Everything is Logistics
Series · Everything is Logistics

Source to Porch

How stuff actually gets to you. Real products traced from the mine, the farm, or the factory floor — through ports, customs, and lanes — all the way to the box on your doorstep.

The Journey

Every episode follows the same four steps

Whether it's a lipstick, a Christmas tree, or a satellite — the path from origin to doorstep rhymes more than you'd think.

1
Source
Raw materials, factories, farms
2
Port
Containers, customs, ocean lanes
3
Road
Drayage, OTR, last-mile
4
Porch
Your doorstep
View
Topic
STAGE 01

Where it begins

At the Source

Mines, farms, factories, foundries. The raw materials and the people pulling them out of the ground or off the assembly line.

STAGE 02

The long middle

In Transit

Ports, ocean lanes, inland waterways, and the steel box that holds it all together. The unglamorous miles where most of the cost lives.

Icebreakers Create New Shipping Routes
Maritime

Icebreakers Create New Shipping Routes

Arctic ice is melting, and a new generation of icebreakers is opening lanes that didn't exist a decade ago.

VideoOpen
Underrated Modes of Shipping: Tugs, Barges, and Canals
Maritime

Underrated Modes of Shipping: Tugs, Barges, and Canals

Container ships get the headlines. Tugs, barges, and inland canals quietly move a staggering amount of the world's freight.

VideoOpen
Cargo Overboard: LEGOs, Garfield Phones, and Coffee
Maritime

Cargo Overboard: LEGOs, Garfield Phones, and Coffee

The strange and durable afterlife of containers that fall off ships. Decades later, the cargo still washes ashore.

VideoOpen
The Friendly Floaties Story
Maritime

The Friendly Floaties Story

What happens when a cargo ship loses its load. The 28,000 rubber ducks that taught oceanographers how currents really work.

VideoOpen
NASA Series: Manufacturing & Shipping Weather Satellites
NASA

NASA Series: Manufacturing & Shipping Weather Satellites

How a multi-ton weather satellite gets built, tested, and shipped to the launch pad without breaking.

VideoOpen
NASA Series: How to Grow Food in Space
NASA

NASA Series: How to Grow Food in Space

The supply chain ends at the launch pad. After that, astronauts have to grow it themselves.

VideoOpen
JAXPORT: How A City Gets A Port
Ports

JAXPORT: How A City Gets A Port

Behind the scenes at the Port of Jacksonville and what it takes to build, fund, and grow a working port.

VideoOpen
From Corn Sweat to Internet Cables
Explainer

From Corn Sweat to Internet Cables

How everyday things — humid Iowa air, undersea fiber, and the stuff in between — quietly shape global logistics.

VideoOpen
Containerization: How It Revolutionized the Global Economy
Explainer

Containerization: How It Revolutionized the Global Economy

The single steel box that rewrote the global economy. The short, sharp history of why everything you own is cheaper because of one guy and one idea.

VideoOpen
Flexport's Ryan Petersen on the Origins of Supply Chain Terminology
Explainer

Flexport's Ryan Petersen on the Origins of Supply Chain Terminology

Where the words we use every day in logistics actually come from. A tour through the language of the trade.

VideoOpen
STAGE 03

Where it lands

At the Porch

Last-mile, returns, viral merch, and seasonal scrambles. What it takes to get the right thing on the right doorstep on the right day.

The Logistics of Snacks, Chocolate, and Popcorn Buckets
CPG

The Logistics of Snacks, Chocolate, and Popcorn Buckets

Why your favorite snacks keep disappearing from the shelf — temperature-controlled supply chains, viral merch, and the chaos of seasonal demand.

VideoOpen
The Global Makeup Supply Chain
Beauty

The Global Makeup Supply Chain

From mica mines to the Sephora shelf — the surprisingly long road every tube of foundation takes before it lands in your cart.

VideoOpen
The Shocking Truth Behind Makeup Returns
Returns

The Shocking Truth Behind Makeup Returns

What actually happens to that returned mascara. Hint: it almost never goes back on the shelf.

VideoOpen
Logistics of Lipstick
Beauty

Logistics of Lipstick

A single lipstick tube touches a dozen countries before it touches your lips. The full mica-to-mouth tour.

VideoOpen
Succulent Smuggling and the Logistics Behind It
Oddball

Succulent Smuggling and the Logistics Behind It

Yes, succulent smuggling is a real, multi-million-dollar problem. The bizarre supply chain behind your local plant shop.

VideoOpen
The Chocolate Supply Chain Crisis
CPG

The Chocolate Supply Chain Crisis

Cocoa prices are at all-time highs. The climate, labor, and shipping forces squeezing every chocolate bar on the shelf.

VideoOpen
Movie Theater Popcorn Buckets — Source to Porch
CPG

Movie Theater Popcorn Buckets — Source to Porch

How a viral collectible bucket becomes a global manufacturing scramble. The supply chain behind the meme.

VideoOpen
The Logistics of Racehorses
Oddball

The Logistics of Racehorses

Multi-million-dollar animals fly business class. The wild logistics of moving thoroughbreds around the world.

VideoOpen
The Logistics of NFL Gameday
Sports

The Logistics of NFL Gameday

Every Sunday is a tightly choreographed supply chain. Equipment, broadcast gear, and concessions all on the clock.

VideoOpen
Losing Super Bowl Merchandise Logistics
Sports

Losing Super Bowl Merchandise Logistics

Both teams' championship gear gets pre-printed. What actually happens to the losing side's hats and shirts.

VideoOpen
Logistics of Championship Merchandise
Sports

Logistics of Championship Merchandise

How playoff merch gets designed, manufactured, and delivered the moment the final whistle blows.

VideoOpen
Logistics After a Disaster
Crisis

Logistics After a Disaster

When normal supply chains collapse, a different one has to spin up overnight. The realities of disaster logistics.

VideoOpen
Lord of the Rings Logistics
Oddball

Lord of the Rings Logistics

One does not simply walk into Mordor. The supply chain analysis Tolkien never wrote.

VideoOpen

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