If you’ve ever sat staring at a tracking screen, watching your Amazon order or a birthday gift from your aunt crawl across the map, you’ve probably seen it. Hodgkins, IL. It’s a tiny village southwest of Chicago, home to about 2,000 people, but it houses the heartbeat of the American supply chain.
Honestly, most people have never heard of the place unless they work in logistics or have a package "stuck" there. But the UPS Hodgkins IL United States facility—officially known as the Chicago Area Consolidation Hub, or CACH—is essentially the Grand Central Station of cardboard.
It’s massive.
We aren't talking about a local post office. This is a 240-acre monster that processes over 1.5 million packages on a slow day. During the peak holiday rush, that number spikes to over 2.5 million. Basically, if you live in the United States, there is a roughly 10% chance that anything you order will pass through this specific building.
The Absolute Scale of UPS Hodgkins IL United States
Walking around the perimeter of the CACH is roughly a 3-mile hike. It sits on the site of an old GM Truck and Bus plant, which should give you an idea of the industrial footprint. When it opened in 1995, it changed how ground shipping worked in this country.
Before the CACH, packages moved in a much more fragmented way. Now, they all flow into this central "super-hub."
The facility features more than 65 miles of conveyor belts. That is more than the distance from Chicago to Milwaukee. Most of it is automated. A package enters an inbound door, gets scanned by a "NASA-like" control room managing 80,000 different systems, and finds its way to an outbound trailer in about 10 minutes.
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It’s fast. Brutally fast.
- Docks: Over 1,300 loading and unloading docks.
- Staging: Room for 4,000 trailers in the yard at any given time.
- Speed: Packages move at about 500 feet per minute on those belts.
Why Your Package Always Goes Through Hodgkins
You might live in Nevada and order something from California, only to see it zip over to Illinois. Why? It feels like the package is taking a vacation in the Midwest.
It’s all about the hub-and-spoke model. UPS relies on "consolidation." It is often cheaper and more efficient to send ten thousand packages to one massive sorting center and then explode them back out to their final destinations than it is to run thousands of direct trucks between small cities.
The Hodgkins facility is also uniquely tied to the railroad. It sits right next to the BNSF Willow Springs yard. UPS is actually BNSF’s largest customer. Trains literally pull up, trailers are lifted off, and the contents are sorted in the CACH before being reloaded. It’s a seamless handoff between rail and road.
Working at the CACH: A Different Reality
Jobs at the UPS Hodgkins IL United States hub aren't for the faint of heart. It employs between 6,000 and 9,000 people depending on the season. They work in four main shifts: Sunrise, Day, Twilight, and Night.
If you’re a package handler here, you’re dealing with "p-modules" and "bullfrogs"—internal nicknames for the sorting machinery. The environment is loud, fast, and physically demanding. In 2026, we’ve seen more robotics integrated into the facility to help with heavy lifting, but the human element is still what keeps the lights on.
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Wages have been a big talking point lately. Teamsters Local 710 represents many workers here, and they've pushed for higher hourly rates to keep up with the cost of living in the Chicago suburbs. Currently, feeder drivers and specialized mechanics can earn significant salaries, while part-time package handlers usually start around the $18-$21 range.
Common Misconceptions About the Hodgkins Hub
A lot of people think their package is "lost" when it sits in Hodgkins for 48 hours. Kinda frustrating, right?
Usually, it isn't lost. The CACH is a consolidation point. Your package might be waiting for a specific trailer to fill up before it heads to your regional center. Or, it’s being transferred from a BNSF train to a UPS truck.
Also, despite its size, you cannot pick up a package here. Don't show up at 1 UPS Way expecting a customer service counter. It is a secure, industrial sorting facility. If you need to pick something up, you’ll be directed to a local UPS Store or a much smaller customer center in a neighboring town like Countryside or Willowbrook.
Navigating Near 1 UPS Way
If you’re a driver or a new employee, getting to the facility can be a headache. It’s located just off I-294 and I-55.
- From I-294: Exit at Ogden Avenue and head west. Follow the signs for Willowbrook Drive.
- From I-55: Exit at LaGrange Road North, then take Ogden Avenue East to Willowbrook.
The traffic here is dominated by "feeders"—those big double-trailer UPS trucks. They have the right of way in spirit, if not in law, purely because of their size. If you're driving a sedan near the hub, stay alert.
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Actionable Tips for Shippers and Recipients
If you see your tracking update to "Arrived at Facility: Hodgkins, IL," here is what you actually need to know.
First, don't panic if it doesn't move for 24 hours. This is the busiest ground hub in the world. It’s a volume game. If a package is delayed here, it’s usually due to extreme weather in the Midwest—Chicago winters are no joke—or a massive surge in volume during "Peak" (the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas).
Second, use the UPS My Choice app. Because Hodgkins is a major sorting node, the app can often give you a more accurate "estimated delivery window" once the package clears the CACH scanners. Once it leaves Hodgkins, it’s usually on its final leg to your local distribution center.
Finally, for businesses shipping out of the Midwest, understand that the CACH's proximity means your ground shipments will likely reach 90% of the U.S. population within 2 to 3 days. It is a massive competitive advantage for Chicago-area e-commerce companies.
Next Steps:
- Check your tracking number for the "Activity" tab to see if your parcel has reached the "Departure Scan" phase from Hodgkins.
- If a package is delayed at the CACH for more than 3 business days, initiate a "Missing Package" inquiry via the UPS website, as this exceeds the typical 10-minute to 12-hour processing window for this facility.