Chaos looms as biggest U.S. shipping companies prepare for holiday rush

If you rely on last-minute holiday shopping, 2020 won't be your year.

Why it matters: America's biggest shipping companies are out of excess capacity, and that's before the holiday rush.

• "The capacity shortfall could average as much as seven million packages a day between Thanksgiving and Christmas," the Wall Street Journal reports.

The big picture: This goes beyond your Amazon orders — many stores might dial down their Black Friday offerings because they've been running leaner on merchandise since March, the N.Y. Times notes.

• Call it "Shipageddon," as a Retail Geek podcast noted earlier this month.

Other efforts to meet the surge:

• Amazon moved Prime Day up to October.
• FedEx moved to seven-day-a-week pickup.
• High volume retailers will be charged bigger fees.
• Stores are pushing customers to buy online and pick up in stores.
• USPS will change its priority to holiday shipping after the election rush.

The bottom line: “Consumers should be prepared for deliveries to take extra days no matter which carrier is delivering their parcels,” ShipMatrix President Satish Jindel told the Journal.