The Supply Chain Buzz is Supply Chain Now’s regular Monday livestream, held at 12n ET each week. This show focuses on some of the leading stories from global supply chain and global business, always with special guests – the most important of which is the live audience!

In this episode of The Buzz, Supply Chain Now hosts Scott Luton and Greg White are joined by James Malley, Co-Founder and CEO at Paccurate. Their solution reconciles the external costs associated with packaging, including carrier rates and fees, material costs, labor, and more.

James, Scott, and Greg look at news stories on the current and future supply chain from a number of different perspectives:

• Conflicting predictions about the future of supply chain
• The uncertain future of the United States Postal Service
• A challenging day in the life of the people who live and work on container ships
• How some surprising retail companies are now working together to leverage pre-existing delivery networks

Intro/Outro (00:00:03):

Welcome to Supply Chain Now, the voice of global supply chain. Supply Chain Now focuses on the best in the business for our worldwide audience, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and today’s critical issues, the challenges and opportunities. Stay tuned to hear from those making global business happen right here on Supply Chain Now.

Scott Luton (00:00:30):

Hey, hey, good morning. Scott Luton and Greg White with you here on Supply Chain Now. Welcome to today’s livestream. Gregory, how are we doing?

Greg White (00:00:38):

I’m recovering well, Scott. I’m recovering well.

Scott Luton (00:00:41):

Yeah. So, you spent last week in Wichita doing some entrepreneurial and innovative and incubative things. And then, you spent –

Greg White (00:00:51):

Right.

Scott Luton (00:00:52):

You spent a weekend, I think, in Kansas City, right?

Greg White (00:00:55):

Yeah. That’s correct. I’m still here actually.

Scott Luton (00:00:58):

And, the Chiefs, the outcome didn’t come our way, but you had some delicious barbecue and some great conversations, right?

Greg White (00:01:06):

Yeah. I got to spend some time with, you know, some of the folks that I work with in this part of the country and see that beautiful stadium and watch the rain and the tears fall as the game went on, so, yeah.

Scott Luton (00:01:20):

Well, the Kansas City Chiefs undoubtedly will be back just a matter of time, making a few tweaks and adjustments. Right?

Greg White (00:01:28):

Right, Scott.

Scott Luton (00:01:30):

Okay. All right. Well, folks, we got a great show line up today. It’s the Supply Chain Buzz here today. We come at you every Monday at 12 noon with some of the key news that you need to be keeping your finger on the pulse of really across global business. And, Greg, we’ve got a very special repeat guest joining us in about 15 minutes or so.

Greg White (00:01:47):

Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:01:48):

James Malley with Paccurate. Now, Greg, we try to bring James with us last week, but –

Greg White (00:01:55):

We tried to bring all of us last week, didn’t we? And, the internet conspired against us.

Scott Luton (00:02:00):

No kidding. Man, half the world was out, it seems like, but we’re great to have James back with us here today. His last appearance really got a ton of feedback from all of you, our global community. So, stay tuned for that in about 15 minutes.

Scott Luton (00:02:15):

Okay. So, Greg, let’s do this. Let’s talk about, really quick, this upcoming webinar we’ve got on November 12. No, no. I’m sorry, November 9 at 12 noon.

Greg White (00:02:28):

There we go.

Scott Luton (00:02:29):

So Lora Cecere, Madhav Durbha, and myself are going to talking about supply chain of 2022 and beyond building resiliency and agility. And, if you hear, Greg, when we went to last time, what’s one thing you’ve got to focus on supply chain leaders. Your answer is agility, right?

Greg White (00:02:47):

It is. It is. Absolutely.

Scott Luton (00:02:49):

So, join us –

Greg White (00:02:49):

You can’t predict all the catastrophes that are going to befall you.

Scott Luton (00:02:53):

Right.

Greg White (00:02:53):

Right. And, we’re going to talk about that a little bit today as well. So, you have to be able to respond. Right? I think the word I used was dogma. Right? We must release the dogma.

Scott Luton (00:03:04):

Yes.

Greg White (00:03:04):

We let the dogma out and focus on resiliency and agility, the ability to respond to the unexpected when it inevitably happens.

Scott Luton (00:03:16):

Yes. Well said. Join us for free November 9, 12 noon, Eastern Time. Okay. So, Greg, I’m surprise there’s just a little picture here. This comes from our trip to Miami. Now, folks –

Greg White (00:03:28):

Oh, yeah.

Scott Luton (00:03:29):

Take a look at this image and tell me one thing that you notice. I’ll tell you what I notice. You notice how, Greg, all four of us were looking at different places except Greg. Greg’s got that million dollar lock game with the camera. Always – Greg, always on, never misses a thing.

Greg White (00:03:47):

That’s funny you say that. I think we had a lot of people taking pictures at once, didn’t we?

Scott Luton (00:03:52):

Maybe so. From left to right here, we have Kevin Heath, COO at Omnia Partners at GPO on the move. And, we got Paul Noble, founder and CEO of Verisign, which is another organization on the move. And, we really enjoyed time down there with hundreds of our best friends in Miami. Didn’t we, Greg?

Greg White (00:04:14):

It was beautiful. Yeah. And, it was a great session. And, you know, as the team had as a goal, it was a great opportunity to get together as human beings, right. I mean, and man, did they put on a show.

Scott Luton (00:04:27):

Man, it’s first-class, completely agree with you. And so, y’all can check out. We’ve published three episodes from our time in Miami, from The Buzz two weeks ago to a couple of follow-up video podcasts. You’ll check that out. Maybe, we can drop the links in the comments. In the meantime, Greg, why don’t we say hello to a few folks, you ready?

Greg White (00:04:47):

Yes. Let’s do that.

Scott Luton (00:04:49):

Avinash is tuned in via LinkedIn. Hello. Let us know where you’re tuned in from. We’d love to know. Paul is with this as well from Sierra Leone, via LinkedIn. Ever been to Sierra Leone, Greg?

Greg White (00:05:03):

I haven’t. I was just talking about that part of the world over the weekend, as a matter of fact, and I have never kind of been in that strip.

Scott Luton (00:05:11):

Well, we’ll see if we can’t change that. And then, we have, Azaleah is back with us. “Good morning. It feels good to be here today,” she says, and “See you all.” Great to see you, Azaleah.

Greg White (00:05:21):

Good pic there. I like that.

Scott Luton (00:05:22):

Yes. Well, and I guess it’s still relatively new, new resident of Nashville.

Greg White (00:05:29):

Right.

Scott Luton (00:05:30):

The Music City. So, let us know. We’d love to know what you did with your weekend, Azaleah, in Nashville. Hopefully, you got some great food and took in some tunes. You know who’s with us, Greg?

Greg White (00:05:40):

Big show. Bob Bova.

Scott Luton (00:05:44):

That’s right from Irvie. I wanted – that must be Irvine is what I’m thinking.

Greg White (00:05:49):

I bet.

Scott Luton (00:05:50):

Yeah. Bob, I hope this finds you well.

Greg White (00:05:52):

That’s home of one of my favorite In-N-Out Burgers.

Scott Luton (00:05:55):

Really.

