Unknown:
0:00
LinkedIn presents
Blythe Brumleve:
0:10
welcome into another episode of everything is logistics a podcast for the thinkers in freight. I'm your host, Blythe Brumleve. Ed, we got another episode for you of afraid to friends with Grace Sharkey. We just caught up for about, oh, 35 minutes before we hit the record record time. So I think that's a new record for us. In order to get stuck,
Grace Sharkey:
0:31
you know, you should have recorded him and it could have been like, pay people to listen to that, because there's some pretty spicy stuff from both of our lives. But I think some actually, I think people would actually enjoy all of that content. So
Blythe Brumleve:
0:46
yeah, we're talking about stealing, and traveling too. Obviously, none of these are related. Freight drama. Also, what else did we hit on is I traveled to Japan. So that's three major, I guess, points of the conversation that we just
Grace Sharkey:
1:03
short Japanese phrases for about 10 minutes.
Blythe Brumleve:
1:09
Well, we got it, we got a really good show for y'all today, because we're going to dive into a few different big topics, and then keeping the trend with the last episode where we talk about our favorite logistics of story. So where products are sourced how they arrive at your doorstep, so we got a couple of those for you. And then our favorite conspiracy theories, mine is a little bit more lighthearted this time. Last time I talked about is Britney Spears actually dead or being held somewhere against her will. So that one was a little bit dark, I felt like I needed to go a little bit lighter on this one. So we got those a little bit later in the show. But first, the main topic for this week's show is we want to talk about how to spot scams online and how you can do it too. Now we are both of us have been working in media in some capacity for the better part I think of I know, I've been working in media and working online since 2007. But you've been working in it for I think a handful of years now too. So you obviously cover the industry in more of a professional manner, journalistic integrity, all of that good stuff. So we're going to learn from the journalistic side of things and then also from just a casual, you know, just sort of internet per rouser I guess, I don't even know if that's a word internet peruser Yeah, the ruse it is
Grace Sharkey:
2:24
today.
Blythe Brumleve:
2:27
So I, you know, scour the internet and, you know, my history working in sports, broadcasting, and transferring that over to logistics. There are definitely some tips that we use to spot potential scams online, try to communicate those two friends and family. And you know, with all the things that are going on with content, or have been going on with content, moderation, and fake news, misinformation, all of that, it's only going to get more challenging to spot these scans online, with the, you know, the, I guess, mass adoption of AI, marketing, technology, things like that, where deep fakes are very easy to make at a very affordable rate. So that's the reason why I wanted to bring up this main topic. Because, you know, since we're media people, it's our job to scour the internet, find those good stories, research, those good stories, but what are some scams that you see regularly that people fall for?
Grace Sharkey:
3:23
Well, I would say, you know, there's a lot of it, especially like on Twitter. It's, for me, I think a lot of times, you'll see like ads and things of that nature that are really kind of off off putting. When it comes to like media, though. It's really funny. Like, I think the biggest issue that I have, and you'll these are also sites that are usually not as popular. I think that's a big part, right? It's like, make sure you know what the site's you're looking at and kind of go to his about page founding page, look it up on Wikipedia, see how long it's been around, who's contributing to it, etc. But they're clickbait is like such a huge issue. I think especially, I started to catch on to this over the last couple of elections, right? You'll find these like, huge like, or dropping like headlines, right? One example I remember forever ago was like, Michelle Obama, like screams at our children or something like that. And I remember like clicking on the article, and I'm reading it, and it's like, just like a positive article about Trump's like, wife. I can't remember her name now. But it was like that kind of, yeah. Melania that type and I remember getting done with it. I was like, Wait, didn't even say Michelle Obama. So it's like, for me, I would tell people to really know the good news and media sites. There's different if you Search right now on Google, like, the Honest, honest websites, you'll see kind of the ones that fray maybe more towards the right as people say, or the left. I always say try to do the moderate. I mean, there's even I just everyone out there not even taking aside because I've been on very left media sites where it's like, okay, that's an opinion seems the other side. So I would say like, most of the most medium sites, it's like Ms. NBC is pretty good at being non biased. I would also say CNN can be depends on like, what, what exactly they're talking about. If it's more of like an opinion type of article or just an overall panel discussion, sometimes they skew a little bit more left. But if you're looking at like dropping breaking news, let's say CNN is like my go to CNBC is another huge one to CNBC, I think is my favorite, because money has no bias, you know, so it's like, that's where you're gonna find the true news. Most of the time. Now, again, there's opinions. So you have to don't take everything that happens on CNBC and go buy stock right away. Right. But
Blythe Brumleve:
6:17
especially this week, they're firing their executive director or
Grace Sharkey:
6:23
chrysalis. Was that CNN, right? Yeah,
Blythe Brumleve:
6:26
yeah, CNN. And he's only been on the job for a year. And he basically got fired for telling the truth about, you know, how that platform has evolved. Right.
Grace Sharkey:
6:34
And I think, I think just in general, is to really ask yourself, like, how wild is this news? And then go to other sources and see if they're reporting it to? Its special you'll see I think on like Twitter, right, you'll see like, so So dive in. I can't tell you how many times that's caught me before. We're like, no. Yeah. Yeah, all the time. And so, always check for another source. I think that's the biggest thing is like, make sure you're getting all sides of the story. Make sure you're not just taking rumours for facts. And almost in any regard, right? Even if you see like your, your aunt or your cousin post something that's not sourced. That's a huge part of it, right?
Blythe Brumleve:
7:21
Or, like just a me photo that's been clearly photoshopped. It's pixelated to hell. It's like, come on, these are easy layups to say that now there might be something else. Go look for like,
Grace Sharkey:
7:33
links as well within articles. That's something that our shout out to mag, our wonderful editor in chief is like always honest about like, one, I think that does help with traffic, right? In the SEO type of stuff as well, on your end. Sure. But for me, I think it's helpful if I read an article to say, okay, cool, here's different links that I can go back and fact check this point that they're making. You'll see it in my articles too. Like if I'm ever, for example, if you saw the next trucking article that we just did, that came from a rumor from well, once finally confirmed, but rumor from the information. But when I wanted to get opinions on it, I reached out to individuals that I knew would were well versed in the industry, and would give an opinion that I think showed both sides of the story, right? A lot of times, I mean, especially next, right there, I think there's some people that say, yeah, that that business model is just never gonna work. There are ways for all businesses to work out in the end. So that's why I reached out to Ryan shriberg, I knew that he would have something a little bit more positive in that direction to say, but I also know of the rumors, and the individual that shower really name shall continue to be named anonymous. I knew that his personal views to that he was close to a lot of individuals from the company who had left the company and wouldn't be able to kind of give that opinion as well. When I'm writing, I really tried to avoid in honestly, our editors will check us to, in this case, my own personal opinion, right. And if I do have a personal opinion that I feel is strong, I'm going to find someone else to back that up to so look for that kind of stuff. It's just content that's one sided one opinion. That's that's not really fair news to me. And it might be right it might be wrong, but I think there's always There's always more than one side of a story right.
