LOS ANGELES, Sept 29 (Reuters) - U.S. delivery companies

are on track to handle 2.3 billion packages this holiday season,

5% more than last year, as an extra shopping day helps offset

the drag from President Donald Trump's tariff policies,

according to a forecast released on Monday.

Investors are keen for information on the holiday delivery

season that stretches from Thanksgiving to Christmas because

companies like FedEx ( FDX ) and UPS can deliver twice

the normal number of packages on some days.

The expected increase in holiday deliveries will not be

spread equally across companies, logistics technology provider

ShipMatrix said on Monday.

That could mean some delivery providers get more customer

pushback on so-called "peak surcharges" that help shelter

carrier profits from higher holiday season costs.

In the first half of 2025, total U.S. domestic parcel

volumes increased 6.1% at Amazon.com's ( AMZN ) logistics arm

and 5% at FedEx ( FDX ). Volume at UPS, which is cutting the number of

packages it delivers for Amazon ( AMZN ), decreased 5.4%, while the U.S.

Postal Service (USPS) fell 6.7%, ShipMatrix said.

The volume decline at UPS and USPS combined was more than

what Amazon ( AMZN ) and FedEx ( FDX ) gained, and that additional volume of 102

million packages was likely handled by the private delivery

networks of large retailers like Walmart ( WMT ) or by other

carriers, the report said.

If current trends stretch into the holiday season, "we

expect FedEx ( FDX ) and Amazon ( AMZN ) to experience a 5 to 8 percent increase

with UPS and USPS being flat," ShipMatrix added.

Higher U.S. prices for goods tied to Trump's tariffs as well

as the end of import duty exemptions for low-value goods sold

via China-linked retailers like Temu and Shein have been

sapping already-soft delivery demand.

FedEx ( FDX ) and UPS have seen volumes decline since Trump ended

the import duty exemption for low-value, direct-to-consumer

goods from China and Hong Kong on May 2 and for the rest of the

world on August 29. Last year, roughly 1.4 billion packages came

into the United States under the "de minimis" exemption for

goods valued at less than $800.

Trump's ever-changing tariff policy also has put a chill on

U.S. business spending and made consumers, whose spending

accounts for two-thirds of domestic economic activity, wary

about rising prices.