Retailers want you to shop early this holiday season. However, the pandemic has caused delivery service companies to work overtime and that strain is only expected to get worse during the holidays.
Shipmatrix is a shipping consulting company. Experts there tell us that starting Thanksgiving, 56 million packages are expected to be shipped per day, including weekends.
That's an excess of 7 million packages that delivery services will have to deal with, resulting in a delay if you're opting for free shipping.
Experts say this season, it may be worth paying for shipping, even if you qualify for the free option.
“Retailers are trying to use the cheapest form of transportation, which is the ground service that can take up to five, six days. And during this holiday season, it may take an extra day or two,” said Satish Jindal, President of ShipMatrix.
If you're shipping gifts to loved ones and are a little bit of a procrastinator, it’s advised that you pay for express shipping this year. You'll also want to get that package in the mail before December 18.
At the end of the day, all carriers, including UPS, FedEx and USPS all have similar shipping times.