Blythe Brumleve:
9:44
Yeah, and I think that you know, with your due diligence and how you source stories, I think that that's also an important reminder that you know, the the legacy media we've talked about this in our in our last episode about how legacy media is dying and whenever you're business model is dying, you have to have new ways to generate revenue. One of those ways is through clickbait. Clickbait works surprisingly well, not surprisingly, I mean, that's why people do it is because it's enticing to get you to click on the article, even if it talks about, you know, the headline is about Michelle Obama. And then you go to actually read the article, it has nothing to do with Michelle Obama. So that, to me, is an egregious moment of clickbait. But there are ways to do clickbait, where it's not that egregious where you can still get the people to, you know, inspire curiosity so that they do click on the article and get value from it. I think a good rule of thumb is to find journalists find creators that you trust, that will do their due diligence, and that will check the sources for you. And if they do mess up, like that's to be expected, but they should be owning up to those mistakes and being open and honest with you, saga and jetty, who is a host of the show the news program, breaking points, he will do this. And I've seen him do it where he will say that one story in particular, and they're independently funded. So they're not funded by sponsors and advertisers, which is what legacy media is typically funded by. So they have a responsibility to their audience, which I love that business model. But he was I think it was right before Russia invaded Ukraine. And he was basically saying that this is war mongering talk that, you know, we're just being, you know, subjugate or subjected to this news to where, you know, we got to have to give more funding to the Department of Defense. So he ended, it was like the very next day that Russia invaded Ukraine. So he got on air, and he did like a full apology, I'm sorry, I read this wrong. And this is why I read it this way. And he owned up to it and you know, moved on. And that made me trust him even more that even if he's going to get something wrong, he's going to own up to it. And he's going to use that as an opportunity to further educate you. Now, when you are talking about different biases that, you know, these legacy news programs have, which everybody has biases, but some of it is a specific marketing ploy. Like, I don't have to explain the differences in the audience structure of like a Fox News versus CNN, because everybody knows what market that they're trying to target. But ABC, NBC, MSNBC, you know, some of these other platforms, you might not be able to tell the biases. So there is one site that's trying to combat this, it's called Ground news, they have a really great app, I do think that you have to pay for it, you know, to a certain extent, but if you read their news, so they'll give you the top stories, and then they'll show you which way that publication tends to lean. So then that way, you have the opportunity to see both sides of the issue. So I love that approach. And then just a general because I know that the majority of people are not going to, you know, double check and read sources, they're gonna see a headline that, you know, it convinces them of something that they already kind of thought, you know, a preconceived bias that they already have in, they'll see a headline, it just reinforces it. And they won't do any, you know, further legwork to it. But it just a general rule of thumb, I think for most people is if a news story makes you emotional, immediately, that's your design. And you need to recognize that design. And if you do want to, you know, take it a little bit of a step further. What I learned during sports broadcasting is that we would typically hear, you know, a quote from an athlete. And sometimes it would just be astounding that this person would say this, but then I started practicing going, because Dan, Patrick taught me that's my favorite sports broadcaster. He taught me how, you know, a lot of like, modern day report, not me personally, but he talked about it on his podcast. But he talks about how a lot of modern day reporters will just take that headline and run with it, where he found an edge and where he found an advantage is he would go and he would find out what was the question that was asked before that answer. What was the question that was asked after that answer. So that was key, and figuring out where that person was coming from the context and nuance of that answer. And I can't tell you how many times like my other co hosts on the radio show did not do that. And I actually had an advantage broadcasting wise because I did that so if you are a fan of any kind of sports politicians anything like that be be in the habit of recognizing news that makes you emotional, recognize that feeling and then just wait wait for the story to kind of, you know, work itself out. The Breaking News is probably I don't want to say like the biggest cancer on like our media environment, but it really is because people are addicted to being first they're not addicted to being right. And that's where I think a lot of our issues come from like just last week, there was a story about you know, an AI powered drone. If that was gonna, you know, go attack this place said, you know, the general gave it specific orders and the AI drone instead, like wanted to do something else. So it came and killed the operator the drone operator and then went and carried on the debt articles circled. I debated that art, you know, my friends and family sent it to me came up in conversation that story was debunked a day later, a day later. So it just how quick that that news? Yeah, fake news it travels, what does they say? Like a lie will travel around the world before the truth has the answer, you know, can be heard something like that. I just Oh, well. But that's
Grace Sharkey:
15:38
like a lot of it too, I think stems from the creation of like, 24 hour news cycles. Because, you know, it's interesting to go remember the good old Russia balloons, right? Imagine having to discuss that on air with no resources have to like what's going on with that? Four hours? Yeah, that's yeah, they're looking at me starting to rumor. So it's like, to be able to talk about that for even more than like, 15 minutes, you're probably making something up at some point. Or you're making an assumption that you have no idea where it was interesting. So I remember watching an interview with a CIA guy after it's all finished. And they're like, why did you wait so long? Because I remember everyone was the whole time was like, Oh, they don't want to like fall on people. And people are like, How much could this really hurt someone just like, drop it. And he made like, a really interesting point that was like, Oh, well, we wanted to see what it was watching. Like, we we actually can learn more as a CIA watching what it's doing. Like, what is it want to write? Then, like just stopping it? Because like, yes, we could have just stopped it. But there's, there's nothing that it's gonna be. It's not like this balloon can like, get into everyone's bank accounts and like, take the money from America. But they were interested in what exactly it was doing. So they wanted to observe it. And then of course, then wait till it was safe, and then take it down. See, that's such a really interesting story, too. And that's why sometimes, like even, it's interesting, because sometimes Freightways, we might not get the initial story because it goes to like, some of these guys will go to Wall Street first, or even like the information, next trucking story, right? I could have put out an article two seconds after the information article came out, right. And it would have been short, it would have been pretty much the same thing. But I that's where I feel like, it's more fun as a journalist to sit back and say, Okay, let's like dive into this, though, and really address what this problem is that we're seeing in this story, right? We're seeing that the investment in investment in this space was just insane, right? People were getting insane. Insane. Evaluations are about sorry, evaluations valuations and investment dollars that we're now learning, hopefully, people in the story that that read the story now, that was just way too much, and there's no way it's gonna sell for that much. And that's, that's the real point of it's not fun. For me, maybe it's fun breaking the news in that sense. But I had more fun being able to help people understand why that that story was so interesting for the information right? Now the information where it's at. And like a level of journalism, you want to say in terms of like audience level, that's not their main goal. So it's just like, I actually did hear from the girl who wrote the original article. And she was very nice and said that she really liked our analysis of it, and points of view and everything like that. So it's, you have to understand that like some level, like Wall Street, if Wall Street Journal got an article like that, they're only going to give it so much coverage, and so much work. That it's I feel like it's our job is Freightways to really dive into maybe some of the bigger stories that you're seeing and really give our expertise even more. So that's sometimes I actually like reading smaller publications because you get to learn that little bit more retail dive is another great one, right? If you've ever seen our supply chain dive is another one. But same thing. Like if you ever read something about patents, we'll go to patent law.com I think it is because they'll probably have more information on it. And so when you say like how do you kind of go cipher through that news, like take the news from the top one and follow the story and see who's even diving deeper into it because you might learn a little bit more.
