Jul 31, 20232 min readNewsBy Argo Shipping

UPS avoids strike: the importance of multiple carrier options for your business

The near-strike at UPS showed what happens when a business depends on a single carrier. The threat alone was enough to leave companies scrambling for alternatives. Here's what the incident revealed, and how a diversified carrier strategy keeps your shipments moving when one network stops.

The UPS near-strike incident

In July 2023, UPS, one of the world's largest package delivery companies, faced a looming labor dispute that threatened a nationwide strike. A walkout would have disrupted shipping on a massive scale, touching businesses of every size and industry. For weeks, companies that ship exclusively through UPS had no answer to a simple question: if the trucks stop, what happens to our orders?

The strike never happened. The lesson stands.

Why multiple carrier options matter

1. Business continuity

Relying on one carrier concentrates all of your delivery risk in someone else's labor negotiations, network outages, and capacity limits. Any disruption becomes your disruption: delays, missed deliveries, frustrated customers. Spreading volume across multiple carriers spreads the risk, and keeps operations running even when one network is in trouble.

2. Negotiating leverage on rates

Carriers price differently when they know they're competing for your volume. Multiple carrier relationships give you leverage to negotiate competitive rates, letting you balance cost against service quality instead of accepting whatever your only option charges. That's the core of what carrier management does: keep carriers competing for every shipment.

3. Shipping matched to the shipment

No carrier is best at everything. Some excel in specific regions; others win on speed, package size, or specialty services. With multiple carriers in play, each shipment can ride with whichever option fits its destination, deadline, and dimensions. That's a more customized, more efficient delivery for every order.

Mitigating risk with a backup plan

Two practical moves cushion your business against the next carrier crisis:

• Work with an intermediary like Argo. We maintain relationships with many carriers, so switching volume away from a troubled network is a routing change, not a procurement project. Our daily pickups and drop-offs keep freight flowing no matter which carrier wins a given shipment.
• Keep buffer stock in strategic locations. For critical products, inventory positioned closer to customers cushions the impact of shipping delays and keeps orders arriving on time through disruptions.

The takeaway

The UPS near-strike taught single-carrier businesses something the hard way: diversified carrier partnerships and a real backup plan are not optional. They protect continuity, strengthen your rate negotiations, and let you deliver reliably while competitors scramble. Carriers will have bad weeks. A second option is how you keep those weeks away from your customers.

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