Inclement weather slowing holiday shipments in Midwest

Friday, December 15th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ Snow and ice from the Great Lakes to Texas is delaying holiday package shipments throughout the central United States and caused at least one shipper to temporarily suspend money-back-guarantees for late deliveries.

Shippers' semi-trucks, aircraft and local deliver vehicles have been hampered by snow and ice.

Federal Express stopped guaranteeing money back to customers whose shipments were scheduled for delivery on Wednesday and Thursday, said Cornell Christion, a spokesman for the Memphis, Tenn., company.

It was too early to tell whether the suspension would remain in place, he said. The length of delays varied.

``Some shipments may be on time, others may not be depending where they are,'' Christion said.

UPS shipments in Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma were delayed some by the weather, said John Manning, a spokesman in Dallas.

In Oklahoma, heavy snowfall and ice also prevented some UPS workers from getting to the job and slowed or delayed truck shipments from Oklahoma City to Tulsa, he said.

The company planned to have a backlog of packages in the Southwest delivered by Friday, Manning said.

``We're back open, moving full-speed ahead,'' Manning said.

The UPS money-back guarantee does not apply for weather delays, he said.

Snow and ice also slowed general mail delivery, but postal workers continued to make their daily rounds.

The Postal Service asked Oklahoma residents to help by clearing sidewalks and keeping snow drifts, debris and vehicles away from mailboxes.

``I think that mitigated some of the trials we've had in delivering the mail,'' said Larry Flener, a spokesman for the Postal Service in Oklahoma City.

Foul weather struck amid a heavy holiday shipping period in which the Postal Service and private companies have added workers to help with the crunch.

Fed Ex's express service, which pledges to deliver packages by 10:30 a.m. the following day, normally has 3.2 million pieces flowing a day.

On its busiest night last December, Fed Ex handled 4.5 million packages and higher-than-normal volumes are expected this year, Christion said.

Nationally, UPS delivers more than 13 million packages daily, but that number is also up for the holidays. On its peak day last December, the company delivered 19 million packages throughout the country, Manning said.

Despite seasonal jumps, UPS said domestic volumes for the first two weeks of the holiday shipping period were flat compared to last year, partly reflecting a slowing U.S. economy.

The Postal Service planned to handle 150 million pieces of mail daily during the holiday, or 50 million more than normal nationwide.