The growth of e-commerce from bargain seeking consumers has meant that delivery companies like FedEx and UPS have to expand their infrastructure. There are spikes that test the system every now and then, such as the back-to-school period. However, none of those periods compare to the holiday shopping season, which begins in the United States on the Friday after Thanksgiving Day (known as Black Friday).
Consumers are still buying gifts, despite the recession. To deal with all of the demand, UPS has added 50,000 seasonal employees in the US alone. UPS calls the week before Christmas Day "Peak Week". The company has reported that yesterday was the busiest day of the year for all package deliveries. More than 22 million packages were delivered worldwide, with more than 250 deliveries every second.
UPS will still accept "Next Day Air" packages tomorrow for delivery on Christmas Eve, but there will be no Christmas Day deliveries. It is expected to be the busiest day for air express packages, with more than 6 million delivered by UPS.
UPS Airlines is the world's ninth largest airline with 263 aircraft in its regular fleet. The UPS subsidiary has chartered 37 additional aircraft for November and December. There are 2,049 flights scheduled to take off daily during Peak Week, 330 more flights than a typical day in November.
Inclement weather may affect delivery dates, especially in areas experiencing snowstorms. Anxious consumers can track their packages online via the UPS website. The company expects online tracking requests to grow to more than 156 million during Peak Week. It expects 35 million tracking requests today, its busiest tracking day.
