There are two kinds of customer per delivery. The consignee and the shipper. The shipper, the shippers shareholders, and our shareholders don’t give a flying
if it’s Christmas Day or Fourth of July. They only care about stock price. If that means some poor schmuck in a brown uniform is delivering while people are eating, then that’s how it will be.
Yeah, you're right. But it won't be because people are demanding it, it'll be corporate caving to our competitors desperation moves to gain on us by offering services we don't. The way a smart company makes moves isn't to respond to competitors, it's to respond to their consumers and have the ability to anticipate what they will want before they know they want it, and I really don't believe that consumers are clamoring for holiday delivery. It's just not a priority. It doesn't even move the needle for most people.
What moves the needle for our customers is the stellar service we provide them, and as long as we continue to provide the best service in the industry at a competitive price, I believe we're able to dictate terms to our shippers when it comes to holidays off to an extent, and within reason, they will deal with that and ship within our parameters for the foreseeable future. Just because Fedex or USPS deliver on these days, which are likely to be done at an operating loss, doesn't mean we need to. We can always change this down the road if we see it becomes something important to people - we don't have to dive right in because the next guy is doing it. We can check the temperature and see how deep the water is, then decide if we're going swimming.
Work smarter not harder holds true for large corporations just the same as it does for lowly hourly employees everywhere. Why lose money just to try to compete unless it's something that becomes a necessity through demand?