"Each return costs retailers between $25 and $35 to process, yet 52% of consumers admit to participating in return fraud at least once. Petit witnessed this broken system firsthand as employee number 15 at Postmates, where she built the customer service team and created Civic Labs, the company's social responsibility arm. Her food security product Bento, which allowed people without smartphones to access free food via text message, won Liquidonate Time Magazine's 2021 Invention of the Year Award."
"Liquidonate integrates directly with retailers' existing warehouse and return management systems. When a product comes back and can't be resold -open box, slightly damaged, or simply unwanted-the platform automatically matches it with a local nonprofit or school that needs it. "It's the same reverse logistics workflow they already use," Petit explains. "It's just redirected toward community good instead of going to the landfill." The platform handles everything: shipping labels, pickup coordination, and tax documentation so retailers can write off donations."
Americans returned nearly 17% of retail purchases last year, producing 2.6 million tons of landfill waste and 16 million tons of CO2, while each return costs retailers $25–$35 to process. Liquidonate redirects unsellable returns—open-box, slightly damaged, or unwanted—directly to local nonprofits and schools by integrating with existing warehouse and return management systems. The platform automates matching, shipping labels, pickups, and tax documentation so retailers can claim donation write-offs and recover logistics costs through tax benefits. Retailers have diverted over 12 million items to more than 4,000 nonprofits, reducing landfill waste and limiting return fraud.
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