FedEx to add 20,000 temporary workers for 2012 holiday season

FedEx announced yesterday the company plans to hire thousands of seasonal workers to help handle the large shipping volume anticipated during the 2012 holiday season.

Last year, as reported by Digital Journal, FedEx hired 20,000 people during the 2011 holiday season. This year the company plans to do the same and hire 20,000 seasonal workers. According to a news release issued yesterday, FedEx said it anticipates having a busy holiday season with over 280 million shipments occurring between Thanksgiving and Christmas. In 2011, the company moved 247 million shipments worldwide. FedEx predicts this year will see at least a 13 percent increase in deliveries, despite its anticipated overall decrease in global forecast growth for 2013. This year's "Green Monday" is also anticipated to have record sales. The company pointed to comScore's reporting of $1.1 billion sales in the U.S. on Green Monday alone during the 2011 holiday season. Dec. 10 is expected to be the busiest of all the company's holiday delivery days, with 19 million shipments passing through; a 10 percent increase over 2011. T. Michael Glenn, FedEx executive vice president of market development and corporate communications, said, "We always see a significant push for last-minute orders, and a lot of it has to do with procrastination, which for FedEx is a good thing during the holiday season." E-commerce continues to boom and with mobile added to the mix, online sales continue to steadily increase. "Green Monday" kicks off the busiest online shopping week of the year, and is the third busiest commerce day after Black Friday and Cyber Monday. As an increased number of consumers use their smartphones to shop, these sales are expected to see exponential growth. Chances are this could lead to higher volume in impulse or procrastination buys during the holiday shopping season since it's so convenient.