An article in the Wall Street Journal (December 13, 2016) titled “UPS, FedEx Struggle to Keep Up with Surge in Holiday Orders” describes the increase in ecommerce orders from 18% last year to 25% this year and a reduction in onetime deliveries, usually 98-99% down to 96.3% for UPS and 96.9% for FedEx ground services.  These metrics are better than the 95% ontime for the same period last year.  With close to two weeks to go before Christmas, and ecommerce volumes unpredictable and surging, do the backups now suggest even poorer ontime just before Christmas ? How can stores be incentivized to get their customers to order earlier to manage the delivery queues ? How does retail competition impact the flexibility offered to customers to get free quick last minute delivery ?