Ten million packages. Gridlocked. These are some of the numbers and terms being used to describe the state of holiday shipping as the last week of the holiday shopping season plays out. The issues with getting the digital-first economy to become the deliver-first economy have led big retail names like Target, Walmart and eBay to make last-minute adjustments to their delivery processes, and will most likely lead to frustration with consumers who expected their gifts to arrive on time.
First, the problems. What Amazon sellers are calling a “shipping disaster” reached a peak with the East Coast snowstorm last week, and the staggering amount of eCommerce orders arising from the new surge in virus cases. According to the latest data from ShipMatrix, more than six million packages are awaiting carrier pickup at warehouses and fulfillment centers. Nearly 3.5 million packages are picked up every day, but are not arriving on time, according to the shipping and fulfillment consultancy.
Most of the fingers are pointing at The U.S. Postal Service (USPS), which has been described by several sources as “gridlocked.” Kim Frum, a senior public relations representative for USPS, sent a statement to Slate.com that read, in part, “While every year the Postal Service carefully plans for peak holiday season, a historic record of holiday volume compounded by a temporary employee shortage due to the COVID-19 surge, and capacity challenges with airlifts and trucking for moving this historic volume of mail, are leading to temporary delays.”
The ShipMatrix data shows a decline in on-time delivery by the USPS in the second week of December, validated by local media reports of long lines of trucks waiting at shipping centers, such as this one from WBAL-TV in Baltimore.
What’s a retailer to do? SMBs and Amazon sellers are trying to be proactive in managing customer expectations. According to Amazon seller news site eSeller Café, “many sellers have started to ask customers for patience and understanding, the emails trying to explain this situation are now mounting in buyer’s inboxes. Discussing the possibility that a package may not arrive in time is not something online merchants like to do, as it makes them look bad. But this year, it may be a necessary proactive measure to lessen disappointments and keep customers from returning items that didn’t make it on time.”
A similar tone was struck by eBay. But part of the problem is that eBay’s sellers are evaluated by their delivery track record. Due to the delays, eBay is extending estimated delivery dates and adding additional time to receive the “initial carrier scan” that serves as the origination point for seller evaluation. As the December evaluation period is during the Christmas weekend, shipping standards will be considered retroactively to mid-November.
The mass-market category is taking matters into its own hands as much as possible. Both Target and Walmart announced on Monday (Dec. 21) that they are expanding in-store or curbside pickup. Target is now inviting customers to use its contactless same-day pickup and delivery options up until 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve, waiving the loyalty programs requirement. According to a statement from the company, shoppers can place online orders until 5 p.m. on Dec. 24 to ensure free pickup. The retailer is also extending that guarantee to its same-day delivery partnership with Shipt and is doubling the number of its drive-up service locations, adding nearly 8,000 more pickup points.
Walmart is focused on returns. The retailing giant announced on Monday that customers can schedule a return through a new service, Carrier Pickup by FedEx. According to Linne Fulcher, vice president of customer strategy, science and journeys, every order that originates online or in the Walmart App will be easier to return. Customers creating a return request on the Walmart app or Walmart.com can simply select “Drop off at FedEx” as the return method, get a return QR code and take the packaged return along with the QR code to any FedEx Office location, where FedEx will process the item.
“No matter how customers choose to return the item, we’ve worked hard to speed up the timeframe for which customers get their money back,” Fulcher said in a statement. “For many online returns, refunds will be credited to customers’ payment account sometimes as soon as the next day, and the same day for in-store returns.”
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