This week on The 10-44: Will gifts arrive in time for Santa to make Christmas Eve deliveries? A supply chain flooded with surging e-commerce demand is causing a crunch at United States Postal Service facilities across the country. With UPS and FedEx capacity maxed out, USPS is picking up the dramatic swell of parcel delivery. That’s led to reports of drivers servicing USPS loads having to wait in day-long lines, sometimes as long as 15 hours, to drop off or pick up loads. Our guest on the show this week, Carson Krieg, co-founder and director of carrier operations at Convey, dives into how we got here and how these issues play out in the weeks leading up to Christmas and in the subsequent so-called “return season,” which could prolong the jammed up parcel delivery space.
Also, Jason answers questions surrounding his recent coverage of a fast-approaching mandate that implements new friction material compounds for brakes on Class 8 trucks. Are there safety concerns? Won’t dust from the new components run off into local water systems, too?
Lastly, a shout-out to Apex Transportation and drivers Butch Hanna and Theron Schmalzried, who hauled a 55-foot Engelmann Spruce from the GMUG National Forest in Colorado to the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., behind a specially wrapped Kenworth T680:
Apex Transportation drivers Butch Hanna (left) and Theron Schmalzried (right) hauled the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree from Colorado to D.C.
Stories mentioned in this episode:
Looming mandate will impact composition of brake friction material
Reported wait times at USPS facilities:
Truck drivers report 15-hour wait times at post offices
USPS delivery problems reported in Richmond amid holiday shipping rush: ‘It’s cram time now’
