Subject: AI is only an excuse
The usual narrative:

Everyone thinks AI is replacing factory workers, but Amazon’s layoffs show it’s coming for middle management first

https://fortune.com/2025/10/29...

The Steelcase dealer I worked for after I was laid off from Office Depot, had a RIF every year. The first people to be tossed were the middle managers, while most low level people, who actually got the work done, were retained. This was 25 years ago, before "everyone" was buzzing about "AI".

Now, the "big board" companies start to catch on, and get rid of the middle management drones, while AI provides a convenient excuse. The simple truth is, in my experience, middle managers don't do much, but kiss the honcho's rear.

UPS axes 48,000 workers in sweeping cost-cut push, sparking stock surge

UPS said 34,000 of the cuts hit drivers and warehouse operations, while 14,000 targeted management.

https://nypost.com/2025/10/28/...

Exclusive: Amazon targets as many as 30,000 corporate job cuts, sources say

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is undertaking an initiative to reduce what he has described as an excess of bureaucracy, including by reducing the number of managers. He installed an anonymous complaint line for identifying inefficiencies that has elicited some 1,500 responses and over 450 process changes, he said earlier this year.

https://www.reuters.com/busine...

Steve