ATLANTA (AP) — Consumers are sending fewer, lighter packages, businesses are urgently trying to spend less on shipping orders, and it all spells bad news for UPS Inc.

The economic bellwether said yesterday its second-quarter profit plunged 49 percent and cautioned that its near-term outlook probably won't improve.

The story from smaller rival FedEx Corp. last month was even worse, as it faced some of the same challenges as UPS, but also accounted for hefty one-time charges and reported a sizable loss in its most recent quarter.

Both companies are tied to the well-being of the US economy since they deal with such basic indicators of company health as orders and product shipments.

If demand doesn't improve, that could mean more job cuts at UPS, which as of the end of the second quarter had shed 15,000 jobs, mostly through attrition, compared to the same time last year. The company has about 410,000 employees.

"We do see tremendous requests from our customers to bring their costs down," UPS' chief financial officer, Kurt Kuehn, said in a conference call with analysts.

Average daily volume in UPS' US domestic package segment declined 4.6 percent in the second quarter. Air volume was flat, while ground volume declined 5.4 percent. UPS said average daily international export volume fell 7.3 percent.

And package revenue per piece was down, partly due to lower fuel surcharges, which the company collects from customers, and a continuing trend toward lighter-weight packages.

UPS gave an outlook for the third quarter that was below Wall Street expectations, and executives said that while the economy may be bottoming out, the larger question is how long it stays at low levels before growing.

"I wouldn't call this a new normal," CEO Scott Davis said. "It will come back. Industrial production will grow again."

Atlanta-based UPS, also know as United Parcel Service, has seen weaker package volume due to cutbacks by businesses amid the US recession.