UPS Plans To Shed 73 Properties, Shrink Workforce By 4% Amid Pullback From Amazon
UPS plans to slash 20,000 jobs and shutter dozens of facilities as it minimizes its relationship with embattled e-commerce giant Amazon.
The shipping company has identified 73 leased and owned buildings that will close by the end of June, according to its first-quarter 2025 earnings report. UPS is considering additional facility closures.
Reductions in the shipping company’s operational workforce, which includes delivery drivers and package handlers, can be attributed to “lower volumes from our largest customer,” the report says. The layoffs account for about 4% of its roughly 490,000 employees.
Facility closures and staff reductions come four months after UPS announced plans to cut its low-margin parcel business with Amazon by roughly 50%. UPS expects its network reconfiguration to generate $3.5B in cost savings.
UPS recorded $21.5B in revenue last quarter, down 0.7% year-over-year, according to its Tuesday earnings report. The firm’s consolidated operating profit of $1.7B was up 3.3% compared to Q1 2024.
Tariffs have challenged cross-border goods shipments and generated economic volatility, leading UPS to back away from its 2025 financial guidance. The company declined to give an update “given the current macroeconomic uncertainty,” Bloomberg reported.
Amazon is also struggling to deal with tariffs as sellers hike prices on popular items and some pull out of the online behemoth's popular Prime Day.
The company drew the ire of the White House early Tuesday morning when reporters asked about a plan to detail the costs of President Donald Trump’s tariffs for customers shopping on its website.
“This is a hostile and political act by Amazon,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, according to CNBC.
Amazon later clarified that it only considered doing so for its low-cost Amazon Haul store.
“This was never approved and is not going to happen,” spokesman Tim Doyle told Axios.
