Whether it’s an ill-fitting outfit you wouldn’t be caught dead in or some high-tech kitchen gadget you won’t use because of your addiction to the Seamless app, you’ll have to deal with those unwanted holiday gifts. Luckily, you can always return them. And what better day than on Jan. 5, National Returns Day.
If trudging back to the store to fight the crowds does not grab you, most of those gifts can be mailed back. And after a record season for online shopping, which rose an estimated 13 percent over 2015, shipping companies are expecting to deliver an equally record-breaking number of returns. UPS, which created and heavily promotes National Returns Day, anticipates seeing 1.3 million packages sent back to retailers on Jan. 5 — and a total of more than 5.8 million by the end of the first week of January. Last year, the company shipped more than 1 million packages on National Returns Day. The National Retail Federation said that returns can cost stores more than $260 billion in sales.
According to a survey done by UPS, shoppers said the best return experience includes free shipping, easy-to-print labels and timely refunds among other factors.
Metro reached out to companies similar to UPS about their expectations for National Returns Day. While FedEx declined to comment, a representative from the U.S. Postal Service said it’s “handling large volumes of returns.” Now, about those lines at UPS, FedEx and the Post Office…
National Returns Day is as good as any to unload those unwanted holiday gifts
Reuters
