United Parcel Service (UPS) announced its fourth quarter earnings report on Tuesday, Jan 27, before the market opened. But it was a double-edged surprise underscoring that a revenue beat can also come with a high cost: a massive secondary wave of 30,000 job cuts in operational roles in 2026 as part of a sweeping cost-reduction effort tied largely to Amazon.
While the parcel delivery giant beat expectations, people focused more on the company’s plan to reconfigure operations, reduce total operational hours, and cut a significant number of operational positions.
Investors looked beyond the job cuts and focused on the billions in savings as the company’s stock rose more than 3% intraday before settling at $107.20 at market close.
UPS Q4 earnings key takeaways:
- Consolidated revenue of $24.5 billion
- Diluted EPS of $2.10 and non-GAAP adjusted EPS of $2.38
- Quarterly dividend of $1.64
- Proposed job cuts: 30,000
- Retired its MD-11 aircraft during Q4, accelerating fleet modernization
In its 2026 guidance, UPS estimated capital expenditures of around $3 billion and dividend payments of around $5.4 billion.
The Amazon “glide-down” strategy
The parcel delivery company in October 2025 reported an ongoing decline in Amazon package volume and announced the elimination of 48,000 jobs during its 3Q 2025 earnings call. In total, we’re talking about 34,000 operational jobs and 14,000 of its management workforce.
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Now, in a second round of managing operations and cost-cutting measures, UPS plans another 30,000 layoffs. During the earnings call, the company’s CEO Carol Tomé, detailed the intended decline, as reported in the transcript on Investing.com
With this reduction, UPS will continue to resize its U.S. network and take out variable, semi-variable, and fixed costs.
Regarding variable costs, UPS intends to reduce its operational hours to roughly 25 million, including via job cuts. The reduction will be gradual, and the company expects to offer a “voluntary separation program for full-time drivers.”
Regarding fixed costs, UPS said it has identified 24 facilities for closure in the first half of 2026 and continues to evaluate additional sites later in the year.
The cuts come as Amazon itself continues to shrink parts of its corporate workforce and logistics, with news of impending layoffs that could affect as many as 14,000 positions.
Amazon also continues to shift its parcel delivery volumes in-house or to new partners like FedEx, while UPS reduced its reliance on Amazon owing to lower margins.
“2025 was a year of considerable progress for UPS as we took action to strengthen our revenue quality and build a more agile network. Looking ahead, upon completion of the Amazon glide-down, 2026 will be an inflection point in the execution of our strategy to deliver growth and sustained margin expansion.” Carol Tomé, CEO, UPS.
Related: Amazon delivers more bad news for workers before earnings