SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — Did you get a gift this year that you don’t really want or like? Well, it is the time for the post-holiday returns.
This year, it is not just the malls, but the shipping stores returning items back in record numbers.
At a UPS store in North Park, staff was fully prepared to process more holidays returns than ever before. In his 20 years of working, store owner Dennis Stein said he has never seen so many return packages on the day after Christmas.
“There is a big change, and a lot more people are buying stuff online,” he said.
Online sales hit a record high this holiday season, and UPS expects to process close to two million returns by the new year.
For those Amazon orders, Stein said, “They don’t have to bring in the box. They just bring in the item and we scan their code on their phone.”
Online retail platform Oracle said 77% of consumers plan to return their gifts, and nearly as many shoppers plan to check out post-holiday promotions when they make their returns.
Stein said he sure is glad he gets to profit from all the returns.
“We are going to have more people coming in after the holidays even into mid-January,” he said.
Regardless of what you are returning, retail experts remind shoppers that every company has its own return policies, and the encourage you to check deadlines.