Dive Brief:

• Shipping company UPS said Tuesday it will hire as many as 95,000 workers this holiday shopping season, some 10,000 more than last year, and will add 50 shifts to its U.S. hubs. Much recruiting will be done via social media, and some temporary workers may have an opportunity to eventually work full time.

• The shipper has been at work making improvements to its network and sorting operations in an attempt to avoid last year's problem of late deliveries after a rash of last-minute online orders, the company said. It will be at full speed on Black Friday, a first.

• All that added investment led the shipper to cut its forecast for the year.

Dive Insight:

Last year, in an attempt to kick up more sales, many retailers made last-minute, deliver-by-Christmas promises that UPS and other shippers found difficult to make good on. It’s not clear whether those last-minute deals will be available at so many retailers again, but it can be hard, in these consumer-centric times, to break a precedent once it’s been set.

In any case, this year the shipper is apparently taking no chances, beefing up its operations and making sure it has enough people to do the job.