August 26, 2025
Welcome to another month in which logistics feels more like a demolition derby than a well-oiled machine. UPS axed 62 Dallas workers and shuttered facilities in three states, truck sales cratered in Q2, USPS jacked up holiday rates, and FedEx’s freight spinoff is threatening bundled deals by June 2026. Meanwhile, carriers everywhere slap AI Band-Aids on broken systems, leaving more questions than answers. Of course, we see this environment as a glass half full. So, buckle up and read on.
What can Brown do for you? Clearly, not much these days when it comes to keeping workers employed. UPS just shuttered facilities across Texas, Arkansas, and North Carolina, leaving employees out in the cold while trying to spin the cuts as smart “network optimization.”
Dallas took the biggest hit with 62 workers getting pink slips at the Monroe Drive facility, where UPS axed an entire day shift starting August 5. Pocahontas, Arkansas, got shuttered completely on August 8, though UPS stays tight-lipped about how many jobs vanished there. Wilmington, North Carolina, gets the boot on September 23, with packages rerouting to a newer facility that can handle more volume. These fresh cuts pile onto earlier casualties: 99 Charlotte workers lost jobs in May, and 177 New Orleans employees got the axe in July.
UPS executives paint this downsizing spree as part of their ambitious plan to eliminate 200 sortation centers over five years while pumping facilities full of automation. The real kicker? They expect to slash 20,000 positions total after ditching half their Amazon business and chasing higher-margin customers. Volume growth flatlined for nearly two years, so UPS decided that quality beats quantity. They’re even sweetening voluntary separation packages for van drivers, though uptake remains disappointingly low. Translation: More cuts are likely coming, and drivers may want to look for better opportunities.
Trucking companies had a rough second quarter. And needless to say, executives industrywide delivered earnings calls that sounded more like eulogies as new truck orders hit multiyear lows and uncertainty choked demand.
Class 8 orders in June plummeted to just 8,900 units — down 25% from May and a 36% drop from the previous year. July bounced back slightly to 12,700 units but still fell 7% year over year, leaving the 12-month cycle down 15% overall. Cummins CEO Jennifer Rumsey dropped the hammer with predictions of North American heavy- and medium-duty truck volumes declining 25% to 30% sequentially in Q3. Even Daimler, which posted a solid 12.9% return on sales, watched unit sales crater 20% and sold 135,000 trucks in North America — down 7% from last year.
Between looming 80% NOx emission reductions by 2027, tariff uncertainties, and regulatory flip-flopping, truck buyers face a minefield of variables. Wabash National’s CEO, Brent Yeagy, warned that despite 95% domestic sourcing, price adjustments for 2026 orders look inevitable. This chaos perfectly illustrates why leasing beats owning when markets turn volatile — let someone else deal with the dirty work as you maintain flexibility to pivot when conditions change.
Just when you thought shipping costs couldn’t climb any higher, the U.S. Postal Service decided to give your peak season budget an early Christmas present — a rate hike. From October 5 through January 18, 2026, USPS will increase prices across Ground Advantage, Priority Mail, and Priority Mail Express services.
Ground Advantage customers face an average 5.2% increase, with retail rates climbing 5.1% and commercial rates hitting 5.3%. Priority Mail users get walloped harder with 5.6% average hikes — retail customers pay 5.8% more while commercial shippers catch a slight break at 5.2%. Priority Mail Express follows the same pattern: 5.6% average increases, with retail customers getting hammered at 5.7% and commercial rates rising 4.9%. Parcel Select rounds out the pain at 5.6% across the board.
USPS expects these rate bumps to generate roughly $99.5 million in additional revenue and help new Postmaster General David Steiner improve the agency’s perpetually struggling financial outlook. The postal service justifies the increases by claiming they cover extra holiday handling costs and align with “competitive practices” — corporate speak for “everyone else charges more, so why shouldn’t we?”
FedEx plans to carve out its trucking unit into a separate company by June 2026, and the move could blow up bundled shipping contracts that have kept customers locked into premium LTL rates. Smart shippers should start eyeing LTL alternatives now, because once those cozy discount deals disappear, they’ll discover just how much they’ve been overpaying for the “Cadillac treatment.”
FedEx currently ties most smaller customers into bundled agreements in which LTL spending fuels discounts on parcel deliveries, creating earned discounts based on gross revenue from both services combined. But the company already started targeting contracts with significant LTL volume, pushing shippers to separate their freight and parcel arrangements before the June 2026 spinoff deadline. EVP Brie Carere admitted the small customer strategy will get “slightly nuanced” because FedEx has heavily leveraged these bundled discount programs. Customers who relied on LTL volume to subsidize their parcel rates face a rude awakening.
The LTL industry calls FedEx Freight the “Cadillac of all LTL providers,” but customers pay premium prices for that luxury treatment. Once bundled discounts disappear, parcel-heavy shippers with minimal freight volume become prime candidates to explore cheaper LTL alternatives and pocket real savings. Supply chain experts have simple advice: Figure out how your current spending breaks down, renegotiate your parcel rates to make up for lost bundling perks, and start shopping around. Plenty of LTL alternatives deliver solid service without the price tag.
Everyone’s talking about artificial intelligence revolutionizing logistics. However, most carriers still treat AI like digital duct tape, like slapping chatbots and route optimizers onto creaky old systems and calling it transformation. The companies getting AI right aren’t chasing shiny new tools; they’re building the connected infrastructure that makes smart technology work.
Carriers love quick AI wins: chatbots for customer service, document scanners for paperwork, and route optimization for dispatchers. These tools help, but they operate like isolated islands. Chatbots can’t access real-time delivery data. Document scanning requires manual follow-up when integration fails. Third-party routing tools freeze up when conditions change mid-journey. Each solution delivers value individually while creating new data silos. While modern transportation management systems can learn that a specific driver consistently takes seven extra minutes at particular stops due to parking challenges, and automatically adjust future schedules without human input, bolt-on AI solutions can’t access that kind of integrated intelligence.
Real AI progress happens when AI stops putting out fires and starts preventing them. Instead of chasing every flashy new feature, smart companies build systems that talk to each other and spot problems before they happen. That means dispatchers aren’t constantly scrambling to fix breakdowns, customer service gets ahead of issues instead of always playing catch-up, and teams can focus on real challenges instead of boring routine fixes. It’s not about using AI for AI’s sake — it’s about having a set purpose for it and using it where it makes your life and job easier.
While industry titans slash jobs, crater sales, and jack up rates, the logistics world demands solutions that deliver. At FRAYT, we’ve built a network of over 42,000 professional drivers across 150+ markets to prove that reliable middle mile and last mile delivery doesn’t require drama or premium pricing.
From the middle mile to the last mile, we will be with you every step of the way. Sign up with FRAYT now and watch your supply chain transform from good to great.
