UPS Isn’t Hiring More Than Usual For The Holidays, Despite Pandemic Revenue Boost

UPS (UPS) announced it would add over 100,000 seasonal employees to its workforce in anticipation of the holiday shipping season, but the hiring numbers will stay the same despite an increase in revenue for the shipping company as more consumers shift to online purchases.

UPS made the hiring announcement in September, saying that it would bring the new hires on from October through January 2021. The company is holding a hiring event Friday to add at least 50,000 workers of the 100,000 employees to its shipping team.

“We’re preparing for a record peak holiday season. The COVID-19 pandemic has made our services more important than ever,” Charlene Thomas, chief human resources officer, said in a statement at the time of the hiring announcement.

“We plan to hire over 100,000 people for UPS’s seasonal jobs, and anticipate a large number will move into permanent roles after the holidays. At a time when millions of Americans are looking for work, these jobs are an opportunity to start a new career with UPS,” she added.

The news of the jobs comes as UPS released its Q3 2020 earnings results, which showed a consolidated revenue increase of nearly 16% compared to a year earlier, with growth across all segments. Revenue for the company was $21.2 billion, with a consolidated average daily volume increase of 13.5% year-over-year. Net income for the quarter was $2 billion, up 11.8% over the same period in 2019.

“Our performance highlights the agility of our global integrated network amid the ongoing challenges of the pandemic," Carol Tomé, UPS chief executive officer, said in a statement. “Our results were fueled by continued strong outbound demand from Asia and growth from small and medium-sized businesses.”

While UPS saw sharp increases in revenue for the quarter, it is not hiring any additional workers over past holiday seasons to keep up with shipping demand. In 2018, it hired 100,000 seasonal workers on a forecast of 800 million packages during the holiday peak season, an increase of 5% compared to 2017, Business Insider reported.

For 2020, the company anticipates to “nearly double” its average package delivery rate, which traditionally sits at 20 million per day, Business Insider said. The coronavirus pandemic has shifted consumer spending online as more people look for contactless ways to shop to avoid the spread of the virus.

Shares of UPS stock were trading at $167.26 as of premarket open, down $3.97 or 2.32%.