Intro (00:00:05):

It’s time for supply chain. Now broadcasting live from the supply chain capital of the country. Atlanta, Georgia heard around the world, supply chain. Now spotlights the best in all things, supply chain, the people, the technologies, the best practices and the critical issues of the day. And now here are your hosts.

Scott Luton (00:00:40):

Hey, good morning. I can say morning, Scott and Greg white with you here on supply chain. Now welcome to the Turkey day episode the Monday before Thanksgiving day. Greg, why? How are you doing? I am doing well. Thank you. I’m very thankful for Thanksgiving. Yeah, I am too. Um, yeah, I was thinking over the weekend. I’m not sure if it was a social media exchange or whatnot, but you know, historically challenging year, um, you know, nothing’s gone right for, for a whole bunch of people. Right. But it makes it, at least it makes me and my family want to double down and be extra grateful to what has gone right. And what we have and, and the people in our life that has made it, you know, made things possible. So I think this is going to be a special, special Thanksgiving, you know, I think, um, what’s really cool.

Scott Luton (00:01:30):

And I have to think Korean bursa, who will think in person shortly for this. Um, but our little adventure at the empty stocking fund has my youngest daughter searching for things to do, to help people, not just during the holidays, but just in general. And, um, you know, that’s her, that’s her thing. So I’m glad she enjoys it. It’s so fulfilling to help people. You get out of it far more than you give. So agreed. Love it. Great points. Hey, Larry Klein has already with this pier, with this Erin. Great to have y’all here. Cigar, uh, Kishor from India is with us. I think first time via LinkedIn and host way hosts way making it happen out there. Running drive in live stream hosts way. Right? Well, no, he, he runs a business. He runs a business. He does, he, Oh, I guarantee you pray. Teak is great to have you back with us.

Scott Luton (00:02:31):

Uh, and Kayvon of course, Victor from Dublin, Dublin. So hello to all of y’all. Uh, great to have you here on the latest edition of the buzz every Monday at 12 noon, Greg, and usually a slew of other folks featured guests, join us for, uh, to walk through some of the biggest developments across global supply chain today, Greg, we are raising the bar. We have two outstanding, special guests joining us about through, uh, Kerryn, bursa and Jane. Um, uh, Jayman Al um, Alvidrez I got a practice that Alvidrez two of our favorite people, uh, Kerryn and Jaymin are gonna, uh, join us about 1225 talking, uh, how COVID is, is changing digitization between with, with consumers and, and where they purchase things. Yeah. We’re gonna be talking about black Friday. We’re going to be talking about, Hey, where are all the containers you name it? Yeah. So look forward to that. Hey, quick programming note, Greg, before we dive in. So to our audience, if you enjoyed today’s live stream, be sure to check out our podcasts. You can search for them and subscribe for free wherever you get your podcasts. From today, gray, we published an outstanding episode featuring the geek plus team bots. And bullwhips is what we entitled it. Great episode. You can check and check that out

Greg White (00:03:54):

Podcast from Martin Racine. I like, I like when you asked Martin Messina question, because when, when the answer is no, this is Mark’s answer. No,

Scott Luton (00:04:04):

He tells it

Greg White (00:04:05):

Like he does. He tells the truth. That’s

Scott Luton (00:04:07):

Right. Hey, we’ve got a ton of folks tuned in

Greg White (00:04:14):

Cloudiest. Yep. So her in here,

Scott Luton (00:04:17):

Edwin. Hello, Edwin. We have Michael Avra. Mike, appreciate the connection with Scott North. Look forward to connecting with him. Claudia freed is back. We gotta get Claudia back on a live stream. Hope this finds you and your family. Well, Gary Smith is, uh, hello from the Roslyn bunker annex. Huh? How about that? Very great to connect last weekend. So Greg Gary is going to make a guest appearance on this week in business history. So stay tuned on that. Awesome. Looking forward to that. Patrick Kelly, the produce industry podcasts. That’s right. Yeah. Sony is back with us. Greetings from Nigeria T squared. Of course he holds out YouTube for the supply chain team. We appreciate that.

Greg White (00:05:01):

Thank you for doing that. Edward Murphy.

Scott Luton (00:05:03):

Good afternoon. Hello Edward. Uh, ad non where’d he go, man. They they’re moving so quick. My finger cannot keep up with the whole gang here, but uh, great to have everyone here and I’m looking forward to diving into the headlines. All right. So one quick announcement, Greg. So tomorrow we’ve been talking about it for quite some time. Two yes. 2020 st. Picks virtual conference achieving perfect 2020 supply chain vision hashtag not just another webinar. Join us. We are pleased to be sharing some of our key takeaways from 2020 and hashtag trivia’s bat. We’re gonna be hosting one of the most competitive, uh, trivia games

Greg White (00:05:52):

Yet, Greg, it’s a rare duo that can provide you with supply information and education and then take you through trivia. So we’re going to give you some takes on what we’ve seen in the last year, and we’re going to encourage you not to look back at what our takeaways from the previous year where we’ve had Scott, we’ve had so many companies or organizations and media outlets asking us what is our prediction for 2021? And I’m just like, I’m not ready.

Scott Luton (00:06:26):

Oh gosh, but y’all join us. It’s going to be a promise that it’s going to be an outstanding session, uh, event with our great friends, Jenny Froom and the safe picks team. Once they load just a couple other folks real quick, professor AA says happy national aviation history month. He where’s, he hailed from Greg. I think

Greg White (00:06:45):

It could be which talk Kansas goes shocks. Yeah, we’re getting a new basketball coach or others. Other was a bad boy, meaning to some of the players

Scott Luton (00:06:55):

Can’t have that. Can’t have that. And you also can’t do a live stream without our dear friend in Canada, hailing from Canada, David, our emotional

Greg White (00:07:04):

Support Canadian. Thank you, David

Scott Luton (00:07:06):

Agreed. Um, all right. So what we need to do here is, uh, dive right into the headlines. So, uh, we’ve got, uh, no shortage of stories Greg, to talk about today, but I want to lead off it. It’s Greg white takeover day here at the buzz, uh, which is exciting thing, but I’m going to get a quick story. And before we get started, I love Greg. I’m a, I’m a sucker for solid practical use cases of technology, especially blockchain, because there’s so many debates around blockchain. This is a good one. So a little backdrop Mongolia. If you don’t know your geography, it’s a landlocked country in East Asia. You got Russia to the North and you’ve got China to the South. It’s also one of the largest and most sparsely populated countries in the world. I think it’s the 18th largest country in the world, but not a large population.

Scott Luton (00:07:58):

So of course, very remote, but that’s not stopping Mongolian goat herders from utilizing blockchain. So get this, Greg, this is in a story from Sarah Marie at financial times. A great, great article. Y’all got to check this out. So the herders are using a mobile phone app developed by convergence.tech, which is out of Toronto and the app leverages blockchain and what it allows the herders to document and make more money. But the document that our goats are not using overgrazed land, which, you know, will, it can lead to some adverse climate change stuff that companies don’t want to be, uh, don’t want to source from. So since it allows a herders, a document that our goats are using non overgraze land, it allows them to charge more for the Kashmir that the goats produce, what a beautiful, simple, uh, automated, uh, exam application of leveraging supply chain technology, even in the most, you know, some of the more remote parts of the world. I think it’s a beautiful, simple use case. So

Greg White (00:09:04):

I don’t know if you’ve seen long way round, which, uh, you and McGregor and Charlie Borman did in 2004, but they go through Mongolia and, and you want to talk about remote. I mean, it’s hard to have a perspective for how not just remote, but how, uh, left behind this entire country is. And, uh, for them to be utilizing a technology like this is really important, really important and really impressive. And I’ve seen other applications they’re using it for herding cattle to make sure that they’re not promoting erosion by, uh, by overgrazing and also fish to make sure that they’re ethically caught. So not, I don’t know that it’s this particular company, but it’s an incredibly valuable technology and it’s as close as something that almost everyone has, which is a phone so easily, easily accommodated love it.

