Boxing Day and January Returns: Moving Reverse Logistics Freight by Truck

The Return Wave Is Predictable

Every year, retailers and online sellers see a spike of returns after Christmas and Boxing Day. That returned product has to travel from stores and return centres back to warehouses, refurbishers, liquidators, or suppliers. It is freight, and it comes in a rush.

Because it is predictable, you can plan for it. The shippers who do pay noticeably less than those who book returns freight reactively.

Consolidation Is Your Biggest Lever

Returned freight often starts as small, scattered shipments from many locations. Consolidating those into fewer, fuller shipments, for example by collecting returns at a regional hub and sending them in one truckload, cuts cost per pallet dramatically.

Planning weekly or twice-weekly return pickups creates a schedule carriers can plan around, which usually helps both availability and rate.

LTL or FTL for Returns

Low-volume stores and sellers with a few pallets are well served by LTL. Distribution centres and return processing hubs with volume benefit from full truckloads. Many operations use both: LTL from stores to a hub, FTL from the hub onward.

We help you map out which flows should be LTL and which should be consolidated into FTL.

Packaging, Labelling, and Condition

Returned goods are often packed less carefully than outbound freight. Damaged or mixed pallets lead to claims and slow processing. Use clear labels showing the return authorization, destination, and contents, and keep damaged goods separate from resaleable stock.

Good labelling at the origin saves handling time at the destination.

Surplus and Liquidation Freight

January is also when retailers clear leftover seasonal stock. Surplus often moves in irregular, one-off loads to liquidators or discount channels. Flexible pickup windows and consolidated loads help keep cost down on that freight.

If you are unsure how to ship a mixed load of seasonal surplus, describe it to us and we will advise on the best equipment and mode.

Planning With Shipmate

Tell us your return volumes, origins, and destination hub in advance and we will line up carriers and schedules before the surge arrives. You get one contact and clear timelines instead of scrambling in January.

Planning Your Returns Volume

Look at last year's returns data to estimate how much freight to expect and when it will arrive. Break it down by location and by week. Even a rough estimate lets you set up regular pickups and consolidate shipments instead of booking each one on short notice.

Share the plan with your freight partner before the surge. Carriers are more willing to commit capacity to a predictable schedule than to a sudden flood of one-off requests.

Reverse Logistics Mistakes to Avoid

Common mistakes include mixing damaged and resaleable goods on the same pallet, using poor or missing labels, booking each shipment separately at spot prices, and shipping partial loads that could have been combined. Each of these increases cost and slows processing at the destination.

Setting simple rules for how returns are palletized and labelled, and holding pickups to a regular schedule, makes the whole program cheaper and easier to manage.