The Manufacturing Pivot Whether the trend began with Covid or in light of geopolitical events, particularly tensions with China, manufacturers are seeking alternative solutions to continue their operations while minimizing risk. Many companies are shifting manufacturing away from China to locations closer to home or to places with friendlier relations. Offshoring to China took off …
The Ever Evolving Last-Mile Delivery World In the late 1970s, one of the most popular shows on TV was a sitcom called “Happy Days.” The show was set in Milwaukee in the 1950s, and the premise, as implied by the title, is a sentimentality for the simpler times of old. The past was portrayed as …
The Sustainability Factor As we enter 2023, there is one issue that will be focused on very strongly in the shipping/logistics world; environmental sustainability. Environmental issues are generally politically fraught and often elicit opposing visceral views. However, the free market has become a major factor in the move toward greater sustainability. Legislation and regulation have …
Supply Chain Disruptions In our last blog post, we explored the journey a hypothetical $20 T-Shirt purchased online takes to get from the factory to your front door. We touched on how multiple disruptions to the supply chain during Covid exposed the unpreparedness of the whole supply chain to numerous simultaneous failures. Here, we try …
The Journey of Your Online Purchase Let’s follow the path of a theoretical $20 T-shirt you’ve bought online. The journey begins in the overseas factory it was likely produced in and ends at your home. The shirt is manufactured at a factory in Vietnam, packed, and loaded onto a container which is placed on a …
LTL Explained Shipping, logistics, supply chain management, and a whole slew of other terms have been around forever. The popularity of eCommerce, the Covid related lockdowns, and the subsequent demand for online shopping has made them part of our regular discourse. As our logistics vocabulary has expanded, so has the popularity of services that have …
Supply Chain Whiplash Before Covid became a worldwide pandemic, most people never gave much thought to these two words; supply chain. At the outset of the lockdowns, it seemed that everyone was struggling to find toilet paper, flour, yeast, Lysol wipes, alcohol, and hand sanitizer to name a few. Eventually, things stabilized and the stores …
Returns Consumers have come to expect two basic things from retailers, particularly online eCommerce/omnichannel sellers; free and quick delivery and free returns. Those are the Holy Grail you need to offer in order to be competitive in the digital economy. In previous submissions, I addressed how free shipping isn’t always free. While retailers are savvy …
Why New Software? Why Now? Change does not always equal customer satisfaction. But in the digital age, change is ubiquitous, inevitable, and predictable. Yogi Berra once famously said, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Well, Yogi didn’t live in the digital era. These days, software needs updating. Whether to keep up with the latest …
We now operate in an eCommerce world where our customers have certain expectations. They have gotten used to things like free or inexpensive shipping. Others perhaps, expect next-day or 2-day delivery on items they purchase online. Either way, your customers demand choice and to stay competitive you need to offer what they want. They have …
Freight Costs at an All Time High We all know and understand why freight costs keep going up. You would have to be living under the proverbial rock not to comprehend what has happened to shipping logistics these past few years. Yet knowing the how and why doesn’t ease your frustration at what is happening …
Shipper Frustration? You Are Not Alone! Shipping is an integral part of your business, yet the ever changing landscape is confusing, perhaps even frustrating. Some of the irritation is very obvious and some you haven’t yet realized affects you. It helps to know you are not alone. It’s even more comforting to know that if …
If you are confused with all the new terminology in shipping/logistics, you are not alone.
