Second peak shipping week hits snag as Mother Nature intervenes

The second week of the peak holiday shipping season, which included the Cyber Monday online buying bonanza, didn’t go as well as the first. Inclement weather in parts of the country played the delivery Grinch, according to data from consultancy ShipMatrix released Dec. 11.

UPS Inc.’s (NYSE:UPS) on-time performance came in at 92.7%, FedEx Corp. (NYSE:FDX) at 90.4%, the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) at 92.3%, and Amazon.com. Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) at 93.7%, ShipMatrix said. Last-mile deliveries accounted for the bulk of the Amazon reading.

The results were substantially below the first week’s results, which saw the four main parcel carriers effectively hit it out of the on-time delivery park.

Deliveries in and around New England suffered the most, as heavy snowfall resulted in about 20% of residents not receiving their packages when they had been promised, according to ShipMatrix data.