Closure of UPS center leaves Chattanooga business scrambling for ...

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Back in March, UPS executives announced that the company planned to close 200 of its hubs across the country.

The decision was a part of the company's Network of the Future plan, which seeks to automate more package processing facilities in an effort save $3 billion in costs by 2028.

Now, one small business is experiencing the impact of this first hand heading into Black Friday.

The owner says they will have to look for a new way to get their products now that the UPS Customer Center in Chattanooga has shut down.

Cody Carlton is a 2nd generation owner of Security and Communications.

"We're a commercial alarm systems integrator, so burglar alarms, fire alarms, cameras, card readers, that sort of thing. A lot of heavy equipment, a lot of wire that we deal with, is shipped in and out on a fairly daily basis," Carlton says.

He says he has been coming to the UPS Customer Center on Founders Way for a long time.

"For the past 16 years, I've been going to the customer center off Bonny Oaks, three, four, sometimes five days a week."

But when his employees arrived at this location, Carlton says the Customer Center was closed with no explanation.

He says the biggest problem is that the packages were already on the way here.

"We do not have a dedicated office person. So they hold all the packages from our distributors there."

UPS says these closures will affect a select number of Customer Centers across the country.

In statement, they say...

"We are closing select UPS Customer Centers to better align with our customers’ preferences for more convenient and easily accessible drop-off options. We will continue our high standard of customer service through a wide range of resources that are available to our customers, including UPS Drop Boxes, 10,000 full-service retail shipping locations. Alternatively, if customers need to simply pick up or drop off packages, our network of more than 20,000 nearby UPS Access Point locations are available. Access Point locations are available at independent merchants such as local delis, pharmacies, dry cleaners, and florists, as well as national partners such as The UPS Store, Michaels and CVS."

Now that his go-to drop off location is closed, Carlton says he is forced to have packages delivered to his home.

From one online search, the closest UPS Customer Center in Tennessee is about an hour away in Athens.

Carlton says his options are limited, with the frequent amount of products they receive.

"You can't really go with a different company. A lot of distributors just ship UPS. I mean, you know, DHL is an international thing. FedEx, it's kind of a monopoly in a sense. So we just have to deal with it."

UPS previously reached a settlement with the federal government for allegedly overestimating the value of its freight division.

The company will pay $45 million to settle the charges.