Mark Solomon joined DC VELOCITY as senior editor in August 2008, and was promoted to his current position on January 1, 2015. He has spent more than 30 years in the transportation, logistics and supply chain management fields as a journalist and public relations professional. From 1989 to 1994, he worked in Washington as a reporter for the Journal of Commerce, covering the aviation and trucking industries, the Department of Transportation, Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to that, he worked for Traffic World for seven years in a similar role. From 1994 to 2008, Mr. Solomon ran Media-Based Solutions, a public relations firm based in Atlanta. He graduated in 1978 with a B.A. in journalism from The American University in Washington, D.C.
UPS Inc. and leaders of the Teamsters Union late last night reached tentative five-year labor
contracts covering nearly 250,000 unionized employees at UPS and the company's less-than-truckload (LTL) unit, UPS Freight.
The tentative agreements, which still must be ratified by the rank-and-file, covers about 240,000 Teamster members working
in Atlanta-based UPS' small-package operations and another 10,000 to 12,000 union workers at UPS Freight. Combined, it represents
the largest collective-bargaining agreement in North America.
In a statement last night, the Teamsters said union representatives from UPS and UPS Freight will soon meet
to review the respective agreements. Following that, ballots will be sent to members who will then vote by mail.
The results are expected by mid-June, the union said.
The tentative agreements come slightly more than three months before the scheduled July 31 expiration dates of
both contracts. If ratified by the members, the new contracts will take effect Aug. 1.
Each side was eager to get the deals done long before their deadlines. The first formal communication
over the contracts took place last August, much earlier than it has in the past.
In its statement, the Teamsters said UPS and UPS Freight workers will receive "substantial pay raises," and
the company will spend more on its pension and health and welfare contributions. Included in the UPS tentative
agreement is a "significant increase" in the starting wage rate for part-time small-package workers, the union said.
The union would not disclose any specifics. DC Velocity reported in late March that the union, which had proposed a
five-year contract, sought a $1-per-hour wage increase in each of the contract years and a $1.50-per-hour annual
increase from current levels to cover pension and health benefits. The current contract, reached in 2007, calls
for a $1 an hour annual increase in the company's contribution benefits.
The union also proposed at the time an increase in part-time starting pay to $15 an hour from the current $8.50 an hour.
The tentative agreement requires UPS to create more than 2,000 full-time jobs over the life of the contract by
combining part-time positions into full-time slots. First included in the 1997 contract signed after the Teamsters shut down
UPS for 15 days that summer with a nationwide strike, the language had required the company to create 20,000 full-time jobs
between 1998 and 2008. The Teamsters, and in particular the dissident group Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), have said
UPS has not done all it could in the past 15 years to create that many full-time positions.
Under the UPS Freight tentative agreement, workers will make lower co-payments for health insurance, and
part-time workers will have the "ability" to become full-timers, according to the Teamster statement. All
laid-off UPS Freight road drivers will be put back to work, a provision the union said will settle the issue
of management's practice of subcontracting out driving duties. Ken Paff, national organizer for TDU, said in
an interview earlier this year that UPS subcontracts about half of UPS Freight's driving duties and subcontracts
over-the-road service for the small-package unit, although not as much.
The proposed agreement shifts 140,000 small-package workers to Teamster-controlled health plans from
company-sponsored plans, according to the union statement. The move maintains "current strong benefits"
for all UPS Teamsters, the union said.
Health care had become a wedge issue during the talks. Ken Hall, head of the Teamsters' small-package division,
vowed repeatedly that active unionized UPS employees would not pay anything toward their health insurance premiums.
As of today, there has been no comment on what operational changes, if any, have come from the agreements. Of note is
UPS' "SurePost" program, where it tenders parcels to the U.S. Postal Service for "last-mile" delivery from the local post
office to mostly residential destinations. The program, designed for e-commerce shipments from online merchants to residences,
is an inexpensive way for businesses to reach the largest number of residential addresses with orders for online merchandise.
SurePost has gained significant traction since the last UPS-Teamster contract in 2007, mirroring the explosive rise of e-commerce
since then.
The post-holiday demand for deliveries to support e-commerce, both in forward and reverse shipping patterns, helped
drive solid increases in UPS' first-quarter domestic package volume, revenue, and profit results, the company said when
it released its quarterly numbers yesterday.
In January, Hall demanded that UPS propose language that would protect Teamsters jobs in return for the union's
continued cooperation with the program. Paff said at the time that much of the work is done by low-paid sorters and
loaders who build pallets, each containing hundreds of packages, for delivery by UPS drivers to the closest local post
office. Paff said the union doesn't want to end the program but have more of a role in the transportation component of it.
