Amazon is partnering with the office supply chain Staples to add another place where Amazon customers can drop off returns.
The deal, announced Wednesday, adds nearly 1,000 locations for label-free, box-free returns. With Staples, Amazon stores, Whole Foods markets, Kohl’s, and UPS Stores, customers have access to more than 8,000 drop-off locations.
According to Amazon, the majority of the e-commerce giant’s customers have at least one return drop-off point within a 5-mile radius of where they live.
Staples has 998 stores in the U.S., including 18 in Washington state.
“Our goal is to make buying online as easy as possible, and we know that some items don’t always work out as planned, which is why we work hard to continue to raise the bar in offering a hassle-free returns experience to our customers,” Gopal Pillai, vice president of Worldwide Returns & Recommerce at Amazon, said in a news release.
The collaboration is Amazon’s first major deal on returns since partnering with Kohl’s in 2019.
Amazon’s shipping costs have spiked in recent years as the company aims to speed up delivery with its push for one-day shipping. The company is also dealing with increased transportation and fuel costs. Amazon spent $19.9 billion on shipping in Q1, up 2% year-over-year.
