Intro/ Outro (00:02):
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Scott Luton (00:18):
Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be. Scott Luden here with you on Supply Chain. Now welcome to today’s live stream folks. Today on Breaking News now we’re going to be gaining insights on some of the top recent developments in supply chain news, especially logistics and e-commerce. And we’re going to be doing so by talking with one of the best in the business. So to walk us through some of these intriguing industry developments, this welcome in Max Garland, senior reporter at Supply Chain Dive. Hey Max, how you doing? It’s Scott. Thanks for
Max Garland (00:46):
Having me on. It’s always good to catch up with you.
Scott Luton (00:49):
Same. We had a wonderful time learning from you and your analysis and perspective back on the buzz. Well months ago, sometime last year, but it was great to have you back. And by the way, I learned in the pre-show Maxwell Jay Garland, which is going to be also a character on the Gilded Age on HBO coming soon. Is that right Max? I can confirm you heard it here first on supply
Max Garland (01:09):
Chain now. Yes, that is the case.
Scott Luton (01:12):
All right, well let’s get into the facts of the matter. I really appreciate the great work you do on a regular basis, but before we dive into five specific stories you’ve been reporting on, share a little bit about what you regularly cover over on supply chain app.
Max Garland (01:24):
Yeah, absolutely. So my focus is on logistics and last mile delivery news. So that’s a lot of e-commerce as well. Think the FedEx and U PSS of the world, a lot of what they’re doing, Amazon Postal Service too, keeping up with all their developments, but in a way that’s geared towards shippers, the customers of these big carriers. So I’m regularly covering that. Also ways businesses are making their own logistics and delivery processes stronger. So needless to say, there’s been a lot to keep up with on all these friends lately. So I’m excited to chat about just a few of the articles I’ve read this month. Scott, same. You’ve been
Scott Luton (01:58):
Busy, but if anyone can keep up with the ever churning minute by minute developments of all the sectors you mentioned, the companies you mentioned, it has been you. One little quick side note too, I dunno if my one and only father-in-law, Fred Iff is tuned in, but Max is a fellow Elon Phoenix an alumnus. So that’s probably one of the many reasons why you’re so good at what you do. But hey Fred, shout out to the Commodore. Let’s get into five stories. We’ve got big developments taking place. Look forward to get your take here and we’re going to start with this, what I call this ongoing e-commerce arms race that we’ve seen for years now as Target made a big announcement this week as they’re looking to roll out next day delivery to the top 35 US metro areas by the end of October. Now speaking of shout outs, I’m going to pull up this map we got from Max in the team. So Paul Noble, if you need a quick item for that Cleveland Browns tailgate. Hey, Target’s got you covered by the end of October and Greg Davis, they’re in Kansas City. Did you forget the Coca-Colas for the Kansas City Chiefs aim party? Target next day is going to be up and running by the end of September max. Tell us more about these developments and what Target’s doing.
Max Garland (03:07):
Yeah, so Target’s really pushing hardcore next day deliveries that tries to turn around the lagging sales that it’s had recently and the company already does this fair share of same day deliveries two day, but next day is a big opportunity, is what it feels. So yeah, by the end of October, if you’re in one of those big US metros, you can get Target next day delivery and there’s going to be 20 more markets getting the service in 2026. So a big reason why Target can do this now is they’re getting better when it comes to delivery routing, demand forecasting, both of those things allow Target to give customers an order window as late as 6:00 PM in some cases for next day shipping. So it can be really quick. So I guess the big question is will it move the needle for Target? Because as we know Walmart, Amazon, they also have a lot of next day delivery capabilities.
Scott Luton (03:55):
They sure do. One more quick blur before we move on to the next story. It has been fascinating. We may have talked about this last time you were with us because I’ve been talking about it for years. It really has been fascinating to see what Walmart has done to invest not only in its e-commerce experience, but it’s in store experience. Max, I’m not sure if you’ve been into a Walmart here lately. I go a couple times a month and I’m telling you, some people look at me like I’m crazy, but the in-store experience has changed as well dramatically in the last three to four years and that doesn’t come easy. So we’ll see to your point in Target join the ranks and really transform its e-commerce experience and capabilities, how would you handicap it Max? Do you see Target joining the ranks with the top players
Max Garland (04:34):
There? I mean certainly this could help with that in-store experience as well. Actually, Scott, because in our reason target’s adjusting, its in-store fulfillment processes to help out with this. They’re basically consolidating a lot of that order fulfillment into stores that are best suited to handle those types of operations. They did a pilot in Chicago that was promising. So they’re looking at the in-store experience as well for their supply chain.