Greg White (00:05:56):

The one is Irvine is – yes. Very special.

Scott Luton (00:05:59):

Place to be. Very special. I have never had –

Greg White (00:06:01):

It’s an old school of, yeah.

Scott Luton (00:06:04):

I have never had an In-N-Out Burger.

Greg White (00:06:07):

So, originally that you didn’t actually go in. It was kind of like, I think they’re called rallies in south where it has drive-through’s on both sides.

Scott Luton (00:06:16):

Really?

Greg White (00:06:17):

Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:06:18):

Well, how about that. You learn something new every day. Stacy’s with us from Zambia via LinkedIn. Great to see you, Stacy. Look forward to hearing your thoughts here today. Folks, let us know. Amanda, Jayda and Allie, thanks for all, first off of what you do behind the scenes. Let’s know who this is from Austin and who this is from the UK. Now, Bob Malley’s with us. Hello, Good morning, Bob, CEO of Sendflex there in Massachusetts. Now, little hunch, I wonder if Bob might know anyone on the today’s show. Greg, what do you think?

Greg White (00:06:55):

I don’t think so. No, it doesn’t seem likely, does it? We’ll have to ask.

Scott Luton (00:07:01):

Well, I bet –

Greg White (00:07:01):

We’ll have to ask our top secret guest.

Scott Luton (00:07:02):

That’s right. So, stay tuned. And, Bob, we look forward to hearing your thoughts and thanks for hosting by the way one-half of the livestream, maybe one-third of livestream. Let’s see, Phumzile. Phumzile from South Africa, Johannesburg. Great to see you here via LinkedIn. Greg, it’s tough to do one of these without our dear friend, Dr. Rhonda, right?

Greg White (00:07:29):

Yeah, it is. And, it seems like her picture is always appropriate because I always imagine her actually out on a jog or a run or a hike or climb or something while we’re doing this, right?

Scott Luton (00:07:41):

Absolutely. Gorgeous shots out there. Bob says, “Double, double animal style.” Is that how you like your In-N-Out?

Greg White (00:07:47):

Have we ever eaten in In-N-Out Burger before together? Because that’s exactly it. For a secret menu.

Scott Luton (00:07:54):

Farshad. A secret menu. Farshad is tuned in from Tehran via LinkedIn. Great to see your Farshad. Looking forward to your perspective. Oh, good. I’ll let you introduce this one, Greg.

Greg White (00:08:07):

Hey, the doc holiday of supply chain, Fred Tolbert. I cannot wait to see what you say, Fred.

Scott Luton (00:08:14):

Yeah.

Greg White (00:08:15):

Please, regale us.

Scott Luton (00:08:16):

That’s right. You got to bring it, Fred. You set a high standard around here. He says, “It’s a great day to be in supply chain. Of course, every day,” Fred says, “is a great day to be in supply chain.” Chuck Johnston, joining in from Roswell, Georgia. Now, Greg, Roswell is one of our favorite new places to eat maybe. And, the name of that steakhouse we went to was what?

Greg White (00:08:38):

Little Alley?

Scott Luton (00:08:40):

Little Alley.

Greg White (00:08:42):

Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:08:40):

So, Chuck, let us know if you’ve ever eaten that Little Alleys. It’s now home to one of my favorite steaks, in all of Metro Atlanta.

Greg White (00:08:51):

Little Alley or Lola’s, I think, Burgers and Tequila or something like that is kind of across the street, which I like.

Scott Luton (00:09:00):

Yeah. Hey, we got some pop in visitors. You never know what’s going to happen here on The Buzz. And, that happened to be Jayda, with our production team. She’s a big Dallas Cowboys fan and she’s happy [inaudible].

Greg White (00:09:11):

She probably wanted to say something about the weekend, didn’t she?

Scott Luton (00:09:16):

She says no, in behind the scenes. So, great, appreciate what Jayda and the whole team does. Gosh, we’ve got a bunch of bunch of folks here today. Steven, from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, via LinkedIn.

Greg White (00:09:28):

Oh, yes, friendly Alberta.

Scott Luton (00:09:29):

Friendly Alberta.

Greg White (00:09:30):

That’s friendly Manitoba, isn’t it? Sorry. I’m thinking of license plates and Phoenix.

Scott Luton (00:09:35):

Okay.

Greg White (00:09:36):

It’s that time when the leaves don’t change color, the license plates do in Phoenix.

Scott Luton (00:09:41):

Well, and that was Ruben. Let’s see here. Ruben Valdez was the earlier commenter from Austin. So, great to see you, Ruben. And, just a really quick note folks, if it says LinkedIn user, when we pop up your comment, it just means you’ve got a setting, kind of like a semi-private setting on your LinkedIn profile that doesn’t allow folks to kind of see if you’re active. So, if you want to change that, go to your LinkedIn profile and it should be a pretty straightforward setting.

Scott Luton (00:10:07):

Bob Malley, proud dad, he says. So, hey, I can see why. James says – James has his hair on fire doing some big things. And, of course, we love his visits with us here and we’ll get a lot of feedback on his thought leadership and his company, Paccurate. So, I’d be proud too, Bob.

Scott Luton (00:10:25):

Okay, Greg, there’s so many other comments we can’t get to today. We’ve got got kind of a jam-packed agenda today. I think we’re tackling five news stories. Is that right?

Greg White (00:10:35):

Well, yeah, but we jammed two of them together ‘cause we want to kind of compare the couple of perspectives. So, can we say it’s four? I don’t know. But it’s a lot.

Scott Luton (00:10:44):

Well, yes we can. We can do whatever you’d like to do Greg as always. We got a call out this year, Lee Klaskow. So, folks –

Greg White (00:10:52):

Oh, my.

Scott Luton (00:10:54):

Greg.

Greg White (00:10:555):

Bloomberg in the house.

Scott Luton (00:10:56):

He is one of industry’s top analyst, top voices. Lee can cut through the noise like few people can. So, make sure you’re connected to Lee. Make sure you’re following him. I think especially LinkedIn is probably the main social channel beyond what they publish at Bloomberg, right, Greg?

Greg White (00:11:14):

Yeah. And, Lee, this next story has opposing views as to the future of supply chain disruption. So, you need to stay tuned in and sound off on these articles.

Scott Luton (00:11:27):

That’s right. We want to hear from you Lee and we got to get you reconnect and get you back on the air with us. So, all the best, you and the family. You know the last time we chat with Lee, he had a new dog in the house, but I’m sure that dog has now rules the roost, I imagine. Okay.

Greg White (00:11:46):

Well-established dog.

Scott Luton (00:11:47):

Well-established dog. That’s right. All right. So, a full house here today, full house. Looking forward to a great conversation. Let’s go ahead and bring on our guest here today. So, again, James is not new to the space. He’s been in the supply chain space since 2009. He’s especially been focused during that time on innovative technology. You’ll hear more about that today. I want to welcome in James Malley, CEO of Paccurate.

Scott Luton (00:12:14):

Hey, hey, James, how are we doing this morning?

James Malley (00:12:17):

Great. How you guys doing?

