UPS is temporarily closing a package processing facility in Portland, Ore. over the summer as the logistics giant powers ahead with its warehouse automation push.
America’s largest delivery company has sought to flow more package volume into automated warehouses as part of its “Network of the Future” plan, which is aimed at saving $3 billion in costs by 2028.
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By the end of that period, UPS expects to implement major automation projects at 63 sites, saying last March that it would triple the number of buildings with automated technologies to 400 across the U.S.
UPS confirmed the Portland facility will close July 1, and expects the building to reopen in 2026 after the enhancements are made.
The company has yet to file a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) notice in Oregon, so the exact number of workers impacted by the closure is unclear.
UPS did not confirm the number impacted. A report from World Socialist Web Site, a publication that covers social inequality and class relations, says the closure would impact roughly 600 employees at the facility.
“Our employees are extremely important to us, and we expect most of them will move to a temporary facility on property, or to other UPS facilities in the area,” a UPS spokesperson said. This temporary closure won’t impact customer service, and we have plans in place to continue servicing the Portland community.”
According to a report from The Oregonian, Teamsters Local 162 has been soliciting union workers at the site to shift to a UPS location in Hillsboro, Ore. in advance of the closure.
Teamsters vice president at-large John Palmer told the publication that some jobs would come back when the warehouse reopens, “but it will be a small percentage, I would say.”
Sourcing Journal reached out to the Teamsters.
In the summer of 2023, the Teamsters reached a five-year deal with UPS that covered 340,000 unionized employees at the courier. But that deal was put in place before the automation-centric “Network of the Future” plan was announced, along with last year’s layoffs of 12,000 employees. Then-chief financial officer Brian Newman said at the time that the company did not expect those jobs to come back.
The Portland warehouse felt this last April, when UPS eliminated its day sorting shifts and laid off 321 employees due to a decline in package volume.