United Parcel Service, Inc. 401(k) match: 3% max
UPS 401(k) Savings Plan · UPS · CIK 1090727
Maximum employer match, as a share of pay
3%
United Parcel Service, Inc. matches 50% of the first 6% of pay.
From the Form 11-K filed June 18, 2026 ↗, covering the plan year ended December 31, 2025. Page data last updated July 28, 2026, when the Form 5500 bulk data was last refreshed. Why filings lag
On this page: what the employer actually paid in · the formula, word for word · when the money becomes yours · who can join · what the plan reports to the DOL · how it compares · what to do next
What UPS puts in, and what the plan costs
What UPS put into the plan, per active participant
$7,375
United Parcel Service, Inc. put $7,375 into this plan for each of its 84,091 active participants in plan year 2024. This is the whole employer side of the plan: matching money, profit sharing, non-elective and safe-harbor contributions, and reallocated forfeitures. The Form 5500 does not separate them, so this is what the employer put in and not the match.
UPS put in more per active participant than 89% of plans with 5,000+ participants in transportation and logistics. The middle plan in that group of 124 reported $1,783. Transportation and logistics comes from business code 484200, which UPS entered on its own Form 5500. Sponsors pick that code themselves, so a code that does not describe what the employer does ranks the plan against the wrong companies.
What this figure cannot separate: how much UPS pays, and how much it puts in
This is dollars, not a rate. A Form 5500 carries no payroll, so the figure reflects both how much the employer puts in and how much the employer pays: two plans running the same formula report different amounts when one pays better. Crossing the peer group with industry holds most of that difference still, and none of it disappears.
This is one plan year, not an average. A true-up, a plan merger or a one-off contribution moves a single year on its own.
Source: DOL Form 5500 for the plan year ended December 31, 2024, EIN 951732075, plan 004 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $7,375 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. United Parcel Service, Inc. also files a Form 11-K, which states the match formula for plan year 2025: the card below reads $1,485 a year at a $49,500 salary, and the same filing states employer contributions made outside the match. That second figure is what the formula pays one worker on that salary, and not an amount either filing reports. The two figures cover different plan years and measure different things, so neither one is the other one corrected.
What UPS puts in
$1,485
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The match paragraph, word for word
“Employer Contributions - UPS makes “SavingsPlus” (as defined in the Plan documents) matching contributions to each participant’s account equal to 50% of pre-tax and/or Roth 401(k) contributions made to the Plan up to 6% of eligible compensation. The SavingsPlus matching contributions for 2025 and 2024 were $129.290 million and $141.847 million, respectively.”
What you contribute to collect all of it
Contribute at least 6% of your pay to collect the full match.
That is $2,970 a year at a $49,500 salary, and it scales with your own.
Vesting score
100 out of 100
How fast the employer’s money becomes yours. Higher than 48% of the 253 schedules we have scored.
It measures vesting speed and nothing else. It says nothing about the size of the match, what the plan charges, or the funds inside it.
Share of the employer's money that is the worker's at hire and at each of the first 6 anniversaries: 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%. The score is the average of those 7 readings.
Vesting, word for word
“The Plan provides that a participant's contributions and SavingsPlus match are 100% vested at all times. Employees become 100% vested in the UPS Retirement Contribution after three complete years of service.”
The wait before the match starts and the year-end true-up appear above when the filing states them. Neither is part of the score, and a filing that is silent on one of them is not a plan without it.
What the plan costs, against plans of its size
70th percentile
$77.89 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, more expensive than 70% of plans with 5,000+ participants.
What is UPS' 401(k) match formula?
UPS' 401(k) employer match tops out at 3% of pay. One rate up to one limit is the commonest of the four shapes a match formula takes.
| Match formula | 50% of the first 6% of pay |
|---|---|
| Maximum employer match | 3% of compensation |
| Conditions | Effective January 1, 2025, participants must be employed on the last day of the period for which the contribution was made; to receive SavingsPlus Matching Contributions, participants must be employed on the last day of the calendar quarter |
| Other employer contribution | UPS Retirement Contribution: 3% to 8% of eligible pay based on years of vested service and business unit for employees not in the UPS Retirement Plan (5% to 8% effective January 1, 2023); participants hired or re-hired on or after January 1, 2025 receive 3% of eligible compensation regardless of years of service |
| Other employer contribution | UPS Transition Payments for certain participants hired before December 31, 2007 who were eligible participants in the UPS Retirement Plan |
At a $90,000 salary, contributing 6% ($5,400) earns the full employer match of $2,700 for the year.
UPS appears in our match-change tracker. We keep a dated page for each: UPS changed the rules of its 401(k) match, effective January 1, 2025, and UPS cut its 401(k) automatic enrollment default, effective January 1, 2025.
