It was all hands on deck at the FedEx facility in Barrie as it wrapped up Christmas operations.
More than 2,000 packages will travel along one conveyer belt alone in the distribution facility today. And it's not just a busy day for FedEx; it's been a busy month.
“Dec. 2 we broke the record of 22 million packages shipped in a day and each Monday since we've consistently beat that number,” says Kevin Ackroyd with the company.
The day starts with trucks arriving from the airport, carrying pods filled with packages. Those packages are then sorted, scanned, and put onto to trucks.
“The packages are getting scanned and that’s so we can monitor all the twists and turns and customers can know exactly where their package is every step of the way.”
And in this icy and snowy weather, drivers are kept up to speed on the best – and worst – times to be out on the road delivering packages.
“We have a meteorologist in Memphis, Tennessee that keeps our trucks and planes updated so we can stay ahead of any storm,” says Ackroyd.
This is Mike Quinn's 29th Christmas season at FedEx and a lot has changed since 1983, he says.
“Everyone's a lot more upbeat even though we're a little stressed out,” he says. “The volume has certainly gone through the roof. When we started in Barrie, we worked in a parking lot.”
Any packages being shipped through FedEx now won’t be delivered until after Christmas.
