Adam Minter, Columnist

Holiday Gift Returns Are Choking Retailers and Landfills

Merchants won customers’ hearts with lenient return policies. Now the strategy is backfiring, with dire financial and environmental consequences.

January 17, 2022 at 11:00 AM UTC

By Adam Minter

Adam Minter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the business of sports. He is the author, most recently, of “Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale."

Coming and going.
Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

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As the warmth of the holiday season ebbs, Americans are taking a cold look at their Christmas gifts. Many don't like what they see.

One in four Americans expects to return at least one holiday gift by next weekend, according to a report by UPS. That's at least 60 million packages in a single returns season for the world's largest package shipper alone, and a 10% increase over 2020 holiday returns. As the costs of shipping and handling those returns increases, retailers and consumers are facing an expensive and unsustainable shopping future.