In a major corporate restructuring move, global logistics leader United Parcel Service (UPS) has announced plans to eliminate up to 30,000 positions throughout 2026. This workforce reduction forms part of the company’s continued strategic disengagement from Amazon, which it identifies as significantly detrimental to profit margins.
The job reductions will be implemented through voluntary buyout packages offered to full-time drivers and through natural attrition by not refilling voluntarily vacated positions. This decision comes despite UPS reporting robust earnings of $24.5 billion for the fourth quarter of 2025 and projecting an unexpected revenue increase to $89.7 billion for the upcoming year.
This initiative represents the latest phase in a comprehensive turnaround strategy initiated last year, designed to systematically decrease UPS’s reliance on Amazon. Instead, the company is pivoting toward serving more profitable client sectors, particularly healthcare companies. This strategic reorientation previously resulted in 48,000 job cuts and the shuttering of 93 facilities throughout 2025, with an additional 24 facilities scheduled for closure in the first half of 2026.
Chief Executive Carol Tome characterized this process as the ‘final six months of our Amazon accelerated glide down plan,’ noting the company intends to reduce Amazon parcel volume by an additional one million pieces daily while simultaneously reconfiguring its delivery network.
In a separate safety-related decision, UPS confirmed the permanent retirement of its entire MD-11 cargo plane fleet following November’s fatal crash in Louisville, Kentucky. These aircraft, representing approximately 9% of the company’s total fleet, had remained grounded since the incident.
The market responded neutrally to these announcements, with UPS shares closing marginally higher in Tuesday’s New York trading session. This corporate restructuring occurs against the backdrop of Amazon’s dramatic expansion of its proprietary delivery infrastructure, which has substantially eroded the market dominance traditionally held by UPS, FedEx, and the US Postal Service.
According to industry data, Amazon executed 6.3 billion deliveries within the United States during 2024, surpassing both UPS and FedEx in volume. Projections from Pitney Bowes’ parcel shipping index indicate Amazon is positioned to overtake USPS in total US delivery volumes by 2028.