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Uphill, both ways, in a snowstorm.
That’s not how Fedex and United Parcel Service are describing their week, but it is how both are navigating the East Coast’s first major winter storm of the year.
Both FedEx and UPS continued to operate at full capacity on Thursday as a nor’easter that moved over Pennsylvania, New York and other northeastern states on Wednesday dumped more than a foot of snow as well as sleet and freezing rain from North Carolina all the way up to Maine.
A UPS delivery van driver says he was completing a delivery in Northeast D.C. when an armed suspect brandished a handgun and grabbed packages from the van, according to Metropolitan Police.
Officers responded to a call at 333 16th St. NE where an armed robbery had been reported. Two victims on the scene, both of whom work for UPS, say they were stopped to make a delivery and were standing at the back of the van.
One of the workers says a black sedan then stopped and angled itself next to the UPS van. They say one of the suspects produced a black handgun.
The winter storm is expected to have a major impact on the area in more ways than one – it may even delay vaccine distribution.
A spokesperson for UPS tells News 12 that, “The safety of our employees is always our first focus…should roadways or airports be closed we will observe all closures and UPS will be ready to deliver as soon as it is safe.”
UPS and FedEx are delivering the COVID-19 vaccine to vaccination sites from Rockland-based Pfizer’s plants in Michigan and Wisconsin.
FedEx Corp. has lorded its speed advantage over United Parcel Service Inc. for years. Now FedEx is tapping the brakes in key parts of its network amid an onslaught of packages, while UPS touts its investment in faster deliveries.
The drive to be quicker has enabled UPS to cut delivery times by a day on 10% of its ground packages, said Juan Perez, the company’s chief information and engineering officer. Meanwhile, FedEx intentionally slowed some shipping lanes by a day beginning in November, temporarily ceding the speed crown as the coronavirus pandemic spurs record demand, according to ShipMatrix.
Both carriers are posting high on-time scores in part by limiting what they pick up, creating backlogs for Costco and other shippers
FedEx Corp. and United Parcel Service Inc. have largely kept up with the record onslaught of packages since Thanksgiving, though that is in part because of efforts to lighten their loads.
Rather than risk having their systems clogged with packages, both FedEx and UPS are holding a harder line by enforcing a preset limit on the daily number of packages they will pick up. The policy is creating backlogs in some of the shippers’ warehouses, affecting retailers as large as Costco Wholesale Corp. down to small- and medium-size companies.