Uline

Uline is a private company offering shipping and business supplies throughout North America. Founded in 1980 by conservative megadonors Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, It has more than 9,000 employees and is headquartered in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin.
Uline was founded in 1980 by Elizabeth "Liz" and Richard "Dick" Uihlein. Richard Uihlein is a descendant of the brewers of Schlitz beer. With start-up funds from his father, Edgar Uihlein, Richard and Elizabeth founded the company from their basement after recognizing a local need for a shipping supply distributor. The company's first product was the H-101 carton sizer. Its success enabled the Uihleins to move into a new headquarters in Waukegan, Illinois.
Over the 1980s and 1990s, operations began in Minnesota, California and New Jersey. In the 2000s, Uline began operations in Mexico and Canada and opened distribution centers in Illinois, Texas, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. The Uline catalog grew to 450 pages, offering over 17,000 products.
In 2008, Uline announced it was constructing a new headquarters in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. The move was partially motivated by the Uihleins' ties to Wisconsin; Richard Uihlein's family had lived in Milwaukee and founded the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company, and the couple owns a home and restaurant in Manitowish Waters. Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle expected 1,000 jobs would move to Southeastern Wisconsin, and pledged $6 million to support the move. The 200-acre headquarters opened in the summer of 2010, featuring offices for Uline staff and a 1-million square foot warehouse which supplies products to distribution centers. Due to increasing growth, an expansion consisting of a second office building and warehouse was announced in 2014. Construction began in early 2016 and was completed in 2017. The expansion brought about 800 additional jobs to Pleasant Prairie.
In 2019, Uline began considering a second major expansion with two more distribution centers with a combined area of over 1.7 million square feet. The distribution centers would complement two existing Uline distribution centers in Pleasant Prairie.
The company is owned by the Uihlein family and set up as a passthrough corporation. ProPublica stated that as of August 2021, Richard and Elizabeth own "a majority" of the company. Elizabeth Uihlein serves as president and chief executive officer, her husband Richard Uihlein is chairman of the board of directors. All three of their children are company executives; Duke Uihlein is the Minnesota branch manager, Freddy Goldenberg is the corporate planning manager, and Brian Uihlein is the vice president of merchandising. Richard Uihlein's brother Steve also serves as a vice president.
Staff employed by Uline have been seen acting as assistants in Richard and Elizabeth's personal lives wherein they handle affairs with their private homes.
In March of 2025, Elizabeth wrote and published a column in the Uline catalog lamenting the company's higher than desired turnover rate with young employees, whom she refers to as "The Nomads". She identified the cause of this turnover as the Affordable Care Act allowing people to stay on their parent's insurance until the age of 26, Covid stimulus checks, a work-from-home "norm", and parents not teaching children personal responsibility. The column was met with mixed reception.
The company regularly holds career fairs at its warehouses.
Elizabeth believes that cannabis "stays in your system for at least 5 days" and that its lingering effects could adversely effect Uline warehouse employees "who go up 30 feet in the air to pick products off the shelves." Uline preforms follicle drug testing on its employees. This assertion that ingestion of cannabis can cause impairment for multiple days is disputed.
The company has a conservative dress code, with ties mandatory for men, pantyhose and skirts for women between November and April, and tattoos discouraged.
Reporting by the Guardian alleges that in its warehouses, temporary workers, who are majority Hispanic, have uniforms that are limited to fleece vests as winter attire and are prohibited from wearing hats, gloves, or jackets regardless of temperature, while permanent workers where allowed hats and a fleece jacket.
Employees are allowed a maximum of four personal items, no bigger than five by seven inches, on their desks.
An important marketing tool for Uline is its product catalog, which has been produced since its founding. Mailed twice a year, the catalog is 800 pages long and advertises over 37,500 products. Uline also relies on extensive online advertising. The company is not believed to have a communications department, and maintains a low profile on social media.
