Uline

Uline is a privately held American company which offers shipping and other business supplies. Uline was founded in 1980 by Liz and Richard "Dick" Uihlein. It has approximately 6,000 employees and is headquartered in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. Uline has distribution centers throughout the United States and also in Canada and Mexico.

Uline Inc
Private, family-owned
IndustryIndustrial supplies wholesalers
Founded1980
HeadquartersPleasant Prairie, Wisconsin
ProductsShipping boxes, plastic bags, packing materials, warehouse equipment, janitorial supplies
RevenueUS$5.8 billion
Number of employees
6,700
Websitewww.uline.com

History

Uline was founded in 1980 by Liz and Richard "Dick" Uihlein.[1] After recognizing a local need for a shipping supply distributor, the Uihleins started Uline from their basement. The company's first product was the H-101 carton sizer.[2] It sold well and encouraged the Uihleins to add more products to the catalog the following year.

Information

In 2014, the privately held company was estimated to have $2 billion in revenue[3] and had more than 6,000 employees.[1] As of February 2020 the company reports having over 6.700 employees and over 5.8 billion in revenue.[4] Liz Uihlein serves as President and Chief Executive while her husband Dick serves as executive chairman.[4] The Uihleins' son, Brian, also works for Uline as does Dick's brother.[1][4] The company requires men to wear ties; tattoos are discouraged.[1] The company is not believed to have a communications department and maintains a low profile on social media, but does advertise extensively online.[1] The catalog, over 780 pages, is mailed twice a year and is considered by the company an important part of its marketing.[4] Liz's letters in the catalog sometimes have a right wing political message and they are Trump supporters.[1]

Uline Inc. and its employees are as of June 2020 the single-largest contributor to political campaigns during the 2020 election cycle, giving more than $31 million dollars strictly to Republican-affiliated and conservative politician action committees.[5]

Locations
Uline workers at a distribution center in Wisconsin listen to US Vice President Mike Pence speak on the USMCA free trade agreement in 2019

Headquarters

The Uline headquarters is located on 200 acres (81 ha) in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin.[1] The headquarters has two buildings, a 279,000 square feet (25,900 m2) facility and a newer (2016) building of 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2).[1][6]

Distribution centers

As of May 2020, Uline has US distribution centers in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Braselton, Georgia, Coppell, Texas, Hudson, Wisconsin, Kenosha, Wisconsin, Lacey, Washington, Ontario, California, and the Wisconsin headquarters warehouses in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. It also has distribution centers in Milton, Ontario and Edmonton in Canada and Mexicali and Apodaca in Mexico.[7]

References
  1. Saul, Stephanie; Hakim, Danny (June 7, 2018). "The Most Powerful Conservative Couple You've Never Heard Of". The New York Times. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  2. "About Uline - Company History". www.Uline.com. Retrieved December 6, 2017.
  3. Savchuk, Katia (November 4, 2014). "The Little Known CEO Spending Millions To Elect Far-Right Republicans". Forbes. Retrieved June 3, 2018.
  4. Thomas, Arthur (February 17, 2020). "'I love product': Liz Uihlein…on running a $5.8 billion family business". BizTimes - Milwaukee Business News. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
  5. "Organizations ranked by campaign contributions". Open Secrets. Center for Responsive Politics. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  6. Flores, Terry (February 1, 2016). "New Uline building gets green light". Kenosha News. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
  7. "About Uline - Locations". www.uline.com. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
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