UPS Customers Weigh Backup Plans As Threatened Strike Date Approaches

With a little more than three weeks until UPS workers’ threatened strike date arrives, businesses that rely on the nation’s largest package carrier have been considering their plan Bs.

Teamsters leaders representing 340,000 UPS employees have already announced tentative deals toward a new five-year labor contract, addressing air conditioning in vehicles, workforce structure and more. But an overall agreement has yet to materialize, and the company and union have been trading barbs since negotiations broke down after the long July Fourth weekend.

Part-time employees’ pay remains a sticking point, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien told MSNBC on Friday morning, even though, he said, “We’ve come to agreement on most of the terms.”

As the clock ticks down to Aug. 1 — the date when unionized workers have threatened to walk out after voting last month to authorize a strike — some UPS customers are planning for potential disruptions.

“I feel sad for the UPS workers because I want them to get paid and they do a good job … but it’s definitely scary,” said Heather DeVal, the owner of an apparel and home goods seller called Sunshine Soul in Annapolis, Maryland. She uses the carrier for about 40% of her total shipments, but for almost all of her wholesale orders, which brought in around 70% of her revenue last year.

If UPS workers strike next month, DeVal said she’d lean more on the U.S. Postal Service and FedEx but finds UPS the most convenient and reliable option in her area. “For wholesale alone, the shipping cost would probably be double,” she said.