UPS, FedEx Already Struggling Under Avalanche Of Holiday Deliveries

[HardOCP News]

If you haven't gotten all your holiday shopping done by now, you might be in for some delays, even if you use FedEx or UPS. The good news is that shipping isn't as bad as it was last year at this time. So there's that.

Before the holiday season even started, both UPS and FedEx beefed up their seasonal staff and tried to prepare by extending some delivery windows, temporarily dropping delivery guarantees and refunds for some weeks, and stopped promising to deliver express packages by a certain time. That didn’t help much, as analysts say on-time delivery rates for both carriers were down a bit in the weeks after Thanksgiving, compared to their average rates for the rest of the year: on-time delivery rates for UPS Ground fell to 96.3% last week, while FedEx Ground sank to 96.9%.

 

[MavericK]

They know the busy season happens this time every year...why are they so ill-equipped?

 

[vegeta535]

They know the busy season happens this time every year...why are they so ill-equipped?

Can only have so many truck and space at a time. Sure they can buy thousands of more trucks and building. It doesn't make financial sense the rest of the year where the trucks will be sitting around and buildings empty. Why can people understand this?

 

[MavericK]

Can only have so many truck and space at a time. Sure they can buy thousands of more trucks and building. It doesn't make financial sense the rest of the year where the trucks will be sitting around and buildings empty. Why can people understand this?

Don't they also rent vehicles around this time? I don't think the only way they can get vehicles is to buy them.

I get what you're saying but it seems to be a given that online shopping is not going to get any smaller, so they need to adapt with the times.

 

[SilverSliver]

The future is automation, to be honest. I imagine delivery hubs where your package gets delivered to in almost a complete automated process, and you drive through and it's automatically loaded onto your vehicle and you drive out. They will probably add a discount to begin using this service, but over time, delivery to your door will come at a premium.

 

[nightanole]

Don't they also rent vehicles around this time? I don't think the only way they can get vehicles is to buy them.

I get what you're saying but it seems to be a given that online shopping is not going to get any smaller, so they need to adapt with the times.

They do rent uhaul trailers. Im not sure how much that helps when box volume doesnt increase but stops do. If the truck ant full, but has 100 more stops, more cargo space isnt going to help.

 

[Great Tiger]

How many years has this same article come up where only the words are different? As if anyone is really all that surprised...

 

[Deleted member 108676]

Can only have so many truck and space at a time. Sure they can buy thousands of more trucks and building. It doesn't make financial sense the rest of the year where the trucks will be sitting around and buildings empty. Why can people understand this?

Don't they also rent vehicles around this time? I don't think the only way they can get vehicles is to buy them.

I get what you're saying but it seems to be a given that online shopping is not going to get any smaller, so they need to adapt with the times.

Yes, they rent trucks. Yesterday they showed up in a Uhaul truck to my work because we ship a fair bit of stuff.

 

[steakman1971]

Yep - I see lots of rental trucks lately. I was watching one that looked really suspicious last week in my neighborhood. Then I saw the guy in brown so assumed he was UPS.
I've had a few of my packages delayed lately - apparently Prime now means 2-4 days delivery time. Nothing I ordered was time sensitive, but not exactly 2 day service. (I got my Xmas stuff delivered already)
Amazon was using individuals to deliver stuff a while back. I got a call from some dude wanting directions to my house. It felt weird having to give them to him. He then got lost and I had to walk him in. I'm guessing they didn't have a great run with whatever service that was.

 

[IcePickFreak]

"What's so hard, just do more, faster!" Genius!

I drove for FedEx (or the trucks owner rather, but I digress) the holiday rush 2 years, 2001 & 2002, for extra cash when I worked autobody as that would get slow and I had hours banked to burn up before the end of the year.

I still remember my "worst" day was 132 stops - not packages, but stops. Do the math on that, it was about a 16 hour day from the time I left the sort facility til the time I got back, with about a 30 min commute to and from the area. This was in a suburb of a smaller city. Fast forward to now with online shopping way more common, near a bigger city, ect... those poor bastards. You can only add so many additional trucks & airplanes before the sort facilities are overwhelmed. The regional hubs are already huge, they're not going to double the size or build another one for, what, 1 to 1-1/2 months of the year? Then you still have the local ones that can be a bottleneck, and those are all over the place.

 

[BeavermanA]

The future is automation, to be honest. I imagine delivery hubs where your package gets delivered to in almost a complete automated process, and you drive through and it's automatically loaded onto your vehicle and you drive out. They will probably add a discount to begin using this service, but over time, delivery to your door will come at a premium.

Screw that. Main reason I use Amazon etc. is cause I get to sit at home instead of wasting time driving to a store to pick it up. I'd welcome a self driving truck with a robot delivery man though, heck it might even ring the doorbell too.

 

[Viper87227]

UPS has been the worst for me thus far. Between personal and business, I get a lot of deliveries from UPS, probably around 10 a week. Sometimes more since I'm doing pretty much all of my holiday shopping online. It seems to me that 25% or more of them get delayed by a day due to "operating conditions". For personal items I really don't care. The delays for business deliveries are starting to bother me though... more than once I've lost money over it. I'm not surprised, but it still kinda sucks that they can't keep up.

