UPS looks to cut up to 30,000 jobs this year in ‘tactical move’

UPS is planning to cut up to 30,000 operational jobs this year as the package delivery company continues with its turnaround efforts and reduces the number of Amazon shipments that it handles.

Last year, UPS started a plan to reduce dependency on its largest customer, Amazon, and focus on higher-profit areas such as healthcare customers.

Chief Financial Officer Brian Dykes said during the company’s conference call on Tuesday that the job cuts will be made through a voluntary buyout offer for full-time drivers and through attrition.

“This is a tactical move,” he said during a call with analysts. “We did something similar last year in order to help us to right-size the position levels and the network infrastructure with the new volume and delivery levels.”

Building closures, layoffs part of UPS restructuring plan

UPS is also looking to close 24 buildings in the first half of the year and is evaluating additional buildings to close later in the year, he added.

UPS said in a regulatory filing in October that it had cut about 34,000 operational positions and closed daily operations at 93 leased and owned buildings during the first nine months of last year. The company also announced approximately 14,000 job cuts, mostly within management.

According to FactSet, UPS employs about 490,000 workers.

In April, UPS announced that it was looking to slash about 20,000 jobs and close more than 70 facilities as it drastically reduced the number of Amazon shipments it handles. The company said in January 2025 that it had reached a deal with Amazon, its biggest customer, to lower its volume by more than 50% by the second half of 2026.

CEO Carol Tome said during the conference call that by the end of 2025, UPS had reduced Amazon’s volume in its network by approximately 1 million pieces per day.

“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,” Tome said.

UPS also said it was officially retiring its fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-11 cargo planes after a deadly crash in Louisville, Kentucky in November. The planes, about 9% of the UPS fleet, had been grounded.

Shares of United Parcel Service Inc. rose 3.4% in afternoon trading.