The 5-Point EBITDA Opportunity in Reverse Logistics

Send me a message What if returns are hiding 4–5 points of EBITDA in plain sight? In this episode of the Resilient Supply Chain Podcast, I’m joined by Terry Boyle, CEO of Trove, to explore one of retail and logistics’ most neglected pressure points: reverse logistics. Terry’s argument is blunt and useful: if brands care about supply chain resilience, sustainability, risk, data, and visibility, they can’t keep treating returns as the untidy corner nobody wants to inspect. You’ll hear how online returns are reshaping inventory economics, why imperfect product too often gets parked on pallets until value evaporates, and how better returns processing can unlock labour savings, faster return-to-stock, stronger resale pricing, and fraud reduction. Not glamorous. Very profitable. We also break down why customer-reported returns data is often unreliable, how item-level visibility can feed back into design, sizing, packaging, supplier decisions, and quality control, and why sustainability may scale faster when it is sold as better inventory economics rather than moral virtue alone. Interestingly Terry also shares the very real problem of “boxes of rocks” showing up in returns, because apparently even fraud has a logistics department now. 🎙️ Listen now to hear how Terry Boyle and Trove are rethinking returns, resale, and the hidden economics of resilient, sustainable supply chains. If disruption hit tomorrow, would you know where your supply chain was most exposed? In 15 minutes my free scorecard helps you assess 27 resilience statements, calculate your score, and turn the result into three priorities and a 30 day action plan. You can download the scorecard free at tomraftery.com/scorecard. Support the show Podcast supporters I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's generous Subscribers: Alicia Farag Kieran Ognev Gary Lynch And remember you too can become a Resilient Supply Chain+ subscriber - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent episodes like this one and give you access to bonus episodes of topical, timely supply chain resilience analysis. 🎤 Looking for a keynote speaker on supply chain resilience, AI, and sustainability? I help leaders understand the forces reshaping global supply chains, from geopolitical disruption and climate risk to AI and real-time decision-making. Download my Speaker Pack: https://tinyurl.com/spkrpck Finally If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - feel free to just send me a direct message on LinkedIn, or send me a message using this link. If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover it. Thanks for listening.