If you've ever shipped a package across the country and quietly winced at the cost, zone skipping might be the strategy you didn't know you were missing. And no, you don't need to be an enterprise shipper to use it.

Most parcel carriers price shipments based on two things: density and distance. That distance is typically measured in zones, a numbering system that reflects how far a package travels from its origin point. The further it goes, the higher the zone number, and the more expensive the shipment. Basically, Zone 2 is practically your neighbour. Zone 8 is across the continent. Every zone in between has your shipping bill increasing.

A supply chain professional or sales person throws one of these terms at you and you nod along like you know exactly what they mean. Then you go home and google it and you’re still unsure. No judgement, half the industry uses them interchangeably and they're definitely not the same thing.

If you're an SMB shipper trying to figure out how to grow without your logistics completely unravelling, this is the breakdown you need. Let's go through each model, what it actually does, where it overlaps with the others, and, most importantly, which one fits where you are right now and how to know to switch to another.

Not every supply chain issue requires a logistics consultant. But not every problem can be solved by Googling “why are my freight costs so high?” at 11:47 p.m on a Sunday night.

For small and mid-sized businesses, knowing the difference can save serious money. I’ve seen companies spend tens of thousands on consulting when what they really needed was education and resources. I’ve also seen companies try to “figure it out internally” while quietly bleeding cash for years.

The question isn’t whether consultants are good or bad. The question is: what kind of problem are you actually dealing with?

E-commerce returns are unavoidable. Regardless of if you sell on Amazon, Shopify, marketplaces, or your own website, some percentage of orders will come back. Online shopping has removed the ability for customers to touch, test, or try-on products before buying, and nothing can completely fix that.

What can be fixed is how often customers feel disappointed once their order arrives. Most e-commerce returns don’t happen because customers are malicious or trying to game the system. Most of the time, returns happen because the product that arrived didn’t match what the customer expected, simple as that. That gap between expectation and reality is why most returns happen.

Reducing e-commerce returns doesn’t need to involve fighting customers or tightening return policies. It’s about managing expectations before checkout. Below are eight simple, but boring ways to reduce return rates by closing that gap.

I’ve been quietly gatekeeping this, but if you’re in France in January or July, it’s impossible to miss. Every shop window, from luxury boutiques to high-street chains, is plastered with the same word in bold letters: SOLDES.

To anyone visiting from outside France, it looks like a normal sale season. It’s not.

Les Soldes are a legally regulated national retail event, with fixed dates and strict rules. This is not just a marketing moment. It’s a very specific system.

So… what is Les Soldes?

In France, retailers are only allowed to run official Soldes twice a year:

• Winter Soldes (January–February)

• Summer Soldes (June–July)

These dates are set nationally. Retailers do not choose them, extend them, or move them around. When the window opens, it opens for everyone. When it closes, it closes for everyone.

As a digital nomad, I’m also very aware of what I buy. I don’t have closets or storage space spread across multiple rooms. Everything I buy has to earn its place. That usually means I’m drawn to pieces that are well-made, versatile, and a little bit interesting, things that let me keep a personal style without defaulting to the same black jeans and plain t-shirts everywhere I go.

So on a rainy afternoon in London, the last time I visited, I walked into a charity shop and found a well-fitted tweed blazer. It fit properly, felt high quality, and worked with the rest of my very limited wardrobe. The find itself was luck, but the conditions that make moments like that possible are very predictable in a retail culture where second-hand shopping is normalized and accessible.

Charity shops and second-hand retail stores aren’t just a trend or a sustainability talking point. They represent a functioning circular supply chain operating at scale, in plain sight.

When companies talk about “cutting logistics costs,” the conversation almost always goes straight to rates. But for most businesses, the real money leaks are not from rates, they’re buried in timing, processes, and people's decisions that quietly add cost every single day.
Here are 11 fixable problems that cost you money long before a carrier ever sends an invoice.

Every December, most companies are deep in the trenches of peak season: scrambling through backorders, juggling last-minute changes, and praying their carriers don’t call in with weather delays. But somehow, one operation manages to deliver on time, with perfect accuracy, at a global scale. Every year.

Santa’s.

It might be whimsical, but if you strip away the magic and look at the structure, Santa runs the most efficient seasonal operation on the planet, and his planning principles are worth paying attention to.

This entire blog started because of my inbox. Specifically: PR emails.

If you work in or around logistics media, you know exactly the ones I mean. The subject line “AI Powered”. The whole email is full of AI this and AI that. And yet somehow, after reading the email three or four times, I still can’t tell what the product actually does.

Is it AI?
Is it automation?
Is it a well-organized workflow with a buzzword glued on top?

Because honestly, how can every new tech and platform be AI?

The more pitches I saw, the more obvious the real issue became: as an industry, we’ve blurred the line between what’s simply a fast, reliable automated process and what is actually intelligent technology capable of learning, adapting, or predicting. And that distinction matters, not just for accuracy, but for budgets, expectations, and whether a team ends up with the right tool for the right job. So let’s talk about it properly, without the jargon-y nonsense.

There’s a specific kind of person who ends up in logistics: the “don’t worry, I’ll handle it” type.
Every industry has them, but logistics seems to attract them in bulk. Maybe it’s the constant problem-solving, maybe it’s the adrenaline of fixing things minutes before they break, or maybe it’s just the culture we all grew up in, where being busy meant you were important. And it shows,  logistics workers actually rank #1 for burnout risk of any industry, with 20% over-utilized, 15% at risk, and the longest average workday at 9 hours and 10 minutes.

