Patent ID: 8156007

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for dynamically determining a location to which an item of merchandise is to be returned, the method comprising: receiving at a first time an indication that an item previously sent to a customer by a merchant is to be returned; at a later second time after the receiving of the indication, automatically determining current conditions and one or more projected future conditions at each of multiple possible return locations for a return of the item, the one or more projected future conditions at the return locations including projected future labor capacity at the return locations to perform processing of item returns, the automatic determining of the current conditions and the projected future conditions being performed by a configured computing system of the merchant and including, for each of the multiple possible return locations, performing electronic interactions with one or more other computing systems at that possible return location to obtain information about the current conditions at that possible return location; and dynamically selecting at the second time one of the multiple possible return locations for the item based at least in part on the determined current conditions and the determined projected future conditions at the multiple possible return locations, the dynamic selecting being automatically performed by the configured computing system; and providing information regarding the dynamically selected return location to enable the item to be sent to that return location.