Sobedesign ™

Red Star … the fallout continues. Exactly how many people in Red Star’s Bridesburg office wanted into the union? 2,000 people out of jobs … including 1,400 Teamsters.

More dominoes …

(Most of us call them “terminals” … drivers, dock guys, girls in the office, TM’s, dispatchers. Think they’ll find lots of jobs waiting for them with competitors in this soft market? What a shame.)

Starting in mid-January, Fed Ex Freight will have a general rate increase of 5.48% for regional LTL.  National rates will also increase “a commensurate” amount.

You can’t blame them … costs go up … but what does your carriers “minimum price” mean when there’s a 25-30% surcharge tacked on to every single bill?

There’s more than one way to skin a cat … or move them: Short Lines.

The most interesting bit is that they control 29% of the nation’s tracks, but only generate 9% of the revenue. Underutilization is where value — and competitive advantage — hides.

You can bet we will be looking for new opportunities here.

Spun that puppy a bit too far.

Hub Group — or just “Hub” occupies a special place in my mind … they were the leasing company that for years supplied (and serviced) trucks to the regional distribution company my dad worked for.

When I was working in the warehouse and on the loading dock in high school, the manager, Mike, could often be heard telling a driver something like “Take that truck down to Hub to get the oil changed” or “604 isn’t back from Hub yet, go get 608.” They were THE company that did everything. I didn’t realize that at the time they were actually pretty small.

Though Dad is way past retirement age, he still goes into work 5-6 days a week, now managing a small warehouse selling mostly to contractors. As such, and given the nature of the products, he has just one warehouseman/driver. The truck? A typical tilt-cab Mitsubishi diesel box, bought used from the rental fleet of — you guessed it — Hub.

They just officially bought DNJ Transportation in Chicago.

Trucks are Rolling

Here is an interesting article – the import of web usage patterns, and what they can tell you about your potential customers, and a hint at the ever-growing tidal wave that is “China.”

Logistics and supply chain management have their beginnings in the middle ages? Yes, according to someone I spoke with recently. But I think it goes back to the caveman age. After all, hunts were organized to bring food back, co-ordinating over time and distance the logistics of the supply chain. Doing it right meant survival. Doing it wrong meant having to switch to alternative suppliers (vegetarianism or cannibalism?), moving to other locations, or starvation.

More on this history to come. For now, enjoy the summer and the ability to choose your food at leisure.

Hello & welcome back to Sobedesign.  More updates to come now that the blog is set.

-BJ