News May 26, 2021
Late Deliveries an Issue for FedEx
Many companies in the promotional products industry rely on the shipping provider.
FedEx is having trouble keeping up.
The COVID-driven surge in online orders of items that then need to be delivered to homes and businesses has strained FedEx Corp.’s resources, resulting in the company not being able to get packages to destinations on time at the same rate as competitors like United Parcel Service (UPS) and the United States Postal Service (USPS), some data indicates.
Research from ShipMatrix Inc., a transport industry software company that analyzes parcel shipping data, shows that FedEx delivered 87% of ground shipments on time from March through mid-April 2021. UPS’ comparable on-time delivery rate was 95%.
Convey, a software firm that tracks deliveries, reports that only 71% of FedEx deliveries made it to their end stop on-time in April. During the same period, UPS achieved the feat 88% of the time and the USPS did so 90% of the time, according to Convey.
Suppliers and distributors within the $20.7 billion North American promotional products industry rely on FedEx, especially as drop-shipping within the industry has increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. FedEx says it’s doing what it can to improve.
“FedEx continues to experience a peak-like surge in package volume due to the explosive growth of e-commerce,” a company spokeswoman said in a statement reported by The Wall Street Journal. “As always, we are working closely with our customers to manage their volume and identify opportunities to help ensure the best possible service.”
The WSJ noted that, despite the challenges, the average transit time for all FedEx Ground shipments delivered in the past six months was 2.2 days.
While FedEx is reportedly speeding up efforts to enhance its capacity to deliver higher volumes on time, the multinational delivery services provider still expects issues with its Ground services until the conclusion of 2021. FedEx is reportedly prioritizing small- and medium-size businesses, as well as deliveries within its premium home-delivery offering.
As challenges continue for FedEx, the company also just announced prices increases.