What the filing says, word for word
“Employer Contributions - UPS makes “SavingsPlus” (as defined in the Plan documents) matching contributions to each participant’s account equal to 50% of pre-tax and/or Roth 401(k) contributions made to the Plan up to 6% of eligible compensation. The SavingsPlus matching contributions for 2025 and 2024 were $129.290 million and $141.847 million, respectively.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 18, 2026, SEC EDGAR, corroborated by the filing's inline-XBRL facts · SEC ↗
What is UPS' 401(k) vesting schedule?
UPS vests the employer match immediately: 100% is yours as soon as it is paid in. Nothing is forfeited when you leave, which is not true of the two schedules that vest over time.
| Employer match vesting | Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed |
|---|---|
| Your own contributions | Immediate: always 100% yours |
| Other employer contributions | UPS Retirement Contribution is 100% vested after three complete years of service; for employees hired after December 31, 2024, 100% vested after three years of service or, if earlier, age 62 |
Vesting, word for word
“The Plan provides that a participant's contributions and SavingsPlus match are 100% vested at all times. Employees become 100% vested in the UPS Retirement Contribution after three complete years of service.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 18, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join UPS' 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
UPS enrolls new hires automatically at 3% of pay, rising 1% a year to 15% of pay.
| Plan entry | Eligible employees may participate in the Plan immediately upon hire |
|---|---|
| Excluded groups | Employees who are members of a collective bargaining unit (Plan established for employees of United Parcel Service of America, Inc. and certain subsidiaries who are not members of a collective bargaining unit) |
| Automatic enrollment | Yes: default deferral 3% of pay; auto-escalation +1%/yr to 15%; default investment: Age appropriate target date fund |
Eligibility, word for word
“Contributions and Vesting - Eligible employees may participate in the Plan immediately upon hire.”
Automatic enrollment, word for word
“The Plan includes an auto-enrollment provision whereby certain newly eligible employees are automatically enrolled in the Plan within 90 days of employment, unless they affirmatively elect not to participate in the Plan. Effective January 1, 2023, the deferral rate increases 1% annually until it reaches 15% of eligible compensation or is changed by the participant. Prior to January 1, 2025, automatically enrolled participants initially have their deferral rate set at 6% of pre-tax eligible compensation and their contributions invested in an age appropriate target date fund unless and until changed by the participant. Effective January 1, 2025, employees are automatically enrolled within 90 days of employment at a 3% pre-tax rate and contribution percentage will increase by 1% annually until the contribution reaches 15%.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 18, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What does the UPS plan report on Form 5500?
The UPS plan reported $14.2B in assets and 145,125 participants for plan year 2024.
| Total plan assets | $14,192,071,511 |
|---|---|
| Participants | 145,125 |
| Recordkeeper | Voya |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $77.89 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $77.89 per participant. The median across plans in transportation and logistics is $95.71, from the 1,843 of 1,926 whose Form 5500 yields a per-participant cost.
UPS 401(k) Savings Plan on its Form 5500 filing: fees, providers and financials
How does UPS' 401(k) match compare?
United Parcel Service, Inc.'s maximum 401(k) match of 3% of pay compares with a median of 4.5% across the 181 companies in our data with a computable formula.
Employers worth reading next
Of the six employers below, three file in transportation and logistics, two land near UPS' maximum match and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Also in transportation and logistics.
Maximum match 9.3% of pay. Also in transportation and logistics.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Also in transportation and logistics.
Maximum match 3% of pay, level with UPS.
Maximum match 3% of pay, level with UPS.
Maximum match 7% of pay. Vests immediately too, like UPS.
Compare United Parcel Service, Inc. with any company, side by side
What can you do next?
Check your own balance and contribution rate at Voya ↗, the recordkeeper this plan reports.
- Read the Form 11-K on SEC EDGAR ↗
Form 11-K filed June 18, 2026, SEC EDGAR. Every match fact on this page comes from it.
- Changed jobs? Find an old 401(k) ↗
The Department of Labor's Retirement Savings Lost & Found, a free government database.
- This year's IRS contribution limits ↗
The official deferral and catch-up limits every formula operates under.
- Download this data (CSV)
Formula, vesting and source references for this company, one file.
Questions this filing answers
What is United Parcel Service, Inc.'s 401(k) match?
United Parcel Service, Inc. matches 50% of employee contributions up to 6% of eligible pay (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
When does the United Parcel Service, Inc. 401(k) match vest?
Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed.
Does United Parcel Service, Inc.'s 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Yes: default deferral 3% of pay; auto-escalation +1%/yr to 15%; default investment: Age appropriate target date fund.
Cite: 401(k) Monitor, “United Parcel Service, Inc. 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0001628280-26-044378, plan year ended 2025-12-31.