Amazon Plans 300K Holiday Hires as UPS Drops to 100K

Amazon said Tuesday it will hire more than 300,000 US workers for the holidays, about 20% above the 250,000 it targeted in prior years.

Read that number against a second one before you plan your December. UPS plans 100,000 seasonal hires, per Reuters, versus 125,000 in 2024, which means Amazon is adding delivery muscle while a major parcel carrier trims its own. That gap decides which stores keep their Christmas promises, and it is the reason Ecommerce Paradise readers should care about a warehouse hiring announcement.

Below: what Amazon announced, how the carrier and retail numbers around it compare, what I make of it for a high-ticket dropshipping store, and five moves to make before Nov. 1. My read is that Amazon’s hiring is a signal about Amazon, not about demand, and your risk sits in your suppliers’ carriers.

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Amazon’s 300,000 Holiday Hires: Pay, Healthcare and the 250K Baseline

Amazon announced the plan on Oct. 20 through Business Wire, according to its press release. The company will bring on more than 300,000 seasonal, part-time and full-time people across its US core operations network. It named no sites beyond “nationwide” and said new roles will post weekly from October through December.

The release carries no prior-year comparison. Retail Dive senior editor Kaarin Moore, writing Oct. 21, puts the baseline at 250,000 holiday hires in each season since 2023, which makes the new target a 20% increase. PPC Land adds a caveat: the 2025 target was “up to” 250,000 across the fulfillment and transportation network, while the 2026 figure is “over” 300,000 for the core operations network, so the scope may not match.

Pay is the other headline. Seasonal employees average $20 an hour, per Amazon, and PPC Land reports the 2025 drive cited “over $19.” Full-time core operations staff start at a minimum of $20 and average nearly $24, and Amazon puts total compensation above $32 an hour including benefits. The release also points back to an earlier announcement of more than $1.5 billion in higher pay for the US core operations workforce.

Healthcare changes on Jan. 1, 2027. Seasonal employees working at least 30 hours a week get coverage from their first day, with plans starting at $5 a week and $5 copays. J. Ofori Agboka, Amazon’s vice president of people experience and technology for global operations, said in the announcement: “It’s rare for companies in our industry to offer healthcare starting on the first day on the job.” PPC Land also quotes him on timing: “Our seasonal roles can fill quickly.”

Amazon did not say how many of the 300,000 roles are seasonal versus full-time, how many seasonal workers will clear the 30-hour threshold, or what delivery-speed or capacity targets the hiring supports. Amazon reports third-quarter results on Oct. 29, per PPC Land, so the first read on peak readiness arrives in eight days.

UPS, Challenger and NRF: How Peak Staffing Compares Around Amazon

UPS plans to hire 100,000 seasonal workers, Reuters reported Oct. 7 in a story republished by GV Wire. That compares with 125,000 holiday staff in 2024, and Reuters said UPS hired 15,000 fewer in 2025 than in 2024, which implies about 110,000. In January, UPS said it would cut up to 30,000 operational jobs and close 24 facilities in 2026, a plan aimed at reducing shipments for its largest customer, Amazon, and shifting toward more profitable volume.

Retail as a whole is hiring less. Challenger, Gray & Christmas forecasts seasonal retail hiring down 2.5% year over year to about 450,000 new jobs in the fourth quarter, Retail Dive reported Oct. 1. The baseline is 461,500 in the fourth quarter of 2025, which was itself 15% below the 543,100 added in the fourth quarter of 2024 and the smallest seasonal gain since 2008. Andy Challenger, the firm’s chief revenue officer, called the pattern “smaller and more surgical than the pre-pandemic playbook.” PPC Land reports that Walmart and Target have not published companywide holiday hiring targets.

Spending forecasts still point up. The National Retail Federation expects holiday sales to grow 4.2% to $1.013 trillion, versus 3.1% growth to $972 billion last year, according to Retail TouchPoints. NRF says nearly half of that growth is real consumer spending and the rest is higher prices, and it expects 325,000 to 375,000 seasonal retail hires against an estimated 356,000 last year. NRF CEO Matthew Shay called it a “low-hire, low-fire labor market.”

Adobe’s forecast, covered by PPC Land on Sept. 29, puts US online holiday spending at $275.1 billion, up 6.7% from $257.8 billion. Cyber Week is forecast at $47.5 billion, up 7.4%, and Black Friday at $12.9 billion, up 9.2%.

One cost-side detail: Amazon raised full-time core operations starting pay to $20 an hour on Sept. 16, per PPC Land. Higher labor costs can eventually show up in seller fees. Nobody has reported that, so I would watch the Oct. 29 earnings call for it rather than assume it.

The sources do not agree on what Amazon’s number means. Retail Dive says many retailers are hiring fewer seasonal workers or staying quiet about it, which makes Amazon’s 20% increase stand out. None of the reporting ties the hiring to a delivery-speed promise; that link is my inference, and I label it below. Demand is also arriving early: Deloitte found holiday shopping moving into October, as I covered this week. TikTok Shop opens its own sale window on Nov. 11, which I broke down in my TikTok Shop BFCM post.

What Amazon’s Peak Staffing Means for a High-Ticket Store

Everything from here is my read, not reporting.

First, the hiring tells you about Amazon’s capacity, not about shopper demand. If nearly half of NRF’s 4.2% is price, as NRF says, real volume growth is roughly 2%. That is a modest season, and Amazon is staffing for a bigger share of it, not a bigger pie. Amazon listings may show tighter delivery dates on products that overlap with yours.

Second, high-ticket buyers mostly do not buy a $1,800 treadmill or patio set on Amazon-speed alone. The buyers I teach you to target are willing and able to pay, and they pay for confidence. A store that says “arrives Dec. 19” and hits it beats a store that says “fast shipping” and misses. What Amazon’s hiring does change is the comparison shopping: the shopper with three tabs open sees an Amazon date, then yours.

