Even without snow, Christmas deliveries still face delays

With last year’s Christmas postal delays still fresh in the memory, courier firms have now warned that they are so close to their maximum capacity that even without major snowfall, they still might have difficulties delivering the high volume of goods being ordered ahead of the big day.

With 4 million parcels being delivered per day at present, and Internet purchasing increasing 15% this Christmas compared to 2010, it’s understandable that courier firms are struggling to manage – but with e-commerce becoming more and more popular every year, delivery companies need to re-assess their infrastructure to ensure that they can cope with this peak trading period.

Whether delays are occurring via lack of staff, fewer delivery lorries than needed or any other cause, firms need to take note of exactly what the problems are to ensure that they aren’t repeated in 2012, when orders are likely to be even earlier and more voluminous than this year.

Simon Veale, Director of Global Freight Solutions (GFS), comments: “We are aware of some [courier companies] setting limits on the numbers of items which they’re prepared to deliver, whilst others are experiencing difficulties because of the sheer volume of extra internet retail business which has come their way without consequent changes in their infrastructure.