Del Monte Files Chapter 11, USPS’s Air Cargo Shift, & Tariff Trouble Tangle
🥫📦✈️ Welcome to The Workday Dash — your daily supply chain scoop served faster than a UPS reroute.
Today’s lineup:
– Del Monte just filed Chapter 11, so your canned peaches and bubble tea might be in distress.
– USPS ditched FedEx for UPS and slashed air shipping costs by 43%... but forgot to scan some packages and hazmat. No big deal, right? 😅
– And from human-sized dog beds to fizzy “zen in a can,” small businesses are losing sleep (and margin) over Chinese tariffs.
It’s a wild time to be in logistics—so grab your coffee and let’s Dash.
“The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.”
🚨 Del Monte Just Filed Chapter 11—and the Freight Fallout Is Real
Del Monte Foods, the legacy name behind your canned peaches and bubble tea, just filed for bankruptcy. Over $1B in debt. 10,000+ creditors. And some of the biggest logistics players are left holding the bag.
Uber Freight (Transplace)? Owed $9M.
Saddle Creek? $1.3M.
CHEP? Nearly $500K.
This isn’t a drill. Pre-bankruptcy balances are now unsecured, which means good luck getting paid. The only bright side? Post-filing services might get paid—if you're operating under court-approved terms and tracking every move.
📍Why You Should Care: Chapter 11 doesn’t just shake up shelves—it shakes the entire supply chain. If you’re moving product for national food brands, you'd better be watching more than load boards. Credit risk is very, very real.
🔥 Hot Take: Canned corn just canned your cash flow. If you're not vetting financials before hauling, you're not managing freight—you’re gambling with diesel.
USPS Saved Millions on Air Cargo—But at What Cost?
The U.S. Postal Service just slashed air shipping spend by 43% after swapping FedEx for UPS in a $10B deal. Sounds like a logistics win, right?
Well… not so fast.
📦 Missed package scans
🚫 Misrouted hazmat (some still rocking FedEx labels)
📉 Shaky performance tracking
The IG audit reads like a cautionary tale. USPS is seeing big savings, sure—but the operational hiccups could easily snowball into delivery delays, safety risks, and lost trust with customers and partners.
Why You Should Care: This is what happens when cost-cutting outruns execution. If you’re in transportation, 3PL, or dealing with government contracts, you know one bad handoff can disrupt everything downstream.
🔥 Hot Take: Congrats, you saved millions. But if you’re not tracking the handoff, scanning the freight, or catching hazmat before it flies—you’re not running a supply chain, you’re playing dodgeball in the dark.
Tariffs, Margins & Mayhem: Small Biz Is Feeling the Burn
From human-sized dog beds (yes, really) to calming canned drinks, small businesses are getting hit hard by Chinese import tariffs—and it’s not just a pricing problem.
👉 Plufl, a Shark Tank success, tried going "Made in the USA"—but domestic production nearly doubled their costs.
👉 Moment drinks? Paying 20% more for cans, and retailers like Albertsons won’t accept even a 4¢ bump.
👉 Bugaboo and Simplified are stuck juggling impossible costs and slow-moving supply chain pivots.
Why You Should Care: Every tariff-triggered decision—whether it’s shifting factories, rerouting freight, or slashing volumes—hits us too. Your containers, lanes, and contracts? All part of the fallout.
🔥 Hot take: Everyone loves to wave the "Made in the USA" flag—until they see the price tag. Tariffs aren’t just taxing China. They’re choking margin, crushing flexibility, and turning your forecast into a moving target.
The Workday Dash is an aggregation of articles regarding the transportation logistics, trucking, and supply chain industries for July 18, 2025, from iLevel Logistics Inc.