UPS down 34,000 jobs in the last year amid shrinking of Amazon relationship
As UPS continues a multiyear change to its business model that includes a downsizing of its relationship with Amazon, it announced Tuesday it has closed 93 buildings this year and cut 34,000 operational jobs.
That total includes drivers who took an unprecedented voluntary retirement offer but is in addition to previously instituted cuts of about 14,000 management positions.
“UPS is executing the most significant strategic shift in our company’s history. We’re focused on winning where it matters most,” CEO Carol Tomé told investors in a call Tuesday morning.
The Sandy Springs-based company has been doing so against the backdrop of immense changes to trade policy in recent months, including the end of the de minimis exemption that allowed parcels under $800 in value to skip customs.
UPS bills itself as the world’s largest package delivery company; at the end of last year it had nearly 500,000 global employees.
Tomé said UPS is also one of the world’s largest customs brokers and has seen a tenfold surge of daily customs entries since the changes took effect.
The company’s stock price, which had fallen to a five-year low last month, rebounded Tuesday morning after the news its earnings per share had beat an average of analysts’ expectations.
The company reported $21.4 billion in revenues for the third quarter and earnings per share of $1.55. Its quarterly net income came to $1.3 billion.
In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Chief Financial Officer Brian Dykes said most of the 34,000 cuts have come “through attrition, because our part-time workforce turns over so fast.”
As a unionized employer, he explained, those with full-time jobs have the right to fill an open position at another building.
“We are operating more efficiently than ever,” Tomé said on the earnings call.
Looking ahead, UPS expects trade policy to continue to affect volumes across its network.
The company saw a roughly 27% decline in shipments between China and the U.S. in the quarter — traditionally its most profitable lane, Tomé said.
But global trade is continuing to flow, even if it’s not coming through the U.S. as much as it used to.
“What we are seeing is a lot of growth outside the U.S.,” Dykes told investors. “Trade’s continuing to flow, but it’s not touching us as much as it was before.”
In the call, company leaders told investors UPS is halfway through its six-quarter glide down of much of its Amazon business, which it previously announced would mean about 20,000 job cuts.
Its Amazon volume was down more than 21% compared with the third quarter of last year.
The company also announced a “preliminary agreement” with the U.S. Postal Service, Tomé said, to try to find a “win, win, win” deal to replace the prior agreement the two entities ended earlier this year. The company is “working through the details,” she said, and promised further clarity by the end of the year.
Despite the economic uncertainty of the year, Tomé said the company’s top 100 customers are forecasting “a good peak” season for the upcoming holidays and expect a “considerable surge in volume.”
Because of its network changes and increases in automation, the company intends to rely less on seasonal labor this year, she said. It expects 66% of its volumes in the fourth quarter to flow through automated systems, up from 63% last year.
Unlike prior years, it has declined to release 2025 seasonal hiring targets, but Dykes told the AJC they are still hiring “six figure numbers” for seasonal help.
Amazon has announced it plans to hire 250,000 full, part-time and seasonal workers across the country this holiday season.
About the Author
As a business reporter, Emma Hurt leads coverage of the Atlanta airport, Delta Air Lines, UPS, Norfolk Southern and other travel and logistics companies. Prior to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution she worked as an editor and Atlanta reporter for Axios, a politics reporter for WABE News and a business reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
