BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) – While it's still September, there are vehicle companies that are already planning ahead for the Christmas season. However, the challenge remains to find workers.
Finding drivers, in particular, is a short and long term issue facing these companies.
UPS, for example, told WBEN they're looking to hire 1,100 employees for the Christmas season. This includes 736 package handlers, 194 driver helpers, 134 personal vehicle drivers, and other positions.
"At UPS we begin preparing for our peak season the moment our previous peak season ends," Matthew Cruz, an area supervisor for UPS, said. "We're prepared to make this one of our most successful peak holiday shipping seasons ever, just as we did last year. We're confident we're going to be able to get to the driver level we need to get what matters to our customers."
You can learn more about the job opportunities at UPS by clicking here
But UPS isn't the only company looking for workers. We've detailed the continuing need for school bus drivers. There is also a need for drivers for logistics companies in general. Kevin Sterling, Vice President of Strategy for XPO Logistics, a truck brokerage group which helps to transport freight nationwide, including here in Buffalo, said there's been a steady decline of drivers over the last several decades. He said there needs to be more than one million drivers hired over the next ten years due to the growing demand of freight and because longtime truck drivers are retiring.
"It's a very hard business and a business that is extremely challenged," Sterling said. "…We're offering competitive wages and sign-on bonuses and benefits, but it's something the industry as a whole has to grapple with."
Sterling said the strain on the supply chain has forced companies to focus on capacity and real-time visibility into their supply chain.
"We're solving that with technology," Sterling said. "Technology really helps us solve some of these capacity issues. As a truck broker, we're essentially an aggregator of capacity. We aggregate a lot of small truckers together and we can offer a large amount of capacity for a lot of shippers."
XPO Logistics is not a company that delivers Christmas gifts to your house directly. However, Sterling said biggest issues facing them ahead of the Christmas season are the delays of freight sitting at a port for an extended period of time.
"That shipper is scrambling," Sterling said. "They're like 'Oh my gosh, my freight has been sitting out there for two-to-three weeks. I've got to get it from LA to Chicago. I'm in a panic'…We're going to try to find the most efficient way to (deliver) that, whether it's through truck or rail. We're going to do that."
In July 2019, Sterling said there were more than 1.5 million truck driving jobs. Currently, the industry is 2.5% below that peak figure.
Nearly 70% of companies this year reported a lower driver count from a year ago.
