Brown Knows: Get ready for Dec. 13!

Every year UPS forecasts its busiest shipping day of the year - the day on which it delivers the most packages. They also usually predict how many packages they'll deliver on that day, but this year they are not, citing the economic times.

This year, the busiest UPS day will be Thursday, December 18. What does that mean for online sellers? Well, most UPS packages are three days in transit in the US, so to be delivered on the 18th, most of them were shipped on Monday the 15th. That means they were probably ordered a day or two before that on the weekend of Dec. 13-14.

And where were they ordered? Why on the internets, of course! So wipe "Cyber Monday" out of your minds and be ready for the real holiday rush next weekend.

(I don't find a forecast from FedEx, but the USPS is forecasting Dec. 17 as their busiest day. Canada Post's busiest day was Dec. 17 last year, I don't think they've issued a forecast this year - labor problems have been causing some delays there)

Cyber Schmyber

Sorry, folks, Cyber Monday is a myth. An invention of the retail industry to make you think that everyone else is shopping online. According to Snopes.com, it's not usually even in the top ten among busiest online sales days - it comes in 12th.

The term was coined by a retailing organization looking for a counterpart to Black Friday, and it has become a busy day for online retailers (I just realized that I ordered something online today! It was work related, though) and there may even be some records set for the year to date - but stay tuned. As far as the biggest sales days online, the Monday and Tuesday in the two weeks before Christmas have been bigger.

Just like Black Friday has never really been the biggest shopping day of the year (the Saturday before Christmas is), Cyber Monday has never been the biggest online sales day. So don't be discouraged if your Cyber Monday isn't what you hoped. Get ready for the 8th and the 15th.