Yamato Holdings Co., a Japanese parcel delivery service group, said Thursday that it will hire 10,000 new workers, including drivers specializing in busy night deliveries, over the three years through fiscal 2019.
The move is part of measures designed to improve drivers' working conditions that deteriorated in recent years due to increasing delivery needs arising from the expansion of online shopping.
The measures also include installing more delivery lockers and raising the proportion of parcel receipts at locations other than customers' houses to 10 pct from the current few pct.
In fiscal 2016 that ended last March, Yamato Holdings delivered a record 1.868 billion parcels.
The company plans to cut the number to 1.77 billion by fiscal 2018 through measures including raising delivery fees.
Many of some 1,000 major corporate customers accepted delivery fee increases, Yamato Holdings President Masaki Yamauchi told a press conference.
Yamato Holdings will introduce a system to reflect volatile costs, including those of fuel and labor, in delivery fees.