UPS Access Point Network: Free Package Pickup Locations

UPS has over 21,000 Access Point locations across the United States — local businesses, pharmacies, grocery stores, and UPS Stores that accept and hold UPS packages. Despite being one of the most useful features in UPS's ecosystem, most small business shippers and online shoppers barely know the network exists.

For e-commerce sellers, Access Points solve two expensive problems: failed home deliveries (which cost time and money in re-delivery attempts) and package theft (which generates claims, replacements, and unhappy customers). For consumers, they offer the simple convenience of picking up packages on your own schedule from a nearby location instead of waiting at home for a delivery.

What Access Points Actually Do

An Access Point is any retail location that has partnered with UPS to handle packages. These locations provide three services: dropping off pre-labeled packages for shipment (an alternative to scheduling a pickup or driving to a UPS facility), receiving and holding packages for customers who prefer pickup over home delivery, and processing return shipments.

The network includes UPS Store locations with their full range of shipping services, CVS Pharmacy stores open until 10 PM in many areas, Michaels craft stores, Advance Auto Parts locations, and thousands of independent local businesses like dry cleaners, convenience stores, and specialty shops.

The practical advantage is coverage and hours. UPS Store locations typically close by 7 PM, but CVS locations stay open until 10 PM and are open on weekends. For someone who works nine-to-five and cannot receive home deliveries, picking up a package at CVS on the way home from work at 8 PM is significantly more convenient than trying to be home during a delivery window or driving to a UPS depot.

How Sellers Can Use Access Points

As an e-commerce seller, you can ship packages directly to an Access Point as the delivery destination. This is useful when your customer requests it, when you know the delivery address has a history of theft or failed deliveries, or when the recipient lives in a building that is difficult for drivers to access (high-security apartments, rural addresses without clear markings).

When creating a shipping label, you select the Access Point as the delivery address instead of the customer's home. The package is delivered to the retail location, the customer gets a notification, and they pick it up with a photo ID. Packages are held for seven to ten days depending on the location.

You can also enable Access Point delivery as a fallback. If the UPS driver attempts home delivery and nobody is available to receive the package, instead of making repeated delivery attempts, UPS can automatically redirect the package to the nearest Access Point and notify the recipient. This reduces the number of delivery attempts, gets the package into the customer's hands faster, and avoids the scenario where a package sits on a porch all day waiting to be stolen.

Cost Implications

Shipping to an Access Point instead of a residential address can save you the residential delivery surcharge that UPS adds to home deliveries — roughly 4 to 5 dollars per package. Access Points are treated as commercial addresses for pricing purposes, which means you pay the lower commercial delivery rate even though the package ultimately reaches a consumer.

This surcharge savings is meaningful for businesses shipping hundreds of packages monthly to residential addresses. If even 20 percent of your customers opt for Access Point delivery, the surcharge savings can cover the cost of a shipping platform subscription.

Drop-off at Access Points is free and available to anyone with a pre-labeled package. You do not need a UPS account to drop off, though having one provides access to additional features like drop-off confirmation scans that update your tracking automatically.

Returns Made Easier

Returns are where Access Points really shine from the customer experience perspective. Instead of scheduling a UPS pickup (which has a fee) or driving to a UPS depot (which may be inconvenient), customers can walk into any Access Point location with their return label and hand over the package. The retail staff scans the package, and the return is in the UPS system immediately.

For sellers, this lower-friction return process can actually increase customer satisfaction with the returns experience, which sounds counterintuitive but matters for retention. A customer who has an easy return experience is more likely to order from you again than one who had to go out of their way to send something back.

Finding and Using Access Points

The UPS Access Point locator on ups.com shows all locations near any address, including their hours, services available, and the types of packages they accept. Some Access Points have size restrictions — a small dry cleaner may not accept packages over a certain size, while a UPS Store has no such limitations.

Shipping platforms like atoship integrate Access Point selection into the label creation workflow, making it easy to ship to the nearest Access Point to your customer's address or offer Access Point delivery as an option at checkout.