Parcel Couriers Wrap Up Holiday Deliveries; On Pace for Record Season
Parcel couriers are wrapping up the peak delivery season with post-holiday returns following what was expected to be a record season for online retail spending.
UPS Inc. said it anticipates transporting 4 million return packages in the United States by the end of the first full week in January.
The company’s national returns day is Jan. 6, when it expects consumers will ship more than 800,000 packages back to retailers and merchants.
In October, both UPS and FedEx Corp. forecast record holiday shipment volumes this year.
U.S. online retail spending from desktop computers totaled $48.3 billion from Nov. 1 to Dec. 21, a 15% increase from a year ago, ComScore Inc. said in a Dec. 23 report.
The research firm projected that the total would rise by about $5 billion during the final days of December, which would push this holiday season to an all-time high for e-commerce.
