Christmas gifters are running out of time to get their packages shipped and delivered by Christmas.
NBC took a visit to a local North Texas USPS facility. In North Texas, they reported that USPS is processing around 1.1 million packages daily. Plant manager Sergio Reynoso stated that planning for Christmas business begins on January 1.
As soon as the Christmas peak is over, he said, “we start planning … getting our logistics together, and start getting our projections ready for our Super Bowl, as you may call it.”
USPS is all hands on deck this year, with a fully-staffed facility. Regardless, Reynoso said they live by the motto “the earlier, the better.”
Shoppers are more pressed for time this year, as Christmas lands on a Sunday. This means there will be almost nowhere they could find overnight delivery.
Sri Sridhar, CEO of LateShipment.com, told CNN that the window for shopping is shorter than normal.
“With December 18 being a Sunday, the final cutoff date for guaranteed Christmas deliveries with many merchants is the 17th of December. This is one to two days earlier than the cutoff dates that merchants usually have,” he said.
Sridhar also believes that fear of recession is making shipping delays worse this year, stating, “because of the economic uncertainty, many consumers have delayed their gift shopping this year to later in the season. This means they’re also shipping those purchases later, adding to the congestion.”
The absolute last days to ship in time for Christmas are December 23 for USPS and FedEx, assuming customers purchase either USPS’s Priority Mail Express or FedEx’s Same Day Delivery. To ship through UPS, the last day to mail is December 22 via Next-day Air.
Amazon’s website states that it will be shipping all the way through December 24.
When it comes to shipping around Christmas, it’s better to be early than late. Even if shoppers do make the deadlines stated above, there is always the possibility of delays due to inclement weather.
