at what their, uh, infrastructure and ecosystem looks like. Uh, and, and it’s not something you can brush aside anymore. I, I saw one stat from the retail federation, uh, 10.6 return, 10.6% return rate in 2020 16.6% return rate in 2021. And that number is anticipated to just go up. And so what was something that you could kind of, um, you know, something short of brush under the rug and just say that’s a cost of doing business and, and, and, and just handling returns at the basic level. Now when you look at, uh, sustainability and, and regeneration and, and the efforts along with the cost associated with, with not doing anything, um, Tony, I’m sure you’re seeing it too, that will sink your business if you don’t deal with returns now, uh, at the rate that it’s, that it’s growing

Scott Luton (14:15):

Tony.

Tony Sciarrotta (14:16):

So, Absolutely. And um, one of Mike’s predecessors at Walmart, when I was thrown into this supply chain, uh, fixed the returns problem world at Phillips. And cause I came outta sales and marketing, uh, when I was told one of the pearls of wisdom that I learned going to Walmart, is it, the Pearl was 99% of the people who go into Walmart stores, and that’s a lot of ’em, do not go in to buy something to take it back. That was true around the year 2000. Now people shop online and they admit they’re buying extra to send stuff back. So we’ve created this culture of entitlement, and that’s a challenge because Walmart’s focus used to be on it, making the customer experience go well, but you don’t control it when it’s eCommerce as well as you do in the store. And that’s the challenge we all face, because to Mike’s point, it’s gonna get worse.

Scott Luton (15:08):

Yes, Ag agreed. And by the way, Mike and Tony, you both alluded to our friends at nrf, the National Retail Federation, great resource for information and, and, uh, change in industry. So y’all check that out to our listeners. All right. So now that you and Tony both have spoken in, generally, you know how things are, um, uh, evolving in the reverse logistics and, and returns management world, let’s talk about how the spaces has continued to evolve since you first joined Walmart in early 2018, Mike?

Michael Prince (15:36):

Yeah. Uh, there, there’s some pretty exciting things that I’ve even seen Walmart change, uh, since, since I’ve started here. And the first of those is Walmart restored, which you probably saw, uh, launch just a few months ago. And that is where we take, um, certified refurbished items and we put ’em back on the website and customers can purchase them at a discount, um, and get a great deal on something like an older model iPad or even some, some newer items as well, uh, on, on some late model electronics. And that’s perfect. You know, if the, if the kids, you want an iPad for them, for the back of the minivan, I saw one on there, uh, for, for $89, that’s a older model, but if you just wanna put a movie on it and, and cover a drive, then, then, uh, it’s something you can, you know, just have and not worry about, about breaking.

Scott Luton (16:19):

Cause Mike, we know you’re the father of four kids. I’ve got three of my own, Tony, Yes. You’re father kids are gonna beat the heck out of, uh, that iPad. So <laugh>, it fits the bill. Um, so, so cool things Walmart restored.

Michael Prince (16:34):

Yep. And then if you look, um, part of it is, is the, the, um, the Walmart restored and programs to bring new life to products. And some of it’s trying to just, uh, prevent returns in the first place. And so just, uh, at the end of September, uh, Walmart announced the virtual tryon, which is really cool, uh, through Zeke. They, uh, purchased them last year and then have in incorporated that technology in, and that basically maps out apparel with 80,000 different data points. It’s the same way they do topographical maps. Um, and we have over 120 models online. It was first 30, then 50, and people kept asking for more and saying, I love this. I can look for my body style and I can map these clothes to how it will actually fit on me. And this isn’t like, uh, you remember the, the flannel graphs from, from church or elementary school where, you know, you basically had the, the gingerbread man and you, and you stuck a shirt on them and Right.

Michael Prince (17:23):

You could change it all around, right? That’s, this is not that. Um, this is a program that actually maps it to, uh, the body styles of our customer, and they get to see it. And, and the intent is nobody wants to return anything to your point, uh, about the 99% right? You, you don’t buy something online thinking, Hey, I really hope I can take the time to bring this back. You want it to fit. And so programs like that are helping educate customers who buy online to say, What’s this really gonna look like? Versus just trying to guess on their sizing and hope that it arrives correctly.

Scott Luton (17:54):

Mm. Mike, I love that. Um, let, let’s get, Tony, you, we’ve covered a lot of ground in this e uh, evolutionary journey of this space. Your, your quick thoughts on what Mike’s sharing?

