UPS cuts seasonal hiring by 9% as package volume falls 3.3%

UPS announced it will hire about 9% fewer seasonal workers this year compared with last year, according to a Reuters report. The company also said it reduced its seasonal workforce by 15,000 positions in 2025, according to its annual report.

UPS’s U.S. average daily package volume fell 3.3% year-over-year in the second quarter, as the company completed its planned cut of lower‑yielding Amazon business. Revenue per package rose 9.3% over the same period, driven by higher prices and a more profitable customer mix. The firm’s global workforce stands at roughly 460,000 employees, according to its own release. The seasonal hiring cut is part of UPS’s broader strategy to reduce shipments for Amazon and focus on more profitable deliveries.

“the company is attempting to rebuild the economics of parcel delivery around a different formula of less low-return volume, more automation, and a technology layer that makes its physical network visible and adaptable in real time,” UPS CEO Carol Tomé, CEO said.

Last year UPS hired more than 125,000 seasonal workers for the holiday season, according to an October 2024 company article. In its 2025 annual report, the company reported cutting 15,000 seasonal positions for that year.

What we know

These seasonal employees will join UPS’s global workforce that numbers around 460,000, according to the release.
The number of seasonal employees UPS plans to hire this year is about 9% fewer than last year, Reuters reported Wednesday.
In its 2025 annual report, UPS said it reduced its number of seasonal positions by 15,000 in 2025.
PYMNTS reported in July that UPS’s second-quarter earnings showed that the company’s U.S. average daily package volume declined 3.3% from a year earlier as UPS completed its planned reduction of lower-yielding Amazon business.
At the same time, UPS’s revenue per package rose 9.3%, supported by stronger pricing and a more favorable mix of customers.