We change our minds about purchases a lot in the U.S., especially after the buying binge of the holidays. Returns cost retailers about $260 billion each year. That doesn’t include the cost to the environment of all that producing, shipping, and throwing away.
One of the companies on the receiving end of all those returns is trying to reduce the cost to retailers, and the cost to the environment.
The Optoro warehouse in Maryland is a hoarder’s dream — the building is packed, floor to ceiling, with returned merchandise. The CEO, Tobin Moore, stands neck deep in stuff that people changed their minds about.
“This is probably 10 truckloads just right here — air compressors, power drills, lawn mower I think, carseat down on the bottom,” Moore says.
You might think that when you return something, it goes back on the shelf. But it’s often too much hassle for the stores to sort and restock. Returns might go to liquidators or resellers, or straight to the landfill.
Optoro is trying to change that, with something called “reverse logistics.”