Scott Luton (04:58):
Love it. And we got right, we still have a strong contingent of consumers ever since the pandemic wrapped up. We backend stores, we want to touch stuff before we buy it. In fact, max, one more little sidebar, my dear mother who tunes in sometimes Leah from Aiken, South Carolina, she’s buying a new appliance. I was just talking to her this morning and she had found it on the e-commerce, right? She wanted to go into the store and look at it before she placed the order. And that’s very common. That’s very common. So we’ll see. By the way, folks, don’t just take our word for it, but check out we’re dropping the link to each of these stories right there in the chat. Your one click away from reading Max’s full take beyond what we’ll cover here today. Alright, so let’s move Max over to the Memphis machine. There were recently announced 2026 rate hikes and some higher surcharges over at FedEx, which has almost become an annual rite of passage. But Max, tell us more.
Max Garland (05:49):
Yeah, I mean, you’re right Scott. It is an annual tradition for FedEx and UPS too. It’s about as predictable as Christmas coming every year. But the upshot is that FedEx, yeah, it was the first to announce its 2026 rate increase UPS hasn’t yet, but it’s a 5.9% average increase. Takes effect in January affects a bunch of US Services are going to be surcharge increases too. So thank fees for bulkier packages, deliveries to more remote areas, those will all be higher. So obviously rising shipping costs endpoint for all businesses. I’m sure many viewers of the show can attest to that as well. Believe there’s an index. I track that set round delivery rates reached a record high in Q2 because of that. So this just adds to that pressure and it’s something that businesses are going to have to consider every year.
Scott Luton (06:33):
Rising logistics costs, decreasing consumer confidence in many ways. We’re going to see what the end of the year looks like and then we’re going to experience it quickly. And I see a lot of mixed takes for 2026, so we might get into that later on. But Max, let’s move from Memphis. I want to explore some news that you’ve been reporting on related to growing alternatives to UPS and FedEx. I want to start with this story that you published on track, who touts a delivery network that reaches more than 70% of the US population across 35 states and Washington DC Max? What’s the latest with On Track?
Max Garland (07:08):
Yeah, absolutely. Last week on track announced a bunch of things, but two that stood out to me were first an express delivery offering, so two to three day shipping for the longer zone type shipments. That’s what the help of Clear Jett who they partnered with for air shipping. And second, they launched a deferred ground shipping service. So think more of those discretionary e-commerce purchases. Maybe a shirt you don’t need right away, low cost shipping at a little slower speed for those orders. But with rising costs, as we’ve mentioned, that’s something that could be appealing to the shipper. So some customers are already pilot with these services before wider launch next year. So we’ll see if that helps on track. As it continues growing, the appetite for some of these alternatives increases. No
Scott Luton (07:51):
Doubt, our carrier diversification practices across the industry really has been taken to a different level. Thanks in part to the rise of more capable regional carriers. So this is a really interesting trend and if you read on track or others including this next one coming up, max, talk about investing in technology differentiators and a keen focus on the customer experience. This is not shipping with regional carriers in 1985, is it? No,
Max Garland (08:19):
No. A lot of these carriers now are very tech forward and they see that often as a differentiator with some of the big guys who were saying, Hey, we have the tech that’s equivalent to these larger carriers like FedEx and UPS. And obviously that translates to better end customer experience, think tracking, things like that. We all want to know where our packages are 24 7 before
Scott Luton (08:39):
They get here. It’s so true, max, earlier this morning I was talking with a supply chain tech genius and I was taking as many notes as I could, but what came up was way back in the day when I used to ship stuff almost every day, which is in the caveman periods it seems like now I can remember how I did it, my spreadsheet, my carrier sites, a good old analog calculator and figuring out where we’re going. And so sometimes we’d get good prices and optimize routes and that would be a win. But goodness, we would lose more freight. There was no visibility, no tracking. I’d be fighting, I’d be shipping a lot of construction supplies to big construction sites. Right. You fighting with the general manager? It was going to be here. No, it was going to be, I mean it was old technology and it’s amazing to see where we are today and not only with what the big players are doing, UPS and FedEx and all these rise of more powerful regional carriers. Just amazing. And Max, I’ll give you a chance to comment there before we get to this next story. It really is the golden age of supply chain tech in many ways, huh?