Scott Luton (00:12:19):

Doing wonderful, doing wonderful. You’re on the road a bit –

James Malley (00:12:23):

Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:12:23):

And, it’s great to see Mr. Bob Malley with us here today. Two weeks ago, I think your sister joined us as well. Right?

James Malley (00:12:31):

I have a very supportive family. I’m only mildly nervous about what they might say in the chat and I’m actually recording live from my parents’ basement. So, I prop something up against the door.

Greg White (00:12:45):

So, you have a future in podcasts.

James Malley (00:12:46):

Yeah.

Greg White (00:12:46):

And, if you’re recording live from your parents’ basement, right?

James Malley (00:12:50):

That’s right. That’s a requisite.

Greg White (00:12:51)

That’s right.

Scott Luton (00:12:53):

Awesome. Well, so let’s dive right in, James. We’ve really enjoyed our recent conversations. I think we’ve got a great one teed up today. But before we get to the heavy lifting, let’s give me, I’m gonna get you and Greg to each give me one highlight from the weekend. And so, James, we’ll start with you. What’s been your one highlight this past weekend?

James Malley (00:13:16):

Well, I was telling you in pre-show that my laptop exploded. I don’t know if that’s a highlight or not, but that was certainly a notable event. But just get getting to be around family for the first time in a while has been fantastic.

Scott Luton (00:13:31):

When was the last time you saw your folks?

James Malley (00:13:35):

A couple months, I think. It’s just, you know, every time you want to go visit, it’s not like we’re that far away, but because of the pandemic and everything, it’s like suddenly, you know, it’s a factor you have to weigh in every time.

Scott Luton (00:13:47):

Well, hope you have a wonderful rest of your time there. Bob Malley, we hear you’re a wonderful smoker with your Traeger. So, if you got any pictures, send them our way. We got to see those smoke rings in that meat, right, James.

James Malley (00:14:03):

Don’t get him started.

Scott Luton (00:14:05):

Okay. All right. So, Greg, we talked a little bit about your travels last week, and I think I saw Mohib in the comments with Wichita State University. But, Greg, give us your one big highlight from the weekend.

Greg White (00:14:18):

Yeah. Well, I was at Wichita startup week which was a Techstars event sponsoring or kind of guiding some incredible knowledge sharing among a bunch of technology, people in Wichita, and met someone who I had heard of, but never met. James Chung, the Chung Report, which what James’ firm does is predictive analytics around the economics of entire cities and ecosystems and industries and it is really impressive, particularly impressive because he is from Wichita and I had never really heard of him, but wow, just an impressive speaker, incredible view on that. And then, of course, I got to meet with a lot of folks, Greg Griefer who is the Chief Revenue Officer at DARI motion. This really cool technology that scans your entire body. It’s being used by the NFL. And it can predict injury because of range of motion or positioning of, you know, of like body parts and, you know, as opposed to where they’re supposed to be and where they actually are. Incredibly valuable. I mean, it’s going to be really valuable for not only athletics, which is super cool, right? So, you can hopefully prevent some injuries, but also for work injuries and maybe preventing, you know, a lot of at work injuries. So, it’s a pretty cool technology as well.

Scott Luton (00:15:50):

Does it work on the teams themselves in terms of the predictive pain from a bad season?

Greg White (00:15:56):

Not that, but I can tell you that I think that about 90% of the people they predicted would be injured in the first week of the NFL season were actually injured.

Scott Luton (00:16:11):

Wow. Okay.

Greg White (00:16:11):

I mean, it’s that accurate. And, that is incredibly valuable, right?

Scott Luton (00:16:15):

You don’t want to be on that technologies radar, bad things will happen. It sounds like to you. So, all right. So, Greg, it sounds like a big, big week. I look forward to hearing some of your additional key takeaways from your travels, and I hope we get out back to Wichita. It’s been since 2002 that I was at [inaudible] could make a trip. Supply Chain Now might invade Wichita at some point. We’ll see.

Greg White (00:16:38):

There you go.

Scott Luton (00:16:39):

Okay. And, I see, Gregory is tuned in as well. So, James Gregory is the Shakespeare of Supply Chain. So, get ready as we hear some of his melodic takeaways. It’s like a symphony. It’s wonderful. So, Gregory, the gauntlet has been thrown down. And, Mohib says, “We have a Wichita State University Supply Chain Bowling Night. If you’re in town, sign up and join in the fun.” Hey, let’s go bowling folks. James, you want to take a trip?

James Malley (00:17:04):

Absolutely.

Scott Luton (00:17:06):

Okay.

Greg White (00:17:06):

I used your joke this weekend, by the way in Wichita, and it went over really well.

Scott Luton (00:17:10):

Really. Well, do share. What joke do you speak of?

Greg White (00:17:13):

You do it so much better. I have a supply chain joke for you, but it could take you a couple of months to get it.

Scott Luton (00:17:22):

James, that is not my joke. We stole that shamelessly, I think, from the Twitter, your Twitter verse, so, but [inaudible]. All right. Well, Greg, hopefully, you did use and hopefully you enjoyed the conversations you had. It sounds like you had a wonderful time and we look forward to doing it again soon.

Scott Luton (00:17:40):

All right. So, James Malley, James Malley. We’ve got five different stories we’re going to walk through. I’m gonna go ahead and pop the first one up here. Actually, the first two. So, I’m going to – we’ve got kind of two diametrically opposed predictions for where we are and where we’re headed. So, the first one here comes from the Wall Street Journal and y’all can see this, be the visual. It says global supply-chain problems escalate, threatening economic recovery. Now, this was a really deep read. It’s going to be tough to do this justice in a few minutes time, but y’all check that article out, and then published. I think James, just a few hours within each other, you had this other one. This is more of an opinion piece by John –

Greg White (00:18:23):

Dizard.

Scott Luton (00:18:24):

Dizard. Yes, I think you’re right, via the Financial Times. And, the title is The Worst of the Supply Chain Crisis is Over. Okay. So, James, we got two different predictions, two different, kind of, a crystal ball readings. What’s your take?

James Malley (00:18:45):

I thought it was pretty hilarious that they came out within a couple, just the two hours of each other, I think. And, I don’t want to rag on the Financial Times author too much. But I think it’s a good example of how supply chain, you know journalism, but just in general as well, it’s a topic with a lot of breadth and depth. And, if you focus too much on the depth of, you know, a single point in the supply chain, you’re kind of going to miss the forest through the trees. So, the Financial Times, what was his name? Dizard.

Greg White (00:19:21):

Dizard.

Scott Luton (00:19:22):

John Dizard, yeah.

James Malley (00:19:23):

Yeah. You know, he did some work. He did his research and, you know, kind of did some data analysis of cargo ships at port and it was kind of showing that there’s some sort of percentage decreases in backlog at certain ports around the world, which in isolation could be taken for fantastic news. However, if you then found the Wall Street Journal article, you’ll see that they zoomed way out and looked at much more critical issues across the entire supply chain. I don’t know if that was your take Scott, but I thought the Wall Street Journal thesis or sort of main point was the most important takeaway and that was the global economy is just completely out of sync with, you know, the dwindling pandemic. You know retailers and manufacturers in the west want all this, all the goods and raw materials because their customers want it, but suppliers in Asian countries and elsewhere are still locked down or have severe restrictions and they just can’t get the material there.

