The pandemic is not yet under control, US labeled 184k+ new cases just yesterday, economic recovery is yet to come surging and holiday season have swirled into a perfect shipping storm since in-store shopping is not recommended and stay at home strongly is. We order for our households and so for households of our loved ones. We ship internationally, we ship between the cities, lines in post offices are bigger and bigger and our Amazon’s cart is getting fuller and fuller.

That is causing more work for both shipper and receiver, and the behind the wheel Santa, trucking industry and its drivers. So how does that affect fleets?

Just take a look at the infograph! The U.S. Department of Commerce said online sales now account for 14% of all sales. Physical sales on Black Friday of this year dropped by 52%. ShipMatrix president predicted the U.S. would see a shortfall of 7 million packages per day between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The media named this “Shipageddon.”

logistics leaders started increasing seasonal employment in preparation for the online onslaught and companies must radically shift their e-commerce strategies. And even after the pandemic subsides, e-commerce will keep going strong.

UPS reported it would add 100,000 seasonal workers, FedEx 70,000, and DHL 10,000 and still customers are waiting on packages for more than a month.

We expect in January returns and COVID-19 spikes from holiday gatherings are likely to extend Shipageddon. The long-term impact could be more fleet-building.

It is to be believed that seasonal rentals and leases, “fleeting up and fleeting down,” may a popular strategy, as “a tremendous amount of fleets clients” have done just that.

More and more companies should offers short-term leases for the last mile, short-to-long-term options, and consolidated leaseback programs. Using telematics will also be paramount to fleet strategies until the shipping surge passes, as expected, by the end of March 2021.