A Golden Opportunity for Retail Mail & Package Centers: Parcel Lockers

The retail landscape is rapidly transforming, and 2025 presents unprecedented opportunities for retail mail and package centers. With U.S. e-commerce sales projected to reach $1.3 billion, an impressive 8.9% jump from the previous year, the surge in online shopping is creating significant demand for reliable, convenient options for package shipping and returns.¹

This blog covers the unique conditions driving current consumer trends, and how incorporating smart solutions, like parcel lockers, can be a significant revenue-generating opportunity for your business.

Market Conditions Creating a Window of Opportunity

The explosive growth in digital commerce brings both challenges and opportunities directly to your doorstep. While consumers enjoy the convenience of online shopping, they’re increasingly frustrated with missed deliveries, package theft, and complicated return processes – as well as the environmental impact of all the above.

Porch Pirates Strike 58 Million Americans Annually

The rise of e-commerce has initiated an unintended consequence: a surge in package theft. As online shopping remains increasingly prevalent, porch pirates are capitalizing on vulnerable delivery methods, creating consumer demand for safe and secure delivery options.

In the past year, more than 58 million Americans have experienced package theft (an estimated $12 billion in packages); 1 in 4 have experienced package theft at some point in their lifetime.² Reimbursement for package theft is difficult to come by and often requires repeat orders. It’s no wonder, then, that consumers are turning to other methods to thwart porch pirates. The vastly preferred (and free) alternative? Sending their packages to another location, such as a trusted friend, neighbor, or local business to avoid theft or missed deliveries.

Returns are a Double-Edged Sword for Retailers

Returns continue to plague retailers with an annual $890 billion burden that shows no signs of diminishing.³ This means the stakes for getting returns right have never been higher. Research from Parcel Pending’s Retail Customer Experience Survey Global Report demonstrates that 62% of consumers would increase their purchases from brands that deliver positive return experiences, making the return process a critical factor in customer lifetime value.⁴

However, retailers find themselves walking a fine line between customer satisfaction and profitability, where – again – the bulk of responsibility typically falls to consumers. To ensure returns remain free and convenient, retailers typically ask that consumers return in-store, so items can be quickly processed and returned to active inventory. However, where this isn’t possible – such as with online-only retailers – retailers sometimes allow for return drop-offs at partner locations, such as local carrier hubs or participating retail stores (e.g., Ulta Beauty with Happy Returns).

Sustainability Remains a Key Concern

As shoppers become more aware of rising landfills, idling delivery vehicles, and increasing carbon pollution, they are falling in love with the concept of the circular economy. From eBay to Poshmark to Depop, gently-used retail is having a moment. According to a poll by Amazon and One Poll, 39% of Gen Z shoppers expect at least 75% of their purchases to be second-hand by 2027.⁵

Even Congress is supporting the initiative. Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove of California said she hopes to focus on reducing the sales tax on secondhand items and providing tax credits for companies adopting circular business models.⁶ As she explains: “It’s sustainable, it helps the environment, there’s less trash and you make somebody else happy.”

This means consumers are not shipping more secondhand items to each other via consumer-to-consumer transactions but also paying more attention to how their purchases get to their doorstep. Carriers are already working to make delivery more efficient and sustainable; however, with the rise of on-demand delivery services like Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Shipt there are more delivery vehicles on the road making more direct-to-door stops – often at the cost of increased traffic and environmental impact.

The Emerging Solution: OoH Delivery

Shoppers’ demand for fast, secure, and easily-accessible deliveries and returns creates a significant business opportunity for retail mail and package centers in the form of Out-of-Home (OoH) delivery. If your retail mail and package center is positioned along customers’ existing travel patterns (e.g., near grocery stores, along commuter routes, or in busy shopping areas), you can tap into the powerful concept of trip-chaining. This practice allows consumers to efficiently combine package pickup or outbound shipping with other routine activities, making the process feel seamless rather than burdensome.

The operational benefits also assist with green initiatives. Industry analysis indicates that widespread adoption of OoH delivery could reduce carrier vehicle miles traveled by an estimated 66%, while simultaneously decreasing carriers’ cost per package delivery by 15%.⁷ These substantial savings create a compelling economic case for carriers to prioritize OoH delivery through existing partnerships with well-positioned retail mail and package centers.

Provide MORE Services for Customers with Parcel Lockers

Capitalizing on the OoH delivery opportunity might feel intimidating, particularly if facing budget or staffing constraints. Enter: parcel lockers, which create a genuine win-win situation for both your business and your customers.

The most immediate benefit of implementing parcel lockers is the round-the-clock accessibility they provide. Customers can collect packages that have been shipped or redirected to your location at any time of day or night, while also having the convenience of dropping off prepaid, prepackaged returns without waiting for business hours or staff assistance.

The carrier-agnostic design of these systems delivers significant operational advantages for your business. Rather than requiring staff to interrupt customer service to retrieve packages from storage areas, carriers can directly deliver to and collect from the lockers. This seamless process reduces time-consuming handoffs that are burdening your team and creating inefficiencies in your daily operations.

Beyond traditional package services, these lockers can also expand your ability to offer and fulfill document management and printing solutions. Customers can collect pre-ordered documents, printed materials, or other items through the same secure, self-service system, creating additional revenue opportunities while maintaining the convenience factor that modern consumers expect.

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By offering secure, automated package lockers at your location, you can provide customers with a convenient, 24/7 self-service option for package pickups and returns, as well as document management and printing services. Not only does this address critical consumer pain points, but it also creates a new revenue stream while driving additional foot traffic to your business.

Ready to deliver MORE convenience for your postal and shipping customers? Speak to a Parcel Pending representative today to lock in your package management solution.

Sources:

1. Loganathan, Sathish. U.S. eCommerce Sales Growth: Key Trends Driving Success in 2025. www.clickpost.ai. July 19, 2025. https://www.clickpost.ai/blog/us-ecommerce-sales-growth
2. Adkins, Matthew. 2024 Package Theft Annual Report and Statistics. www.security.org. November 12, 2024. https://www.security.org/package-theft/annual-report/
3. Delesline III, Nate. Returns – and their challenges – are rising. Here’s how retailers are responding. www.retaildive.com. January 15, 2025. https://www.retaildive.com/news/retail-online-returns-reverse-logistics-challenges/737389/
4. Parcel Pending by Quadient. From Chaos to Convenience: How Lockers Are Changing the Return Game. www.parcelpending.com. May 20, 2025. https://www.parcelpending.com/en-us/resources/the-retail-playbook-to-winning-big-with-returns/
5. Amazon. Four in 10 Gen Z shoppers believe the majority of their purchases will be second-hand by 2027. press.about.amazon.com. December 11, 2024. https://press.aboutamazon.com/uk/news/sustainability/2024/12/four-in-10-gen-z-shoppers-believe-the-majority-of-their-purchases-will-be-second-hand-by-2027
6. Hudson, Clara. Bipartisan Legislators Want More People to Shop Secondhand. www.wsj.com. June 25, 2025. https://www.wsj.com/articles/bipartisan-legislators-want-more-people-to-shop-secondhand-17c89cf5
7. Von Szczepanski, K., Wagener, C., Mooney, T., et al. Only an Ecosystem Can Solve Last-Mile Gridlock in Package Delivery. www.bcg.com. June 24, 2021. https://www.bcg.com/publications/2021/solving-the-package-delivery-system-problems-with-a-new-ecosystem