United Parcel Service to Cut 20,000 Jobs Amid Lower Amazon Volume
MT Newswires
29 Apr
UPS -Shutterstock
United Parcel Service (UPS) on Tuesday announced plans to cut 20,000 jobs amid an expected decline in volumes from its largest customer, Amazon (AMZN), while the package delivery giant refrained from providing an update on its full-year outlook.
UPS said it will slash its workforce by roughly 20,000 positions in 2025 and close 73 facilities by June. The move is part of the company's plan to consolidate facilities and workforce, as well as redesign processes. The initiative is expected to generate $3.5 billion in cost savings this year.
UPS Chief Executive Carol Tome told analysts in January that the company expected a reduction of more than 50% in volumes from Amazon by June 2026.
"This volume is not profitable for us, nor a healthy fit for our network," Tome said during a first-quarter earnings call on Tuesday, according to a FactSet transcript. "The Amazon volume we plan to keep is profitable and it is healthy volume."
UPS said it will not provide updates to its prior full-year outlook amid economic uncertainty. About $2.7 billion of the company's annual direct purchases are sourced outside of the US, with "little" exposure to China from a service perspective, Tome told analysts.
"Given the uncertainty in the market, there is a wide range of possible outcomes," she said. "We continue to model different scenarios, but these are just scenarios. The world hasn't been faced with such enormous potential impacts to trade in more than 100 years."
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump announced sweeping new tariffs on imports, including from China. Trump later declared a 90-day pause certain duties for non-retaliating countries. However, Washington and Beijing have been in a deadlock over tariffs.
In January, the company projected consolidated revenue of $89 billion for 2025, compared with $91.1 billion for the year prior. The current consensus on FactSet is for sales of $87.7 billion.
For the ongoing quarter, UPS expects revenue to come in at approximately $21 billion, Chief Financial Officer Brian Dykes said on the call. The consensus is for sales of $21.1 billion.
For the three months through March, UPS posted adjusted earnings of $1.49 per share, up from $1.43 the year before and ahead of the Street's view for $1.38. Revenue slipped 0.7% year over year to $21.5 billion, but was above the average analyst estimate of $21 billion.
US domestic package sales rose 1.4% year over year to $14.46 billion, driven by gains in air cargo and revenue per piece. International revenue moved 2.7% higher to $4.37 billion, boosted by 7.1% growth in average daily volume. Supply chain solution sales slid nearly 15% due to the divestiture of the company's Coyote Logistics business.
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