Logistics Operators Raise Pay, Enlist Robots to Meet Holiday Demand

"When companies are looking ahead to peak season…the word I'm hearing most often is'terrified,'" said Dan Johnston, chief executive and co-founder of WorkStep, a startup whose software helps companies hire and retain supply-chain workers. Top news and in-depth analysis on the world of logistics, from supply chain to transport and technology. Workers to fill online orders and push merchandise out to stores are in short supply in a tight U.S. labor market in which service industries say the lack of available staff is hampering their recovery efforts. Some warehouse employees say they are already working overtime under sometimes tough conditions to meet heavy consumer demand. "There is a huge amount of demand for jobs and people, and we have not shifted people across into our industry at the rate that demand has changed," said Kraig Foreman, president of e-commerce for DHL Supply Chain North America, a unit of Deutsche Post AG whose contract logistics customers include running-shoe maker Brooks Sports Inc. and Italian candy giant Ferrero International SA.