UPS · 10-Q · 2026Q3 · Full report

Market Demand Trends

UNITED PARCEL SERVICE INC · 2026-11-04 · Importance 37 · Surprise 32

Average daily package volume in global small package operations decreased 4.2% in the third quarter and 5.2% year to date, with declines primarily reflecting the planned reduction from UPS’s largest customer, revenue-quality actions affecting certain e-commerce customers, and trade-policy changes on international trade lanes. U.S. Domestic Package volume fell 3.3% in the quarter, while International Package volume fell 8.7%. SMBs using the Digital Access Program (DAP) continued to contribute package-volume growth, partially offsetting those declines.

Key facts

• UPS total U.S. import average daily volume decreased in both periods as trade-policy changes, including de minimis exclusions, affected demand and shipping patterns; the impact began to moderate in September. source
• UPS's average daily package volume decreased 4.2% in the third quarter of 2026 and 5.2% in the first nine months. source
• UPS U.S. Domestic business-to-consumer volume decreased 2.1% in the third quarter and 5.4% year to date, partly offset by technology and healthcare growth. source
• UPS U.S. Domestic business-to-business volume decreased 4.7% in the third quarter and 4.3% year to date, primarily driven by retail and partly offset by technology growth. source
• UPS U.S. Domestic air average daily volume decreased 6.7% in the third quarter and 6.0% year to date, driven by largest-customer reductions and partly offset by SMB and healthcare growth. source
• UPS U.S. Domestic ground average daily volume decreased 2.7% in the third quarter and 4.8% year to date, partly offset by residential volume growth from SMB customers. source
• UPS attributed its 2026 results to a complex macroeconomic environment, including evolving trade policies, fuel-price impacts and network costs arising from the Middle East conflict. source
• UPS global small package average daily volume decreased in the third quarter and year to date due primarily to planned largest-customer reductions, revenue-quality actions affecting some e-commerce customers, and trade-policy changes; SMB growth through DAP partly offset declines. source