Shipping Carriers Prepare For Busiest Day Of The Year
MIAMI (CBS4) - With Christmas just nine days away, shoppers are making a final push to not only buy the perfect present, but also get it where it needs to go. The result is shippers expect big business this holiday season.
The United States Postal Service said that Monday will be their busiest mailing day when 800 million cards, letters, and packages are expected to be sent on December 20.
UPS also said it was planning on delivering 24 million packages worldwide on December 22.
But the USPS and UPS aren't alone in the shipping wars.
FedEx Corporation said that from Thanksgiving to Christmas, more than 223 million packages will be moved around the world, translating to 86 package deliveries per second.
"Put as much as you can, phone number, correct address, make sure you have the right zip code, very important," Mendoza said about what customers need to do. "Sometimes in a building, they just put a name without the company name, or suite number, making it harder to find the person."
Looking back at one of their busiest shipping days, on December 17, 2007, the company reported 11.5 million shipments.
"I feel like Santa this time of year; everyone's glad to see me," said FedEx Courier Luis Mendoza.
The company earlier projected that this past Monday was their busiest shipping day in the company's history, with nearly 16 million packages moving around the world.
The 16 million packages are 13 percent higher than the busiest day last year, and double the volume that FedEx typically handles each day.
The majority of the volume of shipments comes from online retailers and catalog sales. According to the National Retail Federation, online shopping is up 79% as more and more consumers, enticed with free shipping offers and check off their guest lists by shopping online.
Additionally, another 36% of online retailers reported their budget for free shipping is higher than last holiday season.
