FedEx, GXO and Pitney Bowes Cut Staff in Round of Logistics Layoffs

Glenn Taylor

Fri, Nov 15, 2024, 10:49 AM 4 min read

“We made the difficult decision to reduce a small number of positions as we streamline and realign functions,” said a FedEx spokesperson. “Decisions of this nature are never made lightly and are the result of much thought and consideration for the needs of our business. We are actively working with those affected by these changes to ensure they have the support they need during this transition.”

The company has not confirmed where the layoffs took place, or what positions are being affected.

As of May 31, the logistics giant had approximately 505,000 full-time and part-time employees, down 4.5 percent from 529,000 employees as of May 31, 2023.

FedEx is currently entrenched in a companywide “Drive” reorganization designed to save the company $6 billion in total by 2027. The consolidation plan integrated the company’s FedEx Ground, FedEx Express and FedEx Services units, while keeping its less-than-truckload (LTL) division FedEx Freight as a standalone segment.

The wider consolidation has led to the company to close various facilities throughout the year, resulting in hundreds of employees across distribution and delivery being let go.

Over the summer, FedEx Express reduced headcount in Europe, impacting between 1,700 and 2,000 employees across back-office and commercial functions.

During a September earnings call, FedEx CEO and president Rajesh Subramaniam alluded to prior layoffs, saying the company had been “maximizing staff efficiency at hubs and ramps” as part of the Drive program.

Chief financial officer John Dietrich followed that up by indicating more job cuts were on the horizon: “We’re going to continue to optimize our staffing and enhance efficiencies across all our segments.”

The layoffs come as FedEx further upgrades facilities on its home turf. Just two weeks ago, FedEx cut the ribbon on a new $1.5 billion sorting facility within its World Hub at Memphis International Airport.

The new 1.3 million-square-foot facility can handle approximately 56,000 packages per hour and has the capacity to sort more than 484,000 packages daily. The four-story “Secondary 25” building has 11 miles of conveyor belts and 460 chutes for sorting, scanning and delivering packages.

FedEx isn’t the only major logistics player slashing headcount. GXO and Pitney Bowes have both conducted a string of layoffs throughout 2024.

GXO, which already has laid off more than 500 employees this year, plans to cut another 384 by January. The cuts are across six facilities, all of which have closed or are shuttering.

“Periodically our customers make changes to their business that can impact operations at some sites,” said a GXO spokesperson. “Wherever possible we work with our employees to support their transition to other roles within the organization or to other opportunities in the area when the need arises.”

According to Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) notices in the states, GXO laid off 192 employees in Groveport, Ohio in January, and another 46 in Ames, Iowa in February. In March, the company laid off 69 employees in Fairburn, Ga., and let go 211 in Memphis throughout that month and April.

During a 14-day period starting on Dec. 31, GXO plans to lay off 41 employees in Avon, N.Y. and 343 more in Bloomington, Calif.

And Pitney Bowes has seen the largest employee purge of the bunch, eliminating 2,300 positions in the third quarter. The shipping and mailing company incurred $30.4 million in severance payments due to the layoffs, according to a third quarter earnings report.

The layoffs are part of Pitney Bowes’ larger cost reduction initiative introduced in May, which now has an updated target to save $150 million to $170 million in costs.

Pitney Bowes won’t be done with the job cuts for multiple quarters.

“We anticipate incurring additional charges in future periods related to further workforce reductions and expect to substantially complete these actions by the end of the first half of 2025,” the Nov. 8 earnings report said.

This cost-savings plan does not include the more than 1,200 employees of Pitney Bowes’ former Global Ecommerce unit, which was sold off in August to Hilco Global to be liquidated.

Pitney Bowes cut 367 jobs in the second quarter in the cost rationalization plan’s initial rollout.

The combined headcount reduction across Pitney Bowes and its former e-commerce branch would represent more than one-third of the 10,500 employees that worked at Pitney Bowes as of Dec. 31, 2023.

Terms and Privacy Policy

Your Privacy Choices

Utah Privacy Notice

More Info

News

Life

Entertainment

Finance

Sports

New on Yahoo

Yahoo Finance

In This Article:

Recommended Stories