Blythe Brumleve:
19:50
This episode is brought to you by SPI logistics the premier freight agent and logistics network in North America. Are you currently building your freight brokerages boat got business and feel that your capabilities are being limited due to lack of support and access to adequate technology. At SPI logistics, we have the technology, the systems, and the back office support to help you succeed. If you're looking to take control of your financial future and build your own business, with the backing of one of the most successful logistics firms in North America, visit SPI three pl.com to learn more. And I think that's how news is really trending for a lot of folks is that you want to have that nuanced opinion, I think, I think a lot of folks do realize that the breaking news cycle because for we're not built like as a human species, we are not built to have all of this information inputted into our eyeballs into our brains every single day, all day, everywhere we look at human biology will tell you that, you know, you know hunter gatherer days that we had to pay attention to the foods that were poisonous, the animals that were dangerous, and we it was programmed in our mind to remember the bad things in order for survival. But now, you know, if you post a picture to Instagram, you might get 30. I mean, back maybe the glory days when organic reach was still there. But you might get 30 comments that are all you know, just you're beautiful or whatever, you know, great job. But you get that one comment that is negative. And that's why you remember it. And so with our habits of nowadays of just trying to you know, digest all of this news, yeah, you can't. So don't try to you know, it's fun, I think in some moments to kind of be there, like maybe on Twitter or some other social media platform to see the breaking news and see how, you know, a story evolves. But I tend to when stories like that happen, I try to train myself not to get too emotional. But then have those people like you like breaking points like Matt Taibbi or even like Grant Glenn Greenwald's, you know, some of these other independent journalists who know that diving into deep, or diving deep into the stories takes time, and it takes resources and certain people are going to do a better job of that and have, they're going to have principles over party. And that's typically where I try to look and I try to get news, in depth news from people who think that way as well, that they're not sort of COVID kind of changed a lot for me and how I digest the news and the people that I go to as trusted sources and the people that I don't go to anymore. And it's just, it's I feel like, you know, a lot of legacy media is all corrupt. And it's all, you know, sort of funded by intelligence agencies and governments and big corporations. Meanwhile, going to the people who are on the ground, you know, independent listener, funded models, people who, you know, practice going in depth like yourself, I think that that's the future of news. And I think it's more, you know, supporting at the independent level, versus, you know, some of these larger legacy news channels, which are, you know, I think during real trauma,
Grace Sharkey:
23:15
it's, you know, it's interesting and reminds me of a couple of individuals. Well, one, so I just say, Clarissa hos right. She's our main investigative reporter. And there's, she's, I think one of our most underestimated reporters at freightwaves. She, she underestimates herself to I will say that, but whenever you see one of her stories, like please, because sometimes I think people will say, Listen, I know some people want to say sometimes we put out like clickbait headlines No, we don't we put out great headlines that have you read the whole story, because I've seen the day that you read the whole thing when it's a clickbait headline. But sometimes I think people say like, you know, we're we're there. A lot of times we cover like those, those layoff stories, those a lot of the stuff that she does report on. I will tell you right now that she had does the most due diligence I've ever seen from a reporter on any type of story like that she will work her butt off to find out what's really happening. And a lot of times with her stories, that's why you so often see multiple parts to them. Know that there's probably even more juice in that orange that she did not publish, because she did not feel like she had enough people to verify that juice. In order to put that out there. That's why you'll see sometimes this is part of a series this is something I'm working on. She's been working on like a murder with the FBI for like decades. Like so there's, I just want people to understand as well, it's sometimes there might be a baby a story comes out and you hear Rumors about something else happening? Well, it's probably because that that writer of the article, the journalist, didn't have enough sources that they felt comfortable making that point. And that's the type of stuff I really love. I think there's sometimes a lot of gossip columns, stuff like that, that will put out news that ends up being true. But I respect those that like, kind of go out of their way to to, of course, make sure everything is valid. And that's really, I feel like she's really influenced me to do the same thing. If I hear a rumor, that's great. But if I can't find anyone, to even as an anonymous source, come and say that that's accurate, like, then we're just spreading gossip. And that's not It's not that's not journalism to me, but you know, it's so just realize the sources do matter. And the due diligence is definitely done and, and on your point to have like bias non biased media. I I've totally opened my eyes to a lot of that, too. That's why I love so many different podcasts. I think we've talked about this before the Red Scare, podcast. Have you ever heard of that one before?
Blythe Brumleve:
26:12
I have, but I don't I don't know that. Yeah, it's,
Grace Sharkey:
26:15
it's it is supposed to be like more funny and humorous. But it's a number of it's a couple of girls who are journalists, and there's sometimes what they touch on his stories that wouldn't get approved because of what you're talking about. Because if the funders of certain sources are saying, no, no, no, this can't go out. And so there's I always feel like I bring this up every time I'm on the show. But Tim Dylan, if you go back through some of his No, he does a really good job of like, bringing on journalists who like, there was one girl he had on who's like, she can't even come back to America because she's basically been blacklisted from like, working for most large news journalists. But she's, she's basically like, has been showcasing issues with a lot of large political families and parties and none nothing that she's researching is false. She's she's got sources for everything that she writes about. But it's like, sad that she I think she was like living in like Guatemala, like off the grid because of like, the danger of like, some of the stuff that she's been able to find in source. So
Blythe Brumleve:
27:37
while I mean even close, yeah, she has to take protections to get protected.
Grace Sharkey:
27:41
Yeah, yeah, no, yeah. And we make fun of her all the time, too. Because she's, like, caught, like, all the time going after, like the double broker guys of like, LA and they're like, they know her. Like, that's,
Blythe Brumleve:
27:56
like, she's she has, like, you know, I guess maybe I probably shouldn't, but she has security measures been enhanced
Grace Sharkey:
28:02
versions are being used from her. That's, that's 100% and it's, it's I just realized, too, with that type of reporting, we're talking about just even Freightways reporting like threats that she's gotten from different groups that I don't even want to give credit to out there is in is insane. So just realize that yeah, I have so much respect for those journalists and ever since doing this job whenever I watched like a like, documentary or something like that was like where a journalist is like the main talking about like the main source you know, of it and everything. I just imagine I know how much work they've been doing and how much they dedicated their lives. So that story and I think that stuff is just so cool.
Blythe Brumleve:
28:51
Yeah, so it to I guess piggyback on that if you have journalists that you support and they have and you think they do good work and they have Patreon and they have you know, some some kind of a way to fund them a substack do it because it is it is important it is takes a lot of time and resources and that's why these bigger news companies will not fund that that style of news because it does take a lot of time it's not as quick as the click Beatty breaking news where you know the these it manage decline is what these you know Fox News and CNN they know that their time is kind of dwindling a little bit. So support the the people who need it and the people who are doing that great work. I think I spend I do it at the local level and then I do it at the national level. So like a breaking points. Matt Taibbi are a couple of them. But then here in Jacksonville, we have a couple independent news organizations that are getting started as well because local news if you think it's local, it's not local channels. Yeah, yes. They've been bought up by like these bigger corporations and they have certain talking points that they want to make sure that Sinclair I think broadcasting is one on that spot up the majority of the local TV stations and they all have I know people locally here in Jacksonville who worked on different local media shows, and they were laid off, because Sinclair Broadcasting can just make that same show. And they can just insert word here, insert city here, and they can just syndicate it to all of their different partner programs. So even local news has been impacted. And it's not just from like the news angle as well, like, you see a lot of you know scamming going on on social media, whether it's like, you know, some of the crypto scams that we saw, of course, also a lot of like skincare like, I know, JLo got, you know, a bunch of heat for her skincare line that she came out with, and she talks about how, you know, this skincare line has helped a 50 year old essentially look like she's in her 20s. And I was like, ma'am, yes, it's not just skincare. It's not just
Grace Sharkey:
30:56
Trish inist and workout routines,
Blythe Brumleve:
30:59
best doctors, the best Botox, like that's what an allegedly has, I probably should throw that in there. But her skincare is not the only thing. So just do your due diligence in every act because everybody's trying to sell Yeah. So find the people you trust, find the brands you trust, and then hopefully they they keep your trust for a lot longer because
Grace Sharkey:
31:23
trust the people are telling me all right, let's
Blythe Brumleve:
31:25
move on to our next topic. That's Apple's VR headset. So I'm going to try to play this video and it's going to be challenging, so bear with us. But it comes from one of my favorite creators and that's Cleo Abram. She's someone that I really look up to as far as the kind of content she covers and the the way that she covers it. This is one of those creators that I trust. So hopefully this will play for everyone. Trump has shared this screen and hopefully y'all can hear it. Oh, you can't hold on let me turn the volume on there we go. So initial thoughts on Apple's new VR AR headset
Grace Sharkey:
32:59
$3,500 I saw like a tweet that was like they made like a buy now pay later where they're paying like $22 Every two weeks for like the next so many years. Just I think it's cool. Have you have you ever done VR and play VR games or anything like that?
