Lessons Learned from the 2018 Holiday Season

All companies and packaging carriers are breathing a sigh of relief after the craziness of the 2018 holiday season. Post-holiday is when these groups can make sense of the mad dash they miraculously completed yet again. With this in mind, Packsize is exploring the predictions, fallout, and lessons learned from the 2018 holiday season. Since Packsize makes it possible to right-size secondary packaging with box-making machinery, companies can now address where their packaging fell short in 2018.

First, the bad news: 93 percent of retailers managed to get their products to customers who ordered with guaranteed Christmas day delivery. We say “bad news” because 100 percent of the same surveyed retailers pulled this shipping feat off in 2017. In 2016, it was 92 percent. “The 52 retailers tested this year ranged from traditional big boxes to specialty sellers and online-only merchants,” USA Today reported in the wake of the holiday hubbub, adding that Amazon Prime’s cut-off date was a nail-biting Dec. 22.

Now some good news: companies of all backgrounds and sizes can take advantage of Packsize’s equipment during crunch time. According to Newsweek, the United States Postal Service (USPS) put a Dec. 20 deadline on mail and packages to make holiday delivery commitments. However, USPS’ Priority Mail program extended that deadline by two more days. The caveat: Priority Mail has a maximum size of “108 inches in combined length and girth,” according to the USPS website. When a business using a Packsize system in their facility needs to get a last-minute order out, they could produce a custom box to meet USPS Priority Mail limits and get that special gift to the customer’s home in time for the holidays. Odd-shaped items are of no concern to Packsize software and machines. Companies looking to increase shopper satisfaction should consider installing the equipment.

According to NPR, the United Parcel Service (UPS) estimated that it would transport some 800 million packages between Thanksgiving and Christmas 2018. This was a drastic increase over the 2017 total of 762 million packages. While UPS has yet to release official post-Christmas stats, the jump in parcels proves a few things and chief among them is that online shopping is here to stay. Smart companies wanting to meet consumer expectations in 2020 should consider custom box-making machinery to ensure shipping is done promptly and safely.