As September hits, logistics and warehousing operations nationwide face a predictable yet punishing surge in inbound shipments. Trailers back up at the docks, pallets overwhelm crowded facilities, and teams stretch thin just to stay afloat. The data doesn’t lie: according to DC Velocity, warehouses see inbound volumes spike sharply starting in Q3, with early September marking a critical peak as companies load up for the holiday shopping season.
For operations leaders, the challenge is urgent and unavoidable: How do you handle these surges without exhausting your workforce or bleeding margins by overstaffing?
The common playbook leans on overtime or overstaffing to manage surges. On paper, it makes sense: more hours, more people, faster flow. But in practice, these tactics inflate costs, drain teams, and keep leaders stuck in firefighting mode.
Relying on overtime or overstaffing treats the symptom, not the cause. These approaches drive up costs, reduce flexibility, and leave teams chasing yesterday’s bottlenecks instead of controlling today’s flow.
This is where on-demand labor changes the game. Instead of locking into permanent hires or wearing down your core team with overtime, you gain a flexible workforce that deploys exactly where and when it’s needed. The payoff: a controlled, efficient operation that responds in real-time, before problems cascade.
On-demand labor isn’t just a solution for inbound surges, it can support every stage of your operation during Q4.
By leveraging on-demand labor across multiple functions, companies gain end-to-end peak-season resilience, keeping orders moving, protecting permanent staff from burnout, and reducing reliance on overtime.
On-demand labor doesn’t just improve operations in theory, it delivers measurable, quantifiable results.
When unloading crews are deployed in real-time to handle inbound surges, trailers spend less time waiting at the dock. This prevents inbound congestion from cascading into downstream delays, keeping orders on schedule. One of our partners, Customized Distribution Services, increased the rate of inbound shipments processed on time by 35.7% in just a few months.
Proactively replenishing pick zones with flexible labor ensures that inventory is always available for order fulfillment. Operations that implement on-demand support routinely see double digit increases in picking throughput while reducing the likelihood of stockouts or errors. This directly improves order fulfillment rates and minimizes customer-impacting delays.
By addressing bottlenecks with flexible, real-time support instead of overloading the core team, facilities can significantly reduce overtime hours. One of our partners, ShineOn, was able to reduce Q4 overtime expenses from $350k to $30k by building a labor pool, freeing funds for other operational needs while protecting core employees from fatigue and burnout.
Surges at the dock don’t just cause internal headaches, they put customer commitments at risk. When inbound trailers sit idle or pick zones aren’t replenished quickly enough, outbound orders inevitably fall behind schedule. On-demand labor eliminates these delays by ensuring that each step of the process—from unloading to picking to packing—has the capacity it needs in real time. This helped Core Mark increase on-time dispatches by 10% while facing 27% higher demand than normal.
On-demand labor allows operations leaders to right-size headcount to real-time demand, avoiding the costs and risks of both overstaffing and understaffing. This improves labor efficiency by ensuring that every hour worked contributes directly to throughput, while minimizing wasted costs associated with idle staff or unnecessary overtime. For example, Scentsational Soaps and Candles, one of our partners, reduced Q4 labor costs 15% by taking this approach.
September surges don't have to mean chaos at the dock. By leveraging on-demand labor, operations leaders can:
In modern warehouse operations, Q4 success belongs to those who can flex and adapt, not just hire. On-demand labor turns labor into a strategic advantage, giving operations leaders the ability to tackle surges proactively, maximize throughput daily, and deliver world class service under any demand scenario.
To Learn More About How On-Demand Labor Can Help You Maximize Q4 Peak Season Performance, check out these articles:
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