DC Velocity - April 2016

4 DC VELOCITY APRIL 2016 www.dcvelocity.com inbound

Here’s our monthly roundup of some of the charitable works and donations by companies in the material handling and logistics space:

; Two Columbus, Ohio-based companies, ODW Logistics Inc. and Spartan Logistics, and Lima, Ohio-based Wright Distribution/Logan Express have donated transportation services via the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN) to Feed the Children, a nonprofit providing several truckloads of donated drinking water to residents of Flint, Mich. In addition, Quantum Lift Inc. of Warren, Mich.; Alta Equipment Co. of New Hudson, Mich.; Fairchild Equipment of Green Bay, Wis.; and Fraza Forklifts of Canton, Mich., have all donated or loaned equipment via ALAN to help nonprofit groups such as the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan and Adventist Community Services handle donations of water, filters, and testing kits for families in Flint.

; Lexington, Ky., forklift manufacturer Clark Material Handling Co. will donate equipment, including a CNC (computer numerical control) machine; share its industry expertise; and provide training and internship opportunities for students at Woodford County High School’s program in science, technology, engineering, agriculture, and mathematics (STEAM).

; Brandon, Fla., software developer InMotion Global Inc. will provide a free copy of its Ascend TMS transportation management system platform to all new and graduating students at Transportation Training Group Inc., an Illinois-based freight brokerage training school.

; Houston-based Cat Lift Trucks, a division of Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America Inc. (MCFA), has awarded a $5,000 scholarship to Fredy Corrales, a senior at Northbrook High School in the Spring Branch Independent School District (ISD), who intends to pursue a chemical engineering degree from Texas A&M University.

Logistics gives back

As the May conference calendar makes clear, the spring travel season will be a busy one.

From May 2–4, the Transpor-
tation & Logistics Council will
hold its 42nd annual conference
in Albuquerque, N.M. The agenda
includes general sessions on topics
such as a transportation industry
update with Transportation Inter-
mediaries Association president and
CEO Robert Voltmann; a session
on supply chain security with a dis-
cussion of best practices for reduc-
ing exposure to theft and hijacking;
and a legal session titled “Law of
the Land, Law of the Jungle,” where
“lawyers explain the law, and busi-
nessmen tell it like it is.”
It’s tax season, which means most Americans are sorting their receipts, but
how would you account for a warehouse full of inventory that had stubbornly
refused to sell? Now, your company can claim a tax deduction for donating
it all to charity.

Supply chain professionals commonly manage excess inventory through inefficient strategies, says Gary C. Smith, president of the National Association for the Exchange of Industrial Resources (NAEIR), a nonprofit group that collects unsold merchandise donated by companies and gives it to schools, churches, and nonprofits.

Faced with extra goods, companies typically lease additional expensive warehouse space; liquidate the merchandise for pennies on the dollar; give it away and cheapen the brand’s reputation; sell it to employees, who often turn around and resell it online; or simply send it to a landfill.

A little-known option solves all these problems at once, Smith says. The IRS allows certain corporations to receive a federal tax deduction of up to twice-cost when they donate excess inventory to qualified organizations. NAEIR expedites the process, under a provision known as tax code IRC Section 170(e)( 3), by accepting the donations as a middleman and steering them to a list of prescreened charities.