Shipping may have just become a bit more complicated for the promotional products industry.

On Tuesday, Feb. 1, FedEx announced that it was temporarily suspending its Economy Domestic FedEx Express Freight services on account of staffing shortfalls caused by the omicron variant of COVID-19.

The Memphis, TN-headquartered multinational shipping firm said its economy two-day and three-day freight services won’t be an option for the time being.

Previously, FedEx had suspended international economy freight pick-up services, but on Tuesday the firm said those offerings had resumed.

In January, FedEx shared that soaring cases of omicron were triggering staff shortages in its Express air network, resulting in delays the company has sought to minimize through operational adjustments.

Suspensions to FedEx’s freight services have potential to impact promo products companies, which have come to create more direct mail/kitted solutions for clients during the pandemic. Promo has dealt with labor shortages of its own due to omicron.

#Omicron has caused the number of employees calling out of work to soar in the #promoproducts industry in January. How are firms coping? How long will the issues last? https://t.co/OfJ3iGl0Dh @ASI_MBell @Tim_Andrews_ASI @asicentral

— Chris Ruvo (@ChrisR_ASI) January 20, 2022

As of early this week, new COVID infections in the U.S. were down about 30% since mid-January, but hospitalizations remained near pandemic highs. NPR reported that nearly 18,000 people with COVID-19 are being admitted to hospitals daily.

While case counts are falling rapidly, a new variant of concern, BA.2, has surfaced in the United States. It could prolong the current wave of infections that have resulted from omicron, some scientists say, but preliminary data from Denmark and the United Kingdom suggest the strain is not more virulent.