Third, the real risk sits one step behind your storefront, in your supplier’s carrier. Bulky items ride freight, and I covered the AFS finding that LTL rates are more than 80% above 2018 for the first time. Smaller items ride parcel networks, where UPS is staffing thinner than in 2024. Thinner staffing is not proof of late deliveries. I would not assume delays and I would not assume none; I would measure them in my own orders starting this week.

Fourth, watch your ad spend, because delivery promises and ad promises are the same promise. Holiday traffic tends to get pricier as Cyber Week approaches, and Adobe expects paid search to gain about 4% in relative share of online revenue, according to the PPC Land summary of its forecast. If your Shopping feed and ad copy say “arrives before Christmas” on a product whose supplier cutoff is Dec. 12, you pay for clicks that become refund requests. Match the copy to the cutoff date, product by product, and review it weekly through the end of November.

Here is rough math, and it is hypothetical. A store books 60 orders in November at a $1,500 average order value, so $90,000 in revenue. If 8% ship late, that is about five orders. If two of those five turn into refunds or disputes, you lose $3,000 in revenue plus dispute fees. At a 20% gross margin, $3,000 is the gross profit on ten normal orders. One bad week outweighs a good ad day.

Scenarios I would plan around, with thresholds. If a supplier’s quoted lead time has grown by more than three business days since September, treat that product as “ships after Christmas” and say so on the page. If a supplier cannot give you a written last-order date for Dec. 24 delivery, stop promising it. If your own late-ship rate passes 5% in the first two weeks of November, pull back ad spend on that supplier’s products until it falls. Pair that with the Black Friday stress test I published and you have a tight pre-peak routine.

On the tooling side, set the delivery estimates your Shopify store shows at checkout to the supplier’s real numbers, not the optimistic ones. Send customers to a branded tracking page through AfterShip so “where is my order” does not land in your inbox.

If your catalog syncs from distributors, check that Inventory Source or your equivalent is passing accurate stock and lead-time data, because a feed that says in stock when the supplier is backed up is how late orders are born.

Caveat: I cannot tell you Amazon’s hiring will translate into faster delivery than last year. Nobody in the reporting makes that claim, and the 300,000 mixes full-time, part-time and seasonal roles. What I can say is that Amazon is planning for peak with more people while UPS plans for it with fewer, and a high-ticket store is the one that gets squeezed when promises outrun carriers. Managing eight suppliers, four carriers and a support inbox in December is exactly the operator load my team takes off store owners through the turnkey done-for-you build.

Amazon is staffing up for peak. Want my team to scale the store you already have before December lands? See the scaling service →

Five Holiday Delivery Moves to Make Before Nov. 1

You have about ten days before November starts. These five moves cost little and protect the most revenue.

Get written cutoffs from every supplier. Ask for the last order date for Dec. 24 delivery, the carrier used per product, and current lead times. Put the dates in a spreadsheet and update your shipping policy page to match. Book a short call through my discovery call if you want me to look at your supplier setup.
Rewrite delivery promises on product pages and in ads. Replace “fast shipping” with a date range tied to the supplier cutoff. Compare parcel quotes for small items on Easyship so you know the real cost before you match free shipping. Wayfair is already doing it, as I covered in the Way Day post.
Staff support before the surge. Build macros for order status, delay and return questions in Gorgias. Then hire a part-time assistant from OnlineJobs.ph for Nov. 15 through Jan. 10. Training takes a week, so start now.
Automate delay and cutoff emails. In Klaviyo, set a flow that emails customers when an order passes the expected ship date, plus a banner email announcing your last-order date. Customers forgive honest delays and punish silence.
Protect against disputes and fraud. Screen high-value orders with ClearSale, and keep delivery proof for every shipment. My chargeback prevention guide for high-ticket stores lays out the evidence to save.

If you want the free niche research behind products that ship cleanly, grab my free niches list.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Amazon hiring 300,000 workers mean holiday demand is surging?
No. Amazon’s number reflects its own capacity plans. NRF forecasts 4.2% sales growth with nearly half of it from higher prices, and Challenger expects retail seasonal hiring to fall 2.5%, per the reports above.

Will UPS deliveries be late this year?
Nothing in the reporting says so. UPS plans 100,000 seasonal hires against 125,000 in 2024, and a leaner workforce is a risk factor, not a forecast of delays. Track your own on-time rate and watch supplier lead times weekly. If a late wave does hit, a backup payment processor plan keeps a dispute spike from freezing your funds.

Does this affect LTL freight orders?
Freight runs on a different network than parcel, so UPS hiring does not map directly onto it. See my coverage of big-ticket delivery growth for an earlier signal on the bulky side.

When should I stop promising Christmas delivery?
At your supplier’s written cutoff, not before and not after. Change the ad copy and product page the same day, as I explain in why high-ticket Google Ads need a complete conversion system.

Should I offer free shipping to compete with Amazon?
Only if the margin survives it. High-ticket stores can usually fold shipping into price, and my guide to scaling without cutting prices covers the trade-offs.

What if I am just starting and have no suppliers yet?
Start with the high-ticket niches list and plan to launch after the holiday rush, when supplier onboarding is faster. Rushing a store live in November is a common way to meet your first chargeback.

Not sure your delivery promises survive December? Get 1-on-1 coaching on your high-ticket store before peak hits. Get the coaching details →

I will keep watching Amazon’s third-quarter report on Oct. 29 and the carrier updates after it. Subscribe to the YouTube channel for daily breakdowns. More breaking news coming through the day.

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Trevor Fenner

Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.