Happier returns? Retailers in race to solve holidays’ environmental, logistics nightmare
- Some have considered paying customers to donate goods instead of returning them to stores.
- Others are experimenting with ‘boxless returns’ and giving customers recyclable bags.
- One retailer tried having delivery drivers wait at the doors of online customers to take returns.
To see retailing at its ecological worst, look no further than the return line after the holidays are over.
More fuel will be guzzled trucking merchandise back to warehouses than was consumed speeding it to consumers’ front doors. More packaging will be wasted, not to mention employee time trying to sort and determine whether goods were damaged or defective.