As my father used to say, “One man’s Mede is another man’s Persian.” (My father studied Greek.)
Which could be a way of saying that the items one person doesn’t want are often exactly what someone else is seeking. Hence Goodwill, eBay — and a new company for handling merchandise returns.
“The Christmas gifts have been delivered, and Secret Santa is done,” writes Hiroko Tabuchi at the NY Times.
“Now, the work begins for Optoro, a start-up company that aims to reduce the financial and environmental costs of another great holiday tradition: returns. …
“Optoro’s approach to cutting waste is to offer retailers more direct and cost-efficient ways to sell their returned goods through a software platform that tracks returns, quickly assesses which channel is the most effective for each returned item, and routes products to those channels.
“For undamaged products that have a high resale value, like baby goods, power tools or tablet devices, Optoro’s software might direct products to its own discount site, Blinq.com, which sells open-box goods at discounts. (Optoro helps retailers test and grade those products.) For returns, or even excess inventory, that are available in bulk, products are routed to another site, Bulq.com, where discount stores and other off-price retailers can purchase merchandise by the pallet.
“And by amassing returns from retailers, Optoro is able to find takers for products with a lower resale value, like dented metal filing cabinets and other office furniture for scrap recyclers, which pay for goods or materials in bulk. Traditional retailers typically recover only about 20 to 40 percent of the retail cost of returned goods; Optoro helps companies recoup 50 to 70 percent of the cost.
“There always will be returns, but there will always be someone who wants them,” [Tobin Moore, chief executive] said.
More.
Photo: Jared Soares for The New York Times
Josh Russell working at the Optoro warehouse in Lanham, Maryland. 
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