Recordonline shopping this holiday seasonhas fueled another record for e-commerce companies: returned goods.
Cooped up at home because of the pandemic, people didn’t stop clicking.
Online salesreached $205 billionin the US, according to Adobe, a new holiday season high.
Not all of those purchases worked out.
Returns are a normal part of retail.
Clothes don’t fit, appliances have manufacturing flaws or shoppers just change their minds.
Online shopping has turbocharged the process because consumers often plan to return some of the goods they buy.
UPS expects to handle more than 60 million holiday returns this season.
One in five said they’d already done so before Christmas.
“They really feel like it’s money in their pocket,” she said.
More online returns means more waste
To handle returns, companies run their fulfillment process in reverse.
Sorting through them is also a hassle.
Retailers simply dispose of low-cost items if that’s cheaper than reselling them, Makov says.
(Amazon has said it tries to donate or recycle goods.)
A return ending up in the dump is an environmental worst-case scenario.
If a retailer sends your return tooverseas recyclers,reclaiming the materials can release harmful chemicals.
Of course, that isn’t always an option.
A more effective approach is to reduce the number of returns you gotta make.
Retailers are trying to help.
That number hasgrown from 40%in 2017.
“We trust their real-time judgment when helping customers,” said Jockey spokesperson Matthew Waller.
You might also consider donating it.