Scott Luton (00:20:34):

Right. Yeah. I generally agree with you. I think, you know, we love our good news around here and if you look hard enough, you can find some optimistic, you know, segments or metrics or you name it. And so, I can appreciate John Dizard’s approach there, but based on what we’re seeing and the fingers on the pulse, the conversations we’re having, the practitioners and the supply chain leaders that we’re hearing from has kind of reflected by the Wall Street Journal piece, which was a deep dive, kind of a more systemic approach to what’s going on in the path ahead. I think we got a lot more pain and I don’t think the worst is head of us. I think the good thing we’ve got cooking is, you know, as each day passes, some of these newer more unique challenges, we’ve got some more experience with, right. And, it sounds kind of silly to think a day of experience is valuable, but I would argue it’s very valuable. So, we’ll see what’s around the corner. I think, you know, year-end kind of where we’ve been and where we’re headed, it’s going to be a season that keeps on giving, right, and lessons learned and a lot more pain, but I’m not sure if we’re through the thick of it yet. Greg, what are some things on your mind?

Greg White (00:21:50):

Yeah. I was fascinated that the pundits as knowledgeable and well-researched as they both can be, come up with virtually opposite assessments of the situation. And, also there were a couple points in Dizard’s article that were a little bit interesting to me. He was saying that the carriers, the shipping companies need to allow people to get off these ships. And, in fact, in a later story that we’re going to discuss today, we’re going to talk about the fact that it is not, even in the hands of the shipping companies, to allow their sailors off of those ships, so. And then, there was some other, you know, kind of macro understandings, as James said, you know. If you think about the world the way that people have thought about the world generally and without the very complex context of supply chain, I could see where he would come to some of those conclusions. He’s just wrong.

Greg White (00:22:53):

And, you know, I think that what’s further interesting about that, as we think about the future of supply chain and future disruptions and the past frankly of the last 18 months, if you think about the disruptions that we’ve experienced, that the supply chain always experiences, those have not been the catastrophic loans, not even the weather in Texas or a ship being stuck in the Suez canal, which by the way has happened before. But what has been difficult and it’ll be evidenced by this final article that we’re going to talk about is the somewhat misguided and inconsistent application of assistance or guidance or regulation by the governments around the world. And, that is impossible for the supply chain to predict and deal with because –

James Malley (00:23:48):

I’m in suspense.

Scott Luton (00:23:51):

We’re all in suspense. We may have lost Greg there momentarily as he is on the road from Kansas City. But, you know, he makes a good point there. And, we’ll see if we can grab him back in a second. You know, there’s talk here in the states, James, about the supply chain creating a supply chains are. You know, kind of a pseudo government official that may have the wherewithal to break through certain rules and regulations and create actionable consensus, I might call it. Have you heard any of that and any thoughts on that?

James Malley (00:24:26):

I mean, on the one hand, I think it’s great as, you know, supply chain sort of enters the public consciousness, and, you know, the government’s like, maybe we should have somebody deal with this problem. But, on the other hand, it’s kind of, you know, I don’t envy whoever that person is. So, you know, global supply chain or national supply chain, it’s hard to just be like, all right, you go, you just take care of that problem and will be fine. You know, I think as we said last time and we’re talking about today, and as those two articles kind of are evidence of, it’s a massively complex system, it’d be like trying to fix, you know, global weather patterns. There’s just so much that you can’t control. And, really, you know, good supply chain practitioner sort of embraces the chaos a little bit and just focuses on what they can do or what they have control over.

Scott Luton (00:25:25):

Excellent point. And while Greg’s not here, I’m going to share a little opinion here. I think some good could come out of something like that. I think some of the things within our control is, you know, as has been pointed out with the ports, you know our ports in this country, it’s been said are decades behind ports and other parts of the world. You know, rather than them working as one big system, you know, fully communicating with each other and full visibility, you know, multi-party data sharing, they don’t work like that. They work more in kind of [inaudible], right. And so, I think that’s an opportunity that might, would take a very unique use of power, influence, authority, resources to create, really transform how ports do business here, at least, in the states.

Scott Luton (00:26:16):

But to your point, it is massively complex in a way that so few people really get, you know, if something happens here in Georgia, it can reverberate around or halfway around the world. It’s amazing how it’s like a global organism that supply chain works. So, I appreciate your perspective.

Scott Luton (00:26:36):

We may be regaining Greg here in a minute. While we do that, I want to say, hello, Debi. Also in Wichita. Great to see you here today. Look forward to your take on this. Rhea or Rhea maybe tuned in from Singapore via LinkedIn. Great to see you. Looking forward to your perspective. Ssali or Sally, maybe. I apologize. If I get names wrong, let us know. It’s very important to get everybody’s name right, and he is tuned in from Uganda via LinkedIn. Let’s see here. And, Steven also agrees, I think with our prevailing assessment that we’re not through the pain just yet. I’m with you, Steven. Okay. Let’s see. There we are.

James Malley (00:27:15):

I got to be on top now.

Scott Luton (00:27:16):

Right, so.

Greg White (00:27:18):

I feel like the guest. Thanks for having me on, James.

James Malley (00:27:15):

Let’s get his take first.

Scott Luton (00:27:22):

That’s right. And, Rhonda says so many variables coming into play. And, Rhonda, I’m with you. Especially when you move from, you know, the US current state and you kind of the US market and you get into, you know, the global organism that is supply chain.

Scott Luton (00:27:40):

All right. So, Greg, you were kind of halfway making a point. I kind of threw out there while you were gone what James thought of the idea of a supply chains are, but you’re kind of talking about how some of the governmental involvement was creating some challenges. So, finish your point and we’ll move on to what’s next.

Greg White (00:28:00):

Yeah. That’s the hardest thing to predict is what governments will do because it’s often in an effort to curry favor or established political position, or based on supreme ignorance and short-sighted goals, right? Changing public opinion rather than actually creating a real and sustainable solution. And, that really disrupts supply chains so that, and we will continue to see that. We’ve seen it. We’re going to talk, as I said earlier, we’re going to talk about it in yet another one of these stories and its impact on supply chain. So, that’s the thing that we really have to work and look out for because we’ve always faced the other types of disruptions in supply chain. The difference being now everybody is actually paying attention to supply chain and knows what those impacts mean. We asked for it, right. We wanted a seat at the table and we got it.

Scott Luton (00:28:58):

We got to deliver. We’ve got to deliver.

Greg White (00:29:00):

Yeah. There is no hiding anymore. And, I’m not saying anybody was hiding, but there is nowhere to hide now as a supply chain professional.

Scott Luton (00:29:07):

Well said. Okay. Let’s welcome in Stacy’s perspective here. She says, I think the one takeaway is supply chain personnel, who is a good risk manager, will be able to adapt to sudden change, maybe better able to adapt to sudden changes. And that’s –

Greg White (00:29:25):

Simple genius right there. That’s exactly right.

Scott Luton (00:29:28):

Excellent point.

Greg White (00:29:29):

I mean, yeah.

