Seasonal demand for same day delivery leads to challenges

The holiday season in 2014 looks extremely likely to set new records for rush package deliveries across the United States. Every December brings the industry to its summit in terms of capacity and the growing dependency on online retailers who can offer next and same day delivery options continues to see the overall demand swell.

Next day and same day delivery are a huge part of the growth due to improving technology and logistics coupled with changing consumer demands. This continued escalation coupled with some previous bad experiences in December has seen the two major package delivery firms scramble for extra resources this year.

Adequate staffing of course is paramount but in the case of the United States Postal Service who have added Sunday package delivery they have also had to expand their fleet according to a news story in Omaha. To handle the December rush USPS have leased a total of 26 U-Haul vehicles in the metropolitan area.

Much of the need is due to rapid growth in same day delivery and next day delivery from companies such as Amazon which means the demand for urgent package delivery is far less predictable than in previous years.

Having the correct number of staff on hand is the key to meet delivery objectives and retain customer satisfaction. FedEx have brought on approximately 50,000 seasonal workers this year, a significant increase to 40,000 reported last year. Even those numbers are dwarfed by UPS who have added upwards of 90,000 seasonal staff to cope with demand this season.

Perhaps the most remarkable figure of all is that according to Justin Luther of UPS, the one-day record for packages delivered of 31 million stands to be improved upon as many as six times this season. If things went as planned it's estimated that the company delivered approximately 34 million packages yesterday.