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Supply
Chain by the Numbers |
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- April 6, 2023
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Big Amazon Spend on Anti-Union Consultants; Boxed Goes Belly Up; US Manufacturing Contracts again in March; 3PL Spending Up Strong in 2022 |
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$14.2
Million |
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That's how much Amazon spent on ant-union consultants in 2022, according to a recent governmet filing. That’s more than triple what Amazon spent the previous year, when organizing efforts started to build up among Amazon fulfillment and sortation centers, The Hill’s Karl Evers-Hillstrom reported this week. In April 2022, an Amazon FC in Staten Island became the first to successfully organize, but Amazon has fought off union efforts at other locations that have seen some employees stoke the flames. Anti-union consultants, who develop and execute tactics to persuade workers not to unionize, are frequently hired by comptianies hoping to stop the campaign or defeat it in a vote to organize. Amazon typically holds numerous anti-union meetings that workers were required to attend, and plastered “vote no” posters at its FCs, following a common anti-union playbook. However, a federal judge ruled in January that Amazon violated labor laws by threatening to withhold wage increases if workers voted to form a union. |
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| That was the level of the US Purchasing Managers Index for March as released Monday by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). That puts it well below the key 50 mark that separates US manufacturing expansion from contraction. In fact, the March score was 1.4 percentage points lower than the 47.7 recorded in February, and was below 50 for the fifth consecutive month. It is also the lowest level since May 2020, when it registered a seasonally adjusted 43.5. In perhaps worse economic news, the New Orders Index remained in contraction territory at a low score 44.3, 2.7 percentage points below the figure of 47.0 recorded in February, in a negative sign for future US manufacturing activity. |
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8.6% |
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That was the growth in spend on outsourcing domestic transportation management, according to fresh data this week from 3PL research firm Armstrong & Associates. That based on $151 billion in 2022 in terms of outsourcing domestical freight management expenditures. That data point synchs with a new study from Coyote Logistics that showed 50% of shippers increased their spending on 3PLs over the past two years, while only 10% decreased spending, and 52% plan to increase their spending next year, while only 10% plan a decrease. It also found 75% of shippers believe a mix between in-house and outsourced capacity is ideal. |
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That is the amount of liabilities on-line grocer Boxed says it currently has, versus $102.6 million in assets. We know that because those numbers come from the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing this week. The commerce technology company, which was founded in 2013, will sell its Spresso software business as it works to wind down its remaining retail business, which was mostly focused on New York City. It is not clear if Boxed’s keeping most of its cash in the failed Silicon Valley played a role in the action. The move was a little surprising given Boxed manage to meet or exceed many expectations on multiple levels during its most recent third quarter, ending Sept. 30, 2022. The company reported retail net revenue of $41.6 million, an increase of $3.4 million, or 8.9%, versus the prior-year period. But it must have been burning cash, in perhaps another sign ecommerce is slowing.