Tony Sciarrotta (18:06):

Well, the restored is phenomenal. It, it, it really, uh, goes towards that circular economy concept that the world is starting to embrace because of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and, and partners in the circular economy like Walmart. So one is the reuse, uh, uh, Mike’s correct, the reuse is the ultimate, uh, best option for any product. But on the front side it’s even more important. As Mike said, it’s more important to figure out ways to reduce returns and than the apparel fitting, uh, concept is, is very important. And again, it points towards the circular economy thing about buy what you need by as much as you need and, and, and keep it, Let’s change that culture back, because really the world has to recognize that we can’t keep throwing this stuff away. And apparel is one of the biggest nightmares. It’s, it’s, it’s achieved. It’s, it’s exceeding a 40 to 50% return rate in eCommerce land.

Tony Sciarrotta (19:03):

Because to Mike’s point, if, if it doesn’t, if you don’t think about it fitting right, you buy extras. And, and that’s just, and that goes back and it gets liquidated in the worst possible, uh, environments. It’s, there’s just so much clothing being liquidated. So that is such a cool program. Uh, now the design for reuse is important and it’s all part of the circular economy. And so proud to have Walmart engaging in that in such a big way and being the world leaders in this, that, that, that fitting tool that’s a world leader move. That’s phenomenal.

Scott Luton (19:36):

Agreed. Agreed. And I love, I love Mike’s throwback to kind of <laugh> talk about how it’s not the plaid, uh, form fitter we saw back in the, you know, maybe eighties, early nineties. But, um, so Mike, as we continue to move forward, uh, anything else, your last thought on kind of how you’ve seen it evolve and then we’d love to kind of continue to learn about how Walmart continues to navigate this space?

Michael Prince (20:00):

Yeah. Uh, so the, the last note on evolving you, you’ve probably seen it, is, uh, is packaging and, and everything from TVs to being better packaged, uh, not having to over box and that. So if you can get the item to the customer in the condition that they expect the item, which should be brand new, um, then, then that saves returns as well. And so a lot of efforts both from Walmart and, um, and the vendors in that, in that team to make sure that they provide, you know, the best quality packaging to, to get it to the customers. Um, I think your follow up that question to that was how are we navigating this, this space? That’s right. Um, and so you, uh, recently announced there’s three big initiatives that, uh, that were just rolled out, uh, just a short time ago. And that is the first is curbside returns, which is, which is really cool.

Michael Prince (20:43):

If you’re at Walmart doing your online grocery pickup and you’re in the car, you can also, uh, if, if you bought it through the Walmart eco ecosystem with certain items, initiate a return as well. And so when they come to drop off the groceries or the general merchandise that you’ve purchased at your car, you can hand your return back. It’s a simple scan. The associate takes it back and your transaction is done. Uh, you never need to leave the vehicle. So that’s really, really neat. That’s rolled out for everybody, um, that uses the Walmart app and is tied into it. And we continue to expand the assortment of products that, um, that we can leverage for our, for our curbside returns. The second one is the, the doorstep pickup for returns. So if you have a, a store that supports spark drivers and, uh, have a Walmart plus membership and get your groceries delivered, you can hand your return off to the driver when they get to your, uh, to your front door, and you don’t actually have to go into a Walmart.

Michael Prince (21:34):

So really, really trying to go to fit the needs of our customers and look at what’s the best way to, uh, integrate into their lives, to save them time and provide the returns that way. And then the third one is we’ve all, you know, waited until later, uh, in the holiday season to buy, because you don’t know if you’re gonna be able to bring it back, right? You’re trying to time, um, Christmas or whatever holiday it is that, that you’re, that you’re celebrating so that you buy the item, but you’re in the 30 day window in case they wanna bring it back. And then, and then you’re trying to, to navigate that, right? Um, and so what, what we’re doing at, at Walmart is anything purchased after October 1st. So, so we’re in it right now, um, through the end of the year, can be returned through January 31st. So it’s our no worries holiday guarantee. Um, you can take the items back, doesn’t fit, whatever it may be the case. And so we’re excited about that, giving customers the flexibility to take advantage of rollbacks that they may see next week. Um, and, and don’t necessarily wanna wait until closer to the holiday season to, to make those purchases. So three, three really exciting programs in Walmart that, that we’ve just rolled out. And, uh, anxious to get feedback from customers on it as

Scott Luton (22:38):

Well. Love that. You know, Tony, you mentioned customer experience earlier, uh, good old cx. There’s a, there’s a cx, tx, you name it these days. But I really appreciate, uh, how those measures, uh, will drive, uh, enhanced customer experience. Uh, tell me your comments on those three big issues.

