UPS to eliminate 30,000 more jobs amid ongoing pivot from Amazon deliveries
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In 2025, UPS eliminated 48,000 jobs, launched driver buyouts and closed operations at 93 buildings as Amazon volume shrank.
PHOTO: SCOTT MCINTYRE/NYTIMES
Bengaluru – United Parcel Service (UPS) will eliminate up to 30,000 jobs and shut another 24 facilities in 2026, the world’s largest package delivery company said on Jan 27, as it reduces deliveries for Amazon.com in an ongoing shift towards more profitable business.
Shares of the company, which also announced fourth-quarter results that beat Wall Street estimates and forecast a surprise rise in annual revenue, rose 2 per cent on the news.
“We’re in the final six months of our Amazon accelerated glide-down plan, and for the full year 2026, we intend to glide down another million pieces per day while continuing to reconfigure our network,” chief executive Carol Tome said on a conference call with analysts.
In January 2025, UPS said it would accelerate a plan to reduce millions of low-profit deliveries for the online retailer, its largest customer and a growing delivery rival, calling the business “extraordinarily dilutive” to margins. UPS and its rivals, such as FedEx, have been battling stubbornly soft demand for delivery services.
In 2025, UPS eliminated 48,000 jobs, launched driver buyouts and closed operations at 93 buildings as Amazon volume shrank. Job reductions in 2026 will come through attrition and another buyout offer for full-time drivers. Layoffs are not planned, chief financial officer Brian Dykes said.
UPS had about 490,000 employees with nearly 78,000 in management, according to its 2024 annual report. Its 2025 employment numbers were not immediately available.
UPS has a unionised workforce. Mr Dykes said many of the cuts will come from not filling jobs when part-time workers leave the company.
Separately, the company is working to stabilise volumes following the end of US duty-free, “de minimis” low-value, e-commerce shipments from major China-linked discount retailers such as Shein and Temu.
The company projected 2026 revenue of US$89.7 billion (S$113 billion), compared with US$88.7 billion in 2025. Analysts on average had expected revenue of almost US$88 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
UPS expects revenue to fall in the first half of 2026 as it completes the Amazon “glide-down”, then rise sequentially in the second half once the reductions are complete.
The peak holiday shipping season, from late November into early January, is critical for parcel carriers as their average daily volumes can double, with companies often adding seasonal surcharges.
UPS reported fourth-quarter consolidated revenue of US$24.5 billion, above estimates of US$24 billion. On an adjusted basis, UPS reported a profit of US$2.38 per share for the quarter ended Dec 31, above estimates of US$2.20 per share.
Excluding Amazon, peak season volume was mixed, with small and medium-sized businesses slightly stronger than expected and large retailers a bit weaker, Mr Dykes told Reuters.
“We were down a little bit from last year,” he said.
Revenue per piece in the company’s US domestic segment rose 8.3 per cent despite lower overall volume, while international revenue per piece increased 7.1 per cent, benefiting from its push towards higher-margin shipments.
UPS also said it retired its remaining MD-11 fleet of more than two dozen cargo jets by the end of 2025, accelerating an existing plan. That followed a deadly crash of one of its MD-11s in November. Replacement Boeing 767s are already scheduled for delivery. REUTERS
