What's going on?

FedEx reported worse-than-expected earnings late on Tuesday, even as the US shipping giant uses any means necessary to get your deliveries to you on time.

What does this mean?

You�d think the ecommerce-fueled demand for deliveries would�ve been good news for FedEx last quarter, and you�d be right � if it had been able to keep up. But the company just can�t find enough drivers to deliver all those yoga mats, despite paying some of them 25% more than it did last year and hiring outside transport services to help pick up the slack (tweet this).

All that extra effort sent FedEx�s costs up around $450 million and its profit down 10% compared to the same quarter last year. And since FedEx reckons those labor shortages will stick around for a while, the company doesn�t have high hopes going forward either: it lowered its profit forecast for the rest of 2021.

Why should I care?

The bigger picture: FedEx has the power.
It�s not all bad news for FedEx: that massive demand means it�s been able to up its prices without losing customers along the way. And the company�s taking full advantage of that newfound �pricing power�: it�s already announced it�ll be bumping up surcharges during the ever-lucrative festive season, and said on Monday it�d be hiking standard prices again in January.

Zooming out: The market�s only growing.
FedEx had better find some new drivers soon, with the company expecting the number of deliveries in the US parcel market to grow 10% a year until 2026. A lot of that uptick is thanks to the ecommerce boom, which FedEx reckons will see companies send out around 100 million packages a day by next year.