Heightened security and the threat of terror attacks are business as usual for private package carriers this holiday shipping season.

Private carrier officials, however, do not think their companies will be targets of terror attacks.

Robert Mintz, public relations manager at Airborne Express, said he is more fearful of the bad economy disrupting the holiday shipping season than of anthrax-laced packages.

He said the United States Postal Service has been hit the hardest by anthrax.

"Private carriers are not the primary targets because we can track the packages from their origins," Mintz said.

Private carriers such as Airborne Express and United Parcel Service employ tracking services that allow the companies and consumers to track where packages originate. Some companies offer up-to-date tracking, allowing consumers to know where their packages are before they arrive.

Mintz said Airborne Express is experiencing a business slump even though it has not been attacked.

"We're still not seeing the increase in volume that we saw last year," Mintz said. "It just won't be to the extent that we've seen in past years.

Airborne Express usually experiences a 10 to 15 percent increase in business volume during the holidays, Mintz said. He expects some spikes in business, but nothing compared to past years.

William Grenoble, director of the Center for Supply Chain Research at Penn State's Smeal College of Business, said in a press release that he does not think anthrax will be a factor this holiday season.

"So far the attacks have been aimed at businesses or office locations, not homes, so there is not much public identification with packages mailed to the home," Grenoble said in the release.

"Up until now the incidents have all been with the United States Postal Service at their facilities, and the private package carriers like UPS and FedEx have not been targeted," Grenoble said in the release.

Norman Black, manager of national media relations at UPS, said he does not believe anthrax will be a threat for the holiday season either. He said the U.S. Post Office is more at risk.

"The post office is built on a system by design that permits anonymity," Black said. "With our system you don't have the offer of anonymity."

Doug Thomas, assistant professor of business logistics, said he thinks private carriers may not get the hired help they need this holiday season.

"Parcel carriers may have trouble attracting the temporary workers they typically rely on to handle holiday peaks," Thomas said in a press release.

Mintz said Airborne Express has not experienced any labor problems outside of the initial offset from the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. He said the union allows the company to reduce staff if there is no business volume.

"It was basically because for a couple of days we had a sharp reduction in shipping," Mintz said. "All employees were in by the end of the week."

Black said that he could not comment on the specific security implementations at UPS.

"The entire system is on a heightened sense of alert," Black said. "We wrap every package in an envelope of information that in itself is a security."