According to many different sources, shipping services like the United Parcel Service (UPS) and FedEx are struggling with the increase in online orders this year.
A recent Wall Street Journal article stated that “on-time delivery rates for UPS ground packages based on their normal shipping transit times last week fell to 91 percent, according to an analysis of millions of packages by software developer ShipMatrix Inc.”
The article states that this time last year, the on time rate for UPS was 97 percent.
And UPS isn’t the only only service having issues delivering packages on time this year. During the same week as the data stated in the Wall Street Journal article, shipping company FedEx saw its delivery rates fall as well. BusinessInsider reported that the FedEx rates fell from 97 percent last year to 95 percent this year. These numbers from both articles are reported by ShipMatrix based on the second week of December.
Apparently, this holiday season is creating unexpectedly high volumes of web orders and the shipping companies weren’t prepared with enough staff or equipment for the volume.
Between UPS, FEdEx and the U.S. Postal Service, there is an expectation to ship 1.5 billion packages over this holiday season, which is an increase of more than 10 percent from last year. Adobe Systems reported that $3 billion alone was spent on Cyber Monday.
In general, it has taken 20 percent longer for orders placed on Cyber Monday to arrive, according to a recent study. The same study, done by retail consultancy Kurt Salmon and reported on by the Wall Street Journal, said that this may be because more retailers are offering free shipping, they are choosing cheaper and slower shipping methods. In fact, 90 percent of retailers are offering free shipping this year, compared to 78 percent last year.
The advice that retailers and shipping services have for consumers — shop early or shop in-store. If retailers are looking for a more reliable solution for shipping from the store to the customer, Wrap and Send Services offers packing and shipping services with a 99.3 percent same day shipping record for packages received by 2 p.m.
Learn more about Wrap and Send’s packing and shipping services.
