El Pasoans among those whose gifts didn’t make it

If all your presents arrived on time or the ones you sent got to their destination, consider yourself lucky this Christmas.

That wasn’t the case for thousands across the country, including in El Paso.

Some El Pasoans might have thought they made the naughty list when their presents didn’t arrive before Christmas. But it wasn’t Santa’s sleigh that was delayed it was UPS and FedEx and in some cases the U.S. Postal Service.

El Pasoan Chris Bagdon considers himself lucky. All his presents arrived on time this year, including the new home surveillance camera he bought for himself.

“It showed up Saturday for me which is surprising,” Bagdon said.

Many are calling UPS and FedEx scrooges after thousands of packages were delayed. The companies blamed it on weeks of bad weather leading up to the holidays and a higher delivery demand due to rising online sales.

Both companies scrambled Thursday to fix the fiasco.

“People want their stuff to be shipped and get here on time,” Bagdon said. “Hopefully UPS gets it straightened out and all these other delivery places.”

El Pasoan Alexander Wann wrote on the ABC-7 Facebook page: “It doesn’t matter when you order it. the companies made a commitment and they should honor it, period. I’m still waiting for gifts ordered two weeks ago.”

Northeast El Pasoan Melissa Firkins said it wasn’t just UPS and FedEx that had problems.

“My gift didn’t arrive on time due to the United States Postal Service,” she wrote. “According to their tracker, it’s still in Dallas. it was mailed nine days ago. What’s the excuse for that?”

“I think most companies make every effort to do the best they can,” said Maggie Fenstermacher, who got all her gifts delivered on time. “We’ve had weather conditions in the Northeast and we’ve had an overload of packages. I would have been real disappointed (if they hadn’t arrived), but understanding. That’s a little disappointing but alterations can be made, little notes can be sent, things put in stockings, whatever. This isn’t the most critical thing that’s going on in the world.”

UPS officials said all packages due before Christmas should have arrived by 7 p.m. Thursday. FedEx officials said everything should be delivered by 8 p.m. Thursday at the latest.

The delay looks especially bad for online retailers like Amazon that promised customers their orders would arrive by Christmas. Now Amazon is trying to make amends. They pledged to refund shipping costs and provide $20 cards to some shoppers.