Yodel hires 7,000 drivers to avoid repeating Black Friday PR disaster
Yodel is on a hiring spree for the festive period as it looks to assure retailers and customers that orders will arrive on time.
The delivery firm was caught out by the popularity of retail event Black Friday last year, when it crumbled under the deluge of parcels which resulted in a three-day delay on some orders.
It was a similar story for retailers, including the likes of Argos, which resulted in many people taking to social media to vent.
According to research from Pelipod, over a third (39 per cent) of the online conversations relating to parcels and deliveries were negative, with the rest being neutral.
Expecting four times as many people to take advantage of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers this year, Yodel is creating nearly 7,000 jobs. As many as 800 directly employed drivers are to be taken on, as well as 3,000 owner-drivers and 3,000 self-employed couriers who will deliver and collect smaller parcels.
Yodel said many of the jobs would become permanent after Christmas.
Executive chairman, Dick Stead, explained: “Many of the vacancies are flexible and perfect for those who want to fit work around families, or who have retired but want to remain active and earn some extra cash. Others are full-time and we expect many people to stay on beyond peak season.”
Despite this, Stead has warned marketers to avoid promising too much in their festive communications when it comes to speed of delivery.
This year, Yodel is working with retail partners to help them provide accurate daily forecasts and it has already decided to limit its next day capacity. The courier will only accept the parcel volumes agreed with its clients in order to protect service levels.