Parcel delivery companies in the USA and UK were working all-out today to cope with peak volumes on what is one of the busiest days of the year for many carriers.
The US Postal Service delivered more than 30 million packages across the USA yesterday, which was its peak day of 2015. Overall, the postal operator expects to deliver more than 15 billion total pieces of mail and packages by New Year’s Eve.
“We’re seeing 15% growth in package volume over last year,” said Postmaster General and CEO Megan J. Brennan. “This shows customers are increasingly counting on the Postal Service to deliver the holidays.”
USPS emphasised it had taken many steps to prepare its network for peak season to keep the network fluid and ensure the timely delivery of mail and packages, including increasing surface and air transportation capacities, adding new package sorting equipment and further developing routing options to increase efficiencies.
Since November 29, the Postal Service has delivered packages seven days a week in select major cities and high-volume areas. Sunday delivery volumes have increased by approximately 50 percent through the holiday season compared to last year. Additionally, the Postal Service will deliver last-minute packages on Christmas Day in select locations.
Moreover, USPS now offers real-time delivery notifications, meaning customers who sign up for alerts at myusps.com will receive notification within a few minutes of the delivery scan for select packages. Customers can also track their incoming packages through the service, as well as set delivery instructions for package drop-offs or schedule a redelivery of an item.
Meanwhile, UPS and FedEx, who are also in the midst of peak season in the USA, have played down reports of unexpectedly high volumes in recent weeks, stressing any delays were only regional and minor.
UPS planned to deliver about 36 million packages today (December 22), which will be its busiest day of the year, up from 35 million last year, and double the normal daily average of 18 million deliveries. Overall, the company expects US package volumes to rise more than 10% to more than 630 million between Black Friday and New Year’s Eve, with residential deliveries comprising about 60% of the total compared to the year-round average of 45%.
For its part, FedEx has forecast it will move a record-breaking 317 million shipments between Black Friday and Christmas Eve, which would be a 12.4% rise.
Meanwhile, in the UK, overall delivery volumes are running about 12% ahead of last year, according to the latest figures from multi-carrier platform MetaPack. In terms of carrier performance, the company said its data also shows that the high quality of service and delivery standards that have characterised the entire peak period continues apace.
One new trend is emerging, however. Consumers are starting to use express delivery services much more the closer Christmas Day gets. Earlier in December around 20% of deliveries were via premium express services, but in the last week this has risen sharply to 45%, and is likely to keep climbing over the next few days, the company said.
According to MetaPack, this is because many Britons have waited later with online Christmas shopping this year, resulting in a significant shift away from the peak profiles of previous years. Deliveries following Black Friday and the Cyber Weekend reached record numbers as expected, while the two subsequent weekends have seen huge growth but not as high as the old models predicted.
Speaking late last week, CEO Patrick Wall explained: “The Cyber Weekend was even stronger than anticipated, and very well managed. It was a controlled exercise which started earlier than in previous years and finished later. These additional days made the weight of activity significant in terms of the amount of shopping done and the ability for consumers to take advantage of discounts. The relative increases in the first couple of weeks in December haven’t been as great compared with previous years.
“The profile this year is entirely different,” he added. “We get four more shopping days after this weekend; people are likely to be paid on the 21st, 22nd and 23rd; and because delivery standards have been consistently high across the country, there will be a flurry of activity almost up to Christmas Day.”
