Closeout Retailers Are Hiring Fewer Workers This Holiday Season.

We’re just settling into fall, but many industries are already deep into planning for the winter. It’s around this time of year that companies start hiring seasonal workers. According to the National Retail Federation, the retail industry alone hires somewhere around 500,000 temporary workers for the holiday season. Closeout brokers and companies that sell dead stock can be busy during the Holiday shopping season, when buyers for inventory are out in force looking for amazing deals on overstock inventory, closeouts and surplus inventory. The 4th quarter is a great opportunity for businesses to sell dead stock if they are shutting down operations or closing down a warehouse. For customers willing to buy excess inventory there is sure to be an abundance of overstock merchandise available this shopping season.

Unpredictable demand is hampering retailers’ hiring strategies this holiday season. In response, retailers have had a split approach to recruiting workers for the holiday season. Closeout brokers and sellers of excess inventory are questioning just how busy this season will actually be. Walmart, for example, has pulled back holiday hires to 40,000 — less than a third compared to last year. Meanwhile, Target said it is hiring the same amount of workers as last year at 100,000. As shopping behaviors continue to shift, predicting the workforce needed to deliver a seamless holiday shopping experience has become more challenging. Buyers for inventory may be a little more sparse this season, and there may be opportunities for consumers to buy excess inventory, discontinued products and overstock merchandise at discounted prices. Holiday sales are expected to grow 4% to 6% this season, significantly lower than last year’s 15.1% according to Deloitte. More consumers are spending on travel and less on discretionary closeouts as well as delaying major product purchases due to inflation. With the slowing economy on track to be the worst year for many businesses in years, companies may be shutting down operations, downsizing warehouses, or completely liquidating all inventory and shutting down operations. Buyers for inventory willing to look for deals may be rewarded with low prices and deep discounts on name brand closeouts.

Retailers have so far had a divided opinion on how to respond to these trends. Some have either significantly reduced their hires in anticipation of a much slower holiday shopping season or hired roughly the same amount of workers, anticipating that there will still be a lot of pent-up demand from shoppers. Businesses that have endured a slowing economy may be best served to sell dead stock and get rid of excess inventory that is no longer selling. Too much inventory in the warehouse is costly and takes up valuable space that is often needed for new products arriving.

Companies that buy closeouts specialize in helping businesses liquidate stock and clear the warehouse of dead inventory that isn't selling. If you want to know more about how the closeout process works, a simple Google search will give you more information. You can try search terms like where to get rid of excess inventory, what is the liquidation process, selling or liquidating excess inventory, shutting down operations and liquidating, closeout websites, closeout brokers and items stranded at Amazon.

However, having fewer workers this holiday season does have potential pitfalls. Experts said this could trigger a hiring blitz if people end up flocking to stores or e-commerce sites on Black Friday and other promotional periods this season. Consumers are expected to spend less money this upcoming holiday season and retailers are on track to hire fewer seasonal workers this year than last. But online retailers and package delivery firms are hiring en masse this fall to keep us with all the overstock inventory being liquidated into 3PL warehouses and Amazon FBA seller warehouses.

Amazon, the country’s largest online retailer, is looking to hire 2,550 workers in the metro Denver area, and another 850 in Colorado Springs. It is also looking to add 30 workers in Fort Collins and another 15 in Boulder. Positions include stowing, picking, packing, sorting and shipping customer orders. Liquidation stock for sale may sell well during the holidays, and if you want to know how to liquidate inventory you can look online for closeout websites or closeout brokers who can explain the liquidation process. These companies will buy your entire inventory if you have dead stock and slow selling products to get rid of. Surplus buyers usually have very large warehouses that can accommodate any size closeout inventory.

A delivery station warehouse attendant job in Aurora or Denver pays up to $20.75 an hour, while a sortation center warehouse association position pays up to $19.85 an hour. A list of open positions is available online.

Hiring bonuses for some positions can range from $1,000 to $3,000, said Nissa LaPoint, a regional PR specialist for Amazon in Colorado. Last year, the company sought about 4,900 seasonal workers to help with the onslaught of liquidation stock for sale. If you want to sell unwanted inventory you can use platforms like Amazon, Ebay, Liquidation.com and more. Wholesale surplus merchandise has become an industry of it's own, and closeout liquidation companies offer deals on everything from overstock housewares to closeout toys, sporting goods and excess inventory of lawn and garden and giftware products. Closeout pet products have also become popular.

A lot of uncertainty is plaguing seasonal employers, which may mean a slower hiring season. If companies see strong consumer buying in September and October, we might see those large-scale announcements begin. Job site Indeed said seasonal job searches were up by a third as of Sept. 30 compared to last year and back to pre-pandemic levels. At the same time, employer job postings for seasonal workers were down 8.2% from last year, which was a historic high. Closeout distributors and sellers of overstock merchandise use the Holiday season as a way to sell dead stock and unload excess inventory that has been sitting the warehouse collecting dust. Consumers willing to buy excess inventory and discontinued products will have opportunities for great deals on name brand closeouts.

A new report from Indeed Hiring Lab suggests more people are considering a seasonal job compared to last year or even 2020 according to search data. The report says that "at the end of September 2022, the share of seasonal job searches on Indeed was up 33% from the same period in 2021 and 13% over 2020," although that share is still lower than it was in 2019. Despite an eagerness for holiday work, economists from various career sites agree that seasonal hiring doesn't look so hot this year. If sales are weak it may prompt overstock inventory sales and closeout buyers and liquidators to purchase wholesale surplus in an effort to get product moving off the shelves. Too much inventory leads to closeout liquidators having to buy products for pennies on the dollar. If old inventory just sits in the warehouse, there is no room for new products and next seasons goods that must be unloaded. Space problems like this are expensive and often lead to warehouses shutting down and liquidating overstock inventory. Closeout brokers are the best outlets to help business owners find buyers for inventory that is taking up space in the warehouse.

For instance, Macy's is planning to hire fewer seasonal workers this year compared to last year, as Insider's Avery Hartmans reported. Macy's plans to fill over 41,000 part- and full-time seasonal positions this year, lower than its goal of roughly 48,000 holiday positions last year. A Macy's spokesperson told Insider after this story was published that this year's number "is relatively consistent" with "hiring needs in prior years."

Target has a similar hiring goal as last year; it plans to hire up to 100,000 seasonal workers. It is interesting that both Target and Walmart unloaded thousands of containers by liquidating inventory from their DC because the stores were flooded with closeout and slow selling merchandise. Companies that buy excess inventory grabbed these overstock products at pennies on the retail dollar. US retail employment in general fell by 1,100 from August to September according to payroll data from the Bureau of Labor Merchandise USA can help you liquidate overstock inventory because we buy liquidation stock online and resell it to surplus inventory buyers around the world. Merchandise Liquidators are companies that specialize in buying overstock housewares, closeout pet products, discontinued stock of lawn and garden products, and all other surplus inventory for sale. Selling excess inventory can be stressful if you work with the wrong closeout buyers. Merchandise USA has been in business 38 years and we only handle wholesale closeouts from businesses shutting down operations or downsizing 3PL warehouses.