Tony Sciarrotta (22:55):

Well, the, the, the customer experience is the driver. And, and, uh, Mike, we’ve talked about this before, but nobody really surveys customers on why they do returns and gets honest answers. <laugh>, because you generally get the answer, uh, that they think is least offensive, at least get them in trouble. Uh, unfortunately, cuz people don’t wanna admit that they bought the wrong thing. Um, and it, and it’s interesting. But, but, so the customer experience driver at Walmart is, is phenomenal. How do you make the customer, uh, you, you have a certain benchmark of course that’s out there. The, the rest of the world all sets it, but when you can exceed that and you make a customer feel special or feel, uh, not inconvenience that it, you’ve gone out of the way to make a program for him. Like the, the door drop and, and, and the curb drop.

Tony Sciarrotta (23:46):

I mean, those are just such a factor of, of making it easier. So the customer thinks, I’m not worried about buying this Walmart cuz they’re gonna take care of me. But also the flip side is they’re making my experience better. And that’s the number one driver in the survey. Scott, I’d mentioned it before we did this survey at Phillips, Why did you take something back that there was nothing wrong with it? Well, it didn’t, it wasn’t what I expected, right? And that’s that unmet expectations is the driver, number one driver for returns. And Walmart is finding ways to address that. It’s phenomenal.

Scott Luton (24:20):

And as, as part of one of the toughest to quantify and act on, um, not meeting expectations. Cause you need like seven more questions once you get that one. But hey, uh, I’ll share with y’all, um, Tony, I’m gonna get your maybe a medal. I think maybe, um, this year I can recall two returns that I’ve made. I hate returning anything. Uh, and one of those returns, you know, you know, sometimes Mike can tell you don’t know if you’re like me, if you find like a pair of shorts that you love how it fits and, and it, it’s, it’s very functional. I’ll go get a couple in, you know, different colors, right? Uh, well I found this one short and and I loved it. So I went and bought a, a few more, but one <laugh>, one pair was snuck in maybe on the same, um, uh, same rack or something.

Scott Luton (25:05):

And that must have, it must have been like a three inch long short. And that I like short, those are a little bit too short. And I wanted to spare the neighborhood. So that was one of my two returns this year. But, you know, I hate making returns. And I think if we can, you know, as consumers, you know, consumers play an active role in global supply chain and certainly of course in in logistics and returns management, the more homework we can do. You know? And, and then, you know, making the right purchases. Sometimes you’re still not gonna make the right purchase, but taking care of those products you are gonna return so that, you know, there is an additional, you know, someone else can enjoy them. Right. Um, but commentary aside, uh, before we move on, cause we’re gonna talk about startup mentality here in a second, Mike, I wanna make sure to give you the last word. I love the change y’all are driving, um, in industry and, and as Tony mentioned that customer experience is certainly driving a lot of these initiatives. But your last comments around, uh, these exciting changes y’all making at Walmart to serve the customer even better.

Michael Prince (26:07):

Yeah, I, I think we’re, Scott, we’re super open to feedback and we look at our NPS scores and we look at the customer experience and we know that what, to the comment earlier about the, the Walmart, uh, delivery, right? If we, we need to figure this out and we need to make it as great of an experience as possible. So if you have a great experience, let us know. If, if you have a challenging experience, let us know. We need that feedback so we can continue to look at it because it is an omni world and there are a lot of different ways to service a customer that, that we didn’t have. Uh, you know, even 10 years ago, and especially 20, 30 years ago, it used to be very straightforward. You go to the store, you bring something back if you, if you didn’t want it. Um, now that’s, that’s changing across the board. So we have some great teams working on some incredible solutions, but we’re gonna have blips in the way and, and we need to understand, you know, what’s the feedback on that and how, how can we keep improving it?

Scott Luton (26:58):

Love that. Um, really it is an omni world, isn’t it, Tony?

Tony Sciarrotta (27:03):

It is. And, and, and Scott, I have to, uh, remind Mike that his company has been a leader for 20 years in making it a frictionless return because of a program, uh, produced by one of our members called Income, where it’s a serial number tracking. So when they sell something at the point of sale, any product with a serial number, it’s captured at the point of sale at the register. And when a customer brings it back to the return desk, that clerk is able to scan the model, the serial number and confirm and validate the purchase. When was it bought, where was it bought? In some cases it didn’t come from Walmart. In some cases it may have come from a flea market or a pawn shop. And people are trying to sometimes return those things, but the convenience of scanning a serial number at the return desk and knowing exactly when it was bought and where is, is just makes it easy for their customers to have a fast process through that line. And, uh, cuz everyone shows up without receipt, right, Mike? They don’t wanna show up with a receipt for a return. Well, another inconvenience, but they fixed that.

Scott Luton (28:09):

Yeah.

