Can Automating Return Fulfilment Solve the Reverse Logistics Equation?

Increased online sales has fuelled a rapid growth in merchandise returns leaving carriers seeking ways to alleviate the mounting pressure to scale to added first-mile activity and the rising costs associated with it. The extra activity underscores areas where carriers need to recalibrate business operations such as reducing the number of driver stops, lowering fuel costs, and meeting their sustainability objectives.

Consolidating first and last-mile deliveries to centralised locker terminals can have a positive effect on the return process. Carriers need to automate fulfilment options to improve business operations, help drive down the costs of processing returns, and create a competitive advantage.

The latest addition to the Parcel Pending by Quadient product roster is our fully integrated Drop Box with Printer solution. This first-of-its-kind solution was developed to suit various use cases and enhances our existing ability to fulfil returned merchandise through our lockers. The printer enables consumers to print authentic shipping labels from our lockers at the drop-off site. This means drivers no longer have to print and stick labels. Returned packages are dropped into a collection box, maximising parcel volume while minimising the locker footprint. Our Track and Trace technology captures every step of the return process from start to pick up and can be monitored from our cloud-based locker management system.

All of our solutions are fully integrated with Quadient’s centralised locker management system. Our cloud-based system provides monitoring in real-time, delivering the information carriers need when and where it’s needed. Gain key insights from actionable data such as: amount of time from return request to drop off, locker availability and usage, pick up and drop off alerts, track and trace, business intelligence reports, and more.

Parcel Pending by Quadient worked closely with carriers and our retail customers in Europe, the United States and Japan to develop our unique line of Drop Box lockers. Our Drop Box lockers can be added to our existing locker systems or custom configured for new installations to automate fulfilment of returned merchandise.

Automating return fulfilment through Quadient’s advanced parcel fulfilment solution, our Drop Box with printer, can bring operational efficiencies by eliminating the need for drivers to print labels, consolidating multiple stops to a single PUDO point and shaving valuable time off first mile logistics to get drivers back on the road. Alleviate the time-consuming manual processes of first-mile logistics. After all, every dollar saved, earned, or recaptured is a dollar added to your bottom line.