UPS cuts 34,000 jobs in the year to date as its turnaround continues

A United Parcel Service truck (Gene J Puskar/AP)

United Parcel Service posted third-quarter results that beat Wall Street’s expectations and gave details about its turnaround efforts, including approximately 34,000 job cuts.

Shares surged more than 12% before the market opened on Tuesday.

UPS earned 1.31 billion dollars for the three months ended September 30. The Atlanta-based company earned 1.99 billion dollars a year earlier.

Revenue totalled 21.42 billion dollars, surpassing Wall Street’s estimates.

UPS said in a regulatory filing that it has cut about 34,000 positions and closed daily operations at 93 leased and owned buildings during the first nine months of this year as part of its turnaround plan.

The company said that it is still looking to identify additional buildings to close.

In April, UPS announced that it was looking to slash about 20,000 jobs and close more than 70 facilities as it drastically reduces the number of Amazon shipments it handles.

At the time, the company said that it anticipated closing 73 leased and owned buildings by the end of June. The company noted that it was still reviewing its network and might identify more buildings to be shuttered.

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

During UPS’ fourth-quarter earnings conference call in January, CEO Carol Tome said that the company had partnered with Amazon for almost 30 years and that when its contract came up this year, UPS decided to reassess the relationship.

UPS has realised cost savings of approximately 2.2 billion dollars as of September 30. It anticipates achieving 3.5 billion dollars total year over year cost savings in 2025.