Michael Prince (28:09):

And as an extension of that, Tony, the Walmart app is phenomenal if you haven’t used Walmart pay and, and, and tied into that, that ecosystem, uh, you don’t have to worry about receipts. It’s all in there and, and tracks it for you. And that’s what enables things like our curbside returns, right? If you buy it in the app, we have all the information. They don’t have to process a receipt in the parking lot. Uh, you have your barcode, you’re ready to go. So I think, uh, in today’s world, the the app is absolutely the way, um, to tie into that. And if you add in Walmart Plus and the benefits, anytime you use Walmart pay, your your benefits are applied automatically.

Scott Luton (28:41):

Tony, I love that word to use. Frictionless. It’s one of our favorites that orchestration, synchronization, uh, to all of it. Highly relevant in the last few years for sure, for all time, but certainly the last few years. Um, okay. So I’m gonna shift gears. Uh, so Mike, I really appreciate you sharing those initiatives there and looking forward to maybe having you back on to kinda learn how they’ve rolled out and some of the feedback you’ve gotten. And I’ll love also that you’re, you, you seek out feedback, you know, you’re very deliberate about that, that’s so important, whether you’re in retail or, or other parts of global business. Let’s talk about your startup mentality that you bring to the table, especially with Rev reverse logistics at Walmart. I’m a, you know, founder and entrepreneur, and I love, when I read this was doing my homework pre-show, I was like, okay, I’m circling that. We’re definitely gonna ask Mike about, uh, how you’ve been able to apply that startup mentality to the team. So tell us more.

Michael Prince (29:33):

Yeah, I appreciate that. I, I think, you know, the, the, the basis for it is really a frontline, uh, obsession with understanding how the business is running, getting into stores, getting into the return centers, understanding how and why we are processing items. What are we putting out on, uh, our clearance aisles that customers bring back, and how are we making those items, you know, eligible for resale at a discount, maybe just because the packaging is damaged. But as you go in there and as you, uh, start to break down the processes, you realize that you have a, um, in many cases, a, a great and perfectly saleable item in your hand. And what decisions are we making, um, that allow us to either resell that item or, or make sure it’s, uh, handled in a sustainable way and it doesn’t end up, uh, liquidated out and they serve a purpose, but to like a bin store where you’re walking through and saying, Hey, this is a perfectly, uh, great 30 or 40 or 50 or one case, the one I found last week, $90 item that’s ended up in this state.

Michael Prince (30:34):

And so the question is very basic, just looking at it and saying, What are all of our processes? How do we handle everything? And and when you’re, when you’re holding the item in your hand, and I’m a big believer of this and I’ll, I’ll talk through it with our next gen fulfillment as well, You should do the next step that is the final step with that item and not pass it along down the, down the chain, uh, to have somebody else handle it and have, um, you know, transport it and all the costs and, and carbon emissions and everything that go with that. And so, uh, Scott, I have a great leadership team here that, that gives me a ton of support and have had the opportunity to really go in and just inspect everything we’re doing and say, Is this the best path forward? Is this what we should be doing? And if not, how do we change the system to accommodate it and improve it overall? So, um, and a real high level that’s, that’s the basis, uh, that, that I consider for the startup mentality in this.

Scott Luton (31:24):

I love that. Uh, Tony, I’m gonna get your comment in a second, but as, as a, um, I’ve got practicality in my soul. Uh, you know, I I I gave my, um, future wife Amanda, um, one of our earliest dates. I noticed that she didn’t, you know, she was running in the rain as I dropped her off one time, so I gave her an umbrella for Valentine’s Day and I’m, I’ll never make that mistake again, but that’s kind of where my mind is very, you know, practical hammer meet nail. But Tony, speak to that, how he described that startup mentality.

Tony Sciarrotta (31:55):

Well, it’s important and, and again, I I am really proud of of, of having worked with Walmart for so many years cuz the people there have this culture of of, of doing things new and, and it’s amazing cuz yeah, they’re kind of one of the world’s biggest companies, but they’re not stagnant or stale. Um, bringing my kid from the outside is an example of, we want to keep advancing. We wanna keep doing things. So, so it’s part of that whole culture and, and that Mike’s referring to that the startup mentality is part of their culture. No one sits on their laurels at, at Walmart and people don’t understand it. They think of it sometimes what’s been called the evil empire, you know, and, and things like that. It’s just, it, it, it, it’s, it’s crazy. It’s being big doesn’t mean you’re evil or that you’re stagnant.

