Dooner and the Dude kick off the week with another big vaccine announcement, plus a peek at some unique Christmas gifts.
Today’s top headlines:
Pharmaceutical company Moderna has entered the COVID-19 vaccine conversation with the announcement that the company’s vaccine has shown over 94% efficacy.
This is huge for the supply chain world, as Moderna’s vaccine requires only one dose and can be stored at minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit, a direct contrast to Pfizer’s two-dose extremely-cold-storage-only vaccine.
The Moderna vaccine would lead to easier distribution, more carriers able to move the vaccine, and better options for supply chains in underdeveloped infrastructures to get the vaccine out to the public.
Sony has also put stress on the supply chain with the release of the new PS5.
Despite promises that this release would not mimic the shortages seen in 2013 with the release of the PS4, slow manufacturing has led to shortages of the console and thus price gouging up to the thousands of dollars by sellers on eBay.
Continuing the trend of caring in the logistics community, WHAT THE TRUCK?!? highlighted Truckers Final Mile, a nonprofit aimed at helping families who have suffered the loss of a driver on the road return them home.
Truck driver Robert Palm started the charity nearly seven years ago and has helped dozens of families reunite with their loved ones after tragedy strikes.
You can help support Palm and his mission here.
Building company culture with Trailer Bridge
Dooner and the Dude brought on Ilona Fischer, director of marketing at Trailer Bridge, to talk about how the company is so successful.
Fischer says success comes down to one thing: the core values Trailer Bridge is built on.
“Our people are our culture, and our culture is our brand,” says Fischer. Trailer Bridge represents itself as a place where people truly care about each other, and that caring translates into how they interact with clients and peers.
So how do they guarantee quality? Fischer believes Trailer Bridge is responsible for altering the perception of the cold, in-and-out nature of brokerages.
The company’s processes are not automated, there is a single point of contact for each client, and the focus is on making each interaction as personal as possible.
Trailer Bridge is committed to hiring the best people from the get-go, and that’s what makes it unique. (It’s also what makes them consistently one of the top listeners of WHAT THE TRUCK?!? We love to see it.)
The supply chain queen
From her rightful place on the throne, Supply Chain Queen Sheri Hinish, founder and CEO, Supply Chain Revolution, joined Dooner and the Dude to discuss conscious consumerism around the peak buying season.
With record e-commerce sales comes the opportunity for record e-commerce returns, but most people do not actually understand the true cost of returning an item bought online,
Hinish says that the likelihood of a consumer returning an item bought for them online is two to five times higher than if they purchased it in a store, and the continued emphasis on e-commerce could be disastrous for resources used for shipping.
Hinish emphasized consumers should understand the true cost of environmental impacts, materials and manpower when returning items online and be conscious of the fact that most returned online purchases will not be reused or resold.
She believes making information apparent to consumers at the front end would encourage more conscious buying and returning.
All I want for christmas is a diecast truck
With the Christmas gifting season already in full swing, more and more people are putting the focus on gifting unique gifts from small businesses.
First Gear makes diecast trucks that can be customized for your individual company or fleet.
Erica Reiss, national accounts manager, and Adam Knight, creative director, showed off some of their mini fleet, which includes small-scale replicas of everything from basic trucks and trailers to individual trucks that are actually on the road.
While First Gear does not produce single trucks for single orders, it does work to honor specific companies that don’t exist in the trucking industry anymore.
Check out the company’s website for info on ordering replicas for your company!
Contract bidding isn’t actually binding
Last up was Andrew Silver, CEO of MoLo Solutions, sharing his feelings about the current state of rates, specifically how contractual rates don’t necessarily mean a guaranteed price.
Silver said after a relatively tame start to November, the market went crazy last Friday, especially on the West Coast after the announcement of more lockdowns due to COVID-19.
Rates skyrocketed, with many loads going for over $10,000. Silver says he expects this trend to continue as shippers prep for holiday food demand despite continued attempts to limit gatherings and family meals.
Silver made it clear that this jump in rates is a good example of how a price isn’t guaranteed even if it’s written in a contract.
He says that 27% of shipments are rejected despite being “contract” rates and that it’s important to be transparent when booking loads to limit that rejection.
You can find more WHAT THE TRUCK?!? recaps and recaps for all our shows here.