Amazon said on Tuesday it plans to lay off around 14,000 employees, marking another round of cost-cutting. The e-commerce giant explained that the redundancies aim to streamline operations and reduce bureaucracy while allowing greater investment in generative artificial intelligence (GenAI).
“This generation of artificial intelligence is the most revolutionary technology since the creation of the internet, enabling companies to innovate faster than ever before — both in existing markets and entirely new ones,” wrote Beth Galetti, Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Technology at Amazon.
According to CNBC, these will be the largest layoffs in Amazon’s history. Reuters, citing sources familiar with the matter, reports that the cuts could affect up to 30,000 employees.
The reductions primarily impact administrative, technology, and HR teams. The People eXperience and Technology division alone will lose around 15% of its workforce — approximately 1,500 people. Most of the layoffs concern offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
Logistics operations unaffected
Amazon has emphasised that logistics and warehouse operations will remain unaffected. On the contrary, the company plans to ramp up investment in automation, particularly in Europe.
In Germany, Amazon invested €14 billion last year, mainly in warehouse robotics. According to Rocco Bräuniger, head of Amazon Germany, the company’s workforce there has grown by 4,000 to around 40,000 employees in total.
AI transforms Amazon’s employment structure
Amazon says the staffing changes are part of an “AI-driven organisational transformation.” CEO Andy Jassy noted that artificial intelligence is fundamentally altering how work is done and reshaping the company’s employment structure:
“We will need fewer people performing today’s tasks, but more specialists developing the technologies of tomorrow.”
The company already uses more than 1,000 GenAI-based applications — from customer service automation and inventory optimisation to data analysis and software development.
Internal documents cited by US media suggest that expanding warehouse automation could eventually eliminate up to 600,000 jobs in the United States by 2033.
UPS slashes 34,000 jobs
The situation at UPS is different. The parcel delivery company has announced 34,000 job cuts — significantly more than the 20,000 initially expected — marking the largest restructuring in its history. UPS currently employs about 490,000 people worldwide.
The move is part of CEO Carol Tomé’s “Better Not Bigger” strategy, which prioritises profitability over volume growth. As part of this, UPS has reduced its business with Amazon by more than 50%. Company representatives say cooperation with the e-commerce giant “is no longer profitable.”
UPS is also implementing its “Network Reconfiguration and Efficiency Reimagined” programme, targeting $3.5 billion in savings by 2025. The plan includes network consolidation, facility closures and mergers — 93 buildings have already been taken off the map — as well as investment in automation to improve efficiency, though this is not the primary driver of the layoffs.
Currently, around 400 UPS centres are being partially or fully automated to reduce costs and shorten processing times. In its most advanced facility — UPS Velocity in Louisville, Kentucky — robots outnumber employees 15 to 1, boosting productivity by up to 300%.
This shows the direction UPS is taking, though the company stresses it does not aim to replace humans entirely.
During the first nine months of 2025, UPS achieved $2.2 billion in savings, and continues to focus on improving margins and operational efficiency. However, it also faces a challenging macroeconomic environment, including weaker consumer demand, cautious business spending, and rising costs linked to President Donald Trump’s trade policy.
Between AI and operational efficiency
Both Amazon and UPS illustrate how the global logistics and parcel delivery industry is undergoing a profound transformation. Amazon is betting on automation and AI, which are directly replacing some roles, while UPS is restructuring its network and business model to boost profitability and adapt to shifting market conditions.
Although their motivations differ, the direction is the same: greater efficiency, lower costs, and more intensive use of technology.
For the transport, shipping, and logistics (TSL) sector, the message is clear — the future of the labour market will depend less on scale, and more on adaptability to digital transformation, which is accelerating every year.