Blythe Brumleve:
33:22
So I've only done it in like a theme park environment, I haven't used the Oculus. So I know that that one is the one that's made by Facebook, the you know, the one that I have some friends who have access to those headsets. And it's one that I love, AR augmented reality where it's almost like PokemonGo, or some of the Snapchat, you know, filters and things like that even you know, tic tock filters. So I like AR much more than I like VR. And I haven't tried Oculus because I just don't want to give Zuckerberg access to my eyeballs. But Apple. They are open for you.
Grace Sharkey:
34:02
I already have a theory. This isn't even my conspiracy theory of the month, but I already have a theory that they're watching our eyeballs anyways, and what we look at on our screen and all that anyways, but no, I will say it's gaming wise really freaking cool. I've played what and I actually, I haven't played on an Oculus I've played on like an even more powerful one where you have to like set up the whole room for it and stuff. And it was insane. And like, just so it's so crazy to to like look down at your hands you know and and look like again in the game. I was fighting zombies. And I was holding like a flashlight and a gun and it like even though it wasn't holding them the way that your brain works with what it sees and everything it felt like it it's it was just like really, really strange phenomenon. To kind of explain, and it just was so real and like, you know, when you play a video game, sometimes you forget about what's happening behind you. So I remember like, like, I'm like standing there like, oh, there's so much zombies bla bla and I turn around and I literally scream bloody murder because there's one like, just like breathing on my neck. Like, from Yeah, no. Yeah, like literally it was like, like screaming it I played another dinosaur one too. That was insane. But it's, I I do question like how this will become popular because I just feel like, as much as we are already so engraved in our phones into social media, I do feel like there's this like level of people wanting to push against that even in our generation, like going outdoors and like, like, almost like doing these, like completely off the grid type of trips. That I just wonder like how engraved into our everyday lives this could become. And, and also because like a lot of times they've seen in these, like VR programs, like, for the business level, they'll say like, Hey, let's have him we can have a meeting, you know, and we can all see what each other look looks like. And it's like, well, that's not what we look like, though. And that's not how I would hate to like, make friends with someone virtually, and then like end up meeting them in real life. And they're nothing like what they see. Like imagine if I like made like a VR and like I was just like a seven foot tall, gorgeous model like, you know, like it would and then he like meet me he's like, Who is this? five foot three of troll like? It doesn't like that's where I wonder like, how will it be regulated to a point where it's like you have to be honest about who you are. And it kind of reminds me of like, did you ever get into like chat rooms? Like when you're in high school or anything? Yeah, same. Like you would pretend to be someone else. But you like did that knowing that you would net like purposely, hopefully never see these individuals in your life. Like doing that to like people that you want to like be with. So part of me is just like, What is this? What in my life? Do I need a virtual reality of that the actual reality isn't working?
Blythe Brumleve:
37:29
I so there's a show and you haven't not Black Mirror. But it's kind of similar, I guess. But it's a self contained show. It's not like individual episodes are self contained. Yeah, like Black Mirror. But it's called the feed. And it's free on like Amazon Prime Video, and it came out in 2019. And it's essentially, what I envision like social media news and memories is going to get to and the new Apple VR set is very, scarily similar to that. So in that show, it's almost a brain implant that is put into your mind. And so everything you see is documented and recorded. And so that the theory is like the good side of it is. So you have all of these memories that you can go back and you can hit play on again, or you can, you know, share like your child's birthday, if you saw it with your eyes, it's recorded and stored in your own database. The thing with this show, though, is that you there's the I guess the the plotline behind it is that someone hacks into that system and implants, the wrong implants, like a murder into your database that that showed you committing. And so you have to kind of go through like the motions of it's a really like fascinating series. And as soon as I saw it, I was like, wow, this is this is pretty much where probably social media is gonna go where it's not in or your computer's not in your hands anymore via the phone. It's really implanted into your brain because similar to how you kind of feel with with the headset, I don't, they're still rumors of like how heavy is this headset going to be? The battery pack itself is not attached to the headset. So you have to kind of put that in your pocket and it's only good the charger is only good for two hours. So I started
Grace Sharkey:
39:20
two hours.
Blythe Brumleve:
39:22
So well with a lot of Apple products. First Gen is not the best. So I think that they'll make improvements to it. But I think the ultimate road that we do go to is like the Apple technology in the size of like Google Glass where it's like regular glasses that you're wearing. And then I think you know, within 10 years it's going to be a neural link kind of device that you can just input into your brain and not have to worry about carrying a phone or you know any of these other devices because I do think that there are opportunities like the first thing I thought of when I saw this headset is that you can have like the three mon factors that are like the size of the room. And that to me just like blew me away that I'm sold on that, because I, the first thing I thought of is like, if I could be on a plane, and not have to be so squished, and I'm trying to type on my little laptop, I could just have these glasses and have three different screens and still be able to work like super efficiently. But I also got a push against
Grace Sharkey:
40:23
that though. Do you feel that you would end up working too much?
Blythe Brumleve:
40:29
Like they probably already?
Grace Sharkey:
40:32
See you my first thing was, Oh, you're right, like a few took that to like a Beyonce concert, then you could film the whole thing and see it all day while also experiencing it. See, for me, it would that would be something really cool to take. That's a one time experience that I could also capture and see over and over again where it's like I guess in your you're almost looking at as an application that can be used to Yeah, allow you to work at all times wherever you want. That's the same.
Blythe Brumleve:
41:08
Well, there were other years to what was it? So you can sit courtside at a game like I will probably never reach that level of being able to afford it, you know, celebrity level to sit courtside at a game. But that would be amazing to be able to like if the NBA were to there's also rumors that Disney is going to be developing, you know something for Apple's VR headset, so you could walk through theoretically a Disney park with that headset on. There's also the application of using it at an NBA game where the NBA partnered with Apple, then you would be able to sit courtside instead of you know, the traditional TV broadcast. So those those applications sound really cool to me. And then thinking about it from the lens of supply chain and logistics. I think driver training could probably be really upgraded using these headsets, digital twin environment I have a buddy who works in at Mercedes Benz and they currently use the Microsoft HoloLens two, he's an engineer, so he's responsible for troubleshooting any kind of mechanical or electric car issues. And so for a lot of their tutorials, they film them with the HoloLens on and so they'll go through and like fix the car, he said, but he said that the technology is a little bit wonky. And so the best use case for them now, like they started it with, like a lot of hubbub, you know, thinking that it would change, you know, as far as like how they manufacture and diagnose cars and troubleshoot them. But he said that now there's a lot of, you know, sort of the only possibility that you can really use this technology is just giving access to your customers and giving them like support requests. That's so that's how they're used.