Max Garland (09:37):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And the key for this is for all sorts of businesses, the customers expect that now. They expect to have the latest and greatest tracking tech and all that because they’re expecting, as we know that Amazon experience everywhere, it doesn’t matter who you’re, so these carriers are trying to help chippers get to that level or at least compete with that level. So essential nowadays.
Scott Luton (10:00):
So true. Great call out. Okay, so let’s add one more. Let’s talk about vho. I think I said that right. Is there expanding as well, another regional carrier, max? What’s up here?
Max Garland (10:12):
Yeah, with vo, they’re expanding the areas they deliver in. So now they’re in the Golden State, California, they’re making deliveries in la, long Beach and other parts of Southern California. Now I believe they’ve launched with a dozen customers or clients or so. And obviously that’s a big population sitter. Scott, that part of the country puts 8 million more people into VS. Coverage area. They now reach over, I believe it’s yes, they reach 38% of the country and they’ve been growing pretty fast. I’ve covered a lot of their expansions in the next two years. They want to be in every major US metro, so expect more from them soon. And that just means more options out there for the viewers of the show and everyone else doing shipping and
Scott Luton (10:52):
Options are good. Options are good if you’re a practitioner, options are good if you’re a shipper. If you’re a consumer, you love our options and you said they gained 8 million more customers, be it this one expansion. I got you right Max.
Max Garland (11:06):
Yeah, yeah. They can reach 8 million more consumers. So if you’re an online brand and you’re thinking, Hey, we have pretty expensive shipping costs here in la, oh, maybe we tap into an alternative carrier, maybe like a Vho or someone like that because launching coverage in places where businesses have a lot of customers that they need to deliver to definitely helps. Doesn’t hurt. And that’s why places like California are definitely high priorities for a lot of these companies. If they
Scott Luton (11:30):
Could get there, no doubt. Good morning. San Diego. Beautiful San Diego. I guess I was being too optimistic. I guess it’s 8 million more perspective customers. Exactly.
Max Garland (11:41):
But yeah. Yeah, I mean it’d be great for VO if they go, yeah, all 8 million I would say. Yeah, for a business. Yeah, it’s nice to have that opportunity where it’s, hey, we can use VO for this particular
Scott Luton (11:54):
Shipment. Great. Yep. I was on their site earlier today checking out this development you reported on in others and again, leading with technology lead with data in their boiler plate. They mentioned their own time delivery score and upwards of 99% and their customer ratings, I want to say 4.9 out of five out of thousands of ratings. When you can lead with metrics like that, I say things are going pretty good Max, huh?
Max Garland (12:18):
Yeah. Yeah. Because a key equation, we’ve talked about the cost side, but you also got to consider the service side too. Having that delivery reliability, making sure the customer knows where their package packages and also reliably, that’s key because as an e-commerce brand, that reflects on you too for the end customer. They aren’t just thinking about the carrier in that instance, they’re thinking about your brand. Obviously they don’t want a delayed delivery experience to continue. So it it’s a crucial point there.
Scott Luton (12:46):
That’s right. And one more before we move on to this next story, our fifth story. You made a great call out a few minutes back about how customers and consumers expect the latest and greatest technology. Kind of going back to my lack of visibility and my old ways of shipping things forever and forever ago. It’s not like that. Now, I would add to that because you really got me thinking team members and the top talent that join these organizations are also more and more expecting us to do things like it’s 2025 or 2035 versus being stuck in the old ways of doing things too. So you only got to make those consumers that we’re talking about so much here today, but as you’re looking to hire top talent, they want to see technology in place too. Is that right?
