UPS Laying off 20,000 Workers + Closing 70 Facilities

UPS has announced that it will be eliminating 20,000 jobs and closing 70 facilities in the very near future.

AP is reporting that these cuts are happening due to a change in UPS’ 30-year relationship with Amazon.

In January, UPS announced that it had reached a deal with Amazon, its biggest customer, to lower its volume by more than 50 percent by the second half of 2026.

UPS CEO Carol Tomé said that the company had partnered with Amazon for nearly three decades and that when its contract came up this year, UPS decided to reassess the relationship.

She said, “Amazon is our largest customer but it’s not our most profitable customer, its margin is very dilutive to the U.S. domestic business.”

Basically, while they had a ton of volume coming in from Amazon, the profit they were getting off of that was minimal.

Unfortunately, when this was discovered, the way to fix it included having to lay off more than 20,000 workers and close up to 73 facilities.

The 73 leased facilities and owned buildings will be shuttered by the end of June, whereas the 20,000 layoffs are just said to happen by the end of this year.

“The actions we are taking to reconfigure our network and reduce cost across our business could not be timelier,” Tomé said. “The macro environment may be uncertain, but with our actions, we will emerge as an even stronger, more nimble UPS.”

It will certainly be an interesting 2025 holiday season, with 73 less UPS shipping facilities and the loss of 20,000 employees. Buckle up and maybe start sending those Christmas gifts now, in May.