Hello and welcome to Business Brief. Today we’re diving into the booming business of returned products. In Fort Worth, a 250,000-square-foot ReturnPro warehouse overflows with televisions, laptops, power tools and toys returned by Walmart, JCPenney and Bass Pro Shops. Workers sort, clean and repackage millions of dollars’ worth of goods, then resell them online to wholesalers, off-price retailers and bargain-hunters.

With the U.S. tariff war on China cutting imports, retailers are tapping reverse logistics to refill shelves without paying higher prices. As ReturnPro CEO Sender Shamiss explains, “As there’s uncertainty in the market and the world is not sure what direction we’re going with tariffs, a lot of vendors and retailers have reduced the amount of inventory they’ve purchased or canceled orders altogether.”

Colorado State’s Zac Rogers puts it simply: “It’s a continuous cycle of one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Last year Americans returned an estimated $890 billion in goods, more than double 2020. ReturnPro expects to move 67 million units this year, and as Shamiss says, “Returns aren’t going away anytime soon.”
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