Scott Luton (00:29:30):

Okay. James, one last word, before we move on to what’s going on at the US Postal Service. Any final thought there?

James Malley (00:29:39):

About the two articles? Not –

Scott Luton (00:29:40):

Yeah.

James Malley (00:29:40):

Not really. I mean, I think, you know, if the container ships are in the new – whatever’s in the news next, there’s going to be some journalists that only focus on that thing. Maybe, you know, FedEx has a problem. And then, when that problem alleviates, they’ll say, well, now the supply chain is sort of up and running again. So, you kind of have to, you know, if you’re interested in supply chain but you’re not in the space, you really have to choose your sources carefully. I would say.

Scott Luton (00:30:07):

Nice. That’s great advice.

Greg White (00:30:10):

And many, I think, James, don’t you think? I mean, I think we need a broader perspective even from supply chain [inaudible].

Scott Luton (00:30:16):

Yeah. Excellent point. I’m curious to know what Bob Malley thinks. I wonder if Bob thinks that we’ve gotten past the worst of it. I will see if he chimes in. And, folks, we want to know what’s –

Greg White (00:30:24):

Just have him come down, James.

Scott Luton (00:30:25):

Right. Yes.

James Malley (00:30:27):

Hey, dad.

Scott Luton (00:30:29):

Folks, [inaudible].

James Malley (00:30:30):

Bring snacks.

Scott Luton (00:30:31):

That’s right. We’d love to know what you’re thinking about these books. Let’s shift gears. I want to pop in this next article here. So, the Pony Express used to be a thing, right. And, we’re not talking about the SMU offense back in the ‘80s, but the Pony Express at the time was very innovational. But, of course, that was centuries ago. Well, there’s some big changes taking place at the United States Postal Service that were taking maybe a few steps back, maybe, maybe re-embracing some things of the past. So, as this market watch article says, “Starting October, sending mail is getting slower and more expensive just in time for the holidays.” So, James what’s going on with them, US Postal Service.

James Malley (00:31:16):

Well, I love the picture. It makes it seem like the post office used to be much more action-packed. But the gist of it is some first-class mail is getting more expensive and we’ll take a day or two longer. Perhaps, the piece that’ll affect more of us is peak shipping charges anywhere from 75 cents to $5 a parcel. So, that’s bad. But, other than that, I have kind of, ‘cause this is a few days old, this news. And over the weekend, I was trying to crystallize my thoughts and I’m still fairly conflicted. Because on the one hand, I’m a bit of an idealist and, you know, the post office has been around since our country’s founding and is, you know, arguably responsible for the flourishing of democracy here. And so, they were given a civic mission basically from the very beginning. And so, as part of their ten-year plan, they talk a lot about being profitable and I don’t think that’s appropriate. I don’t think the post office is meant to be profitable.

James Malley (00:32:28):

On the other hand, the world has changed. A lot of people don’t realize that the post office is not run from taxpayer dollars, though they’ve been, you know, borrowing from the treasury since I was in college. They have to sustain their operations with revenue. And so, I think, you know, they have to adapt in order to keep the operation going. And, if that means they need to, you know, raise some prices here and there, I mean, e-commerce has changed how things move around the country permanently. So, some adaptation is needed, but that’s why I’m a little conflicted on, maybe not the news so much as the kind of explanation that they’re giving for.

Scott Luton (00:33:11):

Excellent point. Okay. So, really quick before I feel like we’re going to get some tell it like it is from Greg White here. But really quick, I think so many things have changed since the United States Postal Service was set up. And, just my take, I think a lot of organizations are taking advantage and it’s adding too volume and it’s impacting all the folks that perhaps need to rely on it, right. I used to send out my, in our first business, we sent a bunch of stuff through the mail, a lot of times certificates related to training. And, we learned early on, we didn’t use the postal service. You get what you pay for at times. So, we went UPS ground all that stuff and it worked like a charm. You know, we paid a few extra bucks, but it works so much better.

Scott Luton (00:33:59):

And so, I’m not sure exactly what changes had to take place ‘cause, James, you alluded to, you know, it’s been a lot in the red for a long time, right. And, it also has impacted various aspects of the service, the core service itself. But, Greg, bringing you in as we are uncovering what the plans are with United States Postal Service in the months to come, years to come perhaps, what are some of your thoughts when you hear about these changes taking place?

Greg White (00:34:30):

Well, I applaud the effort. You know, they lost 845 million fewer dollars in the last quarter than they had in the same quarter, the prior year, but still it’s an incredible drag on the economy and on government because they do borrow the money and they never pay it back. They are unable – it’s an insolvent organization whose entire purpose for existence is completely obsolete. They can be replaced by organizations that do seek profit and that can just as easily serve the, you know, betterment of democracy if you want to say that. They are the largest carbon producer in the logistics industry if you count them as part of the logistics industry. And, they largely, as I think all of us can, you know, can state from going out to our mailbox, they largely deliver completely and utterly useless garbage to us every single day in terms of junk mail, right.

Scott Luton (00:35:42):

And on that note –

Greg White (00:35:42):

Which is a huge portion of their contribution to pollution and waste and all of those sorts of things.

Scott Luton (00:35:49):

Right. On that note, I think that’s where you get – coal companies are doing what they’re enabled to do, right? Different rates, different in the meter, you know, all the special policies that lead to all this junk mail. I think that’s where we need to make some changes. So that, ‘cause, Greg, to your point, and James, I love the angle as Rhonda says here, not just lots of waste in our mailboxes, but she appreciates your civil duty perspective and I do too James. At the end of the day though, I think you’ve got to companies taking advantage of the rules and the services that are there. And that’s what that’s where I start the changes. Right? ‘Cause that stuff that hits your, our box, all of our boxes every day, not only to Greg’s points a ton of waste, but it’s abusing, it’s not abusing ‘cause you’re not breaking rules, but that’s what we got to change, I think.

Greg White (00:36:40):

That’s not the core problem, though. I mean, it’s an inherently inefficient organization. And as, you know, as James said, their job is to produce revenue. So, they are actually seeking out those people to mail all that junk to us, right, I mean, and they are providing a platform for them to do so. There is no doubt that the Amazons and the Ups and others use them as a last mile. But that is simply a leveraging of their incredibly inefficient business model, which is to deliver every single day, regardless of what is inside the vehicle to every single address everywhere in all of America, right. That’s just not practical. Even the Pony Express delivered to, they delivered to sort of hubs and then you went and got your mail at the post office if you lived in the sticks somewhere, right.

James Malley (00:37:41):

So, you’re advocating for horses, Greg?

Greg White (00:37:45):

I think they could be a lot more efficient.

James Malley (00:37:47):

Or fun.

Greg White (00:37:48):

Yeah. Maybe, motorcycles or something like that. Let’s try an electric vehicle.

Scott Luton (00:37:58):

James, so based on what Greg said or any other thoughts related to these changes or the challenges that face the USPS. Any additional thoughts there?

James Malley (00:38:09):

No. Except to say, I was like, oh, they’re slowing down. That must mean it’s going to be more sustainable. But the bulk of the slowdown is because they’re reducing their air mail by a lot, but they don’t own any planes. They just like tag along in commercial airlines. So, those planes are still going in the air. So, there’s not even really that dramatic of an environmental impact unfortunately.