Elizabeth Uihlein frequently includes her writings in the catalog, some of which reflect her political views. Past columns have had topics ranging from "the danger of Chinese competition, the negative health effects of marijuana use and the detriments of the Federal Reserve's low interest rate policy."
As of April 2025, Uline advertises distribution centers intended to service the following metro 14 metro areas.
On August 25th 2020, President Elizabeth Uihlein and two other Uline executives flew to Toronto on the company's jet to visit a Uline warehouse. At that point in time, border crossings necessitated a two week quarantine period, unless travelers where issued exemptions for engaging in "non-discretionary travel", a designation usually given to truckers and flight crews -- Elizabeth and her entourage where granted such exemptions.During their two day visit, it is noted that there where calls to local police over group meetings held by "three Americans" at the company where no one was wearing masks. Bill Blair, Public Safety Minister, called the classification of their travel as nondiscretionary a mistake on the part of border agents acting on information given to them at the border.
In December 2024, The Guardian reported that Uline was bringing in workers from its Mexico warehouses on tourist and occupational training visas to illegally work shifts in the United States in a program known by senior executives including Elizabeth Uihlein. Further reporting by the guardian alleges seeing pay stubs for a Mexican worker who was paid roughly $38 per day, a weekly bonus of about $225, and a daily food allowance.
The company uses workers on H1B and temporary work visas.
In late February 2021, The Guardian reported the company had experienced a Covid infection rate of 14% compared to an overall rate of 8.7% in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, where the company is headquartered; multiple employees filed workplace safety complaints with the federal government claiming that the company was exposing them to unnecessary risk.
The Uline headquarters is located on 200 acres (81 ha) in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. The headquarters consists of two buildings: a 279,000 square feet (25,900 m) facility, and a newer (2017) building of about the same size. Plans to begin work on a third building for its corporate campus that would be 325,00 square feet in size where announced in January of 2024.
The company was previously headquartered in Waukegan, Illinois, but moved to Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, in 2010, in return for up to $18.6 million in state incentives.
As of May 2020, Uline has US distribution centers in Allentown, Pennsylvania; Braselton, Georgia; Coppell, Texas; Hudson, Wisconsin; Kenosha, Wisconsin; Lacey, Washington; Ontario, California; Reno, Nevada; and the Wisconsin headquarters warehouses in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. It also has Canadian distribution centers in Milton, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta and Mexican distribution centers in Mexicali and Apodaca.
In 2015, Uline began using hydrogen powered forklifts in its Pleasant Prairie facility and between then and 2024, their sue expanded to five other facilities. In 2024, it was announced that they would begin using them in four more facilities.
In 2014, the company was estimated to have $2 billion in revenue. ProPublica estimates the company made nearly a billion dollars in profit in 2018. As of February 2020, the company reported having over 6,700 employees and over $5.8 billion in revenue.
The company donated $3 million to the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin to help it build housing in 2023. The company operates a scholarship fund for the children of employees pursuing post-secondary education and a scholarship open to the general public.
Owners Elizabeth and Richard Uihlein are megadonors to conservative and Republican causes. The company and its employees have also extensively donated to conservative and Republican-affiliated political action committees; they were among the largest contributors to political campaigns during the 2020 election cycle, contributing over $31 million before June 2020.
Richard is a significant supporter of the Foundation for Government Accountability, a think tank that has worked to relax child labor laws in 22 states, notably including Arkansas, Iowa, and Florida.The campaign has seen success in Florida, where the uihlein's have a distribution center.
Prior to the 2024 presidential election a survey asking who the company's employee would be voting for. Elizabeth Uihlein claims that the survey was optional and anonymous.
The company has been known to invite conservative politicians to company facilities to speak with employees.
Following the news that the Uihleins were a major financial backer for the rally that preceded the January 6 attack on the Capitol, Northwestern University reviewed their contract with Uline at the behest of a university donor Upon conclusion of the review, the university elected to continue their contract with the company.
There has been movement in creative industries to attempt to find alternative suppliers of supplies.