Dick Uliani, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – As people scramble to finish their holiday shopping, shipping companies are scrambling to get packages to their destination.
FedEx expects to move 19 million packages Monday, nearly two million more than the same day last year.
“A lot of it is e-commerce,” says Paul Meilinger, senior manager for station operations at the FedEx facility in Northeast D.C., explaining that increased online shopping means more business for FedEx. “We’re projecting it to be the busiest day in the history of {the company}.”
Some analysts estimate that online sales will be 17 percent higher this year compared to last.
While the busy day is an indication that plenty of holiday shoppers already have their packages in the delivery pipeline, there’s still time to ship something with confidence that it will arrive by Christmas.
“You can ship with FedEx Ground until the 17th and still get Christmas delivery,” Meilinger says. “You can ship with FedEx Express until the 22nd and still get Chrismas delivery.”
To help ensure that your delivery goes without a hitch, Meilinger recommends carefully filling out the shipping label.
“Make sure it’s complete, make sure the abbreviations are appropriate and that we can read it,” he says.
It’s also wise to include a telephone number on the shipping label in case something goes awry. If you’re having a FedEx package delivered to your home and you don’t want the little ones to see, you can have the package held at a FedEx office location. You’ll have five days to pick it up.
Meilinger says you can also call for an evening home delivery appointment. FedEx promises to bring the package within a two-hour scheduled period.
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