Brits Travel 36 Billion Miles a Year Managing Parcel-Related Trips

London, 8th September 2026

Brits collectively travel almost 36 billion miles every year to pick up and drop off parcel deliveries and returns, new research reveals.

A survey of 2,000 UK consumers from Quadient, a global automation platform powering secure and sustainable business connections, found that the average Brit travels 44.4 miles every month (or 533 miles a year) to send, collect and return parcels, with those journeys adding up to 3 billion miles every month and almost 36 billion miles annually across the UK.

Parcel-related journeys have now become an increasingly time-consuming part of everyday life. More than a third of consumers (36%) say they make more trips than they would like simply to manage parcel deliveries and returns.

Numerous trips to manage parcels across multiple carrier networks are also becoming a growing source of inconvenience for consumers. More than half of consumers (54%) have expressed frustration at having to visit different locations to collect deliveries or return parcels for different carriers, while almost three in five (59%) say they would prefer parcel deliveries and collections from multiple carriers to be managed from one location.

The additional journeys are also raising sustainability concerns. On average, consumers make almost four trips a month to send parcels, almost four more to collect them and more than two to return items. The average round trip is around 4.4 miles for both sending and collecting parcels, rising to 4.6 miles for returns.

Commenting on the findings, Katia Bourgeais-Crémel, Executive Vice President Lockers, Europe & International at Quadient, said: "Managing parcels is taking up more of people's time than it should. Too often, consumers must visit several locations because different carriers operate through separate networks.”

"While each parcel-related journey may seem insignificant on its own, when you multiply those trips across millions of consumers, they really add up. Not only is this costing people time and convenience, but it’s also creating avoidable transport emissions and ultimately increasing the environmental impact of everyday parcel deliveries.”

"As parcel volumes continue to grow, the industry has an opportunity to make the delivery experience simple, efficient and more sustainable. By bringing multiple carriers together through shared smart locker networks, these repeat trips can be reduced, allowing consumers to manage all their parcel needs through one convenient open locker network."

Click here to read the full findings in Quadient's report, The New Parcel Economy.

Additional Information

Data in this press release is based on research conducted by CensusWide among 2,000 UK consumers in March 2026. The research explored themes including how often consumers send and receive parcels, what kinds of parcel activity they now take part in, and how much time they spend each month managing deliveries and returns.

The figure of 370 million hours a month was calculated by multiplying the average monthly time spent on parcel admin (5.5 hours) by the UK population (67,330,000). The annual equivalent of 4.44 billion hours was calculated by multiplying this monthly figure by 12. The per-person annual figure of 66 hours was also calculated by multiplying the monthly average by 12. This follows the same explanatory methodology style used in the attached release.

Population estimates for resale behaviour were calculated using the same UK population figure. On this basis, 16% equates to 10,772,800 people, 6% equates to 4,039,800 people, and 2% equates to 1,346,600 people.