Returning A Christmas Gift? 'National Returns Day' Brings Record Numbers Of Packages Sent Back

Not all gifts can be winners. That means with Christmas in rear view mirror, lots of folks this week will be looking to send back presents that they know they won't enjoy.

But the biggest day for returns actually comes after the New Year, according to shipping company UPS. Packages sent back via UPS actually peak on Jan. 5, which the company has dubbed National Returns Day. UPS projects that shoppers will send back some 1.3 million packages with the company on the so-called National Returns Day, a good chunk of the 5.8 million packages UPS expects to return during the first full week of 2017. Both of those figures would be the highest ever.

The company returns so many packages nowadays because of the massive popularity of ecommerce, whether through etailers like Amazon or eBay, or through the websites of retailers like Target or WalMart.

"Online shoppers want the same level of choice, control and convenience making their returns as they do making their purchases," said Teresa Finley, chief marketing officer for UPS, in a press release Tuesday. A UPS survey showed that customers have had fewer complaints in recent years about returning gifts purchased online.

"While returns can’t be eliminated, an easy to use returns experience should be one of several retail strategies to enhance customer loyalty and manage the cost of returns processing," Finley said in the statement. The same UPS survey found that 70 percent of online shoppers made another purchase when they returned a gift to a store and just 45 percent made an additional purchase when making a return through a store's website.

Estimates have suggested that 20 percent of all returns happen during the holiday season, which accounts for some $60 billion in merchandise, the Wall Street Journal reported in 2014. Commonly returned gifts include presents given to wives by husbands, video games (perhaps already owned by the gamer), workout clothing and kitchsy knick-knacks, Newsweek reported last year. Time's Money laid out some tips for making returns go smoothly, including acting early and planning to get store credit in lieu of cash.