Tony Sciarrotta (32:44):

And, and the progression is amazing at Walmart. Look at all these things that Mike’s talking about that they’ve already done and they’re thinking about more that they can do. That’s, that’s such an important aspect for it, a major corporation to, to be able to move it. It’s not necessarily that that Walmart’s more nimble than others, but the culture is focused on how do we make it better keep going. And I, and I love that approach and, and that’s it’s startup, but it’s also just a, a reach for excellence. And, and that’s something I appreciate. And when I met Mike in person, it was great. We were in Nashville for this Wal uh, our, our leadership summit of the leading thought, uh, industry leaders in, in the return space. And, and clearly the passion is there with most of these people. And, and it’s amazing cuz Mike, I I think you and I didn’t grow up to become reverse logistics specialists, you know, we didn’t go to school for that, right? You know, you go to University of Michigan, you don’t think about becoming a reverse logistics person or a returns person. Uh, but somehow that passion comes, comes, there’s great,

Scott Luton (33:54):

There’s so much I wanna speak to in your answer there. But I’ll start saying this, The only evil empire I’m aware of is the New York Yankees. So <laugh> just kidding to all our Yankees fans say it’s amazing to see the year they’ve had and of course, Aaron Judge. Um, gotcha. All right, so moving that aside and, and Mike, we’re gonna talk about next generation in a second. Do you want anything you wanna speak to in terms of, of, of Tony, uh, Tony’s comments there, especially about the importance of not sitting on your hands and, and being stagnant. Cause that continues to improve it journey. There’s no finish line, right?

Michael Prince (34:29):

Right there, there isn’t. And um, and just like talking about the curbside returns feedback, we’re, we’re continuously looking at how do we get these items back in our customer’s hands if they need to be refurbished or restored? Um, how do we, uh, avoid waste, you know, going through our return centers, um, they take all the styrofoam and they, they basically melt it down into this compound that, that turns into picture frames and taking the plastic from the icing buckets that you see that are used, uh, for cake decorators and repurposing all of those and, and making dog beds out of, uh, mattresses that, that come back. There’s a ton of great programs that, that Walmart has. And we just continue to look for opportunities and, and, uh, I know we’ll talk about the end, but if, if others have ideas that are listening to this podcast, I, I’d love to hear ’em.

Michael Prince (35:13):

Um, we had a great, great idea that I thought was phenomenal that came out of an internal challenge. And we were talking about ways that we can, uh, reduce waste and, and, and, and save money. And obviously as we save money, we save our customers money. And somebody said, Hey, our stores used to be 24 hours, uh, across, across the us, um, for the most part, and we’ve since changed that with Covid and operating hours. He said, But we, we, we leave the TVs on at night because we used to do that cuz customers were in there shopping and they said, If we just turned off the TVs at night, it would be a, a huge savings, uh, both for, for the company and power usage and everything. And so it it’s the ideas like that that, um, they add up and they make a difference and, and, and you’re, you’re no longer wasting electricity. And, and, and now we come in every morning and turn ’em on and, and turn ’em off at night. So there’s some, when you just ask the people that are in and talked about that before, the frontline mentality, the people that are on the ground and doing the work, they understand what’s happening. And so we’re just trying to leverage that and learn from them and, and implement some best practices in the process.

Scott Luton (36:14):

Love that. Go into the Gemba folks at no pest. I love that. Go

Michael Prince (36:19):

Into the gemba.

Scott Luton (36:20):

And

Tony Sciarrotta (36:20):

I do wanna go back, Scott, though, to what Mike said about their, their entire new category restored. That, that’s phenomenal. Every retailer needs to be doing this. Nordstrom did it with Nordstrom Rack even so retailers are recognizing they should be doing this. Walmart took the step to do it. Uh, the only thing that we need to move towards is, uh, a grading system. And, and that hasn’t been standardized yet. That’s one of the things that an association like the RLA can do. Uh, C T I A does that for cell phones, they actually have a grading so that the consumer can look online and a grade A they’ll know what it means, A grade B, et cetera. Um, now with Walmart, you always have the, the confidence that they’re not gonna sell you something that is broken. That’s, that’s the easy part of a restored. Uh, but we are starting to get new terminology that we love, uh, pre loved, uh, uh, you know, uh, vintage, uh, articles. And, and we’ve gotta come up with new terminology cuz millennials like this stuff, Mike. And, and, and you’ve opened up an entire new marketplace with this secondary opportunity, the restored Walmart goods. That’s just so important to recognize and focus,

Scott Luton (37:39):

Love, love that. And yes, vintage is all the rage these days. It is amazing, uh, what the, have a whole separate show to dive into that trend. I love it. Um, so let’s, uh, I wanna go one more place when we talk supply chain with Mike Prince, with with Walmart, Tony Shree with arlay. Um, I love this news, uh, when it comes to next generation fulfillment centers. So Michael, you led the development of these centers. Uh, can you shut some light on that and speak to how it fits into Walmart’s overall omnichannel strategy moving forward?

