- UPS forecasts record holiday delivery of about 750 million packages
- Deliveries between Black Friday and New Year’s Eve projected to increase 5% from 2016
- 17 of 21 holiday delivery days before Christmas to exceed 30 million packages
- Investment in facilities, advanced operational and customer technologies, and seasonal hires ready UPS network to handle nearly double normal daily volume
“Retail industry sales forecasts indicate another strong holiday season. UPS is working hand-in-hand with our customers to meet consumer demand for nearly double our normal daily residential and business-to-business deliveries,” said Kate Gutmann, UPS Chief Sales and Solutions Officer. “Online and mobile commerce has transformed the retail industry, and UPS is ideally positioned to serve both our consumer and business customers during even these busiest of times.”
According to the National Retail Federation, retail sales in November and December are forecast to increase 3.6 to 4 percent, reaching between $679 billion and $682 billion, surpassing the five-year average of 3.5 percent. During the busy holiday shipping season, UPS flexes its global delivery network to process nearly double the regular daily volume of about 19 million packages and documents.
"UPS continues to invest in the operational and consumer technologies and facility improvements that enable the company to deliver the holidays for our customers,” Gutmann added. “Enhanced customer visibility tools, increased consumer convenience with expanded UPS Access Point™ network options, and the availability of the new Saturday ground delivery and pick-up services are all part of the expanding solutions UPS is providing our customers, and their consumers, to take full advantage of the holiday season.” The new Saturday ground operations, driven by continuing demand for UPS services, will add about 6,000 permanent, year-round jobs when fully implemented.
Each year, UPS closely collaborates with its largest holiday shippers to develop early seasonal shipping forecasts and volume planning. To continue to meet the demand, the company is also building new, and enhancing existing, facilities. UPS completed four new and expanded facility projects to create about 1 million square feet of additional automated operations space in 2017. Both package sorting and delivery capacity is increasing by about 6 percent over last year.
Investments in new and expanded facilities include the installation of advanced package scanning and sortation technology that increases processing speed, accuracy and efficiency, as well as enables package routing flexibility to meet growing customer shipping demands. Since 2016, continuing demand for UPS services, coupled with investments in new and enhanced facilities, has created almost 8,000 additional permanent, year-round positions.
This peak season, UPS plans to employ 95,000 temporary seasonal workers, including drivers, delivery helpers who ride with drivers, package sorters, and loaders. Candidates for seasonal jobs can apply on UPSjobs.com. This holiday work often is an entry point for future permanent jobs and career advancement. Almost 35% of those hired seasonally over the last three years now have permanent jobs with the company.