Grace Sharkey:
42:54
Wondering if it's like that, if it's something that people will get an adopt and think maybe something that it could be something what much more powerful than it ends up being but still useful in a way like that, right? Like, you know, at some level, like, we have a cell phone that could has the computing power to do pretty much anything, but we don't really use it for the power 100% to that level, right? Like, we still use it for social media and fun and ways that probably wasn't initially thought of. So I just wonder it's any right actually, I mean, there's, there's actually a lot of this, I think, almost more of all, AR AR when it comes to supply chain twins and that kind of stuff. I mean, I just if you appoint a sale as one of my podcast, I just did a whole episode on the video, right, they just hit their like trillion dollar market cap. And they're doing some really cool stuff they're computing chips with Mercedes Benz actually allow them to create like a twin of a new manufacturing space. So they can, like all together on teams put together a virtual line. And let's say they want to like put a robot somewhere while someone can like they can move things around basically like The Sims, but also like at the end of situating everything press play and see what a car how it would come out at the end of it right? So then they can then take once they're done with that just actually produce the the line the way that it needs to be done. So without having to actually create the line first they create it in the reality and then they go forward and moving it so really it's really cool video with it too. That kind of shows you how the process but I mean that stuff I think is really cool. And if that's like what it's going to be used for. I think it's actually really incredible. And it's gonna save a lot of time and help with a lot of supply chains augment Did reality's Well, I mean, where I kind of think like this kind of stuff can be cool is like you want to go try on an outfit, right? Or go like shopping, and try something virtually and see how it looks. But then there's also a part of me of like, everyone's bodies are so different, like, how are we really at that point where we're capturing all these, like small little discrepancies, kind of like he was, you're saying with what he's doing at Mercedes Benz to like, it's mostly there, but not fully, that could still lead to issues. So yeah, it's a, I go back and forth. Because like, even when I like to say, well, I take it to a Beyonce concert, like, because it's funny, I really push myself at concerts. Now I'll take a few videos, but I really push myself to put my phone away and just like, enjoy the experience as as it is. And that's sometimes I wonder if something like that if are we going to as humans really be experienced in anything or just augmenting our experience or
Blythe Brumleve:
46:06
see, I kind of think that almost those personal experience will be prioritized so much more, where that kind of where it where like an AR headset would come into play would be more like Beyonce licensing out, you know, someone else to record that for her. And then maybe giving that that video away for free to, you know, maybe some the group of people who would never be able to afford to go to her concert, or, you know, maybe they're disabled, and they, you know, they wouldn't be able to, you know, go to a concert, because they, you know, everybody stands the whole time or something like that. So I could see a use case for that. But it's, it's almost kind of crazy to see this, like, as you were talking, I was thinking about the story I saw earlier this week about the overwhelming amount of people that are invading our national parks, and like the long wait times to go to these parks and things like that. And I think that's a good thing. And I wonder if that's being driven by all of this? Just technology, social media, you know, Daily News, barrage of news, and people just want the escape. So I wonder if those are kind of playing off of each other steam?
Grace Sharkey:
47:20
I don't know. I guess I will say this, I think the price is part of it. Right? So it's kind of like the early adopter might not make sense. But maybe as more and more people get it, then it becomes a thing. And you talk to me two years from now. And we're not even talking on this computer. We're just virtually chatting in a room. Yeah. So like Mark my words. Yeah. But like, that's,
Blythe Brumleve:
47:48
we'll be attending conferences that
Grace Sharkey:
47:50
way. And it's like, you know, and some of you are like, this meeting could have been in an email. I'm just fearful that we're just gonna have all these dumb virtual meetings that could have been emails, just because the technology says
Blythe Brumleve:
48:02
well, at least with well, at least I guess the AR headset Well, well, we'll have legs under like,
Grace Sharkey:
48:07
you're gonna be sending emails to people Zuckerberg. Virtual reality at like, two o'clock in the morning on your read. I was like, No one's even up answering your emails anyways.
Blythe Brumleve:
48:19
You just schedule the set and schedule it for 8am the next day. Everybody I just had this
Grace Sharkey:
48:26
like pet peeve where I'm like, if I'm on an air like an airplane, I'm just like, No, I'm in the air. Whatever's happening in the world like doesn't exist. And I'm watching Hulu for the so I love that like there's especially as there's so many like just individuals I talk to you in my line of work or like I'm gonna get on the plane but give me like 15 minutes I'll be connected to the Wi Fi it's like all the Wi Fi so trash shelters usually pretty great.
Blythe Brumleve:
48:57
Yeah, yeah. Every I maybe it's united in American that have it's like the goat not go Joe because that's a different story.
Grace Sharkey:
49:09
I'm telling you go Joab never works.
Blythe Brumleve:
49:12
Oh, it's like it's something like go get whatever it is that airplane Wi Fi that's trash is the one that you pay $10 for I definitely on united and it might be other companies too. Maybe delta delta is usually
Grace Sharkey:
49:25
free if the plane can do it, which is pretty nice. But
Blythe Brumleve:
49:31
well, as we're kind of talking about, you know, a lot of this different evolution and news stories and VR and AR and all that good stuff. We do have a new article with you, which is pretty related to the topics we've already discussed. So I wanted to hit on this real quick before we get into our logistics of and conspiracy theories. But three emerging trends in freight tech. So we've covered a lot of just said you know, we've kind of covered a lot of this in the first couple topics but how, what are the main takeaways? From this article that you think the listeners First off,
Grace Sharkey:
50:02
I'd like to say anyone who checked out this article, you just got a sneak peek into our magazine supply chain playbook because this actually was my article for the first version of that. So we decided to put it up on the site two, three big trends AI. First one, hobbyists I was telling someone the other day, if I had$1, for every time I heard this word, boy, I would be having some I, you know, I would have paid for that VR in full today. We wouldn't be we wouldn't be able to use it. Artificial intelligence who would have thought? No. So artificial intelligence. I mean, let's be honest, it's chat. GPT. Open AI, thank you so much for helping to bring this technology to everyone's brain. Finally, it's out there. Here's the thing AI has been around in our industry. You've seen it in machine learning RPA type of work. Any type of robotic process automation is usually powered from AI. And the interesting part is, well, I took the section from the Kinsey report, they can actually provide they believe 89% bump in value for our industry, when it comes to analytics, etc. So there's definitely areas that we can improve ourselves. In this industry, we're just starting to collect data in this industry. That's kind of the main problem here. Is we I mean, even in sonar we talked about our data only goes back to 17. It's five years. Yeah. And I mean, we're one of most known doesn't have anywhere even close to more than five years of data for our industry as well, at least broken down by tenors like we do. And so what's really great about this is that as we start generating more and more data over the years, there's gonna be so many different ways that we're going to be able to apply AI, particularly to the decisions that we're making across the board. And then I mean, you're starting to already see this happen, even a little bit of the Mercedes Benz stuff we're talking about, like, that's a lot of information has gone into that a lot of computing power has gone into making that stuff work, and will over time, save, save, I think, not only our industry from a lot of the problems that we're solving on a daily basis, but the best thing about solving problems and making operations more smooth within a supply chain, is that it's going to lead to a less waste. Huge write it whenever we talk about waste. I'm not just talking about time, I'm honestly talking about waste of products, waste of emissions, talk, yeah, returns, etc. Yeah. 100%. So just think about if you're, if you're sitting here in your business today, and you're saying, okay, AI is something that we want to get into something that I want to be a part of, again, go back into how your what data are you collecting? What data is yours, what what are the different sources that you're collecting data from, to make decisions, get all that under wraps, and then start attacking some of these areas, I think it's really important. And again, there's probably some tools that you're already using pricing algorithms, things of that nature that are already AI related. So that's a huge one. The other two on here are areas that I think are just starting to evolve. And I get really excited because a lot of the problems again, in this industry stem from these paperless trade is a huge one again, talk about waste. But the problem with our industry and the reason