Michael Prince (38:12):

Yeah, these, these are pretty incredible buildings. We announced it in March, and really they, the, the core behind them is they take a 12 step process, which is the traditional manual eCommerce fulfillment, and it cuts it down to five steps. Um, and it’s a highly automated process that, uh, um, that makes our associates jobs better. It really levels up their work. We bring in more technicians. Um, it’s an automated storage and retrieval system and, and, uh, brings the goods right to the, to the packer. What I talked about before, though, with the having the item in your hand, um, it, it’s the third step of that process. So the, the first step is you, you take it off the trail and unload it. The second step is to deccan it into a tote. The third step is really the incredible unlock for this technology. The item when the order goes through, is in a tote in the automated storage and retrieval system.

Michael Prince (39:01):

And that item or multiple items will be sequenced and sent to a pick station that has a box arriving that’s a right size box at the exact same time. And so the, the person picking the order, we’ll pick it out, uh, literally from a tote above them and drop it into the box below them. Um, and the box is built so that if you order three items, it takes your three items and it, uh, if you play Teris, it puts ’em in basically, uh, a, a huge number of iterations of Teris and says, this is the best way to, to put the items in. And then, and then you seal the box out, you send it out, it’s, it’s sealed a step four and, and put on the trailer as step five. And so this tech, um, better density, faster orders, you can go closer to the deadline for cutoff. So it’s better service. It just, it, it unlocks so many things and we’re, we’re super excited about it. We just, um, launched our first building in Juliet, Illinois. Uh, may have seen the announcement on that, uh, last month went, went out, uh, live outbound orders. And then, um, Indy, uh, Philadelphia area and, uh, Dallas Fort Worth area are the next three that are, that are rolling out.

Scott Luton (40:02):

I love that. And, and as you alluded to, if I, uh, was seeing this earlier, uh, accurately, a lot of hiring, a lot of, uh, high tech hiring, um, yeah, yeah, this initiative of others, right?

Michael Prince (40:13):

4,000 plus jobs across all of them. And, and a lot of roles, um, that we’ve really leveled up the skill set. So these are, these are technician roles, these are flow roles, These are managing the operation roles. Um, and the associates that are doing the roles, they’re not walking nine or 10 miles anymore, uh, to go pick things out of a, out of a pick mod. They’re having the items brought to them, and they have a lot of pride. We had one associate that we were talking to that, um, talked about how she felt like she could impact and, uh, drive quality in the operation because she could focus more on that because she wasn’t walking around and being fatigued and, and, and, and doing a very basic level job. She felt like with everything coming to her, she could be a quality inspector and make sure that it was the right item going out and in the right condition and, and really level up her job. And so, you know, across the board, I think this is a, a phenomenal, um, opportunity and, and, and great step forward for Walmart overall.

Scott Luton (41:08):

Love that Mike, uh, tell you your quick comment on, on initiatives like this.

Tony Sciarrotta (41:12):

Well, I just think about, uh, Mike and Walmart when those, uh, YouTube videos show people opening their package, you know, a, a a, a power cord inside a box, the size of a washer, uh, you know, or a microwave oven and, and how abusive that is to the environment, uh, that’s phenomenal. And I, and I love that Teris description of how to even put it inside the box, but, but the concept of the right size box arriving for the packer is, is phenomenal. And, and again, this is thinking that’s like leaping ahead. We’re not just sitting on our hands with what we’ve got, but what, what we’re going to need and get there. And Mike, and, and, and the respect you have for your employees. It, it always comes through, uh, to, to me, looking from the outside, listening to your stories and, and others about the fact that your, your, your staff doesn’t have to work a walk nine miles a day, a day anymore. And the fatigue factor and how that improves them, uh, as, as people and as and as and as performance improves because they’re, I mean, that’s just, these are things that clearly thought leaders, industry leaders are looking at and, and saying, This is great. This is what we can do. And the results are obvious. So it’s just phenomenal

Scott Luton (42:29):

Greed, you know, digital transformation. Some folks, uh, have mis misconceptions around how that’s playing out. But turning to your point, uh, when, when applied correctly, it’s really making, uh, uh, team members’ jobs easier and allows ’em to do more. Mike, you know, share an example of that and it’s creating doors of opportunity for members of workforce, uh, at least from, from where I sit. Um, okay. As much as I, Mike and Tony, there’s so much I wanna get to, uh, but I wanna be very respectful of time. I wanna kind of come down the home stretch with one of my favorite questions we pose to people, um, in many of these interviews. And, and I’m gonna paint this picture and Tony, I’m probably get the hotel wrong, but, um, uh, the Waldorf Astoria, right? <laugh> a iconic hotel. Uh, whenever I think of hotels like that, I think of these grand ballrooms, right? Massive. They get all the nice furniture and, and there’s a big keynote, um, uh, uh, podium, you know, so, so Mike, in this example, you’ve got the captive attention of, we’ll call it thousands of new college graduates or, or, or maybe, uh, uh, uh, professionals just getting into their career and they want to inter global business, move up the ranks, do big things just like you and Tony. So Mike, what would be your best piece advice to them?

