FedEx delays impact delivery of Tyler-based Greenberg Smoked Turkeys

Published 9:15 pm Wednesday, November 26, 2025

Some families who were looking forward to a Greenberg Smoked Turkey as part of their Thanksgiving Day meals will not have the opportunity to enjoy it as planned.

Shipping delays will force some to forego the holiday tradition. The Tyler-based company, which serves customers nationwide, said in a statement on Wednesday that FedEx delays are impacting deliveries for their customers.

“… We’re so sorry about these FedEx delays messing with your turkey deliveries,” Greenberg Smoked Turkeys said Wednesday. “This is NOT our normal, and with Thanksgiving tomorrow, we know it’s stressful. We’re fully staffed and glued to our phones right now — keep calling, and hang tight while we sort this out.”

Sam Greenberg, president of Greenberg Smoked Turkeys, told our news partners at CBS19 that the company discovered late Sunday night into early Monday morning that thousands of shipped turkeys had stopped moving at FedEx’s Hutchins hub, one of their largest distribution points. About 45,000 turkeys were shipped over the weekend — roughly 25% of their annual volume — but many never received scan updates and appeared stalled.

The company said in a message just before 10 a.m. Wednesday that at that point, if a customer’s tracking does not say “out for delivery,” it’s “likely not going to arrive.”

The company has reached out to those who they expect to be impacted through email.

Representatives urged customers earlier in the day to call as soon as possible. Employees will be back at the offices on Friday at 8:30 a.m. and all weekend.

“We’ll make it right—refunds, replacements, pickups, whatever it takes!” the company said.

Customers who do receive their turkey — even if not in time for Thanksgiving dinner — can rest easy that the bird will still be perfectly edible.

“Rest assured, our turkeys travel fine for days,” the company said. “The smoke and salt are natural preservatives.”

Call the office at 903-595-0725 for any help with your order or other inquiries.

Greenberg Smoked Turkeys has been in business for 86 years, originally founded by Greenberg’s grandfather, Samuel Isaac Greenberg, a Polish immigrant who landed at Galveston in 1903, later establishing Greenberg Smoked Turkeys in north Tyler. Greenberg said this type of delay before Thanksgiving is unprecedented.

“We pride ourselves on customer service, and those were the mantras taught to me by my father, and it’s the mantra that I preach to this day,” Greenberg told CBS19. “… This is not the norm, and it’s very upsetting, but all we can do at this point is work through it— Work the problem, and try to take care of the customer best we can.”

In another interview, Greenberg added: “By all means, have a good Thanksgiving. I hope that you get your bird. If you’re not going to get a turkey that you order from us, the biggest thing I can say is, I’m very, very sorry, personally, and that you try to give us another chance.”