UPS recruiting 95,000 workers to boost holiday season performance

UPS is predicting an 11% increase in its parcel volumes during this year’s holiday season, and will take on 90,000 to 95,000 temporary workers to help cope with the extra volume.

The world’s largest package delivery company is expecting to handle more than 585m packages in December, driven by the continuing growth in online shopping.

It is expecting the busiest day to be Monday December 22, when it will deliver more than 34m items worldwide — double the average volume for a normal day.

UPS said it was also anticipating that six days this year will see volumes surpassing last year’s busiest day, when 31m packages were delivered.

The Atlanta-based delivery giant faced some difficult media coverage last year in its home nation as volumes came in above expectations, and with weather causing problems.

This year the company said it has been preparing with 47 new or expanded facilities and moves to improve the flexibility of its network.

This flexibility will include the use of “modular delivery villages”, standalone units comprising loading bays and conveyors that add extra handling capacity to 15 locations. Each one can dispatch between 60 and 90 more vehicles from a site.

UPS said it has also been improving its volume forecasting since last year, along with its tracking capabilities and customer communications.

The company is also hoping two extra operational days in the holiday season calendar will help smooth out peaks in its delivery volumes.

“Opportunity”

Alan Gershenhorn, the UPS chief commercial officer, said: “The holiday season is a major retail sales opportunity for our customers, and we have worked closely with many of our shippers to plan delivery volumes. Our objective is to ensure that all of our year-round business and retail shippers can take maximum advantage of expanded UPS capacity during this important period.”

By comparison, rivals FedEx is expecting am 8.8% increase in its volumes in this year’s festive season, when it will handle about 290m shipments. It will take on about 50,000 extra workers to cope.

FedEx has projected December 15 as its busiest day when 22.6m shipments will be moved around the world.

The National Retail Federation is predicting a 4.1% increase in holiday sales in the United States this year, with online retail sales growing by between 8% and 11% year-on-year as shoppers continue to shift towards e-commerce.