UPS 3Q revenue drops nearly 15%

UPS on October 22 reported revenues of $11.2 billion for this year's third quarter, a year-over-year decline of 14.9% from last year's $13.1 billion.

The shipper also saw its average volume per day drop 3.9% from 14.9 million packages to 14.3 million. Operating profit during the third quarter dropped to $929 million from $1.63 billion last year, a decrease of 43%.

The numbers beat analysts' expectations, according to published reports.

Kurt Kuehn, UPS' CFO, said in a statement that the outlook for the rest of the year is unclear.

“Our customers have widely differing views on their outlook for the holiday season,” he said.

UPS reported in July that its second-quarter earnings fell 49%. The shipper's first-quarter revenues were $10.9 billion, 13.7% less than the same quarter of 2008.