Drive and Deliver

Last Friday I saw the UPS guy first thing in the morning at a business in the area and then later that night (had eaten dinner and was in my pajamas!) he made a delivery to the complex. He looked beat.

Delivery season in hyperdrive / Surging Internet purchases send volume soaring for UPS, FedEx: "Until this week, the 39-year-old driver never made more than 200 stops on his busiest day. On Monday, he hit 290 and Tuesday he surged past 300.

Hectic days this time of the year are the norm at delivery companies like UPS, but the rise of Internet retailing and its reliance on shipping companies to deliver the goods have pushed the demand to unprecedented heights. For UPS, Tuesday marked the peak day for handling shipments as an avalanche of stragglers used the carrier to dash off their presents in time for Christmas.

With each click of the mouse, online shoppers command an expanding army of drivers, sorters and packaging workers, who toil to ship their packages around the world. This year, the shippers have had more to do than ever.

'The volume has been going up and up,' said Araujo. 'It's really bad. I mean it's nice to see my old customers, but man, these days, I see a lot of new customers.'"

I hope they have massages scheduled for next week.