The visit of Pope Francis to the USA this week is likely to mean delayed deliveries in some cities, UPS, FedEx and USPS have warned.
Massive security measures are expected in New York City, Washington and Philadelphia as the pontiff makes a high-profile trip to the three cities following his historic visit to Cuba. The pope is due to arrive in Washington today (Sept 22) with events on Wednesday and Thursday, followed by New York on Friday, and then Philadelphia on Saturday and Sunday.
The three delivery operators warned in customer service updates that the visit would impact on their delivery operations, and advised customers to check regularly for updated information.
UPS said it implementing ‘contingency plans’ to minimise service impacts, including no pickups and deliveries in some ZIP codes in the three cities. It pointed out that the UPS Service Guarantee “does not apply when transportation networks are disrupted due to events of this nature”.
FedEx told customers that the papal visit is expected to cause ‘delays and disruptions’ in Washington, New York and Philadelphia. “We have implemented contingency plans to help mitigate delays. Our goal is 100% reliability and we appreciate our customers’ patience and understanding while our operations teams work to minimise any delays,” the company said.
USPS said that for Washington and New York “at this time only minimal/limited delays to deliveries and collections in the immediate area of events are expected”. However, in Philadelphia it expects potential delays in a broader area around the metropolitan area, as much of the downtown area will be designated as a security zone.
