UPS Expects To Transport 4 Mln Return Packages In U.S. By January 11

(RTTNews) - United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) said Friday that it expects consumers will ship more than 800,000 packages back to retailers and merchants on January 6, 2015, or the UPS National Returns Day. By the end of the first full week in January, the package delivery giant expects to transport 4 million return packages in the U.S.

Alan Gershenhorn, UPS executive vice president and chief commercial officer said, "We have successfully completed two of three phases of the Peak holiday delivery season. Our Cyber Weekend and pre-Christmas performance helped retailers take advantage of holiday demand. We are now preparing for a surge in volume driven by Returns Week beginning next Monday."

Gershenhorn noted that UPS research showed online shoppers care about returns convenience with 66 percent reviewing a retailer's return policy before making a purchase, while 68 percent said they would complete an online purchase if the retailer simply offered a free return shipping label.

According to the 2014 UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper Study, returns are on the rise, with 62 percent of consumers stating they returned an item bought online in 2014, compared to 51 percent in 2012.

Consumers living in New York and Chicago also can drop off pre-labeled and pre-paid packages at a nearby UPS Access Point location. Currently, there are 300 UPS Access Point locations in Brooklyn and the Bronx, and 100 locations throughout the Chicago area.

UPS said that to help retailers provide a simple returns experience for consumers, unwanted holiday items can be dropped off at any of the 4,400 UPS Store locations, where employees can assist with packing and shipping. Shoppers can also place their pre-paid ground or air returns into any of the 38,000 UPS Drop Boxes.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that UPS and FedEx Corp. (FDX) started capping air express deliveries in recent days after a last minute increase in packages caused some retailers to exceed agreed-upon limits.

This year, both UPS and FedEx held some retailers to their volume commitments during the final shopping days before Christmas, aiming to avoid a repeat of last year's fiasco. Last Christmas, an estimated 2 million express packages didn't arrive under the tree in time, according to software tracking developer Shipmatrix Inc.

UPS closed Wednesday's trading at $112.41, down $0.04 or 0.04 percent on a volume of 1.28 million shares.