So far no delays with FedEx, but I get the least amount of things from them, usually 1 a week. USPS I've had one or two delays, but again, deliveries are not common through USPS for me, probably 2 a week is typical.

 

[ir0nw0lf]

I live ~1/4-1/2 mile from the local UPS hub here. They use a golf cart pulling a little trailer to deliver to my neighborhood this time of year, they don't have to get on any main highways or anything. It's always funny to see them "zooming" down the road. But I see scores of rental trucks at their hub.

 

[TwistedAegis]

on-time delivery rates for UPS Ground fell to 96.3% last week, while FedEx Ground sank to 96.9%.

Dunno, if those rates are true that's still pretty damn good, almost doesn't seem to be a story with 96%+ delivered on time still.

 

[TheGeekFreek]

I like how the news article solution for shipping businesses struggling to keep up is to make sure everyone orders more packages..

There are the things called B&M stores in case people forgot, lol

 

[Kongar]

It's been pretty terrible this year around Worcester Mass. We did a lot of online purchasing (10+ deliveries) and they've all been over a week late. Oftentimes you'll get a tracking update saying the package is out for delivery, it never shows, then at 10PM it gets updated to "delayed" or "due to operating conditions your package will be rescheduled"

I've never seen it this bad before (one data point means nothing).

I thought I read that UPS OVERSTAFFED the past couple of years causing them to lose some money during the season. Maybe they cut back a bit too much in 2016?

 

[Ducman69]

Can only have so many truck and space at a time. Sure they can buy thousands of more trucks and building. It doesn't make financial sense the rest of the year where the trucks will be sitting around and buildings empty. Why can people understand this?

That's dumb though, and the entire reason that contractors exist. UPS/FedEx simply need to hire various seasonal contractors to deliver packages.

That way you're not buying trucks or hiring or firing anybody.

Heck, they might even consider partnering with Uber, letting some of their drivers just turn into delivery drivers instead for November and December at least.

 

[Deleted member 184142]

Alot of this has to do with hubs and processing as well as jets, people only seem to look at or consider finial mile when talking about these sort of things. Building a new center or getting new jets etc is not an easy task. UPS and FedEx are also not happy to do home delivery, things have changed allot, big time with Amazon, before it use to be business deliveries, larger drops at single locations. Now dropping off a single package to someone who lives way out of town or in an area with little to no other stops ends up costing them money in some cases. This is why Amazon is starting its own hubs, from warehouse to warehouse but using third party contract drivers to drop off packages.

 

[Ducman69]

This is why Amazon is starting its own hubs

I'd be fine with Amazon having self-pickup hubs, where you have the convenience of comparing and contrasting and shopping online, but for returns you can just drop it off at HUB and also go pick up your package on the way back from the office, but its all already paid for and everything. You just show up, perhaps at a drive-thru, show photo-ID, and bam you have your package handed to you.

 

[Kongar]

UPS and FedEx are also not happy to do home delivery, things have changed allot, big time with Amazon, before it use to be business deliveries, larger drops at single locations.

If they don't want the business, then they shouldn't accept the orders. If they sign up to deliver a package within two days, and take $ to do so - they need to deliver on that commitment or suffer the consequences. This isn't the cable companies with their govt. sponsored monopolies. People who don't get the desired service will find alternatives (B&M, other carriers, private couriers, etc.)

 

[Deleted member 184142]

I'd be fine with Amazon having self-pickup hubs, where you have the convenience of comparing and contrasting and shopping online, but for returns you can just drop it off at HUB and also go pick up your package on the way back from the office, but its all already paid for and everything. You just show up, perhaps at a drive-thru, show photo-ID, and bam you have your package handed to you.

I don't mean those kind of hubs, I mean airports and massive warehouses for sorting etc, most of which is now being provided to them by Air Transport Services Group. As for smaller hubs and locations, Amazon already does this, around the area you see a number of bright yellow boxes, which are like PO boxes with a big Amazon "A" on them, you get a key code to go pick up packages when it is delivered. They are known as "Amazon Lockers".

 

[Deleted member 184142]

If they don't want the business, then they shouldn't accept the orders. If they sign up to deliver a package within two days, and take $ to do so - they need to deliver on that commitment or suffer the consequences. This isn't the cable companies with their govt. sponsored monopolies. People who don't get the desired service will find alternatives (B&M, other carriers, private couriers, etc.)

They do all the time. They are not complaining about the orders, people are complaining about the time frames. However UPS and FedEx accept smaller shipments and the like because of empty space, rather than lose lots of money on empty space or having a jet sit waiting to be filled and losing money every second, they use fillers like this to cover some of the cost. They do and have rejected stuff from Amazon, which is why Amazon now has MASSIVE shipping networks that is ever growing, because UPS and FedEx could not keep up with the load and why many of their packages get handed off to USPS for final mile, which is one of the more costly aspects for them, but less so for USPS because of the nature of their operation.

 

[DPI]

As a wise boss once said, "Don't tell me about your problems".

