United Parcel Service is getting smaller again. The package giant said on Tuesday that it expects to eliminate up to 30,000 jobs in 2026, largely in delivery and warehouse roles, as it pushes to cut costs and improve profits. That follows a far bigger reduction last year, when UPS shed 62,000 positions, including full-time drivers, warehouse staff, managers, and seasonal workers, per the New York Times. The company says the latest cuts are tied in part to a planned pullback from Amazon—long its biggest customer, but, by UPS' account, not a profitable one.
Chief Financial Officer Brian Dykes told investors that the new cuts will target "operational positions" and will come mainly via attrition and voluntary buyouts for full-time drivers. "This is a tactical move," he said in his Tuesday call, per the AP. UPS began 2025 with roughly 500,000 employees, including about 300,000 Teamsters, who don't seem thrilled at the news. "Considering drivers overwhelmingly rejected it the first time, UPS may try to resurrect its disrespectful buyout program, but Teamsters still know our worth," the union said in a statement, per Axios.
The news lands at a moment when hiring has cooled nationwide and more Americans say jobs are getting harder to find, according to Conference Board survey data cited by the Times. The company is also shrinking its physical footprint and leaning harder on automation. In 2025, UPS closed 93 facilities and added automation at nearly five dozen more; Dykes said 24 additional buildings are slated to shut in the first half of 2026, with more possible. The restructuring comes amid weaker international volumes—particularly from China after US tariffs on lower-value imports—and a modest profit slide: Net income dipped nearly 4% last year, to $5.57 billion.
Despite that, investors seem to like the overhaul. UPS shares are up more than 35% from last year's low, though they remain 18% lower over the past 12 months; FedEx stock is up 11% over that same period. CEO Carol Tome framed 2025 as "a year of considerable progress," even as UPS retired its MD-11 cargo jet fleet following a November crash in Louisville, Kentucky, that killed three crew members and 12 people on the ground.
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