Greg White (00:38:35):

And the slowdown is largely on periodicals. One of the things that they called out was periodicals, actually printed and published physical magazines that are going through the mail. So, I mean, I think that’s admirable as well. James, if you think about it, they’re at least not rushing to send this huge waste of paper that could easily be done electronically through the mail to us. I mean, the news is already outdated by the time you get Time Magazine. It’s out of time. So, what’s a day or two of extra shipping at that point?

Scott Luton (00:39:14):

That was a great R.E.M. album, by the way, Out Of Time, from 1992, I believe. Azaleah Leah says, quality control. Quality control, we need a lot more of that. Rhonda says, “Wowzier. Team Greg on this topic.” Fred said, “Profit is not a four-letter word.” Amanda says, “Love James’ perspective on the USPS. I was reading over the weekend how many are very concerned about those delays, particularly those receiving medication and other vital documents and information through the mail.” That’s a great point, Amanda.

Scott Luton (00:39:47):

Okay. So, who would have thought that the postal service creates such an intriguing conversation, right? And, I love both of y’all’s – there’s all, there’s no shortage of perspectives, but I think one thing that we can all agree on hopefully is big change, transformational change has to happen with the USPS.

Greg White (00:40:07):

They are really attempting it. I mean, [inaudible] is really trying to transform this organization and if he can be in any way successful, I really think that there is huge opportunity there. But it still has this government mandate, which allows it to hide behind incredible inefficiency and I think that is the foundational flaw of its construct.

Scott Luton (00:40:30):

Okay. Well, so, I’ll throw this one last comment here from TSquared who holdd sound for us on YouTube. And, he says that the postal accountability and enhancement act, so it was referring to their PAEA is a major part of the losses. And, I got to tell you, I’m not up to speed on what all that act covers, but it says, quick Google search says it was the first major overhaul of United States Postal Service since 1970. So, we’ll see. The conversation will continue. Okay.

James Malley (00:41:02):

Sorry. Sorry. Real quick, Scott. I think that act basically said the post office had to pay for their workers retirement ahead of time. That was one of the major provisions of the bill, which, anyway, not to, I don’t want to get too political, but it definitely threw a wrench in the works for operations.

Scott Luton (00:41:24):

Gotcha. That’s a good point. Lots of moving pieces with the massive service that as is United States Postal Service. Okay. Let’s move to a different topic here. I want to bring up – you know, we talk a lot, despite all the technology, innovations, Greg and James, and there’s exciting thing, the good news there. There’s a ton of that. But still, as we all have agreed numerous times, the people still makes global supply chain happen. So, this article here came out via CNN Business. This is from a week or two ago. And, you know, all these folks keeping global supply chain moving forward, pandemic, no pandemic, you name it, making it happen, but one group of professionals that endured challenges perhaps at other different sectors didn’t and we’re going to be talking about our ocean shipping workforce. So, James, this article here that came from CNN Business, the workers who keep global supply chains moving are warning of a system collapse. That’s the name of the article here. So, James, what are early takeaways from this piece?

James Malley (00:42:31):

Yeah. Well, first of all, I just want to thank you guys for highlighting this. You know, I’ve been watching your show for a long time and you always routinely cover people that don’t get covered very often. But I have to say reading this, I was, honestly, like a little bit ashamed that I didn’t know what the sort of seafarers, the folks that are working on container ships have been having to deal with ‘cause you know, we know, you know, ocean containers and seafarers, truckers, it’s a hard job anyway. And, the conditions that they’ve been subjected to over the past two years have just been terrible and they’re really, you know, they’re really the bedrock of how this whole game is played. So, you know, the article talks about, you know, these folks that have been at sea for a year and a half, forced to get multiple different kinds of vaccines.

James Malley (00:43:33):

One guy had to get six shots ‘cause each port has a different requirement for which vaccines approved, or they can’t get a vaccine, or, you know, they’re just sitting. I mean, when we see all these news articles of other container ships lined up to the horizon, there are people on those –

Greg White (00:43:49):

Right.

James Malley (00:43:50):

There’s hundreds of ships.

Greg White (00:43:51):

Hundreds of them. Right.

James Malley (00:43:53):

So, anyway, so if you haven’t read this or some of the follow-up reporting, I highly recommend it. The International Chamber of Shipping wrote an open letter to the UN and the WHO, basically begging for some amount of international cooperation or collaboration just so that there could be a little bit of common sense applied so these people aren’t kind of just taken for granted. It’s worth the read excellent.

Scott Luton (00:44:25):

Point in, and, James, I appreciate the things you highlighted too. Greg, what are some of your thoughts related to our global workforce and some of the signals that these groups got together and pointed out and try and drive change?

Greg White (00:44:38):

Yeah. I mean, some of these folks have been on the water for 18 months and it is because, as James said, one country has a certain vaccine that they approve. So, if you want to go ashore, you have to get vaccinated or you have to quarantine. Even when these sailors go home, they have to quarantine at home for a month before they can see their loved ones in some cases. So, many of them are from India, Indonesia or the Philippines and only 25 to 30% of them have been vaccinated. They can’t get off the ship to go get vaccinated. One of the stories was an American chief officer, her ship had to get special permission just to go to Singapore to be repaired. Then they weren’t allowed off the ship while the ship was being repaired. So, they have been 18 months effectively on the ship.

Greg White (00:45:41):

And, you know, they talked also about the way that even in the EU, certain countries do a mandatory and unilateral policy and then it forces other countries to mimic that policy so they don’t get stuck with truck drivers who can’t, you know, who can’t get into Germany, for instance, they don’t get stuck in Italy. And, it created an incredible difficulty for those truck drivers as well because they were kind of caught in no man’s land between a number of countries. And, while those countries work it out, those people literally are starving. They’re literally without food or facilities while they wait for a ruling from these government agencies. And, I think while the headline is maybe a little bit hyperbolic, system is not about to collapse but it is causing incredible strain and some of those people may be about to collapse.

Greg White (00:46:40):

And, certainly you can see, as we saw early in the pandemic, those people who worked so hard and then got laid off or, you know, or lockdown when the opportunity came to be freed, if you want to call it that, they didn’t go back to work. And, I could see a lot of that happening with a lot of these sailors not going back to work immediately. When the opportunity for them to actually get home comes, they’re going to want some time off after spending 18 months effectively working every day.

Scott Luton (00:47:17):

Right. Now, for me, this goes back full circle to where we started, right, when we had two views. One that we still got lot more challenges that are escalating on the other side, or the worst has passed. I would argue that a lot of the anecdotes and experiences and challenges that this article points to even if the headline is a bit hyperbolic, as you say, Greg, I think that spikes a football on the point that we still have big challenges coming ‘cause you got a ton of burnout, which Greg was speaking to, and, James, you’ve been speaking to. A lot of folks have been taking advantage of because they’ve been willing to do certain roles, certain rates, put up with certain conditions. And I think at some point in time, as Greg, you pointed to folk just didn’t come back, right. They had had enough.

