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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Retailers and shippers are on a mad pre-holiday hiring spree, making them one of the few industries adding jobs during COVID-19.
Why it matters: With the entire country turning to online shopping, shippers across the U.S. are preparing for unprecedented package volumes — around 80 million per day between Thanksgiving and Christmas — and frustrating delays.
- FedEx and UPS are hiring a combined 170,000 workers, reports the AP.
- DHL is adding 2,300.
- Amazon and Walmart have hired several hundred thousand since March.
Between the lines: This should finally erase any distinctions between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Retailers are also quickly building out warehouses and adding alternatives to delivery.
- Amazon has announced the addition of seven new warehouses in just the last month, notes Recode's Jason Del Rey.
- Walmart is adding pop-up warehouses.
- Kohl's and Target have doubled parking spaces for customers taking advantage of curbside pickup, per AP.
The bottom line: 7 million packages could experience delays per day between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the president of ShipMatrix, Satish Jindel, tells the AP.