“I don’t know how it can be as unexpected as it seems,” said Tom Nolan, the brand’s president. “We don’t get what we were told when we started our vacation season.”
Mr Nolan said the delays were particularly frustrating as customers blamed the brands rather than the shipping companies. “We pay a fee to a shipping company to meet expectations,” he said.
Kendra Scott’s staff have worked hard to get goods to some of the 100+ stores and warehouses that are closer to specific customers. But Mr. Nolan wasn’t sure what the rest of the month would be like.
“We’re trying to find out now and expect this to get better or worse as we get closer to the holidays.” he said. “This is not a free service we’re talking about. We pay a premium to do this effectively and the expectation is that it will be done effectively. “
A clothing and accessories retailer has already grappled with UPS’s capacity constraints and surcharges, which can add several dollars to a package and increase its total cost by 25 to 40 percent, according to two company executives who said on the condition of Anonymity spoke, citing fear of retaliation from UPS.
Package limits were based on last year’s vacation volume, although many more people are shopping online this year. Once the daily quota is reached, the remaining packages will have to be postponed to the next day, the executives said, a move that can then shoot into other days.
Overall, according to analysts, the delays have so far been relatively low. A UPS representative said the carrier delivered “previously agreed, mutually planned package volume, but unplanned volume is limited until we have capacity on our network to control it”.