Michael Prince (43:49):

Yeah, uh, I love, I love that question, Scott. And I think I’d, I’d give them two. The first one’s probably a little non-traditional. Um, and then I think the second one, Falls, falls more in line. But the first one is, and, and I had somebody tell me this early as well, is start putting away and allocating your savings and open your 401k and use a Roth and use the mechanisms that are in place because you have time. You have 45 years until you’re gonna retire. And if you do that now and you build that up, then if you decide at 45 or 50 or 55 that you maybe aren’t in the career you wanna be in and you wanna, um, go do something else, you’ve given yourself, uh, a foundation that you have that flexibility to go do. So that, so that would be my first, um, bit of advice.

Michael Prince (44:32):

And then, uh, the second bit, Tony, you, you touched on solving hard problems in one of the last podcasts. I think that was great. And so I won’t elaborate on that one. Um, the one, the one that I will talk on is continue to read and educate yourself and utilize the knowledge that you get. And, uh, for example, uh, getting things done by David Allen, if you’ve read that book, talks about organizing and structuring your thinking. Um, when you go through emails, you either do it, delegate it, delete it, or defer it, right? And, and if it takes less than two minutes, get it done. Clean out your inbox to zero, uh, set up systems for organization, uh, similar to the, to the packers in our, in our next gen facility. And if you think like a Maslow’s hierarchy, right? If you eliminate the things that are keeping you disorganized and, um, distracting you day to day, um, you can think higher level and, and drive improvements.

Michael Prince (45:19):

And so I love, uh, I love to read. Getting things Done has had a huge impact on me. How will you measure your life by Clayton? M Christiansen talks about are you spending your time and effort and, and, and, um, resources? Is it consistent with the person you wanna become? So if you say, I’m a charitable person, but you don’t, uh, give time or money or effort or do anything for charity, then, then by default, you’re, you’re generally not a, a charitable person, uh, to put it very bluntly. And so, if you wanna move up in your career and, and continue to drive and, and, and look for opportunities, then make sure that that’s where you’re spending your time and your effort and your, um, and your focus and, and you will see good things come from it. So I could go on with a list of, uh, of great books that I’ve read, but those are, uh, those are a couple.

Scott Luton (46:01):

I love that advice, Mike, man. I love it. Uh, Tony, Tony, what about you? What’s the new piece of advice you’d like to give some of our, some those, uh, attendees at the world of Astoria

Tony Sciarrotta (46:12):

Astoria? I wanna expand a little bit on learn to try to do different things. We, we didn’t get a chance to go in depth about Mike’s earliest part of his career where we spent nine years at the US Environmental Protection Agency and now he’s a leading vice President Walmart. Who would’ve thought, Mike, that that direction would’ve happened for you. And I started out in a career being a sales guy and, uh, <laugh>, who would’ve thought I would become the anti sales guy, right? <laugh>, I’m looking at reverse sales and how do I stop ’em from happening? Um, so it, you just never know when you start on the path, you need to try the different things. They may not all work out, but they may, and they may take you in a new direction like they have for Mike and I, where your passion gets a chance to really, uh, do, do something and, and do something. Make a difference.

Scott Luton (47:05):

Mm oh, Tony, man, you and Mike, you’re gonna have to go on a speaking tour, man. Quite a one two punch. Uh, I would just add one thing, um, you know, to our listeners, and, and, and again, to those folks that are breaking industry and gonna be doing big things, whenever you hear the phrase, We can’t do this or we can’t, you know, a lot of times that’s some of the best opportunities. So lean into that, understand and figure out how you can get around those constraints oftentimes, cuz there’ll be some big opportunities. Um, okay. So, uh, Mike, you and Tony both have alluded to, um, a recent event, a leadership event y’all are both at as part of the RLA organization. Uh, Tony, before we go, we’re gonna make sure folks know how to connect with Mike and, and the cool things that he’s doing and he and his team are doing at Walmart. But Tony, what’s, what’s the next big thing coming up at rla?

Tony Sciarrotta (47:54):

The next big thing coming up is, uh, our, our North America Conference in Expo, February 7th, eighth and ninth in Las Vegas at the Mirage Hotel. Scott, you’ve been there with us and, uh, a couple of times we’re going back to the Mirage before it becomes something else, maybe down the road. But right now we will have the, uh, ballroom stage with some phenomenal keynote speakers. I’m gonna lean on Mike for maybe 2024, but in 2023 we will have amazingly Navil Naser keynote speaker. He is from the Remade Institute, and how cool does that sound? The Remade Institute, uh, of America, uh, from the Rochester Institute of Technology will also have a colleague, uh, uh, counterpart to Mike, uh, Becca Mines, who is end and logistics at at Best Buy. So those are two keynotes. You know, we do a lot of fun things there, Scott.

