Early in the pre-dawn hours, the FedEx distribution facility on
Raleigh’s Atlantic Avenue roared to life.
Early in the pre-dawn hours, the FedEx distribution facility on Raleigh’s Atlantic Avenue roared to life.
Conveyor belts whirred, and employees began unloading the 12,000 boxes, tubes, canisters and crates that had come in for delivery across this region. With a methodical rhythm, 140 employees set about their work in an organized, orderly and determined fashion.
Despite the seasonal flood of shipments, workers in Raleigh said you still have to take it one package at a time.
“We say bring it on,” station manager Ken Harris said. “The more packages, the better.”
Industrywide, holiday shipments are expected to be up – a boon for businesses like FedEx and larger rival UPS and a sign that the economy may be slowly recovering. UPS has said it expects its overall holiday shipping to rise 7.5 percent over last year to roughly 430 million packages.
With retailers offering more free shipping than ever this year and online shopping continuing to surge in popularity, the shipping business is a closely watched indicator of holiday spending and the health of the broader economy.
Surveying the scene early one morning recently from a catwalk above the Raleigh FedEx work floor, Harris said his team of about 200 people was ready. FedEx estimated it would process 16 million shipments Monday, a 13 percent increase from the busiest day in 2009. In Raleigh, estimates were that workers would handle a total of 20,000 incoming and outgoing packages.
A 19-year company veteran, Harris said sorting the outgoing packages each morning usually takes as long as an hour and a half.
Later in the evening, workers would repeat the process in reverse, processing about 8,000 outgoing packages.
“It’s organized chaos, but there’s definitely a method to the madness,” he said.
That method, it turns out, is the key to success.
Workers unload boxes from the large metal containers that are used for transport on airplanes. They sort them onto two conveyor belts based on their delivery routes.
Each package is turned as it comes down the line so the label faces up. Then a worker scans the bar code on the label, and the scanner gun generates a bright yellow sticker with the proper route number on it. That sticker goes on the package, which continues down the line.
Other workers then grab packages off the belt and sort them into individual trucks by route number.
Around the holidays, it’s tough not to notice the Christmas gifts coming through, said Ernest Graham, a sorter and route driver from Knightdale, N.C., who has worked for FedEx for 24 years. There are more residential deliveries, and more boxes from major retailers such as Amazon and Verizon.
“Like, see, this right here is Walmart,” Graham’s co-worker Tracy Thomas said, holding up a box covered in green stars.
Workers like Thomas and Graham, who both work the sorting line and drive delivery trucks, can easily work 12-hour days this time of year, logging welcome overtime with extra pay. Most will clock in by 6 a.m. and may not complete their final deliveries until 6 p.m. or later.
Harris said he limits hiring additional help and tries to give overtime to existing employees. It makes life in December frantic, but workers say that comes with the job.
“When my kids were little, I used to have my Christmas shopping done and the tree up by Thanksgiving because they knew mom had to work,” said Denise Sanchez, a mother of two from Wake Forest who has worked for FedEx for 20 years.
Still, despite long hours, there are perks to the job, Sanchez said.
“There’s always that one customer who’s waiting on that package that’s going to be their Christmas gift, and you want them to have it,” she said. “Sometimes they’re waiting for you at the door.”
Despite the emphasis on getting packages to their destinations on time, there is also a strict emphasis on not rushing too much because workers who are harried are more prone to injury.
“Sometimes when things are too hectic, that’s when you have to pump your brakes,” said Antonio James, who is in his 11th year at FedEx.
On occasion, the fancy scanner guns go down, and employees have to rely on the institutional knowledge in the room – before the computerized systems, employees sorted packages by route using nothing but their memory of the area’s geography.
“When we lose a conveyor belt, we have to go back to the way we used to do it, which is to push these packages down the belt,” Harris said.
But on Monday, all went smoothly. The fleet of FedEx trucks rolled out the doors and onto the street just as the morning sunrise reached a bright red hue.
Turning right and left onto the road, they bounced off into rush hour, packages and holiday wishes in tow.
Not too late for shipping
While the U.S. Postal Service recommends sending First Class mail by Monday to ensure delivery by Friday, you can still send Priority Mail by today and Express Mail by Wednesday to have them arrive by Christmas.
The United Parcel Service recommends sending items by UPS 3-Day mail by today, UPS 2nd Day Air by Wednesday and UPS Next Day Air by Thursday to make sure the packages are in time.
Shipping to the North Pole and beyond
As Christmas day nears, millions of holiday gift-givers across the country are bustling to the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) or UPS stores this week to ship presents and care packages to friends and families.
“The week before Christmas is our busiest time of the week,” Milledgeville USPS Sales Service Associate Ed McRae said. “We do have a contract station in Perfumes and More, located near AutoZone, so people can buy stamps and drop off their packages there instead of waiting in line at the post office.”
According to Postal Service data, nearly 16 billion cards, letters and packages are expected to be delivered across the country and around the world between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. As the predicted 97 million customers visit a post office, Wednesday was the busiest delivery day.
“We have 27 rural carriers and city carriers,” McRae said. “Monday is probably considered the heaviest day for sending out and the first part of next week will be a very busy day for delivering packages around town.”
Located in the Kroger Shopping Center, The UPS Store has been geared up for the store’s busiest week of year, Peak Week, which began Monday and continues through Friday. UPS is anticipating to deliver 278 packages every second, and UPS Airlines, one of the world’s largest, is adding more than 350 additional flights per day during Peak Week.
“We were pretty slammed last year,” UPS employee Katie Ryan said.
According to UPS data, Wednesday is the single busiest mail day of the year in which more than 24 million packages will be delivered worldwide – nearly 60 percent more than normal daily delivery volumes.
Milledgeville resident Anne Shamlee visited The UPS Store Wednesday afternoon to ship a sentimental book to her cousin before the rush of next week.
“Since it’s supposed to be a busy time of the year, it’s one of the reasons why I’m hustling off today to mail (my package) out,” she said. “It’s important to me and to the recipients as well that it arrives on time.”
New York natives Cate Wells and her mother, Jean Falasca, also made their way to UPS with two large plastic bags full of wrapped Christmas gifts ready to be boxed, labeled and shipped.
“I’m shipping the gifts to grandchildren in New York,” Wells said. “I want to make sure they get them under the tree before Christmas.”
“UPS has a good reputation for delivering,” Falasca added.
“The deadline for Ground shipments are no longer guaranteed, but most expected dates are still before Christmas,” Ryan said. “We can ship to anywhere, from Alabama, North Carolina and just last week I shipped a package to Ghana, and it arrived (Wednesday), so even packages to Ghana arrive before Christmas.”
When packing items, UPS suggests to remove batteries from electronics, use packing materials to protect gifts and include a label inside the package with both the destination and return addresses.
“Make sure addresses are written down and ready for cashiers. All UPS stores now require a photo ID when shipping, too,” Ryan said as tips for customers during Peak Week. “Also, don’t bring in packages with Christmas paper expecting them to be shipped with a label placed on them. We have to put them in a box.”
“The sooner people come this week, the better,” The UPS store owner Andy Patel said. “The adequate staff is ready and trained to process faster.”
For more information, specific shipping dates or packaging tips, visit www.usps.com or www.ups.com.
