UPDATE! As of July 25, 2023, Teamsters have reached tentative agreement with UPS for a new 5-year contract.
- Agreement must still be approved by union members to take effect, but is expected to pass.
- Until agreement becomes official (late August), remain cautious when ordering & shipping critical goods to ensure a safe and timely delivery.
- Orders and deliveries of non-critical items can be ordered normally.
There is a potential Supply Chain disruption to inbound and outbound shipping via UPS in the coming weeks. UPS employees and management are currently negotiating a new contract. Their employees, represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, have voted to strike, effective August 1, 2023, if an agreement is not reached before the current contract expires on July 31, 2023.
If the strike occurs, it will affect all service lines of UPS, including package delivery of inbound orders and pick-ups of outbound shipments. Until the issue is resolved, we encourage our community to consider your delivery timelines carefully and evaluate alternative delivery for critical supplies – especially for those orders that you expect to be delivered in early August. If the strike does occur, we will also update BearBUY to remove UPS as an available option for our outbound shipments.
As of July 17, 2023, to avoid delivery problems with critical inbound goods, any orders/purchases should be routed through alternate delivery services like FedEx, USPS, DHL, etc. (Usually, suppliers determine shipping options, but if there is a choice, please avoid UPS. If UPS is the only option, we advise you to find a different supplier or delay the purchase.)
As of July 17, 2023, to avoid shipping problems with outbound critical goods, campuses should set up accounts with and use these alternate UC-contracted shipping services:
- FedEx – If you haven’t set up a FedEx sub-account before, please visit the Accounts Payable webpage for the campus FedEx Process. You can also contact our sales representative, Elaine.Heath@fedex.com for more help if needed.
- GLS (formerly Golden State Overnight) - complete this interest form (reference UC contract #2020002351)
- Supply Chain is actively working with our contracted suppliers for contingency planning in the event of a strike. Please note if there is a strike, all suppliers and purchasing outlets will be transitioning to alternate carriers, so we expect delays will occur with them as well. In this case, we encourage faculty and staff to use suppliers with their own delivery services and reduce discretionary buying to avoid overtaxing these delivery services. Fisher Scientific, and VWR are able to provide most lab supplies via their delivery vehicles so we encourage you to use them as primary suppliers.
We will continue to update the campus on the status of UPS’ operations as new information becomes available.