UPS hiring thousands of seasonal workers in Boston to speed up holiday deliveries

UPS is looking to hire more than 100,000 seasonal employees across the country in an effort to streamline holiday gift deliveries this year. Among those, the shipping service is looking to hire 2,000 in the Greater Boston area. 

"We actually begin working on this year's holiday plan before last year's leftovers are even cold," UPS Communications Manager Karen Hill told WBZ-TV. "We look at historical shipping data, we work with our customers on their projections, and then we matched the staffing to the need." 

UPS hosted an in-person job fair in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, on Saturday to help the company reach its goal for the season. 

Hill said they're looking to fill a wide range of positions from warehouse workers to packaged car drivers to driver's helpers. 

"We have some of the best seasonal jobs out there. The pay is great, you know, industry leading pay, healthcare benefits while you're employed with us, flexible shifts, and again a foot in the door for a permanent job so I'm fairly confident once again we will hit that 100,000 number," Hill said. 

The need for all the extra workers continues to grow as more consumers turn to online shopping. 

"I think all of us know that e-commerce is a lot bigger than it used to be," Hill said. 

Deloitte is predicting e-commerce to increase by about eight percent from last year's holiday shopping. They also predict that about one third of shoppers will buy gifts suggested by AI. 

"Even though the number of packages that we are shipping e-commerce wise maybe fluctuates year-to-year, that's still a challenge that we're up for meeting every year," Hill added. 

UPS seasonal workers typically stay on through mid-January to help with the return rush. Anyone who missed the in-person job fair can still apply online.