DALLAS — Facing an even bigger mountain of packages this holiday season, FedEx and UPS are hiring more workers to avoid the delays that frustrated shoppers and gift-recipients a year ago.

Last December, the delivery giants were caught off-guard by bad weather and a surge in last-minute online shopping. An estimated 2 million packages were late at Christmas.

On Wednesday, FedEx Corp. said it expects deliveries between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve to rise 8.8 percent over 2013, to 290 million shipments.

The delivery companies and Internet retailers are benefiting from a strengthening economy. At the same time, they’re dealing with consumers who enjoy the ease of shopping on computers and mobile devices but expect the goods to show up almost as quickly as if they had shopped at a store. That expectation is often fed by online retailers, who hold out the promise of free delivery until right before Christmas.

About 1.3 million express packages handled by UPS and 618,000 carried by FedEx failed to get delivered on time last Christmas Eve, according to ShipMatrix Inc., which makes software for shipment tracking. The firm’s president, Satish Jindel, said UPS and FedEx were at fault only 30 percent of the time.

In most cases, retailers promised guaranteed express delivery but tried to save money and didn’t pay for speedier service, Jindel said.

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The merchants face tough competition for consumers who base purchases first on price, and second on free shipping, and the faster the better.

“Every single year the percentage of retailers offering free shipping goes up,” said Vicki Cantrell, senior vice president at the National Retail Federation. “The consumer expects it. The retailer may or may not be able to afford it.”

Target Corp. has started offering free holiday shipping for any item on its website, a first for the retailer as it tries to compete against online rivals such as Amazon.com Inc. The timing of the offer was stunning – weeks before the unofficial kickoff of holiday shopping.

Cantrell said Target, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other retailers are getting better at the shipping game. They will ship items from stores instead of a central warehouse, or tell online customers when the product they want can be picked up at a store near their home.


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