Tony Sciarrotta (48:50):

We have the interviews. We are doing that top golf, uh, charity event. Again, cell phones for soldiers. So we make it an important special event. Uh, you can be there two days and get all the information, but you can come in a day early and get into the charity, golf, and, uh, some round tables and the Women’s Luncheon event. So that’s our big event. We will be back in Europe next year, Scott, and thanks to Mike and many others who showed up, we’ll do another leadership summit, uh, later in the year in September. Uh, we’ve had a lot of discussion about where we should go everywhere from Dubai to, uh, Savannah, to, uh, Memphis to New Orleans. We’re trying to find the right place to do that, Scott, and we’re gonna try to get you to some of those events next year. Again.

Scott Luton (49:34):

Love it. Uh, well say hello if Good. Goodbye. Say hello to our friend Kim Winter. If go to New Orleans, Make sure I gotta invite. I love <laugh>. We all, we both love that city. Yes. Uh, many others you mentioned. Okay. Uh, so Mike, uh, I really, again, appreciate your time. As busy as you and the team are. I love, um, the change that you and your team are driving at Walmart. Um, very innovative. Uh, it, you know, we’ll have to have you back and kinda get an update from you on, on how things are playing out and what’s around the corner. Uh, going back to you and Tony both talking about how, you know, there, uh, no finish line in, in this journey we’re on, but how can folks connect with you and Walmart, Mike?

Michael Prince (50:14):

Sure. Um, so if you wanna, uh, email me directly that, that’s great. Uh, Michael dot Prince, m i c h a e l dot p r i n c e walmart.com. Um, it can be an awkward, uh, email or feel like it needs to be, be very formal, so I’ll make it very informal. Um, there’s a, there’s a cool trick where if you, uh, hold the Windows key and hit hit the period, uh, you’ll get a full list of every emoji just like you get on your phone. So, if you cleaned out your inbox, if you, uh, started depositing to your 401k, if you found something interesting, or I’m always open to feedback, if you say, Hey, Mike, you know, here’s, here’s some feedback on whatever you covered. Uh, throw an emoji in there to let me know you heard the tidbit and, uh, and just gimme your thoughts. Uh, LinkedIn, obviously the, the traditional channels as well. But, um, yeah, feel free to shoot me a note.

Scott Luton (50:58):

I love that windows and the period key, right? Yep. And we all love emojis. Uh, this is the era of emojis, I believe, Mike, I loved that. Uh, really appreciate your time and perspective. Uh, Tony, before we go, same question for you. How can folks connect with you and the rla?

Tony Sciarrotta (51:14):

Well, Tony Sheroda can be a challenging name to spell on, uh, LinkedIn. Uh, you got it on the screen, of course. But, uh, the easiest way is rla dot o org. We are the association, uh, not for profit Association Global. Uh, you go to that site, you’ll see, uh, Walmart is one of our advisory board member companies, uh, along with number of other major, uh, members. And we’re on the site. It’s easy to find. And it’s tony@rla.org. Uh, is is the easiest way without trying to spell sheroda on LinkedIn, but I’m the only one on, on LinkedIn that’s a Tony Sheroda, so that makes it easy too, if you do get there and, and, and get it together. But tony@rla.org and please visit the website. I, I hope I’ve told your community enough, uh, that it, it is free to join the RLA community globally. Uh, there’s membership with benefits, but the community is free. And we do a number of things for the community, including an upcoming webinar that touches, based on what Mike said, we’re using, uh, artificial intelligence to optimize returns management. That’s our next webinar next week, Scott.

Scott Luton (52:24):

Wonderful. Well, hey, y’all, check out arley.org, connect with Tony, make sure you connect, uh, with Mike as well. Mike Prince is who we’ve been talking to, Vice President Returns and Quality with Walmart. Thanks again, Mike. Uh, folks, to our listeners, hopefully you enjoy this conversation as much as I have. I’ve got, I don’t know, 17 pages of notes over here, Mike and Tony really brought it. Um, but whatever you do, Hey, as Mike said, we’re in a omni world. You know, uh, there are new table stakes. Hey, put it in a headlock and drive change, right? Do the impossible. Do what, uh, old Mike’s doing at Walmart. Um, and whatever you do, hey, deed’s, not word. It’s all about taking action. So on behalf of our entire team here at Supply Chain now, Scott Luton signing off for now, challenging you to do good, to give forward and to be the change that’s needed. And what’s your next time? Right back here won’t spot you now. Thanks everybody.

Intro/Outro (53:12):

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