Watch out for holiday package delays as Amazon’s strike continues

Last-minute holiday shoppers may want to give their digital carts a hard look, as Amazon workers remain on strike on the final weekend before Christmas.

Last-minute holiday shoppers may want to give their digital carts a hard look, as Amazon workers remain on strike on the final weekend before Christmas. Amazon says customers can expect their packages to arrive on time, but logistics experts warn some shipments could face minor delays with thousands of workers on strike since Thursday in California, Georgia, Illinois and New York. Most of Amazon’s customers won’t be affected because the company has a high number of facilities, said Satish Jindel, president of ShipMatrix, a software provider that tracks delivery data for package shippers. “They will have the ability to ship product from other locations. They won’t be shut down,” he said. “Some packages that might have taken one day to be delivered will now take two. Some that might have taken two days will take three. But it won’t be that many.” Amazon customers may notice that some items will have an “Arrives before Christmas” message posted to their order. Amazon said in October that it would hire 250,000 transportation and warehouse workers for the volume of shipping this season as holiday spending was expected to increase by as much as 3.5% from last year — a total of $989 billion.