why it's so difficult to bring transparency to where your shipment is at certain times, is because of issues with paperwork, because in a lot of times when new stuff gets stuck at the port paperwork. So I would highly figured out within your own logistics. If you're a logistics provider, if your carrier shipper, think about ways that you can start doing your logistics services or your shipping processes without using physical paper without printing anything. How talking about electronic bol ELLs. excetera there's a company called my carrier I'm absolutely obsessed with this company. I tell people all the time I think in 2021 My favorite company was trying to pay now they bought hub Tran I thought that was the best for the issues that I think this industry has one of the My Favorite acquisitions and partnerships of all time they're going to be able to do so much for back office in our industry. I tell them a I've told them this to their face, and they love it. Last year 2022, my carrier was one of my favorite companies to report on. They are digitizing the manual processes of the LTL industry. And they're getting rid of bol. Now, for anyone who's ever done an LTL shipment, it sucks, it's the worst, you don't make a lot of money off of it. And anytime there's a problem, you're trying to like call some like dispatcher for a terminal in the middle of nowhere who like has no idea where your shipment is right. And if an LTL shipment gets lost, like we all know that process is a headache. Well, the cool thing about my carrier is, first of all, there's a large number of really great entrepreneurs that are part of that company, they've done really incredible things in this space already. So this isn't like a startup from Silicon Valley type of situation. These are really incredible. Leaders in our space have been here for decades, longer so that are finally getting this problem solved. For instance, so basically, what they're doing is they're working with the carriers directly to digitize their processes. And then they're loading everything into the my carrier system and platform, so that you can have full transparency of where your LTL shipments are, where they're moving to, let's say, Here's a perfect example how many times we booked an LTL shipment, and then when it's done, you figure it out, you get hit with like a residential fee. Well, that's no more they're gonna be able to tell you when you're booking it, hey, this is a residence, there's going to be an extra fee. And I think sometimes people think LTL carriers enjoy their surcharges. They don't, it slows down their payments, it slows down their processes as well. They don't want to have to send a full 53 footer to find out it's going to a residential neighborhood. So they it's like it's a company that's gone to both parties and said, Listen, let's fix this. And a lot of these LTL carriers, they just don't have the, they're not good at the digital side of of their industry or just technology in general. So they kind of like put their hands up and they're like, we'll work with you. Let's figure it out. Help us get through this help us make this faster. And in particular, I'll give you kind of example of what they've been able to do. And they're working with the digital LTL. Council as well as the National motor freight traffic Association. Shout out to W Sparks is working over there. Oh, yeah. And Curtis, Gary as well. He just started over there, too. Yeah, yeah. And he has a great like LTL course, that I was so happy when I saw that he joined them a great group. But they actually worked with RL Donnelly to digitize, digitize their operations as well. By the end of the program, they saw over 200 after just one year $250,000 in cost savings, and reduced call volume by 900 calls a day. And that's just all by getting everything into the cloud and getting it all on one page in one process. It could save the whole industry if every LTL carrier could start moving their their products using electronic BLS over $1.2 billion. So it's honestly one of my favorite areas to look at. And I, I just everything about LTL. I hate so much. And she's true. And then even in this article, too, I put a related article in there, I think you should check out they've actually recently started working with load share. So that let's say at the end of your shipment, something it goes missing or it's damaged, etc, you get your check right away. There's no huge long process. And they actually give you like a percentage more. Because a lot of times you probably might have dealt with this work. shipper loses a product they want. They want the money they would have made if they sold it. Well, most insurance companies don't cover that they're willing to cover that. And you might be saying, well, like how does that work? That's how much savings like these processes are saving that we can now give you back that amount. So I just get really excited when I think paperless trade. Now even worldwide. If we push this worldwide into like global carriers, they can open up more than $30 billion in new trade that everyone's just moving so slow from all the different paperwork, and also transactions can't move, right? We're talking about worldwide payments with worldwide banks. With everything being on paper, everything needs to be double checked and verified. Well if we move that to more of a blockchain electronic system, then will speed up all those processes to the point where we could have $30 billion more new trade. So I think that's absolutely incredible to
Blythe Brumleve:
59:59
me. Do you wish there was a central place to pull in all of your social media posts, recruit employees, and give potential customers a glimpse into how you operate your business? Well, all of this should already be on your website. But too often, we hand that responsibility of building our online home off to a cousin, a neighbor's kid down the street, or a stranger across the world. Digital dispatch believes in building a better website at a fraction of the costs that those big time marketing agencies would charge. Because we've spent years on those digital front lines, our experienced team focuses on the modern web technologies to bring in all of the places you're already active online, show off those customer success stories, and measure the ROI of it all in one place. With manage website plans, starting at $90 a month, head on over to digital dispatch.io to see how we can build your digital ecosystem on a strong foundation. We've got explainer videos right on the website and the ability to book a demo immediately find it all over at Digital dispatch.io. And I love that you brought that up. Because I think for most folks who don't know that any product you buy, it's at least 50% of that products cost is related to transportation. And so if we can speed up and optimize the processes within the transportation side of things, then that opens the door to you know, obviously greater profits, greater greater profit margins, and hopefully, ideally, those savings trickle down to, to the general public where products can be cheaper. And you know, with the shift in manufacturing, you know, back to our nearshoring from overseas. So I think that that opens up the door for a lot of these products to kind of stay at the same price point because what you see like in China is that a lot of their their class, a lot of their lower income classes now middle class, and they don't want to do the the cheap labor anymore. And so if we're if we're used to those cheap products, we got to make the process a little bit cheaper, because you know, the labor fees aren't going to get any cheaper. That's for sure.
Grace Sharkey:
1:02:10
Great, great point. 100%. Last, not least about I think probably of all the three emerging, this one's going to be the most difficult to to continue growing or at least will have the most headaches, I think with adoption, is Supply Chain Finance. Now, anyone out there might not really understand what Supply Chain Finance is. It's basically factoring from if you're a carrier, whatever, factoring your invoices, it's the same thing, but from the supply side. So, for example, a company like Apple or let's say, Procter and Gamble, right, they will actually get supply chain financing or a line of credit so that they can make sure that they're paying you on time, just like a care broker would or like you would, right so instead it's a increases their actual working capital. So that of course, they can continue to get products out. And this helps them of course, keep up with demand and also scaling their products to over 66% of banks have a supply chain finance plan now and over 38% growth in that strategy between 20 and 21. So because you got to think sometimes I think maybe about a smaller shipper. A lot of times as a broker, you call and you'll say, hey, looking to see when this bill is going to be paid, some really small companies will come back and tell you Well, our consumer or customer who you delivered to hasn't paid us yet. Right once we get that payment, we'll pay you well supply chain financing allows that shipper to take out again a percent away to pay you faster, and they're the way they look guys, they'll get better service which will lead to more customers so it's kind of like well 2% fees pretty reasonable for how much we can scale our operations over time. And I think this is great. I mean, this is one and everyone will get paid faster in the long run of things and to you'll clearly will see companies growing a little bit faster than they have in the past. Now I will say there have been issues with it in Europe with Credit Suisse I bleed had they they gave a huge line of credit to I want to say it was like a steel factory or somewhere and this happened a couple years ago. You might have remembered it but that did backfire. So you just have to you have to watch it right you don't want everyone to kind of be on this like loan system, but it can for the right shippers or good credit really open up supply chain efforts as well. So the again, a small one, but we're I think we're gonna see more of it over time. him too.