Scott Luton (00:48:06):

So, I think this is a huge hurdle. At the very least., I’m at least glad that it’s becoming visible in these groups. I’m not sure everything they’re asking from a policy or governmental regulation standpoint, you know, all of that, but the fact that these challenges and these pains and this person, these people have become visible. That’s a great thing. And then, we’ll see what industry does about it, right.

Scott Luton (00:48:36):

But, James, I appreciate you pointing out because it is important to us. We are definitely all about the people here at Supply Chain Now. You know, Greg and I both have spent time in the industry. You know, for me, a lot of it was in manufacturing industry. [Inaudible] are the folks on those production floors making it happen. You know, that’s the Gemba. And, I just can’t say enough about those people that come in every day, you know, solving problems, creating value, you know the camaraderie there. I mean, it’s my one of favorite parts about industry. But, James, I’m going to give you one of the last words on this article before we move on to our fifth and final news today here for The Buzz.

James Malley (00:49:22):

I think, you know, like you said, there’s burnout and we’re kind of at least in this country, I think globally, it seems like we’re at a point where people are starting to evaluate what they do for a living. And, that’s sort of cited as one of the reasons why we have such high unemployment and so many job openings at the same time. And, this is, you know, definitely put trucking and working on container ship on the list of most difficult jobs. You know, even just on their personal lives, it’s incredibly taxing. So, that’s where I think the risk remains if those sorts of trends play out.

Scott Luton (00:50:05):

Excellent point. Let’s see what – Judineth, I think I got that right. Judineth says here via LinkedIn, “This is so right. Many people just see the tip of the iceberg. Customer on one hand asking for solutions out of the box, you name it, but they tend, and we all tend to forget the human aspect. Workers also get burned out mentally and physically. Big respect to all of them.” Thank you so much for sharing that. And, Rhonda, you’ve got similar comments. “God bless them and their families.” She’s talking about the seafarers. “I can’t imagine the stressful situations they continue to face.”

Scott Luton (00:50:39):

And then, going back to the last article, I want to point out one more thing in. You know TSquared talked about the PEAE in 2006. Well, he comes from a postal family. And, I believe this point here, I think they’ve got to pay in, is that 75 years ahead of time? I’m not sure. Anyway, just quite a few to elaborate on that point there but I appreciate your perspective especially since it’s really close to home. But, all right, so James and Greg, man, we got a jam-packed buzz. How much – it’s almost – it’s a tidal wave of news to be working through today, ain’t it, Greg and James?

Greg White (00:51:15):

Yeah.

James Malley (00:51:16):

Let’s keep going.

Scott Luton (00:51:17):

Let’s keep driving. Okay. All right. So, you know, this final one may be the easiest thing we talked about here today ‘cause we’re talking about a new level of collaboration, innovative collaboration between Walmart and Home Depot. And, it looks like a Walmart is starting to land some early customers with it. So, James, tell us what’s going on here.

James Malley (00:51:38):

So, at a high level, Walmart has, you know, delivery infrastructure now and they’re looking for other retailers top on board. The most interesting part for me is that it’s a white label deal. So, you’re not going to see Walmart plastered across your Home Depot box, which I think is really interesting. It’s, you know, shows at least a little bit that Walmart, they’re not just looking for a bunch of billboards floating around and being delivered on your doorstep. They’re actually serious about the supply chain kind of opportunity. Beyond that, I think it’s great for the future because this is sort of a blueprint for other retailers, you know, medium-sized retailers, or maybe even small retailers that can band together and do things like this. And, I think the hope is someday, you know, we’ll be able to look back and be like, how did we ever have goods that are available locally clogging up our national supply chain when they could have just been, you know, some other retailer could have brought them over in the same step. So, the optimist in me sees that side of things.

Scott Luton (00:52:47):

Love it. Greg?

Greg White (00:52:50):

I love the idea. And, I think it’s interesting that Home Depot is who signed up first, right? Because brand is very important to both of these companies and as James said, the Home Depot deliveries will, the boxes at least looks like they will be branded Home Depot and the trucks will either be branded go local or something generic. So, you know, as James said this is not just a publicity play. This is a real service to the industry and it is a real, very real service competitor to Amazon, you know FBS, right? So, this is another one of those ABA type applications anyone but Amazon as the service provider that hopefully will start to level the playing field eventually for some of these small retailers, as well as save energy and save time and save transportation and traffic in our neighborhoods from delivery of some of these more local-type goods.

Scott Luton (00:54:00):

Well, and we’re going to, look, we can all expect Walmart to continue to find ways of flexing its muscles when it comes to 4700 brick-and-mortar locations. You know, that’s part of their ABA strategy for quite some time. This is just the latest ripple. So, you know, to your point, Greg, I welcome it. You know, I think the more competition that other folks can bring to the market when it comes to e-commerce and delivery and, well, it’s not e-commerce, am I right, Greg? We’ve established that. It’s just commerce.

James Malley (00:54:32):

It’s just commerce.

Scott Luton (00:54:33):

It’s just commerce.

James Malley (00:54:34):

Yeah. That’s right.

Scott Luton (00:54:35):

So, this is a really cool. I look forward to seeing what else Walmart does. You know, Greg, we had the chance and, James, you may have caught the episode. We interviewed one of their truck drivers for Walmart. That was certainly one of my favorite episodes of the year because –

James Malley (00:54:49):

She’s amazing.

Scott Luton (00:54:49):

Yeah. April, I think, is her first name.

Greg White (00:54:52):

Yeah. That’s right.

Scott Luton (00:54:53):

And, man, we’re talking about an inspiring story, and, again, kind of those folks that never get any limelight. In fact, all they get is they get honked at all the time, you know, and all the other challenges they get. But, love to see what Walmart and Home Depot are doing together. James, your final thoughts on our final article today, and, man, we’re finished just a few minutes ahead of schedule.

James Malley (00:55:16):

I hope somebody is tracking the sustainability impact of this ‘cause, I mean, just imagine you’re ordering a socket wrench on homedepot.com. Instead of that thing coming from, like, the distribution center or wherever it is on a truck, probably with a bunch of other stuff. It’s coming in like a civic or something and just, you know, parking without taking up too much space on your road. ‘Cause the article, you know, they’re talking about using normal passenger vehicles, which is fantastic. So, that’s another upbeat note.

Scott Luton (00:55:49):

Love that. James, I love the upbeat and the good news you bring to the table. Hey, really quick. We’re going to wrap with what’s new in the Paccurate world, but really quick. I stumbled across a new YouTube channel. I love, you know, when I have my bowl of grits in the morning or whatever it is, I like finding new things on YouTube and it’s delivery drivers documenting their experiences and talk about a blind spot that probably many of us have and some of the challenges and conversations they have I find it really fascinating. So, we’ll have to find that link and put it up here. Okay.

James Malley (00:56:23):

That’s a good point. The delivery drivers, they only get recognition if they do something wrong and are caught on a ring camera.

Scott Luton (00:56:33):

Right. You’re so right. You’re so right. And, gosh, you think about those folks that have really kept, you know, kept at it and delivered groceries and other supplies during this time, when a lot of folks didn’t want to go out and venture out. So, a lot more to come on there. All right. So, James and Greg,  let’s talk about Paccurat. So, really quick, two things, James. Let’s make sure folks know what Paccurate your does, right?

