Stamford-based Pitney Bowes to lay off about 1,000 workers
Move also includes shuttering several facilities across the U.S.
STAMFORD — After selling its struggling global e-commerce business, shipping-andmailing company Pitney Bowes is planning to lay off about 1,000 employees and close several facilities in the U.S., according to a review of public records.
Between mid-September and early November, according to Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notices sent to state officials in those states, the Stamford headquartered company plans to:
• Close its distribution center in Monroe, New Jersey, and lay off 413 employees there.
• Shutter its global e-commerce hubs in Bloomington and Stockton, California, and lay off a total of about 350 employees at those sites.
• Shut down its global ecommerce center in Canal Winchester, Ohio, and lay off 165 employees there.
• Close its distribution facility in Odenton, Maryland, and lay off 50 employees there.
• Lay off 14 employees in Austin and Irving, Texas.
A spokesperson for Pitney Bowes confirmed receiving Monday an inquiry from CT Insider about the reason for the layoffs, but did not immediately provide an on-the-record response.
Pitney officials had indicated that the offloading of the global e-commerce business would involve layoffs when they announced on Aug. 8 the sale of the unit to an affiliate of financial-services firm Hilco Global.
The latter will oversee the wind-down of the business.
“We understand the impact of this decision on all involved,” said Lance Rosenzweig, Pitney Bowes’ interim CEO, in an earnings call that day.
“But after years of unsustainable losses, these changes are essential to preserving the company as a whole and positioning the remaining business segments for future growth. We are providing severance payments and outplacement services to the GEC team to ease their transition.”
The company has not sent
any layoff notices this year to the Connecticut Department of Labor. However, that does not necessarily mean the company has not made any recent job cuts in Connecticut because not all layoffs have to be reported to the government.
Pitney had about 800 employees based in Connecticut as of last November, according to the most-recent in-state head count provided by the company.
Its operations in its home state include its headquarters at 3001 Summer St., a few blocks from downtown Stamford; an operations center in Shelton; and a center in Hartford for its Presort business, which focus on mail sortation.
Total head count at Pitney had been declining before the sale of the e-commerce business. The company had approximately 10,500 employees in 2023, compared with about 11,000 in 2022, according to its two most-recent annual reports. Across the previous two years, about 80 percent of employees were based in the U.S.
The company is now focusing on Presort and another business, SendTech, which provides shipping and mailing services. In the first half of this year, Pitney’s revenues ticked up about 1 percent year over year, to approximately $1.6 billion. The company recorded a nearly $28 million loss in the first half of this year, but that number improved upon an approximately $149 million loss in the first half of 2023.
Pitney’s longstanding financial struggles last year catalyzed the departure of long-serving CEO Marc Lautenbach and a boardroom shakeup.
After Lautenbach’s exit, longtime Pitney executive Jason Dies served as interim CEO for about seven months. In May, the company announced that Rosenzweig would take over as the next interim CEO. Rosenzweig previously served as CEO of support.com, a provider of customer and technical support solutions and security software.