Same-day delivery is at the top of shoppers’ wish lists this holiday season, as Target’s CEO Brian Cornell said more consumers are waiting until the last minute to make purchases. Pressures like higher interest rates, increased credit card debt and reduced savings rates are leaving consumers with less cash for discretionary spending, “forcing them to make trade-offs in their family budgets,” Cornell said. In 2017, Target invested $550 million in the home delivery service Shipt-a modest outlay compared to the billions Amazon and Walmart have spent in the same-day-delivery space. Target’s omnichannel model now lets consumers shop in-store and via the retailer’s app and website for same-day or two-day delivery. Cornell says this investment in sortation centers – or what Target calls its “stores-as-hubs” strategy, where workers prepare same-day local delivery for online orders – has prepared them with the infrastructure to support last minute holiday shopping.
After several months of significant swings in truck transportation employment, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported November jobs numbers that reflected moderate changes. The seasonally adjusted truck transportation jobs total for last month was 1,581,300, an increase of 700 jobs. But it comes after a four-month stretch in which July jobs dropped 6,900; August jobs fell 30,700 (fueled by the closure of Yellow Corp.); September jobs climbed 14,000 positions as some of the Yellow loss reversed itself at other carriers; and October recorded a drop of 3,600 jobs. The 700-job increase reported Friday morning reflected a market of reasonable stability that was also evident in the data for not seasonally adjusted jobs. Labor economists generally look at seasonally adjusted numbers as more indicative of labor market strength or weakness but caution that not seasonally adjusted numbers should not be ignored.
More than 1,100 union workers at DHL’s air cargo hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport walked off the job, a move that affects one of the parcel carrier’s largest logistics facilities during the busiest shipping season of the year. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters said its members are protesting unfair labor practices at the hub run by DHL Express, a U.S. unit of German logistics giant Deutsche Post that handles express parcel business. DHL Express said the company anticipated the job action and has enacted contingency plans such as bringing on replacement staff and moving flights and volume to other DHL locations across the U.S.
That’s all for this week and for 2023. Thanks for tuning in for all the logistics news. Enjoy the weekend, the holidays, and a relaxing new year. The song of the week is one of my favorite Christmas classics, and in honor of the late, great Shane McGowan, Fairytale of New York by the Pogues.
The post This Week in Logistics News (December 9 – 15) appeared first on Logistics Viewpoints.