Blythe Brumleve:
1:05:02
All right, well, well, for folks who who want to read more of that, I'll be sure to include that link in the show notes. And thanks for dropping that info about my carrier too. So I'll include a link to them in case folks want to check that out, just hit the show notes and you'll be able to see it also a link to the feed which I might need to go back and rewatch now with all this, you know, AR AI, VR, all these acronyms might be interesting. I know. And watch that show to see how much of its come true. Just so quickly. Yeah. Real. All right, well, let's, let's move on, we got a couple rapid fire ones that I want it or not really rapid fire. But we got a couple more stories that I want to get to before. We have about 20 more minutes left. So we're probably going to take up all of that 20 minutes to talk about our favorite logistics of stories. So do you want to go first, or do you want me to go first?
Grace Sharkey:
1:05:53
You go first? Yeah. Okay.
Blythe Brumleve:
1:05:56
Well, mine is I was going to talk about the logistics of aliens because of all alien news that dropped this week. Apparently, we, the US government is in possession of 12 Alien aircrafts. And a senior military official went on record under the Whistleblower Act in order to testify against our own government that has been hiding aliens. So I thought it would be fun to talk about that one. But I, I couldn't really think away, you know, or think about all the into that process. And also, I'm going to play a really quick video for everyone that talks about the logistics of sand, and sand theft, which I think is really, really fascinating. So let me get that video up. Hopefully, it doesn't play immediately. You know how these tick tock videos do where they just start before you're even like ready before you hit the play button. So alright, well give me a second because it's pretty wild, because when you think about it, while I wait for this video, to load, the world uses 50 billion metric tons of sand annually. Sand is a key ingredient in all concrete and glass production. And there are already ongoing reports of a mafia style black market for sand. So those three factoids came from Popular Mechanics and this video is just it's not going to go oh, there it goes. Okay, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, you know, those tick tock videos just started so yes, let me share my screen. So sorry, if you're watching this, or if you just only listen, but they're pretty descriptive with what they talk about. Pretty crazy, right? Yeah.
Grace Sharkey:
1:08:38
Wow, I want to like just I feel like this
Blythe Brumleve:
1:08:41
deserves an entire, like deep dive and credit to this, this YouTuber chapel, you could find the full documentary over on their YouTube channel CHUPL. But they highlight the difficulties behind even policing this, that it's almost like criminals are coming in the middle of the night and you have to make concrete you have to have a specific kind of sand. And only certain beaches have access to the sand. It's not like you can go to like the desert and get that sand and that's suitable to make concrete and to use it and all of our building materials and things like that. So I thought that that was really, really fascinating. So if you want to check out more, go to YouTube and look up the channel channel. They have about a 10 minute long video that goes into this a little bit more in depth, but it's it's crazy that this isn't I guess being talked about more.
Grace Sharkey:
1:09:33
Yeah, you know, I'm like kind of looking at articles about it right now, too. It's, it's insane. Yeah. Yeah, like, what do you you just come in the middle of the night and you steal it off the beach? It's crazy.
Blythe Brumleve:
1:09:45
I mean, that's basically what they're saying. Yeah,
Grace Sharkey:
1:09:47
it's interesting. I know someone who like bought a bunch of land for them. They built a house on it, but the real reason they bought the land was because something about like the gravel underneath could be used. used or like, the gravel underneath will slowly become sand that could be used in the future. So it's like they basically bought this land to sell it. Like they're just, they're like whenever I basically run out of money, I'm just gonna sell another acre and sell another acre out to like construction companies. And it Yeah, it's like it's fascinating. This is why I love logistics because it's like you BSA, right? Like how do you even find enough stuff to make contents like that's incredible now I'm gonna be doing a bunch of research on it too because now it just makes me wonder Yeah, like how many concrete companies out there having to make like some special calls in a closet somewhere to like, get their
Blythe Brumleve:
1:10:44
gate gas station? Yeah. Do you all have gay gas stations?
Grace Sharkey:
1:10:47
No, we don't know.
Blythe Brumleve:
1:10:50
Well, I think they're primarily based in the southeast. But everywhere around town, you can see gate gas stations. Yeah. But I was talking to an IT professional who, who works on like their servers and things like that. And he said, No, they're their actual, it's not gas where they make all their money, they actually make all their money from concrete by providing being the concrete supplier to all of these different companies. So it's like a whole like supply chain, like the logistics of getting the sand stealing it using trucks to steal it from a beach, putting it on a ship and ferrying it to you know, either maliciously or you know, business wise. Somehow they're, they're, you know, getting a hold of this sand anyways, but it was a great donkey or a great little like mini documentary. So chuckle is the name. I'll link to it in the show notes. But But what's it What's your logistics of story?
Grace Sharkey:
1:11:40
So actually, you can check this out on my point of sale our episode from this week. Mine is the it's lightly on the logistics of Hollywood paint. So this actually comes from something that dropped about a week or so ago. There's a company that supplies most of Hollywood's paints called Ross goes and they use the their full worldwide supply chain of basically magenta to supply the Barbie movie. They're set. And they ran out they ran out literally worldwide ran out of Barbie pink paint. The episode if you go to YouTube is called A World Without Barbie pink. You can hear me talking about a little bit as well. But just to give you kind of some background as I was diving into this, first off Roscoe is as a company that actually have won Academy Awards, which I think is kind of cool. They won Academy Award for creating Fog Fluid like in the 70s and 2001. They won Academy Award for their day and nighttime backdrops so kind of crazy that a pink company could win Academy Awards, but it happens. And so they're they're in an interview about this whole Barbie pink thing. And it actually stems from the 2021, Texas freeze. So remember, when the Texas like got way too cold and everyone's pipes are bursting and their grid up and their grid was destroyed? Well during that process, because of especially what paint is made out of the he says residents etc. They lost millions of gallons of stockpile. And what was interesting as they started to come back online, and started to kind of refill those specific paint types. They slowly learned that even though their customer of Hollywood is pretty dang great. They were like third in line behind Home Depot and Lowe's and a lot of their suppliers to get resin which is like the main ingredient for paint as well. So for the last couple years, they've just been struggling trying to build up their stockpile. And so yeah, it's pretty interesting. They said they're they're got magenta coming out. And it's next line, there's like 13 colors that they're focused on for this next one. And I also found two, it's the second most needed pink color from Roscoe is behind Barbie pink is actually a color called vandyke brown. And it's basically black. But it's like a tad brown. It's like kind of like your hair color to be honest with you like just basically a really dark dark color where you're like it's black or brown. I can't figure it out. But yeah, so there's your logistics of Hollywood paint right there and the Barbie pink is coming back. And if you want a little bit more detail on it, you can go check out point of sale on freightwaves TV as well.
Blythe Brumleve:
1:14:33
Here it is i Okay, so I was looking for the podcast so I found the video so I'll be sure to to link to it. Hopefully it doesn't just of course it's going to start playing. Okay, sorry about that. I'm going to link to it. So then that way, it makes it super easy for you guys to find it. Right and let's get to check out
Grace Sharkey:
1:14:53
the episode before that too. And I go into the logistics of retail ice as well. So
Blythe Brumleve:
1:15:00
Oh, I did I love that story. I thought that was the one you were gonna pick.
Grace Sharkey:
1:15:03
Yeah, no
Blythe Brumleve:
1:15:04
no sticks of retail. Just typing this out in case you hear me just so we make sure that we include our include this in our glorious show notes. I hate it when somebody mentioned something that is supposed to be in the show notes and they don't put it there drives me nuts. So hopefully I won't do that to y'all. So let's move on to favorite conspiracy theories at the moment. You want to go first or me?
