Japan Data
Economy
Society
Jul 30, 2025
Parcel redelivery, a major issue for delivery companies amid a labor shortage, is slowly decreasing in Japan.
A survey by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism found that 8.4% of parcels required redelivery. While this rate is on a downward trend, it will be difficult to meet the MLIT target of 7.5% in fiscal 2025.
Twice a year, in April and October, the MLIT conducts a survey of the six major delivery companies to compile data on the quantity of parcels handled by each service center per month. There were 3.1 million parcels analyzed in the survey, of which over 260,000 were redeliveries.
The redelivery rate decreased by 0.6 percentage points compared to the previous survey, conducted in October 2024. It was 9.3% in urban areas (down 0.8 point), 7.9% in suburban areas (down 0.5 point), and 7.0% in rural areas (down 1.1 point).
The chart below shows how the redelivery rate has changed in recent years. In 2018 and 2019, the rate hovered around 15% to 16%, but it plummeted to 8.5% in April 2020, when people refrained from going out because of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the rate rose after this, it remained relatively low and is falling again, driven by the diversification of delivery methods such as the use of delivery boxes.
According to the MLIT, the volume of parcel deliveries in Japan has generally been on an upward trend, with the exception of the year after the 2008 financial crisis. In fiscal 2023, 5 billion parcels were handled, which is roughly the same level as the previous year.
Data Sources
(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)
delivery
AloJapan.com