FedEx, Happy Returns team up for online returns

It’ll soon be easier to return purchases from select online retailers, including Everlane, Dressbarn, Rothy’s and Revolve.

Los Angeles-based logistics company Happy Returns is growing its network of “Return Bars” by more than 76% thanks to a new collaboration with FedEx.

By the end of October, shoppers will be able to bring their online returns to more than 2,000 FedEx Office stores nationwide, which includes more than 340 Walmart stores that have FedEx Office locations inside.

“There’s a lot of hassle for returns that this eliminates,” David Sobie, cofounder and CEO of Happy Returns, said in an interview with USA TODAY. “You don’t need to print a shipping label or box items up.”

Happy Returns has 500-plus locations in the network that process returns, including in stores, malls, campus bookstores and office buildings.

Shoppers start returns on the retailers’ websites or at HappyReturns.com and will then receive a QR code. They then bring the items and the QR code to a FedEx Office store to complete the return, which Sobie says takes less than a minute. Refunds and exchanges are usually initiated immediately.

FedEx will then aggregate box-free items from multiple merchants into a single shipment, which reduces the cost for retailers and eliminates a lot of boxes and cardboard.

Ryan Kelly, FedEx vice president of global e-commerce marketing, said FedEx started testing in Los Angeles in early October, and the feedback has been positive among consumers.

Kelly said in a statement to USA TODAY that the two companies have known each other for a while and felt “by working together that we could make the returns experience better.”

Happy Returns was started five years ago and processed its first return before Kohl’s started accepting Amazon returns, Sobie said.

With the Fed Ex expansion, Sobie estimates about 68% of the U.S. population will be within 10 miles of a Happy Returns location.

The expansion will be up and running as more shoppers are planning to do more shopping this year online amid the coronavirus pandemic. According to a holiday survey from DealAid.org, 90.3% of consumers are shopping more online due to COVID-19.

Sobie said many of the other Happy Returns locations were closed amid the pandemic but if there are future closures FedEx is considered an essential retailer so will stay open and be able to process returns.