Scott Luton (00:09:59):

There’s going to be so much more, um, power and, and change that, that these technologies are going to drive, especially as, uh, as folks and, and organizations and people wrap their heads around, you know, where they can really drive value rather than just be the project of the mop. So I love this, I love articles like this, um, because it really challenges all of this, that, that don’t have excuses of being remote and, and L it does. It’s not a good fit, you know, really think differently. So, great story here. Great writing, uh, Sarah and a financial times team. All right. So Greg, uh, let’s hit just a couple of comments before, uh, the Greg white take over. So it’s a Darth, let me see if I can drop this out real quick. He, um, so he looks like he is about to launch a bright, uh, supply chain career.

Scott Luton (00:10:45):

So we get this question a lot, Greg, and, and we want to challenge our art, our community, and our audience, the best in the world. They always bring it, Hey, y’all, y’all drop, uh, some advice and some suggestions to Siddharth in the comments and, and certainly connect after today’s live stream. Um, you know, we all will to help folks shorten that learning curve when jumping into the supply chain industry. So great to have you Siddharth and we will figure that out. Also Kishore looks like, uh, he’s a mechanical engineering student. He wants to do a master’s in supply chain management. So how will life be after getting into supply chain management? Hmm. All right, Greg, I’m gonna put you on the spot. What’s a quick and simple answer.

Greg White (00:11:28):

How will, uh, well, it will be neither quick, nor simple. That’s how your life will be. It will be exceedingly complex, um, and term and long range. But I got to tell you it’s, it’s the, it is the career of the future. Yes. Flooding into the industry in terms of, of innovation in terms of technology. And then in terms of additional companies getting into the physical foray and fray of supply chain

Scott Luton (00:11:59):

Put in Kishore, if you, if you love a good challenge and evolving challenge, lots of technology, uh, lots of relationships, uh, and, and really, you know, pulling together and to make the consumers happy, you know, kind of a United mission, you are going to love supply chain. All right. It’s a lot of good stuff there. Let’s keep, let’s dive into the second headline here today, Greg, where we’re going to be talking about shipping direct to consumers. Tell us.

Greg White (00:12:25):

Yeah. So we’re going to have a couple stories about retail since it’s the holiday season, or at least I’m in the holiday mood. Uh, we are putting up our Christmas decorations earlier than in, in white family history. So, uh, actually before Thanksgiving, so I’m in the holiday weekend records. Here we are, it’s a war, it’s a year of change. So from the newsroom, Scott, uh, this is, uh, a story, uh, from Carolyn Jansen at, uh, at retail dive. And she talks about direct con direct to consumer brands and the potential long-term implications for the brand. So of course COVID and the seismic societal disruption in response to it, uh, were a huge boost to DTC direct to consumer brands. Those brands Harry’s, uh, Casper, uh, you probably can think of a thousand of them where you order the product on their site or their website or their Amazon or Walmart site.

Greg White (00:13:26):

And it’s shipped direct to you. You don’t go to a store. You don’t necessarily always go through, uh, even another online retailer with these companies. So because consumers limited their physical shopping and because e-commerce deliveries, um, were delayed and costs increased. And the, and, and also because the strain has not really subsided in the eight months, since there’s people questioning the viability of, of direct to consumer look, these brands, they struggle to meet, uh, consumer expectations for fast and free delivery. And part of the problem is that they’re prone to be deprioritized. Remember those days, Scott deprioritized by Amazon, because you’re not essential, right. Because Amazon wanted to ship their product instead, allegedly. Um,

Scott Luton (00:14:23):

And that wasn’t far that that was what just, it feels like six years ago, but I was probably just four or five months.

Greg White (00:14:28):

Yeah. Yeah. Um, and they’re also prone to being shut out by the parcel carriers, right? There’s all, you know, we talk about this all the time. There’s rates are going up, parcel carriers, profits are at an all time high. Their stocks are exploding, and yet they continue to push the burden to, to suppliers and to the consumer. So that’s an issue and they can’t count on those parcel, uh, carriers. And of course, last mile challenges with the carriers with alternate carriers and returns, returns are a big issue. So one of the things that this article talks about, and I think this is great encouragement for direct to consumer brands is, you know, they need to break free and find some innovative ways to overcome, uh, all of these challenges. So here are three, here are three things that are, that are talked about in the article and it’s worth a read by the way, uh, creating brand expectations and consumer experience that helps consumers, weight feel like the wait is worth it. So if it’s, if your brand is that powerful in your experience, aside from delivery, is that strong, then you can get away with a few extra days to deliver. Uh, I can think of brands that I, I would wait a few extra days for. And I’m sure that if you work hard, you can do that. I know one brand

Scott Luton (00:15:53):

Interviewed, we interviewed him a few weeks ago, Sweetwater. I know you’re a big fan of, of not just of their products, but how they approach a customer customer

Greg White (00:16:02):

Spirits, right? Yeah, no doubt. I mean, you know, E I feel like it, you know, whenever I need advice, I can call Ian [inaudible] at Sweetwater, who is my assigned, uh, customer rep and ask him what I need. I mean, he, he did the research to identify, I’ve got, hopefully got it coming. Um, hopefully it’s coming as a present a new, uh, condenser Mike coming that he says, this is the perfect fit for your voice. So, um, we’ll see. And you, you all will be the judge, but in regards to returns, right, preempting the need for returns. If your products are big or, uh, they take a tough delivery or assembly, or if it’s a, a physical fit, not physical leaf it product, but a product that has to fit when it arrives, give, give consumers the ability to make sure that it does in fact fit them before they order it.

Greg White (00:17:01):

That is really critical because 30 to 40% of e-comm comes back. And then of course there are actually brands taking on in-house delivery themselves. And if not that then, because that’s, that’s a big fit if you’re selling furniture or some sort of assembled product of other type. But if, if not that type of product, then there are plenty of other carriers out there besides the usual suspects. Um, you know, there’s, there are last mile delivery companies, believe it or not, the Amazon last mile delivery companies are all independently owned, local businesses. They are not owned. They are franchised or licensed, whichever it is by Amazon. So support local and, and use them. But there’s also bring and various and sundry other last mile delivery companies that can really help you out there. Look, this is it’s worth a read. Um, if you have a small brand or interested in small brands, or, you know, just want to see some new ideas, uh, that frankly could help anyone of any size in the last mile.

Scott Luton (00:18:08):

So I got to share a couple of these comments real quick, Greg. Um, and let’s see your first one, the first one comes from, uh, Dave and he says, working as Platt. Shane is like the best night of drinking and the hanger from it, hang over from it all at once. It seems to be lots of agreement there. Um, now clay has a serious comment, uh, and clay is a customer experience. Expert is also my brother, which makes him the best expert. But, uh, he says, he thinks it’s less about waiting more about setting the right expectations and living up to them great point.

Greg White (00:18:42):

It is. I mean, and, and, you know, you can actually create anticipation in the waiting if the product and the experience is that good people are willing to do it. They, they actually consider it a badge of honor. If the brand experience is right. Yeah. I had to wait a couple extra days, but it was worth it not to have X junkie product instead. Right. Yeah. Great point.

