Amazon Starts Charging a Fee for Some UPS Store Returns
In recent days, Amazon has started charging a small fee for some returns made at UPS stores. Customers living near a free drop-off location who decide to return their package through UPS may have to pay a $1 fee.
“We offer convenient, easy returns to Amazon customers, with one or more options for label-free, box-free returns at no cost,” Steve Kelly, an Amazon spokesperson, said in an email as reported by The Information. “We always offer a free option for customers to return their item – if a customer would prefer to return their item at a UPS Store when there is a free option closer to their delivery address, a very small amount of customers may incur a $1 fee.”
Free option include Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh stores which are owned by Amazon itself, and the online retailer also has a partnership deal with Kohl’s.
This is Amazon’s latest effort to reduce costs associated with returns. Amazon in recent months began labeling “frequently returned” items sold on its platform that have significantly higher return rates in their product category.
Returns normally cost retailers a lot of money. The average retailer incurs $165 million in merchandise returns for every $1 billion in sales, according to the National Retail Federation.
