Spooky season may be over, but it’s a scary year to be a UPS employee. In its third-quarter earnings call, the carrier announced that it has reduced its workforce by 48,000 year-over-year.

Today, we’re sharing which roles were trimmed, how the carrier intends to continue providing excellent service with a reduced staff, and how UPS’s loss can spark savings for you.

Q3 2025 Results Shock Wall Street

In its Q3 2025 earnings call, UPS announced $1.74 adjusted earnings per share— a major improvement from Wall Street’s expected $1.30. It also announced $21.4 billion in revenue—beating Wall Street’s $20.84 billion estimate.

How 20,000 Job Cuts Became 48,000

In April, UPS announced that it would strive to reduce its workforce by 20,000. UPS CEO Carol Tomé cited a glide down of its partnership with Amazon and a ramp up of automation in its facilities, saying, “With this reconfiguration, we will also lessen our dependency on labor, reduce the capital requirements needed to run the network.”

So how did we go from 20,000 lost jobs to double that amount? When the closure of 74 buildings didn’t reduce staff as expected, UPS expanded its buyout program from drivers to operations managers in August.

Since then, UPS has closed an additional 19 facilities and eliminated 48,000 roles, comprising 34,000 operational positions and 14,000 management roles.

Can UPS Keep Up?

Many of the job eliminations are in line with the planned glide-down of UPS’s partnership with Amazon. In the third quarter, it reduced its Amazon volume by 21.2%, up from a 13% reduction in the first half of the year. In tandem with the reduction in Amazon volume, UPS is also actively working to decrease its lower-yielding e-commerce volume. The future UPS envisions: less work, more money.

While the carrier is reducing its human workforce, it’s investing in the Network of the Future and has deployed additional automation in 35 facilities, with 7 more to be added in December. On the earnings call, Tomé said this move will “reduce reliance on seasonal hires and significantly cut back on leased trailers, vehicles, and aircraft.” This year, UPS expects 66% of parcels to be processed through an automated system during Q4, a 3% increase from Q4 2024.

How Can You Save During the UPS Reconfiguration?

UPS is cutting staff and automating processes. They’re doing less manual work and still raising rates. Doesn’t seem fair, does it?

ShipRx can help you even the playing field. When we conduct your free Savings Analysis, we’ll look at your current contract, identify savings, and guide you through the UPS contract negotiation process.

If you haven’t set up automatic parcel audits, you’re missing out on money you’re owed— and rewarding the carriers for their mistakes. In just a few minutes, you can set up parcel audits for free (no credit card required!). ShipRx automatically performs over 40 checks on every parcel sent, and most of our customers receive refunds of 2-3%. The cost? A small percentage of your recouped refunds.

Sign up for your free Savings Analysis today and discover how the changes at UPS can benefit your bottom line.