Tennessee-based FedEx. “Safety is our
top priority” for the company’s 475,000
employees, he notes. “The work they do
is an essential service that helps ensure
communities and businesses, includ-
ing health-care organizations, as well as
consumers have the critical goods they
need.”
David Abney, chief executive officer of
Atlanta-based UPS, emphasized a simi-
lar focus in the company’s first-quarter
earnings call. “First is you’ve got to take
care of your people and make sure not
only that you’re doing the right things,
but also that you’re communicating andmaking sure people realize [we’re] … acritical infrastructure business,” he said. “One thing that wehave learned … is that the needs of our customers changeand change quickly, and if you’re going to be a player inthat, you have to be able to change with them. So, we’ve hadto be very dynamic in our approach and listen.” [Editor’snote: On June 1, Abney retired as UPS CEO after a 46-yearcareer with the company that started as a package handlerin Mississippi. He’s succeeded by former Home Depot CFOCarol Tomé, who has been a UPS board member since2003.]
PIVOTING ON A DIME
Shippers as well are facing challenges they’ve never dealtwith before. John Janson is director of global logistics forIssaquah, Washington-based SanMar, one of the nation’slargest manufacturers and distributors of customized apparel and accessories. Multiple clients have canceled gatheringsand events, impacting sales of SanMar’s traditional hats,T-shirts, and other custom-logoed apparel. In response, thecompany has pivoted “from making T-shirts and launchedinto production of masks, gowns, and scrubs,” Jansonnotes.
For Janson, the pandemic’s disruption has requiredadjustments. With social distancing came the question of“how do we work so there’s the least amount of physicalinteraction [with drivers], get their paperwork signed, and[get them] in and out of our facilities as fast as possible,”he says.
He continues to see his carriers as a vital extension of
the customer experience. “Customers develop a personal
relationship with their driver who comes into their business
every day. It’s a key factor in [which parcel carrier] they use.
It will be interesting to see how this relationship evolves in
the ‘new normal.’ Will it become more sterile? I hope not,
but I think there will be some adjustment.”
One key lesson that the pandemic has reinforced for
Janson is the enduring value of a shipper’s relationship with
the carrier. “It’s more important than ever. Building strong
relationships in the good times pays off in the bad times,”
he notes.
As volumes have plummeted, the dropoff has challengedSanMar’s ability to live up to its contractual volume commitments with carriers. As a result, “we are working withour core providers and saying, ‘Let’s hit the pause button’and see what comes out the other end,” Janson says. “Youdon’t get that [support] unless you have invested the timeand energy to build those relationships in the first place.”
EMBRACING THE CROWD (SOURCE)
The pandemic also has shined a bright light on new andemerging players in the parcel express market, notablythose that are deploying “crowdsourced” networks of drivers with sophisticated, mobile-based technologies.
One of those is Atlanta-based Roadie. Considered thenation’s first “on-the-way” delivery service, Roadie’s modelutilizes unused capacity in passenger vehicles already on theroad and headed in the right direction to make regional andlast-mile same-day deliveries. Roadie says it has 150,000“verified” drivers in the U.S. capable of reaching 89% ofU.S. households.
“People used to see [same-day] delivery as a convenienceor luxury, but now it’s [become] a requirement if you careabout your family’s health,” notes Marc Gorlin, Roadie’sfounder and chief executive officer. March, April, and Maysaw Roadie’s volumes explode “off the charts, across theplatform. And it happened overnight,” he says.
Gorlin and others are convinced that the pandemic dramatically accelerated consumer use—and comfort with—e-commerce and online ordering of just about everything.It’s a shift in buying behavior for which Amazon has beenlaying the groundwork for several years. He adds that thecrisis has highlighted the foresight of retailers who incorporated same-day delivery into their online options early on.
“The retailers we are working with have opened upadditional delivery capacity at warp speed,” he says. At thesame time, those who already had e-commerce sites are
