Holiday Packages Surge! Can UPS, FedEx, and USPS Meet the Challenge?

It is learned that according to foreign media reports, labor shortages, supply chain crises and a surge in holiday online shopping packages have posed severe challenges to UPS, FedEx and the United States Postal Service.

Labor shortages have become a common problem for shipping companies. UPS, for example, began increasing its staffing several months ago with the goal of hiring 100,000 seasonal employees, but its website still showed more than 2,000 seasonal job openings as of early Friday afternoon.

Shipping lines are also facing a supply chain crisis, some of which has been alleviated, but there is a risk that last-mile cargo will not arrive in time for Christmas.

However, consumers bought gifts earlier, driven by concerns about supply chain issues and shipping delays, giving UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service some relief this holiday season.

UPS said its research shows 91% of consumers plan to complete all holiday shopping the week before Christmas, up from 81% last year, and nearly 96% would start shopping earlier if sales started earlier . Last year, UPS implemented shipping restrictions on some of its largest customers, refusing to accept some packages that exceeded a specified number during peak season.

UPS CEO said it is balancing capacity, with UPS focusing more on the most profitable types of freight rather than increasing volume, which means it is reducing some low-profit shipments.

According to data from logistics data company ShipMatrix from December 5 to 11, UPS's on-time delivery rate was 95.8%, slightly higher than its competitor FedEx's 84.8% and slightly higher than USPS's 95%.

The USPS has leased 13 million square feet of additional space this year and worked to add more than 40,000 seasonal workers. According to ShipMatrix, the USPS has significantly improved its on-time delivery rate this year compared to last year.

Supply chain concerns about the holiday season have been growing for much of the year, but congestion has indeed improved somewhat in recent weeks.

At the height of the congestion, 30 ships lined up to unload at the Savannah Port’s docks, and nearly 90,000 containers piled up, waiting to be hauled away by trucks or vans. By early December, the port’s congestion had been reduced by about a third, to about 65,000 containers.

Editor ✎ Xiao Zhu/

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