In separate statements, the heads of each group lauded the agreements. "These agreements are a 'win-win-win' for our people,
customers, and shareholders," said Scott Davis, UPS chairman and CEO. "The fact that we have reached agreements well before our
current contracts expire is a testament to the skills and determination of all those involved in these negotiations."
"These tentative agreements are shining examples to the entire country of a hugely successful company that thrives because
of its unionized workers," said James P. Hoffa, Teamster general president.
FLURRY OF ACTIVITY
The announcement caps a busy week for UPS. Besides reporting its quarterly results, the company announced Wednesday
that it planned to buy 700 tractors fueled by liquefied natural gas (LNG) over the next 20 months. The vehicles, which
run on fuel believed to be 30 to 40 percent cheaper than traditional diesel, will perform local pickups and operate between
UPS hubs in 10 states, the company said.
The planned purchase adds to the 112 LNG-powered vehicles UPS already has in its fleet. UPS did not say how much it will
spend for the rigs or who will be the manufacturer. Cummins Inc. will supply the engines, according to a UPS spokeswoman.
UPS will also spend $18 million to build LNG refueling stations in Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis, Tenn., as well as Dallas.
UPS already has five LNG refueling facilities in its U.S. network.
On Thursday, UPS said it acquired CEMELOG Zrt, a Hungarian pharmaceutical logistics company, for an undisclosed sum. The
transaction, expected to close by the end of June, puts UPS in the Eastern and Central European health care segment for the
first time. Up until now, UPS served the region's health care market through its main health care distribution campus in the
Netherlands and its own transportation network.
The CEMELOG purchase is the first European health care acquisition UPS has made since late 2011, when it acquired the
Italian firm Pieffe.
The acquisition adds 255,000 square feet of health care distribution space to UPS's current European network, the company
said. Worldwide, UPS operates 41 health care distribution facilities with 6.4 million square feet of capacity.
Autonomous forklift maker Cyngn is deploying its DriveMod Tugger model at COATS Company, the largest full-line wheel service equipment manufacturer in North America, the companies said today.
By delivering the self-driving tuggers to COATS’ 150,000+ square foot manufacturing facility in La Vergne, Tennessee, Cyngn said it would enable COATS to enhance efficiency by automating the delivery of wheel service components from its production lines.
“Cyngn’s self-driving tugger was the perfect solution to support our strategy of advancing automation and incorporating scalable technology seamlessly into our operations,” Steve Bergmeyer, Continuous Improvement and Quality Manager at COATS, said in a release. “With its high load capacity, we can concentrate on increasing our ability to manage heavier components and bulk orders, driving greater efficiency, reducing costs, and accelerating delivery timelines.”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it follows another deployment of DriveMod Tuggers with electric automaker Rivian earlier this year.
The “2024 Year in Review” report lists the various transportation delays, freight volume restrictions, and infrastructure repair costs of a long string of events. Those disruptions include labor strikes at Canadian ports and postal sites, the U.S. East and Gulf coast port strike; hurricanes Helene, Francine, and Milton; the Francis Scott key Bridge collapse in Baltimore Harbor; the CrowdStrike cyber attack; and Red Sea missile attacks on passing cargo ships.
“While 2024 was characterized by frequent and overlapping disruptions that exposed many supply chain vulnerabilities, it was also a year of resilience,” the Project44 report said. “From labor strikes and natural disasters to geopolitical tensions, each event served as a critical learning opportunity, underscoring the necessity for robust contingency planning, effective labor relations, and durable infrastructure. As supply chains continue to evolve, the lessons learned this past year highlight the increased importance of proactive measures and collaborative efforts. These strategies are essential to fostering stability and adaptability in a world where unpredictability is becoming the norm.”
In addition to tallying the supply chain impact of those events, the report also made four broad predictions for trends in 2025 that may affect logistics operations. In Project44’s analysis, they include:
More technology and automation will be introduced into supply chains, particularly ports. This will help make operations more efficient but also increase the risk of cybersecurity attacks and service interruptions due to glitches and bugs. This could also add tensions among the labor pool and unions, who do not want jobs to be replaced with automation.
The new administration in the United States introduces a lot of uncertainty, with talks of major tariffs for numerous countries as well as talks of US freight getting preferential treatment through the Panama Canal. If these things do come to fruition, expect to see shifts in global trade patterns and sourcing.
Natural disasters will continue to become more frequent and more severe, as exhibited by the wildfires in Los Angeles and the winter storms throughout the southern states in the U.S. As a result, expect companies to invest more heavily in sustainability to mitigate climate change.
The peace treaty announced on Wednesday between Isael and Hamas in the Middle East could support increased freight volumes returning to the Suez Canal as political crisis in the area are resolved.
The French transportation visibility provider Shippeo today said it has raised $30 million in financial backing, saying the money will support its accelerated expansion across North America and APAC, while driving enhancements to its “Real-Time Transportation Visibility Platform” product.
