holiday season

Like many of his colleagues, postal worker Rickey Ramirez is working overtime to keep up with the crush of Christmas deliveries. Many packages are likely to be delivered after Dec. 25.

Millions Of Christmas Gifts May Arrive Late Due To Overload At The Postal Service

9:36pm December 23, 2020

by Tovia Smith

"We're really busy. It's been unbearable," sighed Manny Huenchunir, a Postal Service truck driver who was unloading and reloading crates of mail at a post office outside Boston on Tuesday night.

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A driver with FedEx carries a package away from a van in Seattle. A huge increase in online shopping this year has demand for package delivery exceeding capacity this holiday season and stretching the delivery supply chain thin.

National

Dear Present Procrastinators: Ship That Holiday Gift, Now

12:08pm December 18, 2020

by David Schaper

If you haven't ordered gifts online yet, it may be too late to get them delivered by Christmas. More consumers are shopping online this year, and extra holiday demand is exceeding delivery capacity.

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Thousands of new holiday songs have been released since 1994, but none have become standards in the way pop songs about Christmas routinely did in the '60s, '70s and '80s. What's the challenge of cracking the tiny yuletide canon?

Music & Culture

Why Are There No New Christmas Songs?

5:34pm December 17, 2019

by Chris Klimek

Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" is back at the top of the chart a quarter century after it was first released. So why haven't there been any lasting Christmas songs to take its place?

Shoppers fill a Walmart on Thanksgiving day in Bentonville, Ark. Sales in November were up from last year.

Retailers Hope For Strong Holiday Season As November Sales Beat Expectations

8:26am December 15, 2017

by James Doubek

Retail and food sales were up 5.8 percent in November over the same time last year, the Commerce Department said. Retailers are hoping for their best year since before the economic recession.

A UPS driver takes his truck on a delivery route last month in New York.

Attention Holiday Shoppers: UPS To Add Delivery Surcharges

6:31am June 20, 2017

by Doreen McCallister

UPS plans to charge retailers a fee for orders placed around Black Friday and Christmas. Retailers now have to decide whether they will raise shipping fees on consumer orders.

The price of oil is displayed in downtown Midland, Texas, in February. Across the state, drilling budgets have been cut and companies have laid off workers.

Massive Downsizing In Oil Sector Brings Acute Pain For The Holidays

1:38pm December 17, 2015

by Andrew Schneider

The holiday season can be stressful, but for energy workers, December is turning out to be especially tough. Oil and gas firms have laid off close to 56,000 Texans in the past year.

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Sending Your Holiday Mail By Way Of Rudolph, Wis.

11:18am December 24, 2014

by NPR Staff

For most of the year, the tiny town of Rudolph is best known for the cheese factory off Main Street. But around Christmas, people worldwide covet a Rudolph, Wis., postmark on their cards and letters.

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The Satanic Temple holiday display at the Florida Capitol on Monday — before it was vandalized.

Satanic Temple's Holiday Display Vandalized In Florida Capitol

5:50pm December 23, 2014

by Krishnadev Calamur

A woman is in custody and the atheist group behind the display said it plans to press charges. The diorama of Lucifer falling into the flames of hell was part of the rotunda's free speech zone.

Candice Nelson fits her daughter Arya Kubesh with a Halloween hat at a store at Galleria Mall in Edina, Minn. Retailers are hoping Halloween will give them a good bounce into the peak spending time of the year.

Halloween-Thanksgiving-Hanukkah-Christmas-New-Year Buying Begins

8:58am October 23, 2014

by Marilyn Geewax

Most retailers are feeling optimistic as analysts forecast rising sales over this long shopping season. They are hoping Halloween will give them a good bounce into the peak spending time of the year.