I want my cheap Made in China shit delivered on time, and I want a SMILE when you deliver it.

 

[lostinseganet]

Can only have so many truck and space at a time. Sure they can buy thousands of more trucks and building. It doesn't make financial sense the rest of the year where the trucks will be sitting around and buildings empty. Why can people understand this?

Well the big three seems to be leasing alot lately soo

 

[lcpiper]

That's dumb though, and the entire reason that contractors exist. UPS/FedEx simply need to hire various seasonal contractors to deliver packages.

That way you're not buying trucks or hiring or firing anybody.

Heck, they might even consider partnering with Uber, letting some of their drivers just turn into delivery drivers instead for November and December at least.

You are not very likely to get a company to accept a contract that's a bum deal. You somehow think some company is ready to hire people on a seasonal basis and run equipment to support it that way. Keep dreaming, it ain't happening.

We have problems here with IT staffing cause the government, Army, is feeling budget cuts and they are simply refusing to pay competitive wage rates on the contracts. Companies are bidding and winning the work and then defaulting cause they can't hire qualified help at wages that are 30% less than what the same work pays just 70 miles away in Tucson. Who would accept a position at 65K when they can get work nearby for 95K at the same cost of living.

The Uber thing, that sounds like a maybe, but are those Uber drivers going to trade in their four door sedans for minivans and SUVs?

 

[IcePickFreak]

That's dumb though, and the entire reason that contractors exist. UPS/FedEx simply need to hire various seasonal contractors to deliver packages.

That way you're not buying trucks or hiring or firing anybody.

Heck, they might even consider partnering with Uber, letting some of their drivers just turn into delivery drivers instead for November and December at least.

How many people do you think own trucks & are waiting around for the holidays to work for a month & a half?

And Uber drivers? Good luck getting your packages at all, and you'd need a bunch of em since they can't fit that much in their vehicles to begin with.

 

[/usr/sbin]

The future is automation, to be honest. I imagine delivery hubs where your package gets delivered to in almost a complete automated process, and you drive through and it's automatically loaded onto your vehicle and you drive out.

Fuck that noise. The whole reason I use amazon is to avoid the general public and the convenience of not having to drive somewhere.

 

[Ducman69]

You are not very likely to get a company to accept a contract that's a bum deal. You somehow think some company is ready to hire people on a seasonal basis and run equipment to support it that way. Keep dreaming, it ain't happening.

No. You use contractors, including independent contractors through agency hiring.

http://www.lasership.com/contact-us/independent-contractors

Yes, online shopping is seasonal and peaks in November and December. There are also a crapton of other industries that have seasonal shipping requirements as well that are not in November and December, and so contractors can swing from one contract to another, providing the temporary extra manpower or small vans to get jobs done during various industry's peak seasons. And they do.

Heck, you also have small businesses that can do shipping contract seasonal work during their regular off-season. Say for example you own an AC-repair company with a whole bunch of vans, but heaters are generally simpler and more reliable than AC units, and so during the winter months your business is very slow. Rather than fire half your workers, you could contract that work out using say six of your vans emptied out for Nov/Dec and employees to deliver goods fo UPS/Fedex. Same thing if say you're usually hauling produce during peak harvesting season, but that industry has a lull in the winter.

This is even the case beyond "last mile" delivery, as I have one friend that owns a rig and does contract work as they come, and would be happy to do interstate hauls for FedEx/UPS in Nov/Dec if the chemical hauls for construction are slow in the winter months.

 

[heatlesssun]

Got a few more things coming in from Amazon, Newegg and a couple of other places through the end of the week, I hope. Oddest thing happened to me with an Xbox One S I ordered as a gift through Amazon and had delivered to that address. It just disappeared in shipping. Not a trace of it. I gave it a week and it was still showing as shipped by USPS, should have been there in two days, but nothing. Called up Amazon through their call back system, they called right back and shipped out a new on then and there and that one DID get there in two days. Many Kudos to Amazon for that one, that's why we by from them.

 

[poot]

I've had something sitting in the UPS hub 30 miles down the road since the 30th. I have a feeling it is also missing but so far Think Geek won't do anything about it.

 

[Dwango]

The future is automation, to be honest. I imagine delivery hubs where your package gets delivered to in almost a complete automated process, and you drive through and it's automatically loaded onto your vehicle and you drive out. They will probably add a discount to begin using this service, but over time, delivery to your door will come at a premium.

This won't happen anytime soon. Both FedEx and UPS actually lose money delivering packages to some rural areas in the country but they do it so that they can say that they cover 100% of the US. The fact that they're that dedicated to 100% coverage and the fact that you can already get your packages at neighborhood "hubs" (think UPS Store) and everyone is working on drone deliveries tells me the idea is dead in the water.

Now Amazon has been talking up an idea of placing Amazon "lockers" in some very urban areas and delivering packages to them. Basically you tell them the closest locker to your work or home (or on the route from one to the other) and they put the package there and send you a code to unlock it when it's ready to go. That could work in some places like New York or San Francisco. But it won't work in most places.

 

[Galvin]

Time for sunday delivery?