FedEx to Hire 55000 to Handle Online-Fueled Holiday Shipping

Previous year each of the companies touted the amount of investments they each made to their shipping networks and the close collaboration they had with the major retailers to manage the flow of packages during the holiday shopping season.

This FedEx truck should be getting busier as the holiday season ramps up.

FedEx is expecting that it will move a record-breaking 317m shipments between Black Friday and Christmas Eve this year. Peak projections are included in FedEx earnings guidance for FY16, according to FedEx.

In particular, FedEx is forecasting huge volumes on the first two Mondays in December as well as on Cyber Monday, the online equivalent to Black Friday on the Monday after Thanksgiving, when websites like Amazon offer special deals. It has also been investing billions of dollars in recent years to improve the capacity and automation of its network as the shift in consumer shopping habits has put pressure on retailers and shipping companies to beef up delivery services.

The National Retail Federation has predicted retail sales in November and December will increase 3.7% to $630.5 billion, after a 4.1% increase past year. In 2013 bad weather and a late surge in online retail packages caught FedEx and main rival United Parcel Service Inc UPS.N off guard, leaving an estimated 2 million packages undelivered on Christmas Eve, the majority in UPS’ network. Other companies like Best Buy are trying to attract more online shoppers to their site, this year offering free shipping on any orders during the holiday season.

FedEx Ground is almost 27 percent faster than UPS Ground, and 83 percent of FedEx Ground shipments are delivered in three days or less.

The number of planned seasonal workers is about 10 percent more than past year, spokesman Tim Miller said. The NRF also predicts e-commerce sales will continue to grow at a faster rate than brick-and-mortar sales, rising between 6 and 8 percent to as much as $105 billion.

FedEx and UPS now talk to retailers throughout the year to plan for the spike in holiday shipping.