It’s a Blue Monday... so expect an Amazon delivery to take longer

Computer-tocomputer links avoid potential human effects resulting from the weekend break

THE “Monday Blues” are real – and they are even slowing down Amazon deliveries, according to a study.

Researchers found that sinking feeling of returning to work after the weekend hurts supply chain performance and parcel delivery times.

Online orders placed on a Monday took almost 10 per cent longer to process than on other days.

Staff were less efficient and made more errors when handling orders and shipping to customers on the most dreaded day of the week.

American researchers studied more than 800,000 transaction records gathered during a 12-month period from the US General Services Administration.

They looked at variations in operations performance by days of the week and analysed data from one of the largest supermarket chains in China.

It was the first study to look at the impact of the “Monday Effect” on supply chains, the sequence of processes that move a product or service from creation to customer, and results showed the “Monday Effect” was prevalent and significant.

Weekends created bottlenecks at distribution centres and staff made more mistakes. Humans completing processing activities are impacted by adjusting to returning to work, more prone to errors and less efficient.

The US research team also found the time between the order being placed and shipped was 9.68 per cent longer on Mondays than other weekdays, on average.

Study leader Oliver Yao, a Professor of Decision And Technology Analytics in Lehigh University’s College of Business, said most supply chain managers are unaware of the impact, but they can take steps to counteract the “Monday Effect”.

Mr Yao said the most efficient way of improving Monday performance was to use technology and boost morale.

He cited increased staffing, fewer Monday meetings, better training, additional pay and mood-lifters such as free coffee as potential strategies to combat the “Monday effect”.

Mr Yao found electronic assistance improved Monday performance by as much as 90%. It reduced the Monday performance gap by 94% in order-toshipping time, 71% in complete orders fulfilled, and 80% in the portion of shipments with the incorrect numbers of products.

Technology was most useful in orders of specialised, less frequently purchases or high-value products, about which employees might be less knowledgeable.

Mr Yao said: “Technology is more helpful in substituting for labour when humans are more prone to making mistakes.”

He added: “Computer-to-computer links avoid potential human effects resulting from the weekend break.

“After all, for computers and machines, Mondays are just another day.”

Previous research has documented the dreaded back-to-work day to impact finance, productivity and psychology.

But the new study, published in the journal Information Systems Research, was the first to look at the impact of the “Monday Effect” on supply chains.

The most effective way to reduce the Monday performance gap is integrating technology solutions, such as automated order processing systems, said researchers, who found using electronic markets can improve Monday performance by as much as 90%.

The technology was most useful in orders of specialised, less-frequently purchased or high-value products, about which employees might be less knowledgeable.