Options limited for those who need delivery

Remember: UPS doesn't deliver packages today.
Last-minute shoppers are a familiar part of the Christmas landscape, but last-minute shippers didn't have nearly as many options Friday in the Mahoning Valley.
On Christmas Eve in Youngstown, procrastinators could still get a package on its way late in the afternoon at the Greyhound Package Express at the bus terminal on West Federal Street downtown.
"We're here till 9:30 p.m., and we've gotten some stuff today," said terminal manager Jim Daniels.
While shipping a package by bus isn't as popular as it used to be, it's still an effective way to get quick delivery of something to nearby cities, Daniels said.
"We have a lot of people who come in wanting same-day delivery of something to Cleveland, Columbus or Washington, D.C., and we're pretty reliable," he said. "We probably get two or three packages a day."
Other area packaging and mailing services were closing by early afternoon, but store managers reported some last-minute traffic.
Steady activity
The Boardman terminal of United Parcel Service was experiencing steady activity, business manager Bob Wyss said, and had encountered some delays because of Wednesday night's ice and snow storm.
"There were a few things held up," he said.
Alison Lamarand, communications specialist for UPS in Cleveland, said that area deliveries were affected "some, but not significantly." Some next-day and second-day air packages scheduled for delivery on Friday weren't delivered.
She said that traffic in UPS stores generally wasn't heavy on the day before Christmas.
"People generally want their stuff before Christmas, and you're not going to see a lot of people running to our counters the day before. Most of the activity out there right now is with our drivers. This is one of our biggest delivery days," Lamarand said.
UPS doesn't make deliveries on Christmas Day.
Lamarand said that this year's peak day for delivery nationwide was Tuesday, with 20 million packages delivered nationwide or 230 per second.
FedEx, which closed its Cleveland office for freight shipments on Thursday, also was trying to make up for delayed shipments Friday due to bad weather in its hub cities of Minneapolis and Memphis, Tenn. The company temporarily suspended its money-back guarantee for some packages.
Day off
But for other area delivery and shipping services, Friday was more or less a day off.
Independent Radio Taxi, which lists itself in the phone directory as delivering packages locally, wasn't taking merchandise anywhere.
"We're just moving people around today," a company dispatcher said.
Jeff Lawrence, manager of American Taxicabs, Hubbard Road Youngstown, said his package delivery business was quiet Friday.
"We make specialty deliveries," he said, explaining that his company subcontracts with couriers services such as DHL to make local deliveries when a package or letter might be missed by those companies' trucks.
"We're working and available, but not much of that goes on the day before Christmas."
Sanfrey Freight Services of Warren, a company that ships materials by truck for corporate clients, was off the road Friday, said co-owner Diane Sanfrey.
"Today's our catch-up day," she said. "It's time for us to overhaul our trucks and just do some things we haven't had time to do."
But one area company planned to stay on call for both the night before Christmas and all day today.
Those two days are just another work day for Trumbull Special Courier, based in Warren. It's a company that delivers supplies, equipment and medicine to doctors and hospitals.
"We run 24/7, 365 days a year," said a woman at the company who wouldn't give her name. "We're a service to medical clients, so it never stops."