But somewhere along the way, “handling it” quietly turns into “carrying the entire company on your back.” And most people don’t realize the cost of that until they’re already paying it.

The funny thing is, doing everything yourself feels efficient. It feels responsible. It feels faster at the moment — just answer the email, just update the file, just follow up on the truck, just redo the spreadsheet because the formatting is a disaster and you’re the only one who knows how it should look.

But the truth is this: every time you jump in to do it yourself, you reinforce a system where you are the system. And that’s where the real trouble starts.

Every time a new story breaks about trucking fraud, unsafe carriers, or tragic accidents, the same narrative rolls out:
“It’s the foreign carriers.”
“It’s the non-domiciled drivers.”
“It’s these fly-by-night operations ruining the industry.”

It’s predictable, emotional, and completely unhelpful.

Because here’s the truth: the biggest threat to North American trucking isn’t who is behind the wheel. It’s how the system allows people to slip through cracks that we all know are there.

When we keep blaming people instead of processes, we’re not solving problems, we’re fuelling hate and perpetuating the root issues.

Everyone’s got opinions about food; local is better, fresh is best, labels tell the truth.
But most of what we believe about how food gets to us isn’t actually true.

And these myths don’t just affect what we buy, they shape how the entire supply chain operates, from how products are labeled to how much food gets wasted before it ever reaches a plate.

Here are five food myths that have real consequences for the people moving your groceries from farm to fork.

If you’ve opened TikTok lately, you’ve probably seen it, the Le Creuset Mystery Box unboxings. People are filming themselves tearing into sealed boxes of colourful cookware like it’s Christmas morning. Screams, squeals, gasps over the colour they wanted or a pot they had been eyeing and somewhere, a logistics manager is quietly smiling.

Because this isn’t just a marketing stunt, it’s a supply-chain strategy wrapped in enamel and hype.

In a perfect world, marketing and logistics work hand-in-hand. The hype machine drums up interest, and the supply chain quietly delivers the goods, literally.
In reality? Companies often operate in silos, and marketing regularly make moves that can take the logistics team completely by surprise. Sometimes that surprise is a PR disaster. Other times it’s a tidal wave of demand. Either way, if your operations are not informed, they won’t be ready, and then you’re in trouble.

Let’s look at two beauty industry examples: one where marketing is likely to hurt demand and one where it blew it through the roof.

In supply chain, just like in day to day life, tech is supposed to make life easier. Instead, a lot of companies are slowly drowning in all the “solutions” they have been sold.

Every year, a shiny new platform promises to revolutionize your operations or optimize scalability or maximize profits. A dashboard here, a tracking widget there, maybe a warehouse robot that looks like it rolled straight out of a sci-fi movie. And before you know it, your team has six logins, a 40-step procedure for booking a truck, and no one can agree which report has the “real” numbers.

If that sounds familiar then your tech stack isn’t helping you. It’s got you working for it.

There’s been an explosion of content in the logistics and supply chain world. LinkedIn is full of polished videos, witty hot takes, and carefully curated brand stories. People, and companies, are learning that building a voice, sharing values, and connecting through storytelling can drive engagement, loyalty, and even sales.

That’s a good thing. But let’s not get carried away.

Because in logistics, your story is only as strong as your execution and service. It doesn’t matter how clever your content is if the trucks don’t show up, the freight goes missing, or no one answers the phone or emails.

Everyone loves to talk ship about bad brokers. The ghosters. The lowballers. The margin-chasers who disappear the second things go sideways.

But what about the ones who are trying, and still missing the mark?

Let’s be honest: a lot of people come into this industry and get handed a phone, a list of leads, and not much else. If they’re lucky, they get an afternoon shadowing Chad, who might be a top earner, but also happens to have a mountain of bad habits (and possibly a superiority complex).

Transportation fraud isn’t just a nuisance, it’s a growing, multi-million-dollar problem in North American logistics. From double brokering to stolen loads and hijacked payments, fraudsters are getting bolder and smarter.

And no one is immune.

Whether you’re a shipper, broker, carrier, or driver, the only way to stay ahead is to stay informed, and be proactive. Below, we break down exactly what each party can do to reduce risk and keep freight flowing safely.

The cradle-to-grave model has been a staple business model in logistics brokerage for years. And with the rise of the agent model across North America, it’s seeing a bit of a glow-up.

Everywhere you turn, there’s another post selling the dream: Be your own boss. Work from anywhere. Build your own book. Keep more of your commission.

Sounds great, right? And to be fair, it can be, it’s how I started my entrepreneur journey. Cradle-to-grave can offer freedom, autonomy, and a chance to build something of your own. But let’s not romanticize it. Because when you’re the one selling the freight, booking the truck, tracking the shipment, handling the fallout, chasing paperwork, and invoicing the customer… that’s not freedom. That’s a one-person logistics department. And it burns people out.

The freight’s delivered, the truck’s empty, and the driver’s already asking about their next load.

You’re done, right?
Not even close.

This is where a lot of dispatchers coast, but this stage can make or break your margin, customer relationships, and ability to get paid. It’s not glamorous, but post-delivery is where the smart teams pull ahead. Tie off the loose ends now, or deal with the fallout later (usually in the form of disputes, denied accessorials, or annoyed billing staff).

Here’s your checklist for after delivery.