UPS Hiring 1,074 In Willow Grove Area For Holiday Season

DALLAS (CBS/AP) — It's not even officially fall yet, but delivery companies and retailers are making their hiring lists for the holiday season.

UPS, located at 1 Electronic Drive in Horsham PA, has announced it is hiring more than 1,074 people in the Willow Grove area.

The openings included are a combination of seasonal and permanent jobs, and include 31 tractor-trailer driver positions, 55 package car drivers, 597 package handlers, and 391 driver helpers.

The company is hiring about 95,000 people nationwide to gear up for the busy holiday shipping season, and hiring in Willow Grove is part of that effort.

That's close to last year's pace, when United Parcel Service Inc. estimated it would hire between 90,000 and 95,000 seasonal workers. Delivery rival FedEx Corp. has not yet announced its plans.

Toys R Us also said Wednesday it has begun taking applications for part-time seasonal jobs in stores and distribution centers. A spokeswoman declined to give a nationwide figure but said the retailer expects to add at least 10,900 workers in five of its biggest markets: New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

Earlier this week, Target Corp. said it would hire more than 70,000 seasonal store workers — about the same as last year as well.

While holiday hiring has been flat to down in stores, it is rising for transportation and warehousing services — part of the trend toward more online shopping, according to workplace consultant Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Target, for example, also said it would add 7,500 people in fulfillment and distribution centers.

Challenger expects overall holiday hiring by retailers to be unchanged from last year. In 2015, retailers added about 738,800 seasonal jobs, down 1.4 percent from the year before, according to government figures.

Atlanta-based UPS expects the volume of packages for delivery to pick up in November and last through the gift-return season in early January.

Many applicants view seasonal jobs as a way to earn extra money for the holidays. UPS tries to make the jobs more enticing by noting that about one-third of seasonal hires eventually land year-round jobs at the company. CEO David Abney started as a part-time package loader while in college.

Privately held Toys R Us, based in Wayne, New Jersey, said that 15 percent to 20 percent of its seasonal workers catch on permanently.

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