If you’re out and about on Dec. 12, you might want to look a few extra times before crossing the street because there’s a good chance a FedEx truck will be coming from either direction.
In the height of the holiday season, FedEx officials predict the company will move more than 17 million shipments – nearly twice its daily average volume – around the world on Dec. 12. This would mark the busiest day in company history and a 10% rise compared to the same day in 2010.
Driving the increase for FedEx shipments on Dec. 12 will be FedEx SmartPost, a residential shipping service designed for online and catalog retailers, as well as expected increased volume at FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery.
Apparently, the economy won’t be keeping wallets closed this holiday season. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, FedEx projects more than 260 million shipments to move through its worldwide shipping networks –a 12% jump over 232 million shipments last holiday season.
More than 290,000 FedEx team members will be involved in the company’s holiday shipment/delivery program. The company plans to use about 20,000 seasonal employees.
Consider the following busiest day of the year statistics from FedEx:
Dec. 12, 2005: 9.8 million shipments
Dec. 18, 2006: 10.6 million shipments
Dec. 17, 2007: 11.5 million shipments
Dec. 15, 2008: 12.0 million shipments
Dec. 14, 2009: 14.2 million shipments
Dec. 13, 2010: 15.6 million shipments