UPS job cuts Amazon deliveries as company plans to slash 30,000 roles
Parcel delivery giant UPS has announced sweeping job reductions as part of a major strategic shift away from its largest customer, Amazon. The company said UPS job cuts Amazon deliveries will reach up to 30,000 positions this year as it continues to reduce volumes linked to the online retail giant.
The job losses will be carried out through voluntary buyouts for full-time drivers and by leaving vacant roles unfilled when employees leave. UPS has repeatedly said Amazon business, while high in volume, has weighed heavily on profitability.
Despite the planned reductions, the company reported earnings of $24.5bn in the final quarter of last year and issued an upbeat forecast, projecting revenue of $89.7bn for the year ahead. Investors reacted cautiously positively, with UPS shares edging higher in New York trading.
The decision follows a turnaround plan announced last year, under which UPS job cuts Amazon exposure in favour of higher-margin customers, particularly in healthcare and logistics services. In 2025, the company cut 48,000 jobs and closed 93 facilities while scaling back Amazon shipments.
Chief executive Carol Tomé said UPS is now entering the final stage of what it calls its “Amazon accelerated glide-down plan.” For 2026, the company expects to reduce Amazon delivery volumes by another one million packages per day while restructuring its global network.
UPS employs around 490,000 people worldwide, according to its latest annual report, with nearly 78,000 working in management roles. The company said it will continue to work within union agreements as the job cuts are implemented.
Alongside workforce reductions, UPS confirmed it will close an additional 24 facilities in the first half of this year. The company also announced the retirement of its MD-11 cargo aircraft fleet following a deadly crash in Louisville, Kentucky, late last year. The aircraft accounted for about 9% of its fleet and have remained grounded since the incident.
Amazon has increasingly relied on its own in-house delivery network, weakening the dominance of traditional carriers. In 2024, Amazon handled 6.3 billion deliveries in the United States, overtaking both UPS and FedEx. Analysts expect Amazon to surpass the US Postal Service in delivery volumes by 2028.