Scott Luton (00:19:05):

Um, going back to your last mile, Michael’s pointing out a wall street journal article about last mile last week. Huge problem is damages on returns. You know, there’s been a lot that the whole return space talking about me and thrown for a loop, um, here in the pandemic environment, we’re going to touch more on that in our reverse logistics series coming up. Um, pray teaks says, uh, David, let’s see here, I’ll go back to [inaudible]. Yeah. Uh, Pristiq says, must watch what a company named takeoff has done to deal with making profits from IE grocery, by dealing with last mile delivery. I recently posted that on one of the, on one of his LinkedIn posts. So make sure you’re connected to teak only LinkedIn, so you can check out content like that. And then Michael says, another issue is if someone orders for the same product, different sizes of colors, we’ve talked about this before. How does a company determine how much of that revenue to realize? Otherwise revenue will continue to be overstated, good point there. And, uh, one quick shout out, Sylvia says greetings from Charleston, sending out one nation coffee and homemade cranberry relish for our customers. Love that Sylvia. I don’t want them, I don’t want it on my Turkey sandwich, but I bet it is delicious, right, Greg? No.

Greg White (00:20:23):

Well, sorry. It turned into Marcus, you there for a second. Um, I hate cranberry of any kind. Um, so yeah. Uh, but I really appreciate Judaism Sylvia’s skills, sorry. And if anyone can make it edible, she can,

Scott Luton (00:20:36):

Uh, agreed. She is a magical in that, uh, in the cooking kitchen

Greg White (00:20:43):

In laboratory, we believe so though. We’ve never gotten any actual and I’m not, I’m not challenging. I’m not shamelessly. Yeah. Like if you’ve got any extra Merv here, but we’ve never gotten any actual product, so we can verify that

Scott Luton (00:21:01):

Extra blueberry jam hanging out in the kitchen, uh, Sylvia and they’re on a production line. Send it our way. Okay. So Greg, let’s dive into this third story. We’re having too much fun shipping from stores. Is it going to last post pandemic?

Greg White (00:21:17):

So, uh, interesting. So this is an article from gin, a Miller at, um, retail dive. Oh, sorry. No, she’s in she supply chain dive, man. We’ve hit them all. We’ve hit all the dives today, trifecta. Um, and she talks about whether ship from store is viable and with some discussion on, on things that can make it. So, so she talks with Cory Berry CEO of best buy about their plans to make 250 stores hubs for delivery. All of their stores are equipped to do e-commerce delivery. And if you think back long enough in e-commerce best buy was one of the first and most hard hit disrupted retailers back when showrooming, there is a blast from the past showrooming is the biggest e-commerce sin. People would go to best buy. I know because I’ve done it. And my wife did it, which is what gave me one of the ideas for how we solve that at blue Ridge.

Greg White (00:22:12):

But, um, you walk in the store and you look at the product on the shelf and you decide whether you’re going to buy it in the store or buy it online. And you could actually do both, you know, you go and and say, yep, really like the picture of that television. And then you’d go find it somewhere cheaper and buy it online. So they were one of the most early disrupted companies. They reacted very, uh, significantly and dramatically and effectively. I think there was a time when a best buy was having a real struggle with that sort of thing. And they adapted, um, very well. Uh, you know, one of the, the article quotes, a number of voices who say, you know, on a talk about the difficulty of fulfillment from store and whether it’s viable and many believe that it’s not common opinion. However, and I think that would be common in this group, right?

Greg White (00:23:07):

And the whole world is that e-comm is here to stay. And that the blip up that we’ve seen in e-commerce while we may not hold onto it all, when people can actually go back to a physical store, uh, that, that the trend has been accelerated for. Good. Yup. So, you know, my argument on this and I’ll just make this really brief, it’s a great and brief article. Look, the experts are not wrong on some of these fronts, but as retail rents plummet, and that logo that you’re seeing right there is really important. But as retail rents, inevitably plummet, uh, ship from store is for these retailers stores is right where Amazon wishes, they could be right to make timely delivery because they’re out in industrial parks and on the edge of cities and these are in what they call, um, super centers or, um, Oh my gosh, I forgot the name.

Greg White (00:24:02):

There they’re either in traditional malls or in those big strip malls where it’s just gigantic stores, right. And bed bath and beyond. I mean, frankly really, is there any reason to set foot in a bit bed bath and beyond store? It’s not unlike staples, there’s nothing there that you need to see or really physically touched to decide that you might want to buy or not, not that much. Right. I mean, they’re, they’ve got a whole section in that store on as seen on TV and an entire, you know, and in fact, I think the whole store could be sold as seen on TV. So they’re big stores, uh, they’re jam packed with product over over-packed I would argue, but that does make them. And because they’re in these super centers that does make them a great facility for shipping from store they’re really there. They really could be if they know how to do it in a good way. And one of the things that they talk about in the article is sort of a false structure that was built, that we’ve talked about before Scott, where, um, retail commerce and e-commerce are two separate entities, which would never have been to begin with, um, and certainly should not be now. And I think a lot of retailers are coming to that realization. Well, you know, we’ve heard forever about

Scott Luton (00:25:16):

SKU, SKU rationalization, which is nothing new, but we’ve heard a lot more about it in 2020. I think we’re going to hear a lot about

Greg White (00:25:24):

Rationalization. You got it, you got to use it,

Scott Luton (00:25:25):

And it’s got a big, have a great return, uh, in this e-commerce age.

Greg White (00:25:30):

Well, um, and, and that’s, what’s going to drive retail rents down. I mean, it’s already happening in malls, right? Malls are turning into 55 and up. So let me, let me share a couple of comments, hospital, housing facilities, right? Yep.

Scott Luton (00:25:43):

Uh, to Noosh we are getting your comments. I apologize. It’s a bit off topic. Um, uh, SAP EWM consultant and wants to start working on industry 4.0, we’d welcome you to, to join the community and bouncing the questions off the community here and stay tuned. We’re going to have a,

Greg White (00:26:01):

Um, um, a

Scott Luton (00:26:03):

Rear development live stream with some experts in the, in the weeks ahead. So stay tuned for that. So we’re not ignoring you. We’re just trying to stay

Greg White (00:26:10):

EWM I don’t know what he does

Scott Luton (00:26:13):

Is maybe I’m sure we’ll find out that acronym. Yeah. Um, let’s see here. Pierre says, you know, we’ve talked about service merchandise ahead of their time. Okay.

Greg White (00:26:21):

Way ahead of their time, but agreed what a great model that is. Pierre. I love that. And yeah.

Scott Luton (00:26:28):

Ehrenfried is with us. Aaron was a former veteran voices, uh, featured guests, not too long ago. Aaron says Omni channel is bound to increase. The more you, the more use you can get from a physical location, the higher, the return on investment. If a physical store, as a distribution center that is cost savings. And then

Greg White (00:26:48):

One point, yep. Go ahead.

Scott Luton (00:26:50):

One final point here from Mike aver, McKinsey and company released a pandemic study back in March, where they predicted online retail to continue because a lot of the older population who have not adopted online ordering has been forced into the space and they now see the convenience shifting their buying habits, moving forward, completely up. We’ve seen that, uh, with, with friends and family,

Greg White (00:27:13):

Because I believe one of the people they quote saying it’s not feasible. It’s really lots. Lots of depends on who you talk to. Uh, I’m sorry. Carney, Carney. Sorry. Okay. Same difference. Same difference. All right. So one of those firms that tells you how to do it, but not helps you do it. Yes.

