Hanukkah was not so happy for many who did not receive their gifts on time. And now Christmas may be late for millions of others waiting for gifts left on the doorstep.
Deliveries nationwide are slowed by record online orders, a shipment of the Nor’easter vaccine, COVID-19 and established infection workers, the new figures show.
The delays are severe enough that retailers large and small warn customers that their packages will not arrive in time for the holiday.
“People don’t visit, so they send presents in return,” said Kathleen Deflaun, the owner of the Manhattan mailboxes on West 12th Street. “It doesn’t matter if he goes across the country or from Manhattan to Queens, things get stuck.”
The U.S. Postal Service, FedEx and UPS saw their on-time delivery rates fall in the second week of December compared to the last two weeks, according to shipping company ShipMatrix, which looked at over 100,000 delivery schedules. of delivery locations nationwide.
The USPS was the most successful for the week of December 6th. Message carriers delivered about 88% of parcels on time, compared to 93% for the weeks of November 22 and November 29. FedEx fell from 95% to 94% and UPS slipped only slightly – from 96.3% to 96.1%.
The figures mean that more than 3.5 million packages are delivered at least one day late, ShipMatrix said on Friday.
Winter storm Gail slowed things down even further, throwing up to 40 inches of snow in the northeast this week. Customers in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey and New York suffer the most, seeing their timely deliveries drop to 80, the company reported.
FedEx and UPS have stopped accepting packages at some of their locations, and the arrears fall on the USPS, said ShipMatrix President Satish Jindal.
“The post office has the capacity to handle 36 million parcels a day and instead of 36, they receive another six million this peak season,” Jindal said.
FedEx only operated a partial service in 16 states on Friday, according to its website. On Thursday, UPS posted an online notice warning customers that it has suspended its money back guarantee for packages that do not reach a certain date.
The shipping industry is expected to deliver 3 billion packages this holiday season, up from 2.2 billion last year – an increase caused by a bunch of online orders from buyers who don’t know how to catch COVID in a shop.
The delays were exacerbated by the absence of delivery workers related to COVID, shipping companies said. Fedex and USPS also deliver the coronavirus vaccine.
Some large retailers offer customers a perspective on late deliveries. Macy began telling customers Monday that it could not guarantee delivery until Dec. 24, and retailer of furniture and household items Crate & Barrel received an announcement on its website on Friday that the Christmas shipping limit had passed.
And the delays were another blow to the city’s independent retailers, who have seen their foot traffic drop this year.
“Due to the increased order volume and COVID-19, there may be a delay in the delivery of your order. Thank you for your patience! <3 ”, read an online notification posted on Friday by The Pink Olive, a boutique with three city locations and one in the north of the state.