The funding round was led by Woven Capital, Toyota’s growth fund, with participation from existing investors: Battery Ventures, Partech, NGP Capital, Bpifrance Digital Venture, LFX Venture Partners, Shift4Good and Yamaha Motor Ventures. With this round, Shippeo’s total funding exceeds $140 million.
Shippeo says it offers real-time shipment tracking across all transport modes, helping companies create sustainable, resilient supply chains. Its platform enables users to reduce logistics-related carbon emissions by making informed trade-offs between modes and carriers based on carbon footprint data.
"Global supply chains are facing unprecedented complexity, and real-time transport visibility is essential for building resilience” Prashant Bothra, Principal at Woven Capital, who is joining the Shippeo board, said in a release. “Shippeo’s platform empowers businesses to proactively address disruptions by transforming fragmented operations into streamlined, data-driven processes across all transport modes, offering precise tracking and predictive ETAs at scale—capabilities that would be resource-intensive to develop in-house. We are excited to support Shippeo’s journey to accelerate digitization while enhancing cost efficiency, planning accuracy, and customer experience across the supply chain.”
ReposiTrak, a global food traceability network operator, will partner with Upshop, a provider of store operations technology for food retailers, to create an end-to-end grocery traceability solution that reaches from the supply chain to the retail store, the firms said today.
The partnership creates a data connection between suppliers and the retail store. It works by integrating Salt Lake City-based ReposiTrak’s network of thousands of suppliers and their traceability shipment data with Austin, Texas-based Upshop’s network of more than 450 retailers and their retail stores.
That accomplishment is important because it will allow food sector trading partners to meet the U.S. FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act Section 204d (FSMA 204) requirements that they must create and store complete traceability records for certain foods.
And according to ReposiTrak and Upshop, the traceability solution may also unlock potential business benefits. It could do that by creating margin and growth opportunities in stores by connecting supply chain data with store data, thus allowing users to optimize inventory, labor, and customer experience management automation.
"Traceability requires data from the supply chain and – importantly – confirmation at the retail store that the proper and accurate lot code data from each shipment has been captured when the product is received. The missing piece for us has been the supply chain data. ReposiTrak is the leader in capturing and managing supply chain data, starting at the suppliers. Together, we can deliver a single, comprehensive traceability solution," Mark Hawthorne, chief innovation and strategy officer at Upshop, said in a release.
"Once the data is flowing the benefits are compounding. Traceability data can be used to improve food safety, reduce invoice discrepancies, and identify ways to reduce waste and improve efficiencies throughout the store,” Hawthorne said.
Under FSMA 204, retailers are required by law to track Key Data Elements (KDEs) to the store-level for every shipment containing high-risk food items from the Food Traceability List (FTL). ReposiTrak and Upshop say that major industry retailers have made public commitments to traceability, announcing programs that require more traceability data for all food product on a faster timeline. The efforts of those retailers have activated the industry, motivating others to institute traceability programs now, ahead of the FDA’s enforcement deadline of January 20, 2026.
Online grocery technology provider Instacart is rolling out its “Caper Cart” AI-powered smart shopping trollies to a wide range of grocer networks across North America through partnerships with two point-of-sale (POS) providers, the San Francisco company said Monday.
Instacart announced the deals with DUMAC Business Systems, a POS solutions provider for independent grocery and convenience stores, and TRUNO Retail Technology Solutions, a provider that powers over 13,000 retail locations.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
According to Instacart, its Caper Carts transform the in-store shopping experience by letting customers automatically scan items as they shop, track spending for budget management, and access discounts directly on the cart. DUMAC and TRUNO will now provide a turnkey service, including Caper Cart referrals, implementation, maintenance, and ongoing technical support – creating a streamlined path for grocers to bring smart carts to their stores.
That rollout follows other recent expansions of Caper Cart rollouts, including a pilot now underway by Coles Supermarkets, a food and beverage retailer with more than 1,800 grocery and liquor stores throughout Australia.
Instacart’s core business is its e-commerce grocery platform, which is linked with more than 85,000 stores across North America on the Instacart Marketplace. To enable that service, the company employs approximately 600,000 Instacart shoppers who earn money by picking, packing, and delivering orders on their own flexible schedules.
The new partnerships now make it easier for grocers of all sizes to partner with Instacart, unlocking a modern shopping experience for their customers, according to a statement from Nick Nickitas, General Manager of Local Independent Grocery at Instacart.
In addition, the move also opens up opportunities to bring additional Instacart Connected Stores technologies to independent retailers – including FoodStorm and Carrot Tags – continuing to power innovation and growth opportunities for retailers across the grocery ecosystem, he said.