Time to deliver a last-minute shipping story

Santa isn’t the only one loading up his sleigh this week.

Shippers are scurrying to deliver merchandise, food, mail and all of the other necessities that give the coming days their special flourish for so many consumers – and our readers.

I’d guess this week might be a bit more harried than usual, with weather-related backlogs on the heels of the weekend’s big storms. Disruptions to ground and air cargo transportation will ripple all week. According to this Bloomberg piece, service was hamstrung for several of the major carriers and they’re now scrambling to recover.

Even if you’re area wasn’t hard hit by snow, sleet or ice, shippers still may be scrambling. The analytics firm Coremetrics reports in this news release that online sales Friday through Sunday were up 24 percent over the comparable weekend in 2008. I know my e-mail inbox has been clogged over the past few days with free-shipping and guaranteed-in-time-for-Christmas delivery promises that must now have order-fulfillment warehouses scrambling.

Needless to say, you’ll want to check with biggies like UPS and FedEx for their latest assessment of the season and the challenges they’re looking at over the next couple of days. Let’s face it, they’re not likely to undermine confidence in their service by blurting out a stream of obstacles to Christmas Eve delivery, but they might give you some data about traffic in your area, etc. Be sure to talk to the airlines that serve your region as well; they carry mail and packages along with human cargo. Here’s a previous post with pointers to airline data that might help you formulate questions.

Also look for smaller local expediting firms, owner-operated trucking companies that might subcontract to large retailers, and other roundabout ways to glean anecdotes from the road. Don’t overlook truck stops and trucker-related discussion forums as likely places for leads, too. This older post, Keep on top of trucking industry, has additional pointers.

Many private firms deliver for the U.S. Postal Service too, and they’re no doubt hopping this week. One giant one is Mail Contractors of America with terminals all over the east half of the United States. Here’s The National Star Route Mail Contractors Association which purports to represent contractors in 50 states; they might point you to local companies.

Even if you’re tired of the holiday angle, you still can use it as a toe in the door to make contacts. Then, early in the new year, follow up with shippers about other areas of economic impact. Employment trends is a good one: What are trucking and logistics firms seeing in the way of applications from worker displaced from other industries and fresh out of retraining school.

Ask about fuel prices (and their outlook for 2010) and what they are hearing about the coming year from your region’s manufacturers, retailers, agriculture industries and other sectors. Are contracts being renewed or scaled back? Are big clients asking for pricing concessions or consolidating loads? What are they seeing on your area’s roads in terms of repairs and overhauls? (That’s a big biz story if the work is performed by private contractors.)

Really, there’s a lot to be learned by following the tire tracks of shippers large and small.