Scott Luton (00:27:36):

No shortage of opinions, own, own, um, all things retail in this e-commerce age and the, the intersection of e-commerce growth in the pandemic is fascinating. So let’s hit on a spinal story.

Greg White (00:27:48):

W let me wrap, let me wrap that up just a little bit, because I got to the point that Aaron made, uh, omni-channel multi-channel whatever. Look I have been saying for years, and I think it’s time has come. There is no retail commerce. There is no e-commerce, there is no Omni or multichannel. It’s just commerce. Right? I think the time has come for us just to call it commerce or just call it retail. There’s no need to discern anymore. Right? It, it, it is. And especially as this article talks about, if it all happens from the store or all happens for the consumer, considering how the consumer wants to shop, it’s just commerce. Right? What, won’t that be a great day? Aaron, when we don’t have all these terms that we have to Wade through. Agreed. All right, now let’s talk about this now.

Scott Luton (00:28:36):

Let’s talk about drivers. Go ahead,

Greg White (00:28:38):

Greg. Well, first of all, I would have joined the Marines. If I got to drive something to look like that for the rest of my career. That is cool looking look. Um, so Jim Stinson in, in transport, dive again, another deep dive trifecta. Yeah. Shares. He shares a story about how to tackle the driver shortage, right? Uh, the industry expects the drivers drivers shortage to increase. We’re attacking it. A number of different ways. And firms have expressed interest in recruiting drivers with experience in the armed forces. In fact, the story, it really starts with a story. I’m not sure that Jim is not also writing a memoir or a, or a novel or something, because the way that this starts is more story than article, which is, uh, was engaging. He, he talks about Rick Miller and his journey as a Marine veteran in the industry.

Greg White (00:29:32):

And Miller says, it’s a, it’s a natural fit. You get to see the United States and explore it. Now think about this as a fit. And they go through all this in article, which is very brief, but definitely worth, worth the read. Um, fleets of course see the drivers shortage growing in coming years, and they’re attacking it multiple ways, not exclusive of autonomous vehicles, carriers like XPO in 2021 expect to hire 6% of their new drivers from the pool of vets. And one of the things they talk about in this article, which is just brilliant on the road or on a mission, there’s similar dynamics. I mean, thinking about it, it requires discipline, improvisation, adaptation, and the ability to overcome obstacles. They are getting also, these carriers are getting on base prior to a military personnel exiting or, or, or becoming veterans why, while they’re still on active duty.

Greg White (00:30:31):

So if you’re an active duty military or a vet listen up because, you know, if you think about it, driving is a brother or sisterhood, um, and it’s an exclusive batch of folks doing something vital for the nation. So what, what could be more natural than that? You know, and as I was reading through the article, it really hit me that, uh, you know, the similarities, I mean, not at all, not at all the same level of danger or risk or, uh, but there are a lot of those dynamics, right? If you’ve ever stopped at a, at a truck stop, you know, that’s attached to a Dunkin donuts or something to grab a handful of tasty snacks on the road, you can watch it happen. I mean, you can literally see it happen. So

Scott Luton (00:31:20):

10 on the back, great place is YouTube got no shortage of channels or truck drivers are documenting their journey. And it is fascinating to see what they have to put up with what they have to navigate and, and, you know, to make it happen, to make that mission happen. So really appreciate that whole community of our truck driving population. But yeah, if you’re a military member and certainly a veteran there’s opportunities that abound and really quick before we bring in our two featured guests, speaking of, uh, veterans, Troy Boozer, and I served in the air force together, Troy is a salt of the earth people. I connected with him over the weekend. He’s going to be joining us for a veteran voices episode in December. And, um, I’m telling you that people like Troy, uh, not only get stuff done, but they help others get, get, get stuff done. And, um, the special individuals. So Troy, great to have you here for a moment and look forward to December. Okay. So Greg, no shortage of things to talk about, but we’ve got some really cool stories to talk with. Uh, Corinne bursa who hosts our tech talk digital supply chain podcast, and Jaman, Alvidrez host of our logistics and beyond you ready to bring them in

Greg White (00:32:29):

Let’s swoosh. Let’s do it.

Scott Luton (00:32:34):

Hey, Hey, good afternoon. Jayman Corrine. How are we doing? I’m doing great.

Karin Bursa (00:32:40):

It’s always good to get switched over.

Jamin Alvidrez (00:32:43):

Yeah, I love it.

Scott Luton (00:32:44):

It’s a small things in life.

Jamin Alvidrez (00:32:46):

I’ve never ceased to be amazed by it.

Scott Luton (00:32:49):

I was replacing some kitchen light bulbs over the weekend and it took me three hours. I needed to get my 11 year old to help me out. But once they finally worked and clicked and we knew that the, a, it wasn’t the socket, that was a bad, uh, you know, small things in life. We appreciate. All right. So on that note, Greg, uh, that was some of where we spent. That was the more aspect. My weekend is some, some home improvement projects. Uh, before we dive into all the great things that’s taking place in industry Kerryn. Give me one highlight from your weekend.

Karin Bursa (00:33:21):

Well, I’m surprised we didn’t see it at the home Depot this weekend. Cause ours was all about, uh, some home improvement projects, but the big win is we got the projects done and we didn’t add anything to the list of additional product projects on the, uh, in the process. So that’s a big win

Scott Luton (00:33:42):

And y’all spending time on the river. I think I, I saw, uh, some kayaking or canoeing a week or two ago. So yeah.

Karin Bursa (00:33:48):

Yes, yes, yes. Not last week. Not just the weekend past, we did not, but, uh, yeah, if I want to see my husband on the weekends lately, I’ve gotta be on the water with him.

Jamin Alvidrez (00:34:01):

Love it, man. You need a thermal kayak,

Scott Luton (00:34:07):

Have you back, uh, really enjoyed your most recent episode, which we’ll touch on maybe after we get through this and these news developments. Okay. Jay man. Great to have you back. You’re on West coast time. So you’re up early to Adam, uh, this week. Give me one highlight from your weekend.

Jamin Alvidrez (00:34:23):

Yes, it’s, it’s great to be here. Um, I’m actually gonna share three quick hitters. USC Trojans won, uh, the Kansas city chiefs one and the, the third. And this is really the, the ultimate highlight. Um, my son who’s eight is always super hyper and as he likes sports and activity and all that, but it’s not really been into playing catch because he just kind of gets bored or distracted. Well, this weekend he asked me to play catch with him and, uh, he was really, he was really into it. So, wow. Um, that was a huge highlight because I I’m convinced there’s nothing better for a relationships than just get old game of catch love that that is so true. And, and it looks like your arm has not fallen off. So that’s good all to you in that, that, that is very true

Scott Luton (00:35:15):

Theme. Again, simple things in life in challenging times like this. All right. So Greg, we are going to die. So it sounds like both, y’all had a wonderful weekend by the way. And thanks for spending some of your Monday morning with us, Greg, we’re going to dive right in and where are we starting?

Jamin Alvidrez (00:35:31):

That’s a great question, Scott, because I thought you were going to ask me about something.

