1. The Nasty Logistics of Returning Your Too-Small Pants: At the very least, many retailers now offer free shipping, free returns, and frequent discount codes, all of which promote more buying—and more returns. Last year, U.S. retailers took back more than $100 billion in merchandise sold online. – Read More on the Atlantic 

2. Carbon Might Be Your Company’s Biggest Financial Liability: Through some combination of government intervention and the development of carbon trading markets, it seems inevitable that a price will eventually be put on carbon around the world. That means that many companies have hidden liabilities on their books. – Read More on HBR

3. Is there room in the metaverse for indie fashion labels? The potential for growth is manifest. The gaming industry has increased by half a billion players in the last three years. Facebook has invested in virtual reality technology and plans to make it widely available, hinting at a future where Zoom meetings are replaced by more immersive 3D experiences in which everyone has their own avatar. – Read More on the Guardian

4. Containergeddon’: Supply crisis drives Walmart and rivals to hire their own ships. “Chartering vessels is just one example of investments we’ve made to move products as quickly as possible,” said Joe Metzger, U.S. executive vice president of supply-chain operations at Walmart, which has hired a number of vessels this year. – Read More on Reuters

5. RELATED READ: A Large-Scale Disruption in Container Shipping is Expected to Wreak Havoc on Retail This Christmas. What matters is future COVID outbreaks and to what extent China and other major port nations have to impose tough regulations to protect their populations. Perhaps, we will be lucky and the situation will steadily improve from here, or perhaps this mismatch between supply and demand will endure for several years. – Read More on TFL