In November and December the freight that has to move fast is competing with the freight everyone else is moving at the same time. A replenishment order that would ride a scheduled truck in August waits for the next one in December, and the next one is already full.
Peak season does not change what urgent freight needs. It changes how much slack the normal networks have left to give it. Planning for the season is mostly about knowing where that slack runs out and having a fallback ready before it does.
What changes in November and December
Three things stack up at once.
Volume. The National Retail Federation forecasts 2026 holiday sales to grow 4.2% over 2025, to $1.013 trillion. NRF counts the holiday season as November 1 through December 31, and it expects retailers to hire 325,000 to 375,000 seasonal workers. That merchandise moves through the same trucks, terminals, and docks your urgent freight needs.
Price. Parcel carriers charge more to move the same box in peak. Supply Chain Dive reported that UPS’s 2026 holiday surcharges start September 27 for large and additional-handling packages, add charges on air and ground residential services from October 25, peak between November 22 and December 26, and stay active through January 16, 2027.
Fewer working days. In 2026 Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, November 26, Christmas on Friday, December 25, and New Year’s Day on Friday, January 1. Each holiday takes receiving days off the calendar at the warehouses and stores your freight is going to, and the days around them get busier.
Where urgent freight gets stuck in peak
The failures are rarely dramatic. A shipment that would normally make it simply waits in a queue that is longer than usual:
- Parcel networks: surcharges rise, and large or heavy pieces fall into extra handling just when the network is at its busiest
- Shared LTL freight: a shipment that moves through terminals with other freight waits on the space and the schedule of everything it is consolidated with
- Scheduled store trucks: replenishment runs on a fixed cycle, and a fast seller can empty the shelf days before the next truck is due
- Missed pickups: when a scheduled carrier does not show, the receiving window keeps its time and the freight does not
- Holiday weeks: freight that misses a Wednesday delivery before Thanksgiving can lose most of a week, not one day
None of these mean the normal network is the wrong choice for routine freight. They mean the margin that absorbed small delays in the rest of the year is gone for the shipments that cannot be late.
Planning before the rush
The time to set up the fallback is October, not the Monday after Thanksgiving:
- Mark the hard dates: promotions, store openings, inventory cutoffs, and the holiday closures at every dock you ship to
- Know your fast movers: the SKUs that sold out last season are the ones most likely to need an unscheduled run this season
- Confirm receiving hours: dock hours can change around the holidays, and a truck that arrives outside them waits
- Stage stock near demand: inventory that is already a few hours from the stores is the inventory you can move same day
- Line up a backup carrier now: a quote and a contact in hand before the rush turns a missed truck into a phone call
Freight that can’t wait for the next truck?
Send the pickup, the store or facility, and the receiving window. We’ll confirm the vehicle and the timing for your peak season run.
When to move urgent freight on a dedicated vehicle
A dedicated vehicle goes from pickup to delivery with your freight only. It costs more per shipment than a spot in a shared network, so it is the right call only when the cost of a late delivery is bigger than the premium.
Quick decision rule
- A shelf is empty or will be before the next scheduled truck → dedicated run from the nearest stock
- A promotion or opening date is fixed and the freight is not on site → dedicated run timed to the receiving window
- The scheduled carrier missed the pickup and the window closes today → dedicated recovery
- Several stores are short at once → one coordinated multi-stop run instead of several separate bookings
- The freight can arrive a few days later with no lost sales → keep it on the normal network
We cover the retail side of this in more depth in retail replenishment expedited freight, and when a single truck is enough and when it is not in hot shot vs expedited freight.
What a peak season quote needs
In peak the quote that arrives fastest is the one with complete inputs:
- Pickup: DC, warehouse, or distributor address and when the freight is ready
- Delivery: store or facility address, receiving window, and dock or liftgate needs
- Freight: case or pallet count, weight, and dimensions
- Deadline: the date and time the freight has to be there, and what happens if it is not
- Stops: every location on the run if more than one store needs the freight
Getting peak season freight moved
The holiday rush is predictable. What hurts is the shipment that has no fallback when the normal network is full. Settling the backup in October is easier than finding one on a Saturday in December.
Starbriges handles seasonal and promotional surge delivery for retailers and distributors: surge inventory moved same day from the nearest available stock to the stores that need it, recovery when a scheduled carrier misses, and coordinated multi-stop runs from one dispatcher, evenings and weekends included. If you have dates on the calendar this season, get a quote for your peak season freight before the rush.