UPS is temporarily closing shop at a customer center in Baltimore in a move that impacts hundreds of employees.
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The customer center will shutter Aug. 23, which could result in the axing of up to 540 employees, according to a Work Adjustment and Retraining Notification ( WARN ) Notice that UPS filed June 20 with the Maryland Department of Labor.
UPS expects an “enhanced” version of the Baltimore facility to reopen in late 2025, according to a company statement.
“Our employees are extremely important to us, and we are working to place as many employees as possible in other positions at our onsite temporary hub or in nearby facilities,” the statement read. “We remain committed to working with them throughout this transition and providing support. This temporary closure won’t impact customer service and we have plans in place to continue servicing the Baltimore community.”
It is unclear how many employees UPS will be laying off, and how many will be placed in other facilities.
The parcel delivery company already laid off 118 employees at the location in March upon cutting a package sorting shift. The layoffs come a year after 340,000 unionized employees at the parcel delivery company received a new five-year contract , which wages and benefits increasing by an average 3.3 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the deal’s duration.
Unlike UPS Store locations, which are owned by franchisees, customer centers are UPS-owned and staffed. The sites, which function as distribution facilities for the company, are designed to assist shoppers with shipping any UPS international, air or ground package shipment.
The shutdown and ensuing job cuts are part of UPS’ wider “Network of the Future” reorganization, which is designed to save $3 billion in costs by the end of 2028. The Atlanta-based logistics giant plans to lay off 12,000 employees throughout 2024 as part of the changes, and is prepping to permanently close 200 facilities in the process.
Both the permanent and temporary closures, like the Baltimore facility, are part of a wider consolidation of its logistics network designed to flow more volume into automated warehouses.
For example, a similar situation to the Baltimore scenario is said to be underway in Worcester, Mass., in which UPS plans to replace the facility with a larger one that will allow work from four regional center to be consolidated in one place. With UPS focusing more on automation deployments throughout its network, the company has acknowledged that it doesn’t expect the roles eliminated in 2024 to come back.
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Another example of the changes at UPS comes from the company’s recent $1 billion sale of its struggling freight brokerage, Coyote Logistics, to RXO. Coyote had been hit heavily by the freight recession that has persisted since late 2022 due to overall weaker consumer demand, plummeting freight rates and excess capacity—giving the restructuring UPS more incentive to cut ties.
UPS sold off the brokerage for nearly $800 million less than when it acquired the company back in 2015.
Although it hasn’t been smooth sailing for UPS throughout the freight recession, with the company most recently seeing first-quarter revenues dip 5.3 percent to $21.7 billion and declining daily volumes across domestic and international packages, the firm is projecting a return to positive volume and revenue growth in the 2024 second half.
C.H. Robinson lays off North American sales members
C.H. Robinson is also conducting layoffs at its North American Surface Transportation (NAST) division, which covers the logistics provider’s services including truckload, less than truckload, intermodal and domestic air.
A company spokesperson confirmed to Sourcing Journal that “roughly 1 percent of NAST roles were impacted in recent weeks as a part of a restructuring to ignite growth and provide greater opportunity for sales employees.”
The spokesperson did not provide a total number of employees laid off.
While C.H. Robinson doesn’t specifically break out individual employment totals by department, the third-party logistics (3PL) company said in its annual report that average employee headcount across 2023 was 6,469, down 12.2 percent from 7,365.
A report from FreightWaves said 80 of the firm’s remaining 150 U.S. sales representatives were impacted by the job cuts.
The trucking brokerage has seen six straight quarters of declines in total workforce, with total headcount reaching 14,734 as of March 31.
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