FedEx and UPS manage package overvoltages with strict limits on shippers

Richard Galanti, chief financial officer of Costco, said some days UPS and FedEx do not pick up all the packages the retailer wants to send, which is causing delays. “We, like others, are figuring out other things to do, not on a large scale,” he said. Costco recently began using Instacart to ship items like Apple Inc. AirPods and Instant Pots for same-day delivery, instead of offering only groceries through this service.

An order placed at Costco on Black Friday, for example, showed it was ready for shipment the next day, according to follow-up data reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. However, he did not arrive at a UPS facility for 13 days as he was sitting in limbo in California. The order was scheduled to arrive at its destination in New York three days later, within the delivery time provided by UPS, but no later than 18 days after the date of your order.

Galanti said that while there are some delays, Costco delivers on its promised website about 90% of the time.

A UPS spokesman said the carrier “is capturing and delivering the expected volume” and that its one-off performance has led the industry since early October. “We are closely following the collaboration plans we have mutually agreed with our customers and we always strive to provide reliable service,” he said.

Examples such as the Black Friday order show that while packages take time to arrive, FedEx and UPS can offer better delivery scores than a year ago despite high package volume and other pandemic-related challenges, such as disease of the workers.

“While this may help carriers maintain service standards, it leaves retailers frustrated as they have struggled to find delivery alternatives,” said Trevor Outman, co-executive of shipping consultancy Shipware LLC.

During the two weeks between November 22 and December 5, the punctual scores were 94.9% for FedEx, 96.3% for UPS and 92.8% for the U.S. Postal Service, according to ShipMatrix, a software vendor that analyzes shipping data. They were all better than last year for a comparable period, including Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday.

ShipMatrix President Satish Jindel said 2.5 million packages will take a day or two to be delivered and advised buyers to order items before December 15 to receive them before Christmas without having to pay more Shipping costs. Some retailers also warn buyers of delivery delays and must place the order before or before that date, to ensure arrival before Christmas.

FedEx and UPS, in addition to network upgrades and hiring tens of thousands of workers, have spent months planning with their large customers on shipping forecasts and carriers have assigned companies certain amounts of packages a day. or a week. If shippers exceed this amount, operators pause pickups until the network can take more.

“In recent years, carriers would take all available packages and expect them to do so with their system,” said James Thibault, who spent 30 years at UPS before joining Intelligent Audit, a audit and analysis of goods. . “This year is a remarkable change.”

Goal Corp.

it sends the “vast majority” of packages to delivery windows that buyers see when they order and promised delivery times meet previous holiday seasons, a spokeswoman said. In a small number of cases, the retailer is easing the burden on carriers by making some items available only for same-day delivery or collection, using other delivery methods, he said. Target has not set a deadline for packages arriving before Christmas, but shows delivery dates for each item online, he said.

Several large retailers, including Gap Inc.

and Macy’s Inc.,

faced temporary restrictions on shipping volumes shortly after Thanksgiving. Other shippers say they were cut off with little notice.

Deliveries were poured into goTRG by the thousands in the days following Thanksgiving. The company, owned by Recon Group LLP, processes returns from major retailers and then resells electronics, sporting goods and other items through various websites, including Walmart.com, eBay and Amazon.com.

Orders averaged 2,500 a day at four of its stores until FedEx slowed. On Dec. 2, the carrier told the company it would only pick up 200 orders a day until further notice.

“We were never informed in advance” of shipping limits, said David Malka, head of sales at goTRG. “They told us after the fact.”

The boxes piled up on the company’s loading dock. At a Kentucky warehouse, goTRG has stopped shipping with FedEx and is considering repackaging some of the thousands of packages waiting to be shipped with other carriers.

A FedEx spokesman said the company had been working with customers to understand the expected shipping volume, but that in some cases the volume is significantly higher than projections. “We know how important it is for our customers to have their packages delivered on time and we are committed to working with them on ways to leverage the flexibility of our network,” the spokesperson said.

Wally Nowinski, head of marketing at Collage.com Inc., which makes bespoke printed products, said UPS in recent weeks skipped the pills twice for its Mail Innovations service, a lower-cost shipping option that use the postal service for last kilometer deliveries. . The skipped pills left 50 pallets of items at the loading dock and delivery times stretched for customers.

“We work very hard to keep the manufacturing piece as tight as possible, so it’s not something we’ve made the package take longer,” Nowinski said. “But we are the ones dealing with disappointed customers.”

The postal service acknowledged on Monday that it was recording large shipping volumes, the shortage of employees due to the coronavirus and the lack of space on planes and trucks has caused some temporary delays and encouraged everyone to send their packages before. early.

Write to Paul Ziobro to [email protected] and Sarah Nassauer to [email protected]