Logistics giant UPS lets go of 48,000 employees as it attempts to turn around steep drop in share prices

The United Parcel Service, better known as UPS, has announced that in the first nine months of 2025 it has cut 48,000 people from its workforce. Out of them, 14,000 employees worked in the management division while 34,000 were in the “operational workforce,” Newsweek reported.

The latter category consists of “employees involved in its day-to-day logistics and delivery services.”

These massive layoffs are, seemingly, the effects of a sharp decline in the company’s share prices. This year alone, the share prices of UPS have gone down by more than 20 per cent. This has led the company to seek ways of cutting costs and making structural changes suited to the market’s requirements, as per the news report.

UPS’s financial constraints

In the third quarter of 2025, the company generated a consolidated revenue of $21.4 billion. These are marginally better than the results from the third quarter of last year.

Still, the latest job losses at the company are more than what they had initially announced. In April, UPS had declared its intention to cut 20,000 employees from its workforce and close down 73 buildings.

Now, the company has declared that it has closed down “93 leased and owned buildings” this year. The savings resulting from both the layoffs and infrastructure cuts have come to around $2.2 billion. The goal of the company is to take the savings to $3.5 billion.

The response from the stock market to UPS’s latest move has been a clear thumbs up. The Associated Press reported that the company’s shares have gone up by seven per cent in Tuesday’s afternoon trading.

Links with Amazon

Among the moves to restructure itself, UPS is also planning to drastically reduce the volume of Amazon packages it delivers. In January this year, the company declared its intention to cut Amazon-related deliveries by 50 per cent.

With the share market responding positively, at least in the immediate aftermath of the cuts, the company would be positive in outlook. However, the long-term impact of these moves remains to be seen.

FAQs

How many employees has UPS laid off in their latest job cuts?

As many as 48,000 employees have been removed by the company.

What was the company’s initial estimate for job cuts?

In April, the company had announced its intention of laying off 20,000 employees.

How much were the company’s earnings in the third quarter of this year?

UPS earned $1.31 billion in the third quarter of this year.