Greg White (00:35:40):

So let’s do that. So before we, before, let’s just go with it. Roll the professional. This one, right. We roll with the punches here at supply chain now. So Greg, give me one highlight from your weekend. My morning walk on Saturday was, was a highlight, got up early, got to see a sunset. Um, if you follow me on Instagram, you can see it. Um, I reported it maybe a day or two late, but, uh, I have to do that because otherwise people, you know, crowd around if they know exactly where I am. Uh, but it was great. I mean, it was foggy. It was cool. Um, I took my big dog for a walk, not the little dog or shenanigans the cat got, if you can walk cats, you got, so I took my big tough cat and my big dog and we saw deer. I mean, it was amazing. We were the first people at the park and we were there for awhile. So it was, yeah, that was great. Love that. It’s always nice to unplug. So, and, and I enjoyed the videos and some other images, sunrises that you’ve been sharing. So it’s nice breathe a breath of fresh air. All right. So speaking of, you know, staying plugged in great segue unplanned there, Greg, the COVID 19 crisis, uh, digitizing these consumer relationships. So Kerryn, tell us more.

Karin Bursa (00:37:03):

Yeah. So this comes to us from a McKinsey and company that has done some great research, uh, in the area of, um, digitization of business. Um, and also in consumer behavior, uh, especially around COVID-19, but this is super interesting because in a seven month period, so seven months, Greg, you’re going to appreciate this. And just seven months, uh, we have seen the adoption of digital business for customer interactions, as well as operations, supporting those, um, by as much as a 58% increase, if you look at those numbers there for North America, going from 41% to 65%, that’s amazing. That is absolutely amazing. So in seven months, these businesses have achieved what historically would have taken them three to four and perhaps for some seven years in transition. So you talk about accelerating and embracing digital transformation to some pretty interesting numbers.

Greg White (00:38:09):

It’s about time too. Don’t you think? Curry?

Karin Bursa (00:38:12):

I, I do. I do, but you can see. So, you know, we had a couple of very flat years and then 2019 showed some growth that I’m sure most businesses were, um, really happy about. Uh, but not nearly the kind of growth that we’re seeing here in 2020 and in such a compressed period of time. I think we’ve really had a tipping point.

Greg White (00:38:35):

There’s been a couple of,

Scott Luton (00:38:36):

There’s been numerous early adopters, and I bet they’re really, uh, you know, think of QuickBooks. And I think of BNH audio video, you know, folks that really have figured out that, that how to digitize successfully what consumers are looking for, especially in both of those examples and others is when you’re looking to get help with products or know on the FAQ page. You don’t, there’s not what you’re looking for there. And you can just pop up a quick and easy chat, you know, with, with a real individual that really help navigate you through your problems rather than sitting on hold for 15 minutes, to get someone that will transfer you to someone that would transfer you to someone. There are some early adopters that are really getting it done, right. Kerryn. Yeah,

Karin Bursa (00:39:18):

I agree completely. And, uh, and we’re seeing the consumer, or even in the business to business environments, we’re more comfortable interacting that way. So there’s two sides of that relationship. So I think we’re, we’re feeling served efficiently. We’re getting the information we need as, as being on the consuming base or the customer side of that equation. And then from a business perspective, able to get a good, consistent, um, experience out for, for the customers and suppliers is very important as well. Excellent.

Scott Luton (00:39:54):

All right. Uh, Jayman Greg, any quick comment before we keep driving here,

Greg White (00:39:58):

I love the real quick, the point about a consistent experience. I think that’s often what’s missing and can be, uh, so vital. So that’s, I think that’d be a huge, positive,

Scott Luton (00:40:08):

Great point, Jamie, you know, if you know, it’s like, it’s like I’ll lead, you know, Chick-fil-A raise your hand if you never have consistent experiences, regardless of where you go. I mean, that has been, that’s such a power card to play for that company. Um, so I completely echo your point there. Jamie and Greg, your last comment before we hit Kerryn. Second story.

Greg White (00:40:30):

Yeah. Well, I think, uh, as Curran said, I think it’s as encouraging that consumers are adopting as much as the companies. Right? Um, I, I think it’s an, I mean, it’s an important aspect of retail as we go forward. Like we were talking about just before, um, w whether you’re concerned about the ease, the comfort, the customer experience, climate change, whatever it is, man, if you can, if you can buy from bed, bath and beyond, or whomever, staples, whomever without leaving the house, I mean, you should right.

Scott Luton (00:41:06):

Agreed. Uh, let’s say a lot of the few folks before we hit the next door here, Mervyn misses notification, but Hey, you’re here and that’s all that matters. Mervin. Great to have you hope this finds you well, dr. VAs has joined us a couple of times, greetings from bang, uh, Bangalore India. Great to have you and PA are going back to the topic much like the self-checkout mentality, people interacting directly with the transaction without the human variable, right?

Greg White (00:41:31):

Yeah, that’s it. I was interesting. That was kind of a thought I had is you said the chat thing, I avoid that chat at all costs. I would really have the information in the technology, but so many companies enable both and, and that’s critical because I mean, all consumers are different, so

Scott Luton (00:41:48):

I must be the lazy version. I want it spoonfed to me or slow. Maybe I’m just that slow. We’ll see. Um, yeah,

Greg White (00:41:57):

Lazy because I would buy the wrong thing and just send it back if they gave me free returns. Right. A lot of, I think a lot of consumers do that.

Scott Luton (00:42:06):

Greed, I think just that little, you know, tongue in cheek response there back and forth, you know, while there’s some great generalities, when it comes to consumers, uh, in the commerce space, I didn’t put an IL net for just for you, Greg, but also there’s some different, you know, different scenarios. There’s some differences in how we do want certain information and what products and those relationships, so excellent article there, Korean, um, let’s, let’s speaking of, uh, digitization, let’s talk about, uh, black Friday and some of the trends that are occurring. What are you seeing?

Karin Bursa (00:42:40):

Absolutely. You guys have been dancing around this for a good 20 minutes, but this says our life has changed. And in fact, um, again, McKinsey and company did this research, uh, and the headline is about that online shopping experience. So earlier this morning, I heard once again, the CDC is recommending that we not be in crowded shopping centers, shopping, plazas, et cetera. Um, and that we take advantage of other methods. So I would say that this particular research here, which represents North America, so about a third of the respondents from North America, about a third are from China, and then the other third is European. Um, so it’s a, it’s a very interesting mix with 3,600 respondents that we see a pretty consistent, um, moved to getting more and more comfortable online. So Greg, you were talking about that just a minute ago with people who have not shopped online or getting used to it, or getting used to curbside pickup. If you look at Target’s numbers last week, super impressive. Um, and they’ve done a really good job with that curbside pickup process as well. So it looks like, uh, people are going to be shopping. Um, it looks like black Friday incentives or black Friday week or black Friday month. All depends on which retailer you’re accepting the 20 20th black Friday. But, um, but what’s interesting is that only 2% of the respondents that’s 2% said that they would not participate in these online promotions through the holidays. So only 2% of that hundred. You got it.

Greg White (00:44:23):

I’d rather pay more or, I mean, when w when we’re at the logic, is there that’s interesting. Hmm.

Karin Bursa (00:44:29):

No, no, but I it’s, I show balance at, in the, uh, you know, in the survey base, right. Not everybody was a hundred percent behind it, but, uh, but super interesting to see the growth, to see the, um, the continued participation in different promotions. And we’ll assume that those promotions are going to stimulate, stimulate, stimulate purchases as they’re designed to do. Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:44:52):

Hey, going back to, um, one of y’all mentioned target and they’ve have gotten so much great press. I gotta admit I don’t shop there very often, but it seems like, you know, from a variety of sources, they’re one of the companies that has really gotten their, uh, pandemic e-commerce strategy store, operation strategy. Right. And executed well, is that, is that the general consensus here?

