The big three domestic parcel carriers – UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service – continued to perform admirably in the midst of the torrent of peak holiday season packages, delivering ecommerce orders on time at a rate of 97% or higher, according to data from Shipmatrix.
The figures also indicate that ongoing investments in technology, facilities and labor are paying off at the most critical period of the year, when Shipmatrix estimates 2.5 billion packages will be delivered by the major carriers, both domestically and cross-border, between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
For the week ending Dec. 15, FedEx achieved on-time performance of 97.5%, while UPS was at 98.6% and USPS was nearly perfect at 98.8%.
All three carriers improved on already strong numbers from the previous week, which should give retailers and consumers confidence that orders will arrive on time. Through the first four weeks of peak holiday season, FedEx’s overall on-time performance was at 96.9%, while UPS was at 98.3% and USPS at 98%, each metric ahead of prior years.
According to Shipmatrix, FedEx and UPS have been delivering millions of peak holiday season packages by ground service ahead of their scheduled arrival times.
“This is a clear indication that the carriers’ networks are finally tuned to handle peak holiday volumes,” said Shipmatrix president Satish Jindel.