Post-holiday returns keeping UPS, other shippers busy
MAPLE GROVE, Minn. — Now that the holidays are over, shipping companies are busy with tens of thousands of returns pouring in.
UPS originally dubbed Jan. 2 as "National Returns Day" in 2017, but the shipping giant has seen the number of returns grow in recent years, so much so that the peak period for returns during the holiday has expanded into a weekslong event.
In 2023, the National Retail Federation estimated total returns to amount to $743 billion dollars in merchandise.
There are no signs of a slowdown as UPS said more shoppers are returning orders for refunds instead of exchanges and 87% of merchants reported an increase in returns in 2023.
Though UPS doesn't project overall return volumes for the holidays, the company said it expects to put roughly 2.7 million returns into the network on a given day around this time of year.
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