UPS Ramps Up for Record Holiday Deliveries

Plans to hire 55,000 seasonal workers in U.S. to handle increased volume.

By Crista Souza · October 29, 2012 · 1 Comment
TAGGED IN: shipping

With more consumers than ever doing their holiday shopping online, UPS expects to deliver a record 527 million packages between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The projected volume is 9 percent more than last year’s record level of 480 million, UPS says. To prepare for the increased demand, the company today announced it will hire 55,000 seasonal employees in the U.S.

Delivery services and online retailers, alike, are busily preparing for the holidays by bulking up their fulfillment operations. Last week, FedEx reported it will hire 20,000 temporary workers to keep up with holiday demand.

But while FedEx expects its busiest delivery day to be Green Monday—which falls on Dec. 10 this year—UPS predicts its busiest day will be Dec. 20. On that day, UPS expects global volume to reach 28 million packages, almost double its typical daily volume.

UPS says that, because more people are doing their shopping online, the peak volume will likely come in the final two weeks before Christmas.

Last-minute shoppers can ship as late as Dec. 21 for delivery by Dec. 24—a Monday—using the company’s next-day service.

Crista Souza is founding editor of TheOnlineSeller.com. A journalism graduate of San Jose State University, she spent 13 years as a business and technology reporter in Silicon Valley. Crista has been writing about B2C and C2C ecommerce since 2008. Opinions expressed here may not be shared by The Online Seller and/or its principals.

Hoosier Daddy

No one does “holiday shopping. They do CHRISTMAS shopping. But liberals have decided that Christmas is the Lord Voldemort of holidays – The Name That Shall Not Be Uttered.

There is only ONE national holiday in the month of December: Christmas. There is only one holiday for which 98% of Americans spend billions of dollars on gifts: Christmas.

I’m agnostic but was raised Jewish. I can safely say that Chanukah was a relatively minor OBSERVANCE on the Jewish calendar until liberals elevated it to compete with Christmas. But Chanukah, also called the Festival of Lights, is celebrated by lighting candles on a Menorah and praying. It was never a gift-giving observance.

So, what is behind the liberals’ War on Christmas? Are they afraid that mentioning the holiday that is emblazened on every calendar in the country might “offend” someone?? So, they offend 98% of Americans, instead.

BOYCOTT merchants who advertise for our Christmas shopping dollars but refuse to ask for those dollars by name!