Short-Staffed UPS Uses Accountants, Marketers To Deliver Last-Minute Christmas Packages

If every United Parcel Service worker’s Christmas wish was to become Santa, then a lot of them have gotten their wish to come true this holiday season. In an effort to deliver packages by Dec. 25, UPS took hundreds of its employees out from behind their desks and put them in behind the wheel, according to Fox.

Not only did the the delivery company have its usual sorters, loaders and delivery personnel working the last few weeks, but there was also a team of office workers who volunteered to help with the process as well, to make sure there were enough hands to get the job done. UPS found itself in a bit of a difficult situation, though, when even all of those people combined still were not enough to get all of the packages delivered in time, leading to reinforcements being called in.

Workers from all different branches of the company, including accounting and marketing, were asked to stop what they were doing and make like Santa Claus by helping with holiday deliveries. With all of the online shopping this season, UPS spokesman Steve Gaut said they needed “several hundred” office workers to help with operational roles, with some even using their personal vehicles to make deliveries.

“In some cases people were asked to change clothes and go to a local site that day or the next day because incoming volume tendered in trailer loads to specific sites was beyond the plan level,” Gaut said. “UPS wanted to ensure we avoided getting behind.”

Though the company ensured that they were in a good place with their deliveries as of Friday, a plan was put in place to continue transporting packages on Saturday, as well as on Sunday, for “exceptional events.”

UPS has to work extra hard to make sure its packages are where they are supposed to be and on time, because it can’t appear to suffer when one of its competitors, FedEx, doesn’t seem to be having any issues this holiday season.

Henry Maier, the head of FedEx’s ground business, said FedEx has been able to “maintain fully staffed facilities across the entire network this peak” season because of “targeted peak wage rates” in certain areas and more automated facilities.