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BUSINESS Friday 13 November 2020
Online shopping surge could lead to holiday delivery delays

By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO stepping up their game.
AP Retail Writer Kohl's says it has tens of
NEW YORK (AP) — Retailers thousands of items on its
and carriers are preparing website available for curb-
for an online holiday shop- side pickup. The retailer
ping surge that could tax doubled the number of
shipping networks and lead drive-up parking spaces
to delivery delays. at its store locations to sup-
FedEx and UPS are ramping port increased demand.
up their holiday hiring while Likewise, Target has also
expanding their weekend doubled the number of
operations and asking re- parking spaces for its drive
tailers to use their shipping up services, to 8,000.
network when there is more Meanwhile, carriers have
slack. And stores are push- added holiday surcharges
ing shoppers to buy early to certain packages, a
and are expanding servic- blow to retailers already
es like curbside pickup to struggling with higher costs
minimize the need for de- during COVID. Jindel says
livery. the U.S. Postal Service
For the last few years, many might be a good alterna-
retailers had been using tive for retailers now that it
their own physical stores, has gotten through the del-
in addition to their distribu- A sign in the window of a FedEx office reads, "Now Hiring," Monday, Oct. 26, 2020 in New York. uge of mail-in ballots during
tion centers, to fulfill online Associated Press the elections. He estimates
orders. But now they are that the Postal Service's
designating some of those expects "a pretty peaky predicts 7 million packages holiday e-commerce sales temporary surcharges
stores to handle even high- peak." a day could face delays growth shoved into one mostly range from 25 cents
er volumes. Best Buy, for ex- Amazon, which has been from Thanksgiving to Christ- season. to 40 cents per package is
ample, converted space in growing its own delivery mas. That's because he's But even with the online considerably lower than $1
250 of its 1,000 stores this fall network so it doesn't have expecting a total shipping surge, overall holiday sales to $5 per package at major
to manage online orders. to rely as much on UPS and capacity for the industry are expected to see only carriers.
The moves come as most the U.S. Postal Service, is to be 79.1 million parcels a modest gains compared "Our network is designed
of the carriers have been nonetheless warning shop- day during the 34-day pe- to recent years. Consult- to handle temporary and
at full shipping capacity for pers not to wait until the last riod, with 86.3 million pack- ing firm Deloitte expects seasonal increases in vol-
months as shoppers shifted minute to buy gifts. While ages looking for space. total sales, including on- ume and we have the
their buying online during the world's largest online Last year, total capacity line, to rise between 1% ability to deliver those ad-
the pandemic. retailer delivers more than was 65.3 million packages and 1.5% during the No- ditional holiday packages
"We are warmed up for half of its packages itself, it with demand at 67.9 million vember through January in a timely manner," said
what we're calling the ship- still relies on other carriers to packages a day. period. That's compared Kimberly Frum, a spokes-
a-thon," said Brie Carere, get orders to shoppers. Right now, Jindel is predict- with a 4.1% increase last woman at the U.S. Postal
chief marketing and com- "It's going to be tight for ing delivery delays of one year for the November Service.
munications officer at Fe- everyone and we will all or two days for parcels. and December period, ac- For the holidays, FedEx is
dEx. "Like everything else in be stretched," said Brian U.S. online holiday sales are cording to an analysis by hiring 70,000 workers, while
2020, this is going to be an Olsavsky, Amazon's chief expected to shatter previ- the National Retail Federa- UPS is in the throes of hiring
unprecedented peak sea- financial officer. "And it's ous records. Adobe Analyt- tion. The trade group says it more than 100,000 tempo-
son. We've actually seen advantageous to the cus- ics, which measures sales at won't be coming out with rary employees.
three years of growth in e- tomer, and probably the 80 of the top 100 U.S. online a forecast until this month Lee Spratt is the Americas
commerce pulled forward. companies, for people to retailers, predicts a total of given so much uncertainty. CEO for DHL eCommerce
So we are expecting a ton order early this year." $189 billion in online holiday Retailers can't afford to up- Solutions, a division that
of volume." Satish Jindel, the president sales, a 33% increase com- set shoppers with delayed specializes in processing
Carole B. Tome, CEO of UPS, of ShipMatrix, which analyz- pared to last year. That's deliveries or gifts that come small packages for mid- to
told analysts last month she es shipping package data, equal to two years worth of after Christmas so they're large-size shippers. q
Mutual of Omaha replaces Indian chief logo with African lion

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Mutual of calling for racial justice.
Omaha on Thursday unveiled a The company said in a news re-
new corporate logo depicting an lease Thursday that its new logo
African lion, replacing the Indian not only projects protection and
chief head that had been the sym- strength but also delivers a strong
bol of the insurance and financial brand connection to the company
services company for 70 years. that might be as well known by for In this photo provided by Mutual of Omaha, the new corporate logo for Mutual of
Omaha is pictured. Four months after announcing it would abandon its longtime
The Omaha, Nebraska-based its longtime sponsorship of the wild- Indian chief head corporate logo, Mutual of Omaha has unveiled its new logo
company announced in July its life television program "Mutual of depicting an African lion, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020.
plans for a change as corpora- Omaha's Wild Kingdom." Associated Press
tions and sports teams around the "We chose the symbol of a lion
country face increasing pressure not only as a nod to our Wild King- pany's senior vice president of mar- it will replace the old logo on the
to dump nicknames and depic- dom heritage, but to represent keting. The new logo now appears company's printed materials, signs
tions that reference American Indi- the strong company we've always on the company's website. Offi- and on the face of its headquar-
ans amid a nationwide movement been," said Keith Clark, the com- cials said that over the next year, ters building in Omaha.q