Grace Sharkey:
1:15:27
Oh, let's you go first.
Blythe Brumleve:
1:15:31
Okay, so mine is kind of two parts. So the first part is about whales responding to boat engines and how the maritime industry is to adapt. And this this research brief if you guys have not subscribed to Theotis, text brief, or tech brief, they are like a maritime data supply company but their email newsletter is very, very good. It's one of the few logistics newsletters that I actually get delivered directly into my inboxes. I don't want to miss an EP, I don't want to miss an issue. But from their issue it says a new study has found that humpback whales responded more to the sound of wind than they do from noise from ships engines despite their similar frequencies. It's long been known that noise from ship engines and propellers can disrupt communication between whales and affect their breathing patterns. But this research has uncovered that when the wind blows, whales sing louder, however, when vessel noise increase, the reaction is not the same. They struggle to communicate, they suffer from higher stress levels and they swim faster, all of which affect the breathing patterns. Many manufacturers are developing quieter engines and other technologies to target this issue. And in recent months, a new propeller system that aims to substantially reduce the underwater radiated noise generated by ship propellers was launched. And it's called also there's another one called bubble curtains are being deployed to isolate machinery noise and minimize disruption. So it's aimed to help these whale breeding patterns and so I thought that that was fascinating from like the maritime aspect how they're trying to tackle it but then on the other there like the conspiracy side of things. I don't know if y'all are on like orca tick tock. I know you're not because you're not on tick tock, but orca tick tock is not the riving
Grace Sharkey:
1:17:17
I know I know about Free Willy. Yes. We just crazy
Blythe Brumleve:
1:17:21
that orcas now there's apparently one orca that was mistreated. The conspiracy theory is that she was mistreated by someone we don't really know. But now she's teaching other orcas how to damage boats even capsizing them. So I do have one quick video that I wanted to play and even if you're not if you're if you're only listening to this is a pretty good explainer. So hold on let me pull that up okay good so played right away this time let me share my screen and then I can hit Play? That is absolutely mind blowing to me that they have different they have names for each other and that they're teaching each other how to basically take revenge but I mean obviously that's the that's the conspiracy side of things. But then on the I guess the good side of things is you know knowing each other's names and being able to mimic different noises How crazy is it that it knew its name and could kind of repeat it the same?
Grace Sharkey:
1:19:59
How crazy is it that free really made us really think that that animal wasn't as dangerous as it truly was?
Blythe Brumleve:
1:20:09
I want no orcas smoke, like I said, like if they're if they can be trained to understand podcasts like, I want them to know I'm on your side.
Grace Sharkey:
1:20:21
There's like, there's a, like kind of like planet Earth on a Netflix for it's the one that's kind of more about global climate change and stuff like that. And that this, you see the orcas role and you know, these suckers are up to no good movies for seals are just gone for and I every time I'm like, these are some powerful freaking animals. They're like, I love it. I think that that's so cool. And it's so interesting how humans just think we're so smart in like, these animals, it kinda reminds me of like, the whole, like, Last of Us, like fun fungi or whatever you call it like, yeah, taking over like we think we're smart, but we're really just gonna turn into a bunch of mushrooms at the end of the day. It sounds like so which I'm down for it too. That sounds like a hell of a ride but
Blythe Brumleve:
1:21:13
sounds pretty fun.
Grace Sharkey:
1:21:15
I guess it depends on what your might turn into.
Blythe Brumleve:
1:21:19
Yeah, exactly. And how much you take because it could be like not a good time All right, great. We got about five minutes left. Let's hear your your favorite conspiracy theory going on at the moment.
Grace Sharkey:
1:21:35
So this isn't even a conspiracy theory. This is like 100%
Blythe Brumleve:
1:21:41
all conspiracy conspiracy theories have a little bit of truth right? Yeah,
Grace Sharkey:
1:21:44
this is and this is for all my retail I'm really doing work for the point of sale podcast today. I'm actually might cover this in like an episode coming up. But this is a conspiracy of store brands now. store brands when I say store brands or private label you might know them as is like great value for Walmart, right? It's like a Walmart brand of whatever product that you're seeing, it's usually cheaper. Well, what people are finding out and Trader Joe's is known. This is why Trader Joe's stuff is like so expensive. store brand products private label products are actually a lot of times made by name brands. So for instance, let's say Kellogg's cereal or something like that. Kellogg's also makes the store brands for like Kroger, Walmart, because in its head, it's like, well, we're gonna have competition, so why not I also produce the product for competition. And so I'll give you a couple of examples of where you can kind of find this stuff. So all the all these really big at this to all these Millville cereals are actually made by General Mills. So when you go and there's the cinnamon crunch squares by Millville next to the Cinnamon Toast Crunch, they are literally the same exact cereal made at the same exact place. Difference. General Mills is $3.28 all these is$1.39. So it's when you're sitting there you're saying Well hey, it's a cheaper brand though. They're literally the same. All these does it they also have kind of a Girl Scout Cookies producers so you can get all these caramel coconut fudge cookies. They are Samoas same exact producer. Separate Girl Scouts will ask you for $5 and at least that's going to the Girl Scouts right but hey, screw it. Another one from all D Toughskins. Garden Italian dressing. It's all of gardens. st dressing. So same thing there save money as well. Trying to get all the Yeah, yeah, exactly. Great value peanut butter. Peter Pan. So same stuff. Just different container different labels. This one is why I will never buy name brand bread ever again. Great value white bread. saralee one is 247 the others 93 sets. That don't let me see you got other ones here for you. Oh, great value ice cream. blue bunny, same exact producer.
Blythe Brumleve:
1:24:22
And I heard that Kirklin cost goes nated brand it there vodka that they make the Kirkland vodka is the same as Grey Goose for significantly cheaper,
Grace Sharkey:
1:24:35
significantly cheaper. Tyson's does the great value chicken. That's crazy. Right. So it's just really is insane to me to like think Kirkland Signature coffee. Who do you think makes it Starbucks? Starbucks? Yeah. Right. I know. Trader Joe's makes a lot of Trader Joe's pita chips are just Stacy's just different packaging. Trader Joe's. By really? Yeah. Why what? Why Why?
Blythe Brumleve:
1:25:13
Why buy name brand anymore? Why not just buy store brand?
Grace Sharkey:
1:25:17
That thing. And now, if a conspiracy has been so true that's I literally once I did research on this and started learning this, you'll never see this girls spend $1 on an apron ever again. Never. It's it's
Blythe Brumleve:
1:25:34
an all on Instacart so I'm gonna have to start shopping. Yeah.
Grace Sharkey:
1:25:38
No, it's great stuff. I mean, Girl Scouts. I think the box is six bucks a box now so I can buy it for $1 or something. I mean, I mean girl scout cookies all year round. And I think they have the same. The peanut butter one the Tagalongs. There, there's a couple of them. But Trader Joe's it's like this is how Trader Joe's makes its money is by working with all of these name brand companies, producers, and just throwing the Trader Joe's label on it. So all of you hippies out there who think that you're hippies like, I'm sorry, guys. Who thinks that you're like, just so clever, eco warriors. You're just buying Annie's. It's just Annie,
Blythe Brumleve:
1:26:22
you're contributing to the same supply chain issues? The exact same?
Grace Sharkey:
1:26:28
So yeah, for every couple of minutes. Yeah. I was just to say if you think that you're you're getting a less value product, you