UPS has announced plans to cut up to 30,000 jobs this year as it continues to reduce deliveries for its largest customer, Amazon, which the parcel giant says have been weighing heavily on profitability.
The world’s largest package delivery firm said the job reductions would be achieved primarily through voluntary buyout offers to full-time drivers and by not replacing staff who leave the business. The move forms part of a broader turnaround strategy aimed at reshaping UPS’s network and focusing on higher-margin customers.
UPS said Amazon shipments were “extraordinarily dilutive” to profit margins, prompting the company to deliberately reduce its exposure to the online retailer. Last year, UPS announced it would scale back its dependency on Amazon and pivot towards more profitable sectors, including healthcare and time-critical logistics.
Chief executive Carol Tomé said the company was nearing the end of its planned drawdown.
“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,” she said.
The announcement came alongside stronger-than-expected financial results. UPS reported revenues of $24.5bn (£17.7bn) for the final quarter of last year and forecast a surprise rise in full-year revenue to $89.7bn in 2026, despite the planned reduction in Amazon volumes.
The restructuring follows an aggressive cost-cutting programme in 2025, when UPS cut 48,000 jobs and closed 93 facilities as part of the same strategy. The company said it will shut a further 24 facilities in the first half of this year as it continues to streamline operations.
According to its 2024 annual report, UPS employs around 490,000 people globally, including nearly 78,000 in management roles. Much of its workforce is unionised.
In a separate move, UPS confirmed it is permanently retiring its fleet of MD-11 cargo aircraft following a fatal crash in Louisville, Kentucky, in November. The MD-11s, which account for around 9% of the company’s fleet, have been grounded since the incident.
UPS shares ended slightly higher in New York trading on Tuesday following the announcement.
The strategic shift highlights the changing dynamics of the US delivery market, where Amazon has rapidly expanded its in-house logistics network. In 2024, Amazon handled an estimated 6.3 billion deliveries in the US, overtaking both UPS and FedEx. By 2028, Amazon is expected to surpass the US Postal Service as the largest delivery operator in the country, according to Pitney Bowes’ parcel shipping index.
UPS said reducing reliance on Amazon would allow it to improve margins, simplify operations and build a more resilient business model focused on premium and specialised logistics services.
