United Parcel Service announced plans Tuesday to eliminate 30,000 jobs in 2026 as it continues to untangle its partnership with Amazon, signaling another year of deep cuts as it attempts to turn around its business.
The package delivery giant also will shutter 24 buildings in the first half of 2026, Chief Financial Officer Brian Dykes said during a call with investors. The cutbacks are projected to save the company about $3 billion, he said.
The workforce reduction comes at a time when U.S. businesses are shedding relatively few employees and job creation remains stagnant. The unemployment rate fell slightly, to 4.4 percent, in December. Meanwhile, the number of Americans filing claims for unemployment insurance was little changed for the week ended Jan. 17, hovering at 200,000.
Atlanta-based UPS has been moving to reduce its dependence on shipments from Amazon — once its largest customer — as it works to become “a more profitable, agile and differentiated UPS,” the company says. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
When UPS announced the turnaround plan last year, Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said, “Due to their operational needs, UPS requested a reduction in volume and we certainly respect their decision.” Amazon said at the time that it had offered to increase shipping volumes with UPS.
UPS also eliminated 48,000 jobs in 2025 and now employs about 490,000 people worldwide, according to a company fact sheet.
Dykes said the job cuts will be achieved “through attrition, and we expect to offer a second voluntary separation program for full-time drivers.”
Kara Deniz, a spokeswoman for the Teamsters union that represents UPS workers, suggested that union members would reject the company’s buyout terms, which she called “disrespectful.”
“We’re perfectly happy for UPS to realize growth and cost savings on the backs of corporate managers so long as they uphold their contractual commitments to our members and reward the Teamsters who actually make the company run,” Deniz said.
UPS also reported higher fourth-quarter results Tuesday, announcing that it pulled in $2.6 billion in profit on $24.5 billion in revenue during the last three months of 2025.
Chief executive Carol Tomé said 2026 will represent an “inflection point” for the company as it looks to “deliver growth and sustained margin expansion.”
Separately, UPS said it had completed the retirement of its MD-11 cargo plane as part of a broader plan to modernize its fleet. In November, a UPS plane crashedin Louisville, killing three crew members and 12 others on the ground after its left engine fell off the wing shortly after takeoff.
Retiring the jet cost UPS $137 million, the company reported.
UPS shares surged more than 4 percent Tuesday before falling back. The stock closed at $107.20, up about 0.2 percent.
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