United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) plans to hire 100,000 workers to handle package shipments during the 2018 holiday season. That’s the highest total ever for the company that hired 95,000 seasonal employees last year.
UPS chief strategy and transformation officer Scott Price revealed the planned hiring in an interview Thursday with The Street. Last year’s surge in holiday package delivery cost the company about $125 million.
Rival FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) already has announced that it will hire 55,000 seasonal workers to help get packages delivered this year. The two firms that hired the most seasonal workers last year were Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT). Amazon brought on 120,000 seasonal employees and Target hired 100,000. Neither has yet announced hiring plans for this year.
Price told The Street:
We will put on more capacity this year than we ever have put on before. That capacity will help us in some of the geo areas where there was a disproportionate growth.
He also noted that Atlanta had “a lot of noise last year, so we went and brought on the second-largest facility we have in the world — it’s already come online, already in soft-opening” in the city.
Consumer spending has been strong this year and sentiment has been high, with small business optimism reaching a record high in August. The stars appear to be aligned for a robust holiday shopping season and expectations for e-commerce sales — all of which have to be shipped — are also high.
UPS announced its long-term transformation strategy yesterday, but it was not well-received by investors who generally saw the company’s focus on “last-mile” delivery as too costly, putting more pressure on margins and profits. Investors, who had been hoping for more, also were unimpressed with the company’s reiteration of its $1 billion cost-cutting efforts.
Shares dropped 2.9% on Thursday to close at $119.70 in a 52-week range of $101.45 to $135.53. The stock traded up about 0.4% Friday morning at $120.18. The consensus price target is $128.41.
The Average American Is Losing Their Savings Every Day (Sponsor)
If you’re like many Americans and keep your money ‘safe’ in a checking or savings account, think again. The average yield on a savings account is a paltry .4% today, and inflation is much higher. Checking accounts are even worse.
Every day you don’t move to a high-yield savings account that beats inflation, you lose more and more value.
But there is good news. To win qualified customers, some accounts are paying 9-10x this national average. That’s an incredible way to keep your money safe, and get paid at the same time. Our top pick for high yield savings accounts includes other one time cash bonuses, and is FDIC insured.
Click here to see how much more you could be earning on your savings today. It takes just a few minutes and your money could be working for you.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
Latest from 24/7
