FedEx's busiest day ever: 200 packages a second
The company expects to move 19 million shipments Monday in another hopeful sign for the economy.
FedEx's (FDX) elaborate shipping and delivery system will be kicked into overdrive Monday.The company expects that Dec. 10 will be the busiest day in its history, with 19 million packages moving through its system. The company is so swamped, in fact, that it hired 20,000 seasonal workers to help its normal workforce of 300,000.
The company thinks it will be processing more than 200 packages a second Monday.
As you can imagine, FedEx is thrilled with the record-breaker. It's branded Dec. 10 its "Busiest Day," and put out a press release announcing the news. This holiday season looks to break records as well; FedEx expects to ship 280 million packages between Thanksgiving and Christmas, a 13% increase from last year.
What's the reason for the increase? A surge in online shopping, mainly. FedEx cites one survey forecasting that online sales will rise by 17% this holiday. This week is expected to be the busiest online shopping week of the year.
"We expect it to be a pretty good holiday season for the package companies," analyst Helene Becker of Dahlman Rose & Co. told MarketWatch. "Every year it seems like the amount of ordering that goes online is increasing. We think that will be the case this year."
The Star-Ledger went to the Newark Airport to watch FedEx in action. Here's how the company handles packages there, according to the newspaper:
- When a FedEx plane lands, as many as 20 workers unload the steel containers being transported.
- The workers open the containers, scan the packages inside and place them on conveyor belts. The scans are registered immediately, and a series of orange paddles attached to the belts move the packages to any of nine secondary belts.
- The packages are scanned again and loaded onto trucks headed for one of 11 distribution centers in New Jersey.
- That same plane could be flying within two hours with new packages bound for other parts of the country.
The good mood at FedEx says a bit about the country's recovering economy. Shipments by the company and by rival UPS (UPS) are viewed as an economic indicator of sorts.
But not all is rosy in FedEx land. Customers are moving away from high-priced premium delivery services to cheaper, slower options, according to the Associated Press. That's pushing FedEx into massive cost-cutting mode. It wants to chop its yearly expenses by $1.7 billion, and will be offering employee buyouts next year to help achieve that goal.
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FedEX.......Does a damn good job....They and UPS, along with USPS do as best as they can.....
In the bigger cities for Business they are excellent....
In the rural areas, they have always been good about getting stuff here...It aint easy folks...
So check all your doors, and wish them a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah,Kwansa or have a nice Holiday....Offer them a cup of coffee.
I wouldn't want that job....NEVER have.
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