First 50 FedEx Office Locations to Open Inside Walmart in Time for Holiday

E-commerce, though growing “rapidly around the world,” also brings with it “significantly more” product returns than in the past, said Raj Subramaniam, FedEx chief marketing and communications officer, on a Tuesday earnings call. FedEx is expanding its “returns technology” and is adding more FedEx Office store locations to cope, including the first 50 inside Walmart stores and “opening in time for the upcoming peak season,” he said. “We anticipate adding a total of 500 FedEx Office locations inside Walmart stores over the next two years.” The separate FedEx Onsite program also continues to expand with Walgreens, “and we already have almost 11,000 packaged pickup locations in the U.S.,” said Subramaniam. “This program is all about convenience and brings FedEx ever closer to consumers,” he said. Customers like that the Walgreens locations “are open later in the evening” than most regular FedEx stores, including 700 that are open 24 hours, he said. The fear of “porch piracy,” having packages stolen when left at the front door, also is luring consumers to the Walgreens FedEx locations, he said. Recent surveys found 75 percent of online shoppers “were concerned about porch piracy,” and 45 percent had a package stolen or knew someone who had, he said. FedEx doesn’t see any near-term commercial viability in using drones to transport or deliver packages, said Chief Information Officer Rob Carter. “Drones are still really specializing in observation and inspection with sophisticated optics and their ability to look at aircraft and airframes,” said Carter. “That's a very advanced capability that we're already using today. But things like lift and range are limiting their use in transport, although we're testing them in some of our larger ramp facilities to deliver parts to mechanics and things of that nature.”