Max Garland (13:24):
Yeah, absolutely. And you think of all the ways these carriers and all other businesses are implementing AI now, that’s going to be transformative in some ways to the delivery experience as to how it evolves, not sure, but we know that it’s going to have a big impact even from the customer facing side, but also in more of the backend nuanced operations too. That’ll help translate some of that delivery data, all that. So we’re going to see tech playing a bigger role, I’m sure going on throughout the delivery process in the next few years.
Scott Luton (13:55):
If I just had those bots and AI technology back in 2004, oh man, we’d be cooking McCree back then. Let’s talk about this. Let’s talk about, there’s a bunch of heartburn, right? As we get into our fifth story here, lots of heartburn over the end of minimus here in the us, but one organization is jumping in to help operators resume their US bound e-commerce shipping. Max, tell us what Universal Postal Union is doing.
Max Garland (14:19):
Yeah, yeah, I like the transition, Scott. That’s good. But yeah, so this is all about the international trade chaos we’ve been seeing happen over the past few weeks. Specifically for those low cost shipments entering the us. There’s a bit of context that’s important. The minimus exemption ended last month. So think of all those low cost e-commerce shipments you get from overseas on sellers from Etsy, eBay, Tim, a lot of different marketplaces, those are now being assessed some form of duty or tariff. So now a lot of sellers that don’t typically have to worry about tariffs or customs complications, now they do. So this is the case for packages through postal networks too. And postal shipping has been a very cost effective and easy way to get things to people, but now they’re being assessed to duty has to be handled by carriers or qualified parties. And during that kind of transition, a lot of international postal networks have suspended package shipments to the us. So the UPU wants things to get somewhat back to normal. So they have this delivery duty paid capability to hopefully help postal services restart some of their US shipments.
Scott Luton (15:24):
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could get as much as we could back to normal max? Wouldn’t that be nice? It would be interesting to see. I’m going to put you on the spot with a question, and you don’t have to answer this, but I’m really curious. Do you see any sort of scenario where minimus may come back in some way, shape or form that loophole maybe in the future administration or something like that? Do you see that Max?
Max Garland (15:47):
I mean it’s certainly possible it’s on the table. I think part of it depends on how difficult or easy the transition is for businesses that rely on dominions right now and how much noise and pressure will they put on the current administration. Future administrations do yet to think about the end consumer. If we’re getting suddenly assessed these tariffs on international shipments, maybe that’ll pressure in terms of inflation rising costs. So I think it depends on how supply chains transition and too how much supply chains and consumers and will pressure regulations to change or get back to, as you noted the way things work because that enabled a lot of e-commerce shipments to flow into the us
Scott Luton (16:32):
That’s right, you named them the rise of these massive e-commerce players that really specialized in that one particular loophole that B minimus provided. It really, I mean, gosh, you’re talking about a loophole that created billions of dollars of revenue, I dunno, for these companies overseas. It’s interesting. We’ll see. Your crystal ball seemed to be functioning very well, max. I need to find out where you bought yours. Clearly not at Temu and it must have been somewhere else a target
Max Garland (16:57):
Product or wish. Yeah, back in the day. I remember. Wish that was another one of these. But yeah, I mean this has been key for supply chains like tmu and Sheen to directly ship stuff to US consumers for cheap. So how they adjust to something I’m definitely keeping my eye on. And you got to
Scott Luton (17:13):
Admire that entrepreneurial approach. You really do figure out what the rules of the game are, find where you can differentiate and really specialize and blow your consumer socks off and then land and expand. So it really is a fascinating study. So we’ve walked through five stories here and we’ve dropped each of those links to Max’s excellent reporting right there in the chat. So check it out. We’d love to get your feedback on ’em. I bet Max loves hearing from his readers out there. So do that before we two final questions with Max share. We Max’s reporting regularly, regularly in our almost weekly newsletter here at Supply Chain now that we like to call. With that said, this is an image from the last latest edition, and that’s not me, max in my backyard in my model train, but look a little different, Scott. Check it out.
