The nation’s second-largest for-hire carrier plans to cut roughly 20,000 jobs and close over 70 facilities this year.
United Parcel Service, No. 2 on the FleetOwner 500: For-Hire list, announced the massive cost cut as part of its Q1 2025 earnings. The cut represents about 4% of UPS's total employee count.
The company tied the expense cuts as part of a program it calls Network Reconfiguration and Efficiency Reimagined. Earlier this year, UPS announced plans to reconfigure its network and cut $1 billion in costs over the next few years. UPS also reached an agreement with Amazon to cut business with the giant, lowering UPS’s volume with the customer by more than 50% by the second half of 2026.
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"We expect to reduce our operational workforce by approximately 20,000 positions during 2025 and close 73 leased and owned buildings by the end of June 2025,” the company’s report said. “We are continuing to review our network and may identify additional buildings for closure.”
The company also declined to update its forecasts for revenue and profits, citing “macroeconomic uncertainty.”
April transportation earnings have taken a dark turn: The UPS layoff follows a string of difficult announcements to investors from major industry parties, including Traton, Knight-Swift, Old Dominion, and J.B. Hunt.
