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The nation’s delivery fleet had challenging holiday

More online sales means more shipping.

The nation’s delivery fleet had challenging holiday
Justin Sullivan/Getty Image

When the numbers are final, online sales for the 2016 holiday season are expected to total about $91.6 billion, an 11 percent jump from last year, according to Adobe.

That means more packages were in the hands of shipping companies like UPS and FedEx. This year, UPS projected that it would deliver more than 700 million packages between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve – a 14 percent increase over last year. FedEx expected a 10 percent jump.

In the past, the growth of online retail has meant shipping delays and lots of unhappy customers leading into the holidays. So how did the shipping companies do this year?

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