The TUG Story

Nationwide Sales, Marketing, Group Purchasing Organization (GPO)

The United Group® (TUG) is a national, member-owned – group sales, purchasing, and marketing group for independent, B2B distributors of Jan/San, Packaging, Food Service and Safety products and equipment. Our Members recapture profits by earning rebate dollars on their purchases from United Group Preferred Suppliers. Our Members are diverse in size and longevity, yet united in their common desire to be more profitable and more effective in their respective endeavors.

Our Members consider The United Group membership an indispensable component of their business operations. The United Group is a friendly, value-oriented organization that one Member described as a group “of character”; a testament to our standards and practices of simplicity and honesty.

Multi-Generation Family-Owned Businesses

Many of our members are multi-generational, family-owned businesses. Some are young companies and some are longer-lived and well-established.

Some Members may have initially joined The United Group solely to recapture profits by earning rebate dollars from our preferred suppliers. Over time, many Members have come to value United Group membership as an indispensable component of their annual, quarterly and even daily business plans.

Many cite the culture of openness and cooperation as the most valuable benefit of The United Group. The ability to share freely with colleagues across the country and to gain insights from their successes, failures and suggestions creates strong professional relationships (and even friendships) within the group.

Industry-leading Preferred Suppliers

Our preferred suppliers range in size from giants in their industries to niche manufacturers, and they are all vetted for quality of services and products prior to introduction to the group. The United Group executive team fosters strong alliances between suppliers and members by supporting and facilitating relationships and by openly sharing supplier terms with members.

All preferred suppliers are chosen and vetted by committees prior to introduction to the group. The United Group team seeks to foster and strengthen relationships between suppliers and members via a transparent and collaborative culture.

Suppliers are free to discuss rebate percentages without exception and are afforded quality, one-on-one meetings with Members at TUG’s annual Conference. Our supplier partners have become some of The United Group’s best supporters and often recommend us to their customers.

Benefits Of Membership

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