You may want to be careful about which companies you order presents from this holiday season. According to the Wall Street Journal, UPS told its drivers to stop picking up packages from six retailers, including Nike and NewEgg. The companies in question seem to have hit the shipping company’s max capacity limits, which in turn could lead to delayed orders.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the news comes via internal messaging sent to UPS Drivers. Several drivers confirmed the message, and UPS itself isn’t denying the report. The memo states that drivers are to stop package pickups for Gap, L.L. Bean, Hot Topic, Nike, Macy’s, and Newegg with no exceptions.
In a statement to CNBC, the shipping company explains that UPS has “specific capacity allocations” for its customers during the holiday season.
“We’ve worked with our large retail customers to ensure they are aware of how much capacity is available to them,” Glenn Zaccara, UPS’ director of media relations, told CNBC. “If the demand exceeds the planned allocations, UPS will “work with our larger customers to ensure the volume gets picked up and delivered as more capacity becomes available in our network.”
Many retailers, including Amazon, Dell, and Best Buy, kicked off “Black Friday” well before Thanksgiving this year. The idea was to spread out sales and encourage shoppers to make purchases online to prevent overcrowding in physical stores. Many shoppers took our advice to order presents as soon as possible to avoid shipping delays this year.
While UPS isn’t confirming or denying that it cut off the six retailers from shipments, what it is saying seems to explain the situation. The company can only ship so many packages; resources are finite. To maintain a level of “fairness” to retailers large and small, each has a max number of shipments it can request during the holiday period.
That should help the company avoid saying no to shipping packages to a smaller company because a larger retailer shipped too much for UPS to handle. It seems that Gap, L.L. Bean, Hot Topic, Nike, Macy’s, and Newegg hit the limits set by UPS, and that may lead to delays for the companies.
For now, it’s not clear how soon UPS will start picking up packages for the company again. It’s safe to assume the companies will turn to other options like FedEx and DHL but if sales are strong those companies in turn could be overwhelmed. If you were planning to order shoes directly from Nike, or computer parts from NewEgg, you may want to consider alternatives to get your presents in time.
You may want to turn another source or marketplace for your gifts or check what shipping options the companies offer during checkout. One thing’s for sure, don’t wait to order your presents online if you want to receive them by Christmas. And don’t wait to contact customer service either. Everything will take longer this year.
