Last month, UPS offered its full-time drivers an opportunity to participate in a voluntary buyout program.

So, how’s it going? In UPS’s Q2 2025 earnings call, Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President Brian Dykes referenced the carrier’s goal of minimizing its expenses this year by reducing staff, saying, “the driver separation package is a lever for us to get to the $3.5 billion.” CEO Carol Tomé continued on, saying, “It's early days on the driver buyout, but so far, it's progressing as we would expect. “

Despite their hopeful comments, the earnings call revealed that UPS’s plan to reduce staff through the closure of 74 buildings didn’t go as expected. Tomé said that the “attrition rate was lower than we anticipated, which resulted in higher expense than we planned.”

It’s always good to have a backup plan when things don’t go as expected. This year, UPS has had to implement many backup plans. To ensure its cost-cutting goals are realized, the carrier recently expanded its buyout program to include eligible operations managers.

Today, we’ll tell you what we know about the latest buyout and how UPS’s actions indicate that now is the time to negotiate your parcel contract.

What We Know About the UPS Operations Managers Buyout

UPS announced in February that it would decrease its Amazon volume by 50% as part of its network reconfiguration. By reducing this low-cost, high-volume partnership, UPS will be better able to serve customers who pay a premium—but they’re not there yet. In its earnings call, Dykes shared that the “US domestic generated revenue of $14.1 billion, which was down slightly to last year, mainly due to the decline in Amazon revenue, which was partially offset by increases in air cargo and revenue per piece.”

To counteract the lower-than-expected attrition resulting from building closures and reduced revenue, UPS expanded the deadline for driver buyouts from July 31 to August 14 and introduced a buyout package for operations managers.

Supply Chain Dive broke the story after seeing an employee communication announcing a voluntary separation package for select US operations managers. Eligible employees can apply for the buyout between August 26 and September 9, with separation to commence between September 10, 2025, and July 31, 2026.

If the applications exceed the maximum number required, UPS will approve those with the longest tenure first.