We're boycotting ULINE - here's why

By Teresa Williams Zhang

I started working at Treasure of the East when I was 13 years old. Our first office was a tiny second story space in a historic Italianate building in downtown Ithaca. It was a beautiful but truly impractical location for a distribution company - it was ours because we took over the lease from my mom's acupuncture practice when she moved to larger space across the street. 

So much has changed since then, but until fairly recently, our supplier of cardboard boxes remained unchanged. Back then and today, Uline is America's largest supplier of cardboard boxes and other packing supplies. We relied on them for many basics of our operations for decades. However, once we learned of their dark money tactics, there was no question that the relationship had to end immediately.

According to ProPublica, the Uihlein family spent over $121 million within 2 years in support of extremist political candidates and groups. In 2021 and 2022, the owners of Uline were the country's largest donor to extremist political groups. They and the groups they support have used dark money tactics to fight against the legitimacy of our elections, COVID safety protocols, abortion rights, and more. 

You can read Propublica's reporting HERE and public letters from company president, Kathy Uihlein, HERE.

Fortunately, there are many alternatives to Uline offering great selection, good prices, and fast shipping all over the country. I was really delighted to find a local alternative to Uline offering comparable prices from this website: https://refuseuline.com/

Please bear with us as we work through the Uline inventory we have on hand but know that we will not purchase products from Uline in the future. If you or your business ships products and you do not wish to support political extremism or dark money tactics, then please consider the many great alternatives to Uline.