Employee Benefit Plans

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

Retirement Plans and Retiree Health and Life Insurance Plans

The Company provides non-contributory defined benefit pension plans to certain of its employees in the United States and certain of its employees in Mexico and Belgium. The Company also sponsors contributory defined benefit pension plans covering the majority of its employees in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the Netherlands. In addition, the Company provides postretirement healthcare and life insurance benefits to a limited number of its retirees and their dependents in the United States and Canada, based on certain age and/or service eligibility requirements.

The Company froze participation in its U.S. qualified defined benefit pension plan for newly hired salaried and non-union hourly employees effective December 31, 2003. To replace this benefit, the Company provides non-union U.S. employees hired on or after January 1, 2004, with an annual contribution, called the Sonoco Retirement Contribution (SRC), to their participant accounts in the Sonoco Retirement and Savings Plan. The SRC is equal to 4% of the participant's eligible pay plus 4% of eligible pay in excess of the social security wage base. Also eligible for the SRC are former participants of the U.S. qualified defined benefit pension plan who elected to transfer out of that plan under a one-time option effective January 1, 2010.

On February 4, 2009, the U.S. qualified defined benefit pension plan was amended to freeze plan benefits for all active, non-union participants effective December 31, 2018. Remaining active participants in the U.S. qualified plan became eligible for SRC contributions effective January 1, 2019.

The components of net periodic benefit cost include the following:


	Three Months Ended
	March 31, 2019		April 1, 2018
Retirement Plans
Service cost	$	941	$	4,672
Interest cost	14,943		13,978
Expected return on plan assets	(19,097)		(23,209)
Amortization of prior service cost	214		249
Amortization of net actuarial loss	9,034		9,420

Effect of settlement loss	1,322		—
Net periodic benefit cost	$	7,357	$	5,110

Retiree Health and Life Insurance Plans
Service cost	$	74	$	79
Interest cost	118		111
Expected return on plan assets	(177)		(472)
Amortization of prior service credit	(123)		(126)
Amortization of net actuarial gain	(193)		(242)
Net periodic benefit income	$	(301)	$	(650)

The Company made aggregate contributions of $2,780 and $4,573 to its defined benefit retirement and retiree health and life insurance plans during the three months ended March 31, 2019 and April 1, 2018, respectively. Although no contributions are required to be made to the Company's U.S. qualified pension plans in 2019, the Company is considering various options for de-risking these plans which could include additional, voluntary contributions in 2019 and reallocation of the assets held by the plans to a more conservative mix of fixed income and equity securities. Excluding the potential voluntary contributions, the Company expects to make additional aggregate contributions of approximately $13,500 to its defined benefit retirement and retiree health and life insurance plans over the remainder of 2019.

The Company recognized settlement charges totaling $1,322 during the three months ended March 31, 2019 resulting from payments made to certain participants of the Company's Canadian pension plan who elected the lump sum option of distribution upon retirement. There were no settlement losses during the same period of the prior year.

Sonoco Retirement Contribution (SRC)

SRC contributions, which are funded annually in the first quarter, totaled $14,573 during the three months ended March 31, 2019, and $14,151 during the three months ended April 1, 2018. No additional SRC contributions are expected during the remainder of 2019. The Company recognized expense related to the SRC of $6,267 and $4,032 for the quarters ended March 31, 2019 and April 1, 2018, respectively.