Returns on Demand wants to remove the stress of returning packages

By Ashley Smart, staff writer

NEARLY $761 BILLION worth of merchandise is returned to online retailers annually, according to the National Retail Federation. Milwaukee-based startup Returns on Demand wants to make returning those millions of packages as easy as possible for consumers.

Founded by local entrepreneurs Dustin Conrad and Scott Allen, RoD offers consumers an on-demand service that picks up, processes and delivers online shopping returns to UPS, FedEx and USPS locations.

The RoD app allows online shoppers to schedule a pickup date and time. Each package is then picked up by a driver and the app notifies the user. The app also allows shoppers to keep track of online orders and lets them know of expiring return windows. Users can sync RoD with their email, and their previous purchases appear in the app.

“We want consumers to enjoy the returns process so they can feel free to buy more online,” said Conrad.

He has been in the business world for almost 30 years, with most of that time being spent in health care and consulting. However, Conrad does have some past startup experience.

Allen began his career in the world of startups and specializes in the areas of logistics and technology. He helped found a company called

Barcode Resources in Milwaukee in 1990. It was one of the first companies to use barcodes to track products through distribution centers, according to Allen.

Conrad and Allen grew up together and lived about five houses away from each other as kids.

In February of 2020, Allen — whose family is big on online shopping — needed to return a snowboard. This turned out to be an arduous process as he had to drive 15 miles in negative 10-degree weather to stand in a line at a local FedEx store for an hour. And he spent part of that wait time outside.

“I had had it,” said Allen. “I called Dustin and said, ‘The world is becoming an on-demand world. Why can’t we have an on-demand service that will solve this problem?’”

Development of the RoD app took about a year and a half. So far, the RoD app, available in the Apple Store and via Google Play, has hundreds of downloads. Conrad said the download number is growing by double-digit percentages each week.

RoD is partnering with Atlanta-based Roadie, a company that can be likened to the Uber of delivery drivers, for the pickup of packages. Roadie was acquired by UPS in 2021.

RoD has already raised a pre-seed funding round worth more than $500,000. n

International exports for food, forestry and agricultural products by Wisconsin companies totaled $4.2 billion in 2022, an increase of 7% from 2021.

Jud Snyder

Regional President, BMO Wealth Management

790 N. Water St., Milwaukee bmo.com

Industry: Banking and Finance

Home sales in the four-county metro Milwaukee area were down

22.6% in February, year-over-year, according to the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors.

• Jud Snyder’s role at BMO has grown with its acquisition of Bank of the West to now cover a 10-state region stretching from Indiana to the Dakotas.

• He said going through BMO’s acquisition of M&I Bank provides a playbook for handling the integration of Bank of the West, which includes remaining engaged in the community, focused on clients and paying attention to how new employees feel coming into the organization. “If we stay focused on that, a lot of good things happen.”

There were

15,937 registered apprentices in Wisconsin in 2022, a new record for the state.

• Snyder previously led teams in equipment finance and commercial banking. Both roles involve building relationships and helping clients plan for the future. “At first blush, not everyone looks at a long career in commercial banking and says, ‘Gosh, that’s natural to go move over into our wealth practice.’ It’s not as unlikely as it seems,” Snyder said.

• In college, Snyder studied Russian and thought he might go into the foreign service as the Soviet Union came to an end. “I thought it would be a neat opportunity to get involved in global change. (But) by the time I got out of college, Russia was no longer in optimistic change, it was a pretty tough place,” he said.

• Serving on boards of the Boys & Girls Club, United Way, Froedtert Health and Teach for America Milwaukee, Snyder looks for opportunities to make positive and sustainable change in

Amtrak’s Milwaukee-Chicago Hiawatha rail service had 501,925 passengers during its 2022 fiscal year, up

107.7% from the previous year.

In January, 416,330 passengers used Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, an increase of 9.5% compared to January of 2022.

He takes his coffee with 2% milk and honey. “I’ve got such a sweet tooth. … I tried to ween myself off of processed sugar years ago, it absolutely didn’t work, I still eat chocolate all the time, however, I made the move to honey in my coffee and I kind of liked it, and I’ve never looked