Dive Brief:
- FedEx will close four North Carolina and South Carolina facilities on Sept. 3, impacting 310 employees, according to Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notices filed this month.
- The company is shutting down three Ship Centers in the South Carolina cities of West Columbia, Florence and Myrtle Beach, plus another Ship Center in Conover, North Carolina, as it continues to consolidate its network footprint to save costs and increase efficiency.
- FedEx said in an emailed statement to Supply Chain Dive that it will offer some affected employees opportunities at other nearby locations, and the company is providing relocation assistance or severance where applicable.
FedEx laying off employees at 4 locations
| Facility location | Impacted employees |
|---|---|
| Conover, North Carolina | 69 |
| West Columbia, South Carolina | 134 |
| Florence, South Carolina | 50 |
| Myrtle Beach, South Carolina | 57 |
Source: Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notices
Dive Insight:
The layoffs come in the thick of FedEx's Network 2.0 initiative, consolidating its separate Express and Ground networks to reduce the number of stations and delivery routes it uses. By cutting facilities and routes that overlap with others, FedEx can get packages to customers in a more efficient manner.
But FedEx's push to right-size its network is leading to many company couriers losing their jobs. For example, the Conover closure coming in September will impact 66 couriers, although some workers will remain employed at other locations.
"Decisions of this nature are never made lightly, and are the result of much thought and consideration for the needs of our business," FedEx said in its statement.
The majority of employees impacted by two Ship Center closures in Colorado and Ohio last year were couriers as well, as was the case with earlier closures in Texas, Georgia and Mississippi.
In a March earnings call, FedEx Executive Vice President and CFO John Dietrich said the company has trimmed its employee ranks by nearly 22,000 over the past year.
FedEx's layoffs aren't limited to the U.S. The company is planning to cut up to 2,000 back-office and commercial jobs in Europe as part of a cost-savings push in the region.
