DENVER – Delivery service UPS scrambled Tuesday to clear a backlog of 50,000 packages delayed right before Christmas in the Denver area.

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 DENVER – Delivery service UPS scrambled Tuesday to clear a backlog of 50,000 packages delayed right before Christmas in the Denver area.


A winter storm that struck Colorado last week made delivery unsafe, according to UPS officials.


On Christmas Eve, hundreds of people stood in line outside the UPS customer service center in Commerce City, hoping to get their packages before the holiday.


Many weren’t successful, including Michael Kearns, who’s been frustrated by the sparse information UPS has provided about what’s happening with his package.


“They just didn’t seem to be prepared to deal with this and didn’t seem to be prepared to deal with the communications issues that have come up since then,” Kearns said.


Kearns had purchased a pair of books for his wife online a week before the holiday.


He opted to print out a photo of the books and put it under the tree for her.


Like many who had delayed shipments, Kearns wonders whether UPS was simply caught off-guard by the higher-than-expected amount of online sales this holiday season.


The company says that is not the case; the weather simply made it unsafe for UPS drivers to get all of the packages out in time.


A company spokeswoman says UPS apologizes to anybody affected and says the delayed packages should all be delivered by Wednesday.


(KUSA-TV © 2011 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)