As consumer confidence in the U.S. economy dips, two major companies this week announced they’re cutting jobs.
United Parcel Service officials said the company expects to cut as many as 30,000 positions this year, part of an ongoing effort by the package-delivery giant to rein in costs and boost profitability, according to a report from Bloomberg.
The reductions to its operational workforce — a group that includes drivers and package handlers — will be achieved largely through attrition and voluntary separation agreements with full-time drivers, Chief Financial Officer Brian Dykes said Tuesday on a conference call to discuss quarterly financial results, according to Bloomberg. UPS announced in October it was eliminating 34,000 operational positions in 2025.
Meanwhile, Amazon is cutting some 16,000 corporate jobs in the second round of mass layoffs for the ecommerce company in three months. According to The Associated Press, Amazon has said it plans to use generative artificial intelligence to replace corporate workers. It has also been reducing a workforce that swelled during the pandemic.
According to the AP, Beth Galetti, a senior vice president at Amazon, said in a blog post Wednesday that the company has been “reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy.”
The company did not say what business units would be impacted, or where the job cuts would occur.
According to Bloomberg, UPS has been closing and consolidating dozens of sorting facilities, offering buyouts to union drivers and cutting back on seasonal workers to trim expenses. It has also been slashing delivery volume for its largest customer, Amazon.com Inc., to cut down on low-margin packages.
Earnings in the fourth quarter were $2.38 a share, UPS said, topping the $2.21 average of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales of $24.5 billion also beat expectations, Bloomberg reported.
UPS offered an annual sales forecast for the first time in a year, a signal that the Atlanta-based courier is regaining visibility into demand conditions after tumultuous trade policies muddied the picture last year. The company expects revenue of about $89.7 billion in 2026, compared with $87.95 billion anticipated by analysts.
“The results show strong execution with more to come in 2026 and 2027,” Stephanie Moore, an analyst at Jefferies Financial Group Inc., wrote in a note, according to Bloomberg.
The latest reductions at Amazon follow a job cuts announced in October, when Amazon said it was laying off 14,000 workers. While some Amazon units completed those “organizational changes” in October, others did not finish until now, Galetti said.
According to the AP report, she said U.S.-based staff would be given 90 days to look for a new role internally. Those who are unsuccessful or don’t want a new job will be offered severance pay, outplacement services and health insurance benefits, she said.
“While we’re making these changes, we’ll also continue hiring and investing in strategic areas and functions that are critical to our future,” Galetti said, according to the AP.
The layoffs announced Wednesday are Amazon’s biggest since 2023, when the company cut 27,000 jobs.