(18:03):
Folks. With that said, is always full of practitioner perspective, news resources and live events to must see reads like what Max turns out regularly. So you can sign up today, we’re going to drop the link right there so you don’t miss a thing. Okay, max, you have been standing and delivering. I’ve got one more big question and one more easy question I think for you. The big question, Mr. Garland, as we charge in the peak and fourth quarter, we’re only a couple weeks away from fourth quarter 2025 for most organizations. That’s crazy. What is a, not the, but what is a top potential story or development on your radar that you’re watching really closely?
Max Garland (18:37):
Yeah, I think to kind of expand upon our last story that we did, I think it’s how the end of de minimus will impact a lot of those peak season and Q4 orders from customers. Because just a few months ago, Scott, a lot of folks were expecting minimis to end in 2027. So they thought they had time to adjust, but then all of a sudden the White House said we’re going to eliminate in a few weeks. So that’s what happened. And this can make for a pretty disruptive holiday for those cross border shipments coming into the US because for a lot of brands, they don’t want to shift their operations fully right now. They have to make sure they can meet that holiday demand because preparing for that is a year round sort of endeavor. So what do you do as a business if you relied on this, but now you can’t do duty free shipping anymore because de minibus is gone? Do you pass price increases off to customers? That’s risky. Maybe you bulk ship into the us but that’s an adjustment maybe through more US based fulfillment rather than Canada or Mexico. That also takes time. So big questions for brands heading into a q4. Scott
Scott Luton (19:36):
Max, I’ll be staying tuned to all of your reporting and analysis. That’s the only way we can keep our finger on the pulse and figure out what to do as things are changing. And some days it feels like minute by minute, it really does. But Max Garland, always a pleasure. Let’s make sure folks know how to track you down. Supply chain folks, y’all hear us talk about supply chain dive, just about every edition of the buzz, our news oriented programming. They’re the best, the best and Max is an epitome of that, but it’s not just supply chain dive. You’ve got a whole series of publications over there at Dive. Dive Industries, right? Dive properties. Max, how can we track you down?
Max Garland (20:09):
Yeah, absolutely. The best way to keep up with all my coverage is by subscribing to the supply chain Dive Daily newsletter includes not only stories for me but also my talented colleagues. It’s daily news on logistics, operations, procurement, all the supply chain stuff you can need. Sign up on supply chain dive.com. I see the helpful link you guys have. Also, I’d really post on LinkedIn with some of my bigger stories and analysis on logistics and delivery news. So feel free to follow me on that platform too, max.
Scott Luton (20:37):
I appreciate that. And I’m a subscriber to supply chain for sure. Folks, check it out. Great resource. But your LinkedIn posts, I tell you, I enjoy some of the back and forth in the comments that you’re reporting and your commentary kind fuels. It’s really interesting what you can learn down there. Oh look there, we’re dropping your LinkedIn right there. A big thanks to Tricia and Joshua behind the scenes here today, helping to make production happen each and every day. Okay, before we wrap here folks, hopefully you’ve enjoyed this conversation with Max Garland, senior reporter with Supply Chain Dive. As much as I have Max, I got to say thank you first. Thanks for being here.
Max Garland (21:11):
Always good to be here, Scott. My pleasure. And yeah, excited for more conversations down the road.
Scott Luton (21:16):
Oh, we got to. We got to have you back soon.
Max Garland (21:18):
We’ll go through
Scott Luton (21:18):
Your agent, get your book soon. But hey folks, the world is moving way too fast to get your news analysis from just the headlines, right? Are those even worse? Not in the know. You got to dive into the details to really understand what’s going on. You got to turn to trusted sources of sound information and analysis. And as I told you, as you’ve seen in the last 28 minutes or so, max Garland is one of the best in the best. So be sure to connect with Max and supply chain dive team. We dropped the link right there. And you can also follow Max on LinkedIn too. So with all that said, stay tuned as we continue our coverage across industry here at Supply Chain now. But you’ve got homework. Take one thing you heard here from Max, put it into practice. Share it with your team. Bes not words. That’s how we’re going to keep staying on top of things and transforming industry. But with all that said, Scott Luden here on behalf of Supply Chain Now. Team Challenge. You do good, give forward, be the change that’s needed. We’ll see you next time, right back here on Supply Chain now. Thanks everybody.
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