The United Parcel Service (UPS) announced important news on the 27th, planning to eliminate up to about 30,000 operational positions in 2026 and close 24 business sites by the end of June. This marks another large-scale adjustment for UPS since initiating its business restructuring and transformation plan last year.

In April last year, UPS eliminated a total of 48,000 positions for the year, including 34,000 operational positions and 14,000 managerial positions, and closed 93 business sites. UPS management explicitly stated that this adjustment is directly related to the contraction of business cooperation with the retail giant Amazon. The two parties reached a preliminary agreement in January last year, and by the second half of 2026, the volume of business delivered by UPS for Amazon is expected to decrease by over 50%.

Currently, the plan has entered its final six months, and in 2026, UPS aims to further reduce its Amazon parcel delivery volume by an additional 1 million packages per day, building upon the average reduction of 1 million Amazon packages per day achieved last year.

Alongside the job-cutting plan, UPS also released its performance for the fourth quarter of 2025. The company achieved $24.5 billion in operating revenue for the quarter, a 3.2% decline year-on-year but exceeding market expectations, with an adjusted comprehensive operating profit margin of 11.8%, essentially on par with the same period last year. The annual operating revenue reached $88.7 billion, and the company's latest updated guidance for 2026 indicates an expected revenue increase to $89.7 billion this year.

The job cuts will be implemented through natural attrition and voluntary departures, with no plans for involuntary layoffs at present. The positions affected include frontline warehouse logistics personnel, parcel sorting and delivery staff, full-time drivers, and other operational roles. The company will also introduce a new voluntary driver buyout program. UPS CEO Carol Tome emphasized that 2026 will be a crucial turning point for the company's strategic implementation.

FedEx has also announced a similar downsizing plan, intending to cut up to 500 jobs in France, reducing the number of operational sites from 103 to 86 to address intense local market competition and cost pressures. FedEx noted that the express and courier market in France has long been dominated by exceptionally fierce competition and high cost pressures in local parcel services, which is one of the important reasons driving the decision to downsize.