UPS And FedEx Starts Capping Air Express Deliveries : WSJ

(RTTNews) - United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) and FedEx Corp. (FDX) started capping air express deliveries in recent days after a last minute increase in packages caused some retailers to exceed agreed-upon limits, the wall street Journal reported quoting people briefed on the situation.

This year, both UPS and FedEx held some retailers to their volume commitments during the final shopping days before Christmas, aiming to avoid a repeat of last year's fiasco. Last Christmas, an estimated 2 million express packages didn't arrive under the tree in time, according to software tracking developer Shipmatrix Inc.

The report said that Tom Barone, the vice president of North American operations for eBay Enterprise, which handles shipping and other logistical issues for close to 100 brands and retailers, said delivery companies had asked for his clients to scale back last-minute shopping deals to take some pressure off shipment volumes.

Barone reportedly said most of his clients had already rolled back shipping deadlines to late afternoon on December 23 for delivery by Christmas Eve to minimize missed deliveries. Last year, the cutoff went as late at midnight at some retailers.