In the latest announcement from the fast-growing field of reverse logistics, web-based logistics company FreightMatrix Inc. has partnered with an outfit called ReturnCentral of Pittsburgh, Pa., to deal with returned shipments from FreightMatrix customers.

Memphis-based FreightMatrix will use a ReturnCentral service called ReturnMatrix. According to ReturnCentral, the ReturnMatrix system streamlines workflow associated with buyer, warehouse and customer service personnel. The system enforces policies and automates outcomes, allowing for fewer touch points, fewer write-offs and fewer unauthorized returns.
In this case “touch points” refer to the physical handling of merchandise, said ReturnCentral public relations director Paula Moore. The idea, she explained, is to know where a returned product should go before the physical pickup.
Some products are sold through distributors but should be returned directly to manufacturers. Sometimes returning products go back into inventory; sometimes they go to surplus or salvage companies. Using XML (extensible Markup Language) technology, ReturnCentral taps client databases to learn where a particular return belongs before any physical handling, Moor explained.
ReturnCentral provides its web-based services remotely, as an ASP (Application Service Provider).
The term “reverse logistics” often implies more than just transportation. In some industries – cosmetics, for example -- returned merchandise is often destroyed. In such cases “reverse logistics” refers to the broader process of recovering and recycling materials. Similarly, computer makers like IBM and Dell refer to recycling elements of obsolete computers and components as “reverse logistics.”
But even in those cases, “reverse logistics” usually means business for freight carriers. While companies have long offered services to deal with retail returns on an outsource basis, only recently has the process been addressed by logistics technology providers.
Last year, for example, UPS introduced UPS Returns, a specialized e-commerce service targeting returned merchandise. UPS has developed a one-stop return service its customers link to their own web sites to automate the return process and initiate a UPS pickup.
FedEx offers a similar service called NetReturn. FedEx customers can link the service to their own sites through NetReturn API. A link is available on the NetReturn page.
Consolidated Freightways offers its Reverse Logistics program customized for customers to deal with contingencies like returns for credit, re-calibration & inspection; product recalls and upgrades, warranty service programs and more.
Yellow Freight calls its reverse service Return Goods Management.
Roadway Express offers a program to deal with product returns on a customized basis.
Beyond those parcel and LTL carriers, reverse logistics programs often come from companies like ReturnCentral and FreightMatrix. Reverse logistics providers offer various levels of service, from management to physical handling. Here are a few such services:
Newgistics, Inc., Austin, Texas, offers ReturnValet service, which handles the returns process, providing consumers with instant credit on returned goods, among other services. Newgistics backers include R.R. Donnelley Logistics Services and USFreightways Corp.
USF offers its own reverse logistics service through a subsidiary, USF Processors.
A company called returnrite of Minneapolis specializes in returns between retail outlets and manufacturers.
ReTurn Inc. of Wayzata, Minn., offers to “improve process efficiencies, reduce processing costs, and maximize investment recovery.”