Jamin Alvidrez (00:45:14):

Well, I should hope so because they’ve spent 10 times as much as anyone else on the effort. So, yes, I think so from the point of a customer who I’m always having to run there for something, they have made it just so simple with how they’ve set up, not just curbside, but, you know, they’ll have the way the stalls are set up. They’re very responsive and quick and bringing the, the items to your vehicle. So I’ve found that experience to be, um, not just, you know, a good experience with what we’re facing and the added safety, but just going forward. I think that’s a bell. They, they’re not going to unranked cause it’s way too convenient.

Scott Luton (00:45:53):

I liked that phrase. I’m gonna steal it as a bill. You can’t unring that.

Karin Bursa (00:45:59):

I like it.

Scott Luton (00:46:01):

Cool. All right. So Korean, uh, your take quick take on target.

Karin Bursa (00:46:06):

So yeah, absolutely. I think, I think that, um, you know, we’ve been watching target for the last couple of years is they’ve looked at, at really changing, um, the omni-channel experience, if you will, or adding new services to, uh, to differentiate themselves in the market. I think they did a great job of, um, you know, the curbside pickup, the buy online pickup in store, uh, fairly early in this process, they’ve been able to leverage it. Uh, and as Greg mentioned, they’ve been investing. So they’ve been kind of a benchmark for other retailers to look at, to see what’s working and, uh, and what maybe they should prioritize from a rollout perspective.

Scott Luton (00:46:47):

Yep. Well said, uh, one final thought here on retail experiences, before we move over into containers and get a couple of comments from the audience, uh, I was in, um, in the store over the weekend, getting, picking up these light bulbs. And it’s amazing, uh, all of these gains digital, uh, customer experience wise, but a lot of the in store shopping, especially questions about products so much has not changed. And, and it makes you want to stay home and just get the right product shipped out to you. But I digress.

Jamin Alvidrez (00:47:17):

All right. That’s an excellent point, Scott, that experience.

Karin Bursa (00:47:25):

Yeah. And Greg, I was at Costco late yesterday, late on, um, and guess what they were out of paper and paper towels all over again. I mean, not a single, you know, not a single offering in the store, which shocked me, uh, to see all over again, that we’re still having a problem, you know, as people get anxious with, um, the increasing number of COVID cases, again, uh, that stockpiling is underway, but the supply chain still is not as responsive as it needs to be in those areas.

Greg White (00:47:57):

Yeah. The one in your house was out on Friday afternoon. So, um, we did, we did Friday date night at our favorite place because where we live, it’s up on top of this huge Hill, it overlooks an airport. You can watch planes land in the sun. That’s pretty cool. There’s nothing like a slice of horrible Costco pizza. And, um, and watching the sunset. Yeah. Love that. What they were telling customers was they were out as soon as even, you know, Costco has a strict policy, one per membership, not even per customer, right. You can’t take two carts and try to trick them. Um, so they, they were out immediately upon receiving it that morning, Friday morning. Gosh.

Scott Luton (00:48:49):

All right. Uh, so much good stuff to talk about there or challenging stuff. Uh, want to say hello to a few folks, get a couple of comments. Lisa Fenton, excellent thought leader, supply chain thought leader checkup. Check her out on social media says hello from California out in your neck of the words there Jaman

Greg White (00:49:04):

That’s. Canada has fantastic. A great follow is always positive. Very, very helpful.

Scott Luton (00:49:11):

My apologies, how y’all know that’s Canada versus,

Greg White (00:49:14):

Uh, I’ll tell you why. This is how obsessive compulsive I am. I can tell that what she did was put a flag in her post. LinkedIn hates those flags from the emotive, and it changes them to that in a little bit smaller font

Scott Luton (00:49:28):

Folks. Greg white does not miss a single thing as a perfect illustration. You didn’t miss anything.

Greg White (00:49:34):

Um, I, I don’t miss Lisa Lisa’s reports of what she’s doing and where she is and her pictures of her mornings. So I’m a lot less jealous this time of year than I am in the summertime

Scott Luton (00:49:48):

Cold weather. Well, regardless. Great to have you, Lisa. Um, Samson is tuned in from Nigeria. Great to have you, Samson. David is talking about the consumer experience. Hey, he just wants accuracy. Hey, I hear you loud and clear there for sure. Uh, Mervyn says Tesco has both of those, but the self-checkout leads to queuing to Gary Smith says, well, Chick-fil-A is here on long Island. It’s just not the same as in the South.

Greg White (00:50:15):

My pleasure.

Scott Luton (00:50:21):

I can hear Amanda laughing at that. Greg said you hit Mark there. John, John [inaudible] says, Hey, the shopping has already begun. At least in his household. I’m with you. Um, let’s say clay says many leading retailers are focused on leveraging the mobile digital channel in store to close that gap. Lowe’s is a great example, you know, clay, and it’s an excellent point. Maybe next go round. I’m going to have to check out the, uh, uh, the blue store.

Jamin Alvidrez (00:50:49):

If we got your brother on here to talk about customer experience, could you to like play nice or would you be like, mom, he’s touching me.

Scott Luton (00:50:57):

So I know it, I only know it’s a consumer clay knows it knows the discipline and knows it from the, uh, the knowledge side. So, but regardless that’s like, that’s, that’s a great conversation idea. We’ll have to ask. Okay.

Jamin Alvidrez (00:51:10):

I, you know, I can sit in the front seat and go, Hey, don’t make me stop this car.

Scott Luton (00:51:18):

I love that. Love that. Um, all right. So, uh, as much as I hate to do it, let’s move to the next door here. So Jaymin our resident, transportation, logistics expert, host of logistics and beyond, gosh, there’s so much going on. Uh, and, and one of the burning questions is where’s all the containers. So tell us more Jaman

Jamin Alvidrez (00:51:38):

Yes. If I was a little more savvy with, uh, technology, I would have had some version of a dude. Where’s my car, uh, slide where’s my container. And the short answer is probably hanging out on the water, uh, off, just off the coast. Um, so we know a lot of, uh, the reasons for, for disruption in the supply chain that, that we’ve all discussed. And what we’re seeing in the container market is a few things, um, related to the pandemic, a shortened, uh, peak season with some of the delays and then, then rush orders and, uh, you know, the port of long beach in Los Angeles, uh, which is a good barometer for, uh, all the, the state side ports. Uh, they in October had their busiest month in their 114 year history and November is not let up. And in fact, last week I went out there a couple of times to, to check it out for myself there in long beach and Los Angeles.

Jamin Alvidrez (00:52:42):

And you look out at the water and you see, uh, get ready for this word. I recently learned it. So I’m excited to use it a flotilla of ships out there, and I counted about 12 of them. And if you’re thinking there’s about 20,000 plus cans on each ship, we’re talking about just casually, just off, uh, one of our ports over a quarter million, uh, plus containers, just hanging out there, floating, waiting to come in. So, uh, it is, it is packed at the ports and they they’re stacked to their max, uh, which is, uh, uh, six high at least here in Southern California, uh, with, with fire codes. So I imagine other ports were always very conservative, probably go higher, but apparently because they’re stacked higher than that. Uh, and so we’re just, we’re bursting at the seams and the short answer of, of when there’s relief.

Jamin Alvidrez (00:53:44):

When will that be? Uh, there’s a few things going into play. The, um, uh, I always get it wrong. The FMC, uh, the federal maritime commission, they have started, uh, an investigation to really analyze how the ports are handling, uh, containers and turning them around because aside from just sheer delays and the costs and, and troubles that go along with that is the cost of demurrage and other accessorial. And so it’s really putting a hurting, uh, on everyone alike. And so they’re, they’re looking into that and then we’ll be enforcing some, uh, practices to make sure that we’re either operating as efficiently as we can, uh, or, or making some changes, because right now, on average, uh, for every three and a half containers, that’s coming in, we’re only sending one back. So we are, we’re really creating, um, I’m not wildly good at math, but that’s gonna put a kink in, in, uh, the access of, of containers and, um, from everything I’m hearing.

