All the private delivery giants did their level best to get Christmas Day deliveries out on time. There were many successes, but the record was not perfect by any means and some customers were disappointed by missed delivery promises.
Many customers were gratified–some surprised–that FedEx drivers came knocking at doors across the country on Christmas Day. The deliveries even came after the company said that heavy storms in some parts of the country were putting a crimp in delivery schedules.
FedEx, attempted to keep delivery promises by assisting customers with deliveries all the way until 1PM on Christmas Day, reports indicated.
Customers awaiting deliveries were told to keep an eye on the FedEx tracking service and in some cases customers received emails detailing the expected times of delivery. Customers were also given the option to pick items up from local FedEx depots, as well.
Still, not everyone was happy. Extreme weather at the company’s Memphis hub delayed deliveries, leaving some customers with empty hands on Christmas Day.
UPS, on the other hand, had even more trouble with schedules.
Three days before Christmas, UPS admitted that it was swamped and was going to miss some delivery deadlines.
“The volume of air packages in our system exceeded the capacity in our network,” UPS spokeswoman Natalie Godwin admitted in a Tuesday statement.
The admission caused a flurry of negative Twitter responses by UPS customers.
By Thursday, the company was still striving to get those boxes delivered, telling The Wall Street Journal that they were “working into the evening to get everything delivered today.”
Still, by Christmas Day, the company was forced to post a mea culpa to its website.
“UPS understands the importance of your holiday shipments,” the company said in its Christmas Day statement. “However, the volume of air packages in our system exceeded the capacity of our network immediately preceding Christmas so some shipments were delayed.”
Relying on other companies for its deliveries, Amazon.com also had to inform customers that packages would be delayed. On Thursday, for instance, customers in the south west, in states such as Arkansas, were informed via email that packages would not make it for Christmas “due to an unexpected delay.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com
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