Packages Continue to Inundate Property Managers as Residents Rush to Return Unwanted Holiday Presents

The numbers are in for the busy 2017 holiday season!
UPS estimates that it delivered 750 million packages from Thanksgiving Day to New Year’s Eve – an increase of 6% (or 40 million packages) from 2016.
This should come as no surprise since Adobe Analytics reported that Cyber Monday 2017 was the largest online shopping day in history with $6.59 billion in online sales – a 16.8% YOY increase.
While the busy holiday season has ended, the surplus of packages continues for Property Managers (PMs).
On UPS National Returns Day (Jan. 3), UPS expects to manage 1.4 million packages – up 8% from last year. With nearly half of retailers offering free return shipping and an estimated 25 to 30% of online purchases returned (triple the rate for items bought in-store according to Worldwide Business Research), UPS is reporting that they expect to process 6 million returns this week.
“While the day after Christmas used to be reserved for long return lines at department stores, the growth of e-commerce has changed when and how consumers return gifts,” Alan Gershenhorn, chief commercial officer for UPS, said in a written statement.
According to Optoro, a Washington-based firm that helps retailers manage the returns process, consumers are projected to return nearly $90 billion worth of gifts this year – about a quarter of 2018 returns overall.
How are you handling the post-holiday package returns rush?