UPS to cut 12,000 jobs as market downturn bites
31 / 01 / 2024
Photo: viper-zero/ Shutterstock
UPS has announced it will cut more than 12,000 jobs as part of efforts to reduce costs in light of continuing market weakness.
The express giant’s chief executive Carol Tomé said the job cuts would save the company $1bn per year. UPS is also considering selling its Coyote truck brokerage business.
Most of the job cuts – 75% – will come in the first half of the year and will largely target management positions, which represent around 85,000 of the firm’s total employee base of 495,000.
Some contractors will also be leaving the company, Tomé said.
The news of the job cuts followed the announcement of the firm’s “disappointing” quarter-four and full-year results.
“2023 was a unique and, quite candidly, a difficult and disappointing year,” said Tomé. “We experienced declines in volume, revenue, and operating profit in all three of our business segments.”
“Some of this performance was due to the macro environment, and some of it was due to the disruption associated with our labour contract negotiation, as well as higher costs associated with the new contract.”
The express giant yesterday announced consolidated revenues of $24.9bn in the fourth quarter of last year, a 7.8% decrease from the fourth quarter of 2022.
Meanwhile, consolidated operating profit was $2.5bn, down 22.5% compared to the fourth quarter of 2022.
Chief financial officer Brian Newman said the company faced soft demand and overcapacity in the US and internationally.
He said that soft demand continued to pressure volumes out of Asia and in Europe several key economies remained in recession. International airfreight volumes were down despite a mid-quarter spike in e-commerce.
