Member Article

An interview with Santa!

At FedEx, we transport millions of packages around the world in the run up to 25 December. It’s nothing compared to what Santa manages on his own, in just one day. We spoke to him to find out how he does it…

Christmas is just around the corner and like many businesses, it’s also our busiest time of year. Between Black Friday (27 November) and Christmas Eve, we’re expecting to deliver 317million shipments, equating to 450,000 deliveries an hour over a 24 hour period. This is no mean feat and while it will be a record-breaking year for us, it seems small in comparison to the heroic efforts of one man and his trusty nine reindeer.

Astonishingly, Santa has a fantastic success rate when it comes to festive deliveries, and we just had to find out how he does it. So to find out more, we ventured to the North Pole and, over mince pies, chatted to Santa himself.

FedEx (F): Hi Santa, thank you for letting us visit your workshop…

Santa (S). “It’s great to meet you!’’

F. Without a doubt your trip on Christmas Eve is momentous. How many presents will you be delivering this year?

S. “Having gone through my lists (and checking them twice), I will be delivering approximately 2.2billion parcels to children around the world in just 24 hours; this is about 91million deliveries an hour. Of course, this is subject to change, as I always find more children make it onto the “nice” list the closer we get to the big day.”

F. Santa that’s an unbelievable number. At FedEx we have 325,000 team members to help us make sure we deliver on time. How many helpers do you have?

S. “Well I couldn’t do it without my elves. I have hundreds of very talented individuals on the team now, and they work all year round to make sure the presents are under the tree in time. Of course Christmas is the busiest time for us as well!”

F. Tell us about your reindeer. How do you deliver billions of toys with just nine of them?

S. “My reindeer are a very special breed you won’t find anywhere else in the world. They are extremely intelligent, immensely strong and exceptionally fast – travelling 510 million kilometres at a speed of almost 3,000 kilometres per second[1]. They are astonishing creatures and I really wouldn’t be able to deliver in 24 hours without them. I’ve seen your planes flying around the world for years now – your pilots always wave as I fly past – how many do you have?”

F. We have 650 planes and 100,000 vehicles, but it sounds like a magical reindeer or two would be a great help as well! When you’re flying around the world the changing weather must be a challenge for you?

S. “Well of course going around the world in one day I get all kinds of weather – which makes dressing appropriately a little tricky! But when it comes to adverse weather, I’ve no need to worry as Rudolph expertly guides my sleigh. His nose shines even brighter when he’s flying you see and he’s particularly good at seeing through thick fog and snow. The others lend a hand in stabilising my sleigh when it’s wet, windy or snowy. Without my reindeer, I’d have to use some external help - I believe FedEx has something of this nature in place?”

F. We do indeed Santa - we have 15 weather specialists who help our network run smoothly in all conditions. One last question if you have time: after the exertions of Christmas Eve, how will you relax on Boxing Day?

S. “Well on Christmas Day the reindeer, elves and I will be taking some well-earned shut eye. On Boxing Day I will be relaxing in front of a roaring fire with Mrs Claus.”

F. Santa it’s been a real pleasure to meet you and thank you for telling us how you do it. We’d say good luck for Christmas Eve, but we doubt you need it!

S. “You’re very welcome, I hope you’ve learnt a lot. Merry Christmas FedEx!”

F. Merry Christmas Santa!

[1] The Daily Telegraph, 20 December 2013

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by FedEx Express and FedEx UK .