James Malley (00:56:58):

Sure.

Scott Luton (00:56:58):

‘Cause your company has been on the move, and then secondly, any news and how can folks connect with you?

James Malley (00:57:04):

Sure. So Paccurate is a cartonization as a service company. So, we have an API that retailers, large and small, use at the packing step or somewhere in the warehouse, sometimes in the online shopping cart. They send our API message with all the information about the shipment and we send back packing instructions with an image. And, I would say my piece of news is related to kind of actually what we do ‘cause our kind of novel approach to the problem has to do with reconciling external cost factors, like carrier rates and fees, material costs, labor, all that stuff. And so, I’m not sure if it’s news, but a recent trend, some of our newer customers have come to us because they’ve decided to take the strategy of diversifying their carrier relationships. So, they’re using a whole set of new carriers that they haven’t used before that have different pricing models. So, they send all that pricing information to us and we’re able to say, okay, because this is going, you know, carrier A, instead of UPS this time, it’s actually one box instead of two because of XYZ, so, kind of a tie into, I guess, what we talked about a couple of weeks ago with the multi-carrier strategy, but pretty cool to see it play out on our side.

Scott Luton (00:58:29):

I bet.

Greg White (00:58:30):

You need to call Walmart it sounds like.

James Malley (00:58:32):

You know, I try to call Walmart. They don’t call take my calls.

Scott Luton (00:58:36):

Well, you know, I love how kind of you’re using that, almost like an insider’s guide, insider’s information and rates and letting folks kind of compete and work with these carriers in a much more intelligent manner, saving money, saving time, saving headaches. It sounds like to me, James.

James Malley (00:58:59):

Yeah. I think that’s what, you know, we’ve come to see in our space, which is, you know, fairly niche packing, but obviously it’s got a lot of ramifications. But when you make a big strategic change, you got to look – just like those two articles where one was kind of myopic and one was looking at the big picture, you really have to track the ramifications of every major change you make in your supply chain.

Greg White (00:59:23):

That’s right.

Scott Luton (00:59:25):

Well said. All right. So, James, as much as I hate it, our hour with you is just about up. Greg, your final thought while we still have James here, anything you want to add to what he and the Paccurate team are doing?

Greg White (00:59:41):

I love two aspects of it about it. The sustainability aspect of it and the economic leveling of the playing field, if you will, because we’ve talked, Scott, you and I have talked for years about the complex and sometimes intentionally [inaudible] methodology of billing for shipping that the carriers use, especially the big carriers, and how that impacts companies after the fact when they can’t do anything about it, except pay the exorbitant additional fee. And, I think this, because I’m a huge fan of e-commerce as a main driver of commerce, this is an ability to make and continue to assure that e-commerce and last mile delivery is sustainable and economically feasible because I really doubt whether the big carriers can or are willing to make it feasible, at least in the long term, as we’ve seen their share prices and profits go up during a time of crisis, it’s hardly a service to the consumer that has caused all of that profit. So, I think this opportunity for companies to be able to compete and to be able to sustain their e-commerce efforts is not just cool and innovative and fantastic optimization technology, but it’s a really noble mission and I just really appreciate it.

Scott Luton (01:01:09):

Love it. And, James you’re like chicken soup for the soul and you’re nice and calm and deliberate cadence and how you communicate. You really are. I’ll think of some other analogies, but that’s the one I settled on, James.

James Malley (01:01:24):

Chicken soup for the soul.

Scott Luton (01:01:25):

Chicken soup for the soul.

James Malley (01:01:26):

Well, you guys are like the Minestrone of supply chain.

Scott Luton (01:01:31):

Oh, man. It’s a love fest as we wrap up.

Greg White (01:01:33):

I think that’s good, yeah. I love Minestrone.

Scott Luton (01:01:36):

I’ve never liked Minestrone, man.

James Malley (01:01:38):

Sorry.

Scott Luton (01:01:38):

But, hey, that’s okay.

Greg White (01:01:40):

You prefer the wedding soup, right?

Scott Luton (01:01:41):

Yes.

Greg White (01:01:40):

Italian wedding soup.

Scott Luton (01:01:42):

We’re the beefaroni of supply chain. I love Chef Boyardee. Okay. So, James, let’s make sure. So, paccurate.io is your site.

James Malley (01:01:55):

Correct.

Scott Luton (01:01:56):

James is a great individual to follow and connect with on social. You’re mainly active would you say on LinkedIn and Twitter?

James Malley (01:02:04):

I’d say so. Yeah. LinkedIn. My LinkedIn is open, so shoot me a message. I’d love to talk about anything supply chain related. Twitter, I’m @mistermalley, mister spelled out.

Greg White (01:02:17):

Mister Malley.

Scott Luton (01:02:18):

Mister Malley.

Greg White (01:02:20):

I would’ve thought that would be your dad.

James Malley (01:02:21):

Well, I –

Greg White (01:02:22):

‘Cause he couldn’t get to Twitter really.

James Malley (01:02:23):

I [inaudible] right before he could get.

Scott Luton (01:02:24):

Well, hey, best wishes to the Malley family. Bob, really enjoyed your jumping on here today and thanks again for hosting. Bob Malley. The Buzz is sponsored by Bob Malley. He didn’t even know it, at least one third of The Buzz, but James always a pleasure. You know, we’re not going to zoom you out. We’re going to wrap with you right here. We’re a minute or two over. Really enjoyed all of our conversations today and your take on it. What’s even better is how there wasn’t a 100% consensus. That’s a good thing, right? It means you’re having a really frank, informative and educational and hopefully enlightening conversation. And, by the way, Bob says, “That’s my name.” So, your attorneys will have to duke it out over Mister Malley on Twitter.

Scott Luton (01:03:10):

All right. On that note, big thanks to James Malley with Paccurate. Again, learn more at paccurate.io. Greg, what is one thing you’re looking forward to this week? And then, I’m going to sign-off.

Greg White (01:03:23):

Wow. wow. That’s a great question. I’m looking forward to getting home because I’ve been on the road frankly since last Wednesday. So, I’m really looking forward to that and that starts today. So, if you could, you and the Chamber of Commerce could do anything about the weather in Atlanta, just make sure it’s welcoming when I return [inaudible].

Scott Luton (01:03:44):

Well, hopefully we’ll be celebrating an Atlanta Braves win here today on the third game of the NLDS, but we’ll save that for another time. Big thanks again, James Malley of Paccurate. Big thanks to Greg White. Hey, everyone behind the scenes, Jayda, Allie, Amanda, Clay, you name it, big thanks. Everybody showed up. I know we couldn’t get hit everybody’s perspective, but really appreciate your contributions today. Folks, if you remember anything here today, do good, give forward, be the change that’s needed to be. Be just like James Malley. I was too quick for even Greg [inaudible] fingers there, and have a wonderful week. We’ll see you next time right back here on Supply Chain Now. Thanks, everybody.

James Malley (01:04:20):

See you, guys.

Greg White (01:04:20):

Take care.

Intro/Outro (01:04:20):

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