Amazon’s Plan To Fix Its Multi-Billion Dollar Returns Problem

While Amazon’s dominance grows, so does its number of returns, and that’s causing a massive problem for the e-commerce giant and the planet. A National Retail Federation survey found a record $761 billion of merchandise was returned last year, creating an estimated 5.8 billion pounds of landfill waste. Now, Amazon has committed to a “goal of zero product disposal,” while still making returns increasingly free and easy, from boxless returns to simply telling customers to keep some items. CNBC’s Katie Schoolov wanted to find out how Amazon plans to solve the problem, so she sat down with Cherris Armour, Amazon’s head of North American returns, for her first ever public interview. Chapters 00:00 -- Intro 2:02 -- Good for business, bad for the planet 5:08 -- Donation, liquidation, resale 9:59 -- Cutting costly reverse logistics 13:16 -- Disincentivizing returns