Peak Season Shipping: How to Prepare

December failures are manufactured in August. Every smooth peak we've run started with three commitments made before summer ended.

1. Lock capacity in writing

Spot vans in December cost triple — if you can find them. A signed peak addendum with your carrier reserves trailers, drivers and sort shifts at sane rates. We sign ours by Labor Day at the latest.

2. Staff the sort before the surge

Parcel volume doesn't ramp — it cliffs. Pre-trained seasonal crews at pop-up sort sites absorb the first spike instead of drowning in it. Our rule: hires complete and badged four weeks before Black Friday.

3. Publish cutoff calendars early

Tell customers the last order dates for Christmas delivery in October, then engineer backward. Clear cutoffs convert "late" into "as promised" — and cut support tickets in half.

Do these three and December feels like November with better snacks. Skip them and no amount of heroics in week 51 will save the season.