Jamin Alvidrez (00:54:50):

And, and as you can see down the line, uh, not to really expect anything to change, uh, at least before Chinese new year, we’re through Chinese new year, which will be, uh, 20, 21 about mid February, um, best case. So that’s what we’re seeing. So, so buckle up and, and, uh, be, you know, talking to some of the, uh, truckers that pick up at the ports and things they’re getting paid to do the same job, but it just got harder because everything just by nature of sheer, uh, being crowded, it’s tighter, it’s busier. And so, uh, just like this time of year showing empathy to, uh, your man, your, your FedEx, your ups man, or woman, uh, same with our drivers. It, it is a tough going in out of the ports right now, a lot, a lot of delays and, and traffic.

Scott Luton (00:55:41):

Excellent point. That’s the one that’s when I wish I had one of those, um, those buzzers, like they’ve got on the ESPN game shows as folks make great points. I can add points. I would, I would give you a hundred points for that. Jayman because, you know, as we’ve learned, those are essential members of the, the countries and the global workforce, right. They protect the psyche. They, they allow us to S to, to quarantine and they allow us to, you know, get stuff we need while you’re not going to the stores, if you don’t want to, or, you know, going to the stores and have what you need there on the shelves. So really appreciate that point. Um, so w I want to share Greg and Kerryn before we get you to respond, and we’ll share a couple of these comments. Claudia says afflicted and a bell. You un-ring mr. Jaman his own fire. I agree. Michael says wall street, journal quotes, average weight of 4.7, eight days for containers to be handled highest since 2016. And by the way, Greg, uh, to the team here. So patchy now reporting live from the scene, by the way we got, we got, we got a reporter at the docks. We gotta get, um, you paint that picture of all those ships waiting to get handled. We gotta get, uh, some imagery of that for supply chain pal, more to come there.

Jamin Alvidrez (00:56:53):

My monitor can, you can still get out of the house in California. Jaman I mean, I mean, unless you’ve got something to do with the governor, I’m not sure that unless the governor invites me to go out for a nice dinner or a casual,

Scott Luton (00:57:08):

Well, that’d be good. It would be neat shots to get a Sylvia says, Hey, it’s time for all water service from Asia to come to Charleston. And she’s got hashtag Charleston strong, uh, no back locks. Uh, Michael says, ports are sending empties back because demand is so high in China that they don’t have time for containers to go inland to fill with us exports. So they send them back empty back across the ocean. Wow. Um,

Jamin Alvidrez (00:57:35):

So let’s bridge, is the shortage only here in the States chairman, or is it in the supply chain in total or what, no, the supply chain in total it’s, uh, uh, causing kinks, uh, around the world. And in fact, that’s part of what, uh, the Chinese government’s really gotten involved in and stepped up to, and, and trying to both essentially keeping, uh, people from just using cans and just profitable lanes, or that are quicker turnarounds and rather, uh, sticking to some guidelines and, and so that we can get essential things and keep business business flowing. And not just, uh, not just trying to cherry pick, uh, as it were, uh, the lanes they’re chipping in, but it’s a global, uh, situation that’s starting to come to the fore.

Scott Luton (00:58:22):

Hmm, wow. And David echoes that it is in the supply chain in general. Um, all right. So looking forward to getting, you know, keeping our finger on the pulse of that developing story. Gosh, it’s, that’s a bunch of sand in the gears, for sure. Especially this time of year, um, really enjoyed having you both own kind of presenting, you know, some different stories from different angles and of course, getting your European V as part of that, uh, Greg, it really, it adds a great spin on the buzz. Doesn’t it?

Jamin Alvidrez (00:58:54):

Yeah. They’re much more professional than I am. I really like here and, uh, from yeah, from our team. Right. This is fantastic.

Scott Luton (00:59:07):

All right. On that note, we’re going to be hearing a lot more from Kerryn and Jamie let’s, as we wrap this segment up, let’s hear what’s going on with tech talk, digital supply chain. What should we looking for? First of all, if you haven’t the

Karin Bursa (00:59:22):

Podcast that we did with Laura Siri, a real supply chain industry trailblazer, you have got to listen to it. I guarantee you you’re either going to identify with some of the challenges that she ever came or you’re going to be inspired by them one or the other. So take a listen to a, to what one of the industry’s trailblazers shared with us recently, and then we’ve got lots of other good topics coming up as well. Um, some more information on the COVID-19 response and a little innovation that’s happened, um, lagged by supply chain. So, uh, look forward to, uh, to sharing a couple of those stories, as well as some, um, some insider tips around sales and operations planning. So lots of good topics on the horizon and looking forward to sharing that with our team here and all of our community

Jamin Alvidrez (01:00:11):

Outstanding, uh, Laura interview with Laura was outstanding. It was Alice too, over the weekend, so much good stuff there that will inspire anybody. So great show Kerryn asked Laura questions that nobody had ever asked her before.

Karin Bursa (01:00:26):

Crazy.

Jamin Alvidrez (01:00:27):

Why did we not know these things? Cause nobody’s ever asked before? So great job there. The origin story on supply chain superheroes. Excellent. Uh, Korean, and we’re, it looks like we’re dropping the link to that episode in the notes. So keep it coming. Fantastic. Tech talk. All right. Jayman you certainly have been juggling all kinds of stuff. And the content keeps coming from logistics and beyond what’s next, uh, the next episode, or we have a Mike Mimi who shares his perspective on, uh, logistics and the third-party logistics world. Uh, truly one of the most passionate people around sales. Uh, it’s even more than, than just a logistics and transportation, truly about sales. And, uh, he is an absolute practitioner of the cold call and crushes it, and he’s, he’s very successful. And so it’s great to get into his mind and see, not, not just the X’s and O’s of how he does it, but what his thinking is and how he, he stays refreshed and, and fired up all the time to go out and find those that he can partner up with and then best serve them.

Jamin Alvidrez (01:01:34):

So I found it to be very fascinating, outstanding, good stuff. They’re looking forward to that at that probably will be published next Monday or Tuesday, and we should get that confirmation soon after a Turkey owned Thursday, but a lot of good stuff from Jayman and from Kerryn on their respective series. Again, tech talk, a digital supply chain, podcasts and logistics, and beyond, you can find that easily. If you go to supply chain now.com and go to the programs page all in one place there, and you can subscribe and check out past episodes. All right, Greg, before we have Kerryn and, and depart and get back to their content factories, where they run a tight ship, uh, any final comment from you? Well, you know, what this

Greg White (01:02:20):

Really brings to the forefront of my mind is that these are trained supply chain professionals, right? These are not talking heads. This is not theoretical for Korea. They are living the supply chain life right now. And, um, I, I think that is so valuable to get those kinds of perspectives, right? I mean, these are no former meteorologist not that there’s anything wrong with meteorologist, but we are talking about with the weathers. Um, I think, I mean, I think it’s important that these are practitioners with gifts and with the gifts that they have to draw excellent information out of people who are in the industry doing it too. That’s just so powerful to me. And it just struck me just this instant. Like we don’t speak four times a week, you know, I don’t get to see you in this environment that much. So I’m really, uh, you know, happy to have you with us, happy for this to be yet another offering for our community. And, um, I’m proud of it, frankly. Yeah.

