FedEx single-day shipping record: 16 million packages

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A container is unloaded from a FedEx cargo plane at the FedEx facility at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J., last week. | Mark Lennihan~AP

Monday was expected to be the busiest day in FedEx history, with nearly 16 million packages moving on its conveyor belts, trucks and planes.

That’s up 13 percent from 14.2 million on the busiest day last year, and double what the company handles on a normal day.

Monday’s jump in shipments bodes well for the nation’s retailers, online stores and larger rival UPS, which expects its single busiest day will be Dec. 22, when it will move about 24 million packages.

FedEx’s busiest day is the high-water mark of a holiday season in which it expects to move 223.3 million shipments worldwide.

That’s 86 packages delivered every second from Thanksgiving Day to Christmas Eve. UPS will deliver almost double that — 430 million packages — between the two holidays.

About half of FedEx’s increase is from the company’s SmartPost partnership with the U.S. Postal Service. SmartPost moves lighter, cheaper packages through FedEx that are then delivered by a postal worker.

To get your package delivered before Christmas day using regular shipping you’ll need to send it by Wednesday using the U.S. Post Office and by Friday if using FedEx and UPS or pay extra to ship it later.

AP