GREENSBORO, N.C. — Delivery delays are impacting people all over the country, even some small businesses.
Delivery services, like the United States Postal Service, said historic numbers of deliveries during an unprecedented year, delays are happening.
Delivery services are dealing with temporary employee shortages due to the COVID-19 and trying to move a massive amount of mail are causing problems.
Dawn Quigley, who co-owns and owns a few Greensboro businesses like Sweet Tea Studio and Artisans Mercantile, is feeling the impacts of those shipping delays.
"That vicious cycle of a trickledown effect of warehouses being out of stuff not being able to stock properly because they're on a shortage of people, then you have your delivery people they're running into the same things," said Quigley.
One of Quigley's vendors at her store, Artisan Mercantile, is also dealing with shipping struggles.
"We've had a hard time getting supplies," said Twisted Cork Candle Company Owner Renee Allen, "I've had a hard time getting the jars that I make them in and all the supplies. Either they're running way behind and they just don’t have the inventory."
"I had to call her and ask her to come restock and that’s where it led to the conversation of her just struggling to get the glass that she pours into so it is across the board and a lot of different vendors are constantly talking about it's hard for them to produce their products just because they're running into issues of getting what they need," Quigley said.
Quigley said it's also been a struggle finding the supplies she needs, too, because it's not in stock.
"As soon as we kind of all got shutdown at the beginning with COVID, we realized here at Sweet Tea the fusion mineral paint that we carry, line that we carry here, stock became unavailable," she said.
It's something she's been dealing with since the start of the pandemic.
"When you shut down for close to a month in certain areas that creates a huge backlog in shortages of products. I'm hoping that by spring were seeing that our products are back in stock and were able to get them and things are just flowing better for that," she said.
FedEx offered the following statement about delivery delays after WFMY News 2 reached out with questions:
- “Delivery drivers, warehouse employees, and support staff across the globe are tirelessly and safely working to meet the surge in demand this holiday season on top of volume increases created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these unprecedented challenges, our networks are flexing as designed to provide the best possible service to our customers. As always, customers with questions about their shipments are encouraged to visit fedex.com or contact customer service for more information.