A high volume of holiday packages overwhelmed shipping and logistics company UPS, the company said last Wednesday, delaying the arrival of Christmas presents around the globe and sending angry consumers to social media to vent.

Amazon.com responded with an e-mail to affected customers offering shipping refunds and $20 gift cards to compensate.

A convergence of factors, including higher volume than expected and recent patches of bad weather, caused the delays, UPS spokeswoman Natalie Black said.

The company projected 132 million deliveries last week “and obviously we exceeded that,” Black said, without disclosing how many packages had been sent.

“For now, UPS is really focused on delivering the remaining packages,” Black said. “You might not see trucks, but people are working.”

Packages shipped via UPS for Amazon.com by Prime customers, who pay $79 a year for two-day shipping, may be eligible for additional refunds. Amazon’s stated policy for missed deliveries is to offer a free one-month extension of Prime.

UPS has not yet coordinated with Amazon, nor has it determined what percentage of the undelivered packages were from Amazon, Black said.

Amazon also did not disclose how many of its shipments were affected or how many users got the e-mail about delayed orders.

“If customers from Amazon were impacted, we’ll work with Amazon to resolve that,” Black said.

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