Scott Luton (01:03:21):

Good stuff. All right. So all the best. Thanks so much for joining us. Karin bursa Jaymin. Alvidrez, uh, you’ll have a wonderful week and we’ll see you really soon.

Greg White (01:03:31):

Hey, take care guys. Bye. Bye.

Scott Luton (01:03:37):

You just never know if that swoosh is going to be just right in time or not, but clay that miss a beat clay and a man of course are behind the scenes today, making sure we answer questions and get links out. Well, they appreciate all that they do, um, full show and, and we couldn’t dive as deep into some of those stories that we wanted to could we, Greg,

Greg White (01:03:58):

But, you know, I think we got through a lot. That was a lot of stories in we’ve gone way over before, right? I’m not going through that much. It was great to get Kerryn and Jameson’s perspective today. The audience both appreciates it and really appreciates how, how powerful that is. So,

Scott Luton (01:04:19):

Uh, Sylvia says she’s going to be on board. The Hapag-Lloyd Bessel, Yanni and express in Savannah, Georgia on December 4th is zero empty equipment. Vessel is at a hundred percent full capacity from Asia. All right, good news. I think

Greg White (01:04:36):

Sylvia tell us how high they stack them. She and she will. Yeah. Oh, the, uh,

Scott Luton (01:04:46):

Kim winter is with us, the legendary Kim winter. And great to have you here with us, Kim. I know it’s a what,

Greg White (01:04:56):

Yeah. So

Scott Luton (01:04:57):

Hope this finds you well, Kim. All right. So Greg, I’ve got one more thing I want to share with the audience here before we sign off. And that is this neat quote I came across. So, you know, uh, on this week in business history, we tackled the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade, kind of the Genesis. Um, and also we kind of touched little bit about where Macy’s is as a business, uh, and, and some of the choices they have to make moving forward also learned what ragamuffin day was. And you have to listen to the podcast. That was a big, big deal back in the early, early, the late 19th century to early 20th century. Um, but nevertheless, so a lot of companies like Macy’s and their leadership teams, you know, this quote really comes in play and it’s from Amelia Earhart. The most difficult thing is the decision to act.

Scott Luton (01:05:45):

The rest is merely tenacity. And it really, you know, folks is time to ask, pass time to act, you know, uh, with the geek plus folks that we publish here today, you made a great point, Hey, for when it comes to automation and robotics, it’s long past time to act, right. But companies still, and I’m not pointing at a Macy’s here, but companies still in many ways are kind of hedging their bets, trying to figure out if they’re going to act or if they’re not going to act. And they’re kind of floating, Greg, do you see a little bit of that too?

Greg White (01:06:18):

Do you really want to ask my opinion? So

Scott Luton (01:06:20):

Do give it to us the final hot take before we call it a ship. Yeah.

Greg White (01:06:23):

I think, I think Macy’s time has passed, frankly. And they, I mean, they are in their last, the last throws of, of, of their days. Um, in fact, it’s interesting timing because it seems like I just saw an article last night or today about they need to, they need to go deeper in terms of, um, finding funding to, uh, yet again, so they do have some decisions to make, you know, what I really like. And at the same time, I’m really perplexed perplexed by that Amelia Earhart quote, because the decision to act tenacity is staying with something. Right. I, I wonder it makes me wonder, you know, I love words. It makes me wonder if they didn’t use to use tenacity differently. Interesting. When Amelia Earhart was talking about, because she almost makes it seem like tenacity is not a good thing.

Scott Luton (01:07:19):

That’s, that’s a fair point. That is a fair point. Don’t pick on Amelia

Greg White (01:07:25):

Because

Scott Luton (01:07:26):

She from Wichita, isn’t Amelia from canned or she’s from Kansas at least. Right?

Greg White (01:07:31):

Uh, that’s an, it’s embarrassing to say that. I don’t know that. Well, that’s a great, she is in case anyone’s wondering just,

Scott Luton (01:07:41):

Uh, well, let’s say we had a couple of folks join us here late and uh, Oh, actually Malcolm just got to us, uh, AK clay, Phillips Atchison, Kansas is where actually she is from. Yeah. Um, let’s see here,

Greg White (01:07:55):

By the way, in the ATSs Atchison, Topeka, Santa Fe railroad.

Scott Luton (01:07:59):

Nice, uh, doctor bum Pinza Zimmerman is back with us first name Rhonda. Great to have you looks like we’ve got a little issue with getting some notifications out to our community, but great to have you here. Um, and let’s see here, Pat says apart the logistics delay it’s even noticeable the increases in logistics costs up to 30% that I can face and see a current time. Also a big challenge for every industry. Now, I guess in terms of the overall logistics costs, good point there

Greg White (01:08:32):

No final mile, right. I mean, as the big parcel carriers line, their pockets at the expense of consumers and retailers. Yep.

Scott Luton (01:08:42):

All right. So what a great episode chock full of content and hot takes and also a little bit of levity that’s important every day of the week, but certainly on Mondays, uh, hopefully all enjoyed, uh, Jaman and Kerryn stopping by and sharing some of what’s on their mind, as well as some things we’re working on with their podcast series. I know I did Greg. Uh, if folks are looking for more information, more content, more, uh, resources, information on navigating through these challenging times, of course, especially from a supply chain standpoint, check us out@supplychainnow.com where we serve the voice of supply chain and make sure all these voices are heard. Um, but Greg, one final comment from you before we sign off today, what was the one thing, what was the one thing, whether it’s from one of the stories or from some of the exchanges or some, you know, something maybe from the comments, what’s one thing that stands out from the buds here today.

Greg White (01:09:40):

Yeah. Uh, to me, uh, uh, and maybe it’s just cause I’m in the spirit, it’s thankfulness, I’m thankful for these people that join us every week and all the time. It seems, I’m thankful for the team that we have at supply chain. Now I’m thankful that we are able to be the voice of supply chain and that we’re able to get the word out on so many broad topics, right. We don’t talk about transportation or just tech or just, uh, human capital or whatever we talk about at all. And I think that that is I’m thankful for the opportunity to be able to do that, to impart and gain knowledge from the industry. Um, that, I mean, that’s, that’s the overwhelming feeling that I have today, right? Yeah.

Scott Luton (01:10:20):

I’m a double down on that as we end, it’s all about gratitude and, and, and the team, the community, how engaged and what we hear when we learn from our community, uh, the folks that show up in livestreams all the time. That’s, that’s the most rewarding part about this journey. And as well as being able to, you know, spotlight in our own way, uh, some of the stories, some of the challenges, some of the people that are in the trenches, that’s our mission and our community, you know, helps us carry that out each and every day. So a big thanks, uh, on behalf of our entire team here at supply chain. Now we really want to wish each of you wherever you are. Um, if you celebrate Thanksgiving or if you don’t hope you have a wonderful week, and for those that do, uh, gather or huddled down or, or, you know, wherever you are this Thursday, I hope y’all have a wonderful meal.

Scott Luton (01:11:10):

You can unplug a bit, hopefully reconnect with the family. We’ve a list from our kids. Uh, since we don’t think we’ll be going anywhere, a list of things that they’d like to get done. And Greg, we’ve got to bring these three kids into our planning sessions. They really were own. It really drives in the country car tours of Atlanta, this, that, and the other. So, but kidding aside, hopefully, you know, on behalf of our entire team, have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We’re grateful for each of you that participates with us and, and brings all of your knowledge and experiences to the table. And Greg we’d be remiss if we didn’t of course, issue the challenge. Hey, do good gift forward. Be the change that’s needed and own that note. We’ll see you next time here on supply chain. Now