Christmas shipping in numbers: Not always right the first time

But those who don't buy their gifts in stationary stores and carry them home themselves, but order them online, often face a nail-biter in the run-up: Will the ordered gift arrive on time? Will it be under the tree by Christmas or still in the parcel warehouse?

Parcel rush before Christmas is hardly manageable

Because especially in December, shortly before Christmas, many parcel service providers are again overwhelmed by the sheer mass of Christmas parcels and have problems delivering them all to the recipients on time. No wonder, since according to a survey by the Bundesverband Paket & Expresslogistik (BIEK), there are around 30 million more parcels this year than in 2016 at Christmas alone: an incredible 290 million items have to be delivered! Parcel services are working at full speed to cope with the Christmas rush. However, in vain, as you can see from the current headlines. About "Germany's trouble with the parcel boom", from ordered but not delivered parcels, to hassles with the parcel carriers and generally endless delivery problems is currently reported in almost all media.

Nevertheless: Only one in five parcels takes longer

.

At the same time, late deliveries and delays in delivery are annoying, but by no means a mass phenomenon. Only about one in five parcels takes longer to be delivered around Christmas - about one day, to be precise. And the delivery rate is only marginally lower than during the rest of the year. In 94 percent of cases, delivery is successful the first time. With DPD, there is hardly any change in the successful delivery rate on the first attempt.

However, it's not just up to the shipping service providers if a parcel doesn't arrive or arrives late. So if the parcel carrier doesn't find anyone at home and no helpful neighbors open the door, the package usually goes on to the next parcel store and the infamous yellow note goes in the mailbox.

But the recipients also take their time

.

Whether it's due to the pre-Christmas shopping rush or because work gets busy again so shortly before the holidays, recipients also take longer to pick up their parcels from the parcel stores before Christmas. The shipments lie there for a good 1.4 days. Some are never picked up, but returned to the retailer. I wonder what the loved ones under the Christmas tree have to say about that.

Image](https://cdn.parcellab.com/www/wordpress/Bildschirmfoto-2018-09-19-um-09.52.27-3.png)