Shipping companies are at peak performance as the holiday season quickly approaches. The nation’s leading shippers are set to get packages out the door and on doorsteps on time, something that hasn’t happened since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, as reported by Transport Topics.
The pandemic saw significantly increased rates of online shopping making it difficult for shippers and truck drivers alike to meet the demand. Now, carriers like FedEx, UPS, and the U.S. Postal Service have the workforce needed to make the holiday season a breeze.
FedEx’s chief customer care officer, Brie Carere, has full confidence that consumers’ needs will be met, all due to the people who move the products and the technology that supports them.
“The network is running the best that it has since COVID. We’re confident and ready,” she said.
The U.S. public perception of truck drivers is at an all-time high, according to results of a poll conducted by Trucking Moves America Forward. Increased shopping in stores, more conservative spending habits due to inflation, and an extra day for the transporting of goods between Thanksgiving and Christmas is slated to keep this perception high, a win for the truck driving industry.
“Shopping, buying and shipping early continue to be important to avoid the busiest times of peak season,” said Jim Mayer, UPS spokesperson.
The optimism held in the shipping and transportation industry is directly contrasted with the feelings of those industries heading into the 2020 and 2021 holiday season as companies struggled to adjust to the pandemic and how it shifted consumer habits. Truck drivers should expect much smoother sailing this year.
When combined, shipping companies are expected to have an ability to handle over 10 to 20 million individual parcels past what should be needed for each day’s peak shipping time. The industry, on several levels, is set up for all-around success. Truck drivers are anticipated to have more time at home this holiday season in comparison to the last two years.
Efficiency starts in the sorting room. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said that 137 new package-sorting machines have been installed, starting the shipping process off on a solid foundation. If packages are sorted on time, they’re also loaded onto the trucks on time.
“Our customers and the American people should feel confident in the service we will provide for the holiday season,” he said.
