In a move similar to UPS and its access point location program launched two years ago, FedEx has struck a deal with Walgreens that will place staffed parcel pickup and dropoff operations at local Walgreens stores.
UPS is expanding its Access Point pickup program to 100 U.S. cities by the end of 2015, with 8,000 locations here and 22,000 in 10 countries worldwide.
With many consumers large and small finding that not everything Santa brought was exactly what they wanted, UPS said it expects to handle 4 million returns packages by the end of the first week in January, up 15% from 3.5 million in 2013. The company estimated this deluge of reverse logistics hit a peak of 800,000 packages on Jan. 6.