UPS has rolled out a new structure for its U.S. sales team, resulting in layoffs and instances of friction for some customers, parcel spend consultants told Supply Chain Dive.
The revamp, first piloted in Chicago in 2024, has scaled to the entire U.S. as of January, Gene Pawlak, senior consultant of professional services at Shipware, said in an email. The changes resulted in two distinct sales roles: Business development managers that focus on securing new sales, and customer success managers that emphasize retaining and growing existing business, according to Pawlak, former director of revenue management at UPS.
The changes are part of regular adjustments the company makes "to keep pace with an always-evolving business landscape," UPS said in an emailed statement to Supply Chain Dive. The shakeup comes as the carrier navigates an increasingly competitive parcel delivery market and pushes to win business in more lucrative sectors like healthcare and small business.
“The updated structure sharpens the focus of our U.S. sales team, enabling them to build stronger customer relationships, better meet the needs of our customers and deliver the world‑class service they expect from UPS,” the carrier said.
UPS added that “a small number of employees were impacted” by the organizational adjustment but did not provide an exact figure. The company is providing severance packages and outplacement assistance for those affected.
Consultants told Supply Chain Dive that many of their clients have been assigned new sales representatives in recent months amid the transition, introducing some speed bumps in shipper-carrier relationships. Examples mentioned by the consultants include lengthier contract negotiations and more time needed to build knowledge, trust and rapport.
“It does leave customers in a frustrating stage when that happens, because they don't necessarily leave all ongoing negotiations in a good stage for the next person to pick up,” Mingshu Bates, AFS Logistics' chief analytics officer and president of parcel, said of changing sales reps in an interview.
The move is among an array of streamlining efforts UPS has rolled out in recent years, including the carrier's ongoing "Network Reconfiguration" consolidation plan. Through that plan, UPS has cut thousands of positions and closed sortation shifts at dozens of buildings to reduce costs as it adjusts to fewer packages brought in by Amazon.
“I think a big reason for this model is because they are trying to get much leaner on the sales side, mirroring what they've done in a lot of the reductions they've made on the operations side," Paul Yaussy, head of parcel contract intelligence at Loop, said in an email.
As employees and customers adjust to the new structure, UPS held a conference for its sales team earlier this month with the theme of "Reinvent. Rally. Rise." UPS VP of Global Strategic Sales Cassie Dyer wrote on LinkedIn the company "sharpened our edge for what's ahead” at the gathering.
But in the near term, the carrier will need to limit any realignment-based friction to ensure shippers don't consider other delivery options, experts told Supply Chain Dive.
“We expect customer sentiments will get worse over the first quarter and could lead to an opportunity for FedEx [to] initiate sales activities and pricing programs to capture new business during the disruption," Shipware's Pawlak said.
