No Days Off: Perfect Your Parcel Performance in the Post-Season

If you’ve read Redwood’s annual peak-season shipping guide, then you know there are three keys to achieving parcel shipping success during the busy holiday season: 

• Prepare by forecasting demand, planning distribution, and lining up resources.
• Perform when it matters most, using advanced tech, real-time visibility, and agile replanning.
• Perfect in the post-season as you audit costs, analyze results, and train for 2026.

Right now, smart parcel shippers are in the midst of their pre-season preparations—finalizing demand forecasts, studying carrier rate schedules, and ensuring labor availability. After all, we’re just weeks away from the Winter Olympics of parcel shipping, otherwise known as the holidays. The 34 days between Black Friday and New Year’s Day will come and go quickly, but your peak-season performance has far-reaching and long-lasting implications for your business. 

In two previous blog posts, we’ve focused on how parcel shippers can better prepare for and perform agilely during peak season. In this final post in our three-part series, let’s explore an often-overlooked topic: how parcel shippers can use the post-season to perfect their performance. After all, when you’re a world-class parcel shipper, there are no days off. 

First Up: Master the Challenge of “Returnuary” 

Wouldn’t it be great to breathe a sigh of relief on January 2? After all, you achieved gold-medal performance by preparing and performing like a champion during the busy holiday season that encompassed not only Christmas, but also Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s. But it’s not time to cool down and relax yet.   

According to the National Retail Federation, return volumes accounted for a staggering $890 billion in 2024, or 16.9% of retailers’ total 2024 sales. While this figure represents merchandise returned throughout 2024, the NRF also reports that returns tend to grow by 17% in the post-holiday season. That’s why the month of January has earned the nickname “Returnuary.” 

Your first priority in the post-peak season is getting your returned products turned around and back into warehouse inventory, or reset on store shelves, as soon as possible — maximizing your margins, while minimizing waste. Optimizing the cost and service results for your returns parcels is job one in 2026.  

Next: Reconcile Your Peak-Season Financials  

Your organization invested heavily in parcel shipping in November and December, across carriers and modes. Now it’s time to study financials closely. Were you invoiced accurately? Did you overspend? Did you negotiate discounts, or pay market rates? 

Redwood’s Parcel Advisory team helps customers save an average of 23% on their annual parcel spend, with invoice and payment audits playing a major role. If you don’t have the internal resources or specialized expertise to dive into your peak season and year-round parcel shipping financials, consider handing that key off-season activity to Redwood. The financial impact might surprise you. 

Finally: Apply Your Lessons Learned 

You worked hard during the peak season, and you amassed a lot of data. This data reveals key insights about the accuracy of your forecasts, your overall expenditure, your carriers’ performance, your customers’ satisfaction levels, and other critical metrics.  

As you create 2026 RFPs, negotiate new rates and contracts, rationalize the carrier mix, and update your forecasting models, you have a fantastic knowledge base to draw from. Like a seasoned, successful athlete, watch the tapes back (i.e., study your peak-season data) and plan to level-up your performance in the upcoming season. 

Data science, business analytics, and advanced technology are essential in this effort. “You can’t improve what you can’t measure” applies equally to shaving seconds off a downhill ski run and decreasing your 2026 parcel spend. Make sure you’re not only gathering peak-season and year-round data but also transforming it into meaningful insights and profitable actions.

Leverage Redwood’s Winning Track Record 

From mastering returns to conducting financial audits and business analysis, Redwood’s winning Parcel Advisory team has the bench strength, best practices, and winning record you need. Across 20-plus peak seasons, we’ve helped hundreds of customers ship millions of parcels, achieve 23% savings on average, and negotiate more favorable carrier contracts in just 43 days.  

If you’re missing the internal expertise and advanced technology to dedicate to parcel optimization, that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on gold-medal performance. Bring Redwood on board, and start benefiting immediately from our seasoned team, decades of knowledge, and advanced tech expertise. Kickoff your peak-season 2025 championship run, and a more profitable 2026, by contacting us.

Get Your 2025 Parcel Peak Shipping Guide 

Want a deeper playbook to navigate the season? Download Redwood’s 2025 Parcel Peak Shipping Guide for detailed strategies, timelines, and tips to keep your business ahead of the curve.