The majority of the country is expected to experience severe winter weather this week, but Laurie Boswell of New Hampshire said she can rest easy knowing that her daughter in California received her Christmas present in plenty of time during the hectic shipping season.
But present-delaying those who sent gifts to their loved ones this week might not be as fortunate, according to Boswell.
In the week leading up to Christmas, carriers like Amazon, FedEx, UPS, and the U.S. Postal Service will collectively ship on average a combined 100 million packages per day, according to Satish Jindel, the founder and president of ShipMatrix Inc., which monitors the shipping industry and its efficiency.
Jindel observed, That’s a lot of packages traveling all over the place. He claimed that on average, in the fall, 70 million items are dispatched each day. Jindel stated that this year, during their busiest time, transporters must also contend with Mother Nature’s fury.
This week, “extremely cold air” is anticipated to be spread throughout the area and expand into sections of the Pacific Northwest thanks to a powerful arctic high-pressure system that stretches from western Canada to the northern Plains. Winter warnings covering the Ohio Valley and the northern Plains affected 46 million people as of Tuesday morning.
In the days before Christmas, a blast of arctic air from Canada is predicted to deliver “life-threatening” cold to areas of the United States.
From Texas to Washington, 17 states have received wind chill warnings and watches.
Jindel claimed that in 2013, just before Christmas, the nation again endured extremely cold weather. He claimed that deliveries were absent or delayed.
In that year, ice storms knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses from Michigan to Maine and Canada.
This serves as a reminder of what transpired the week before Christmas in 2013, according to Jindel.
However, he added, shipping companies have learnt to keep an eye on the weather and avoid storm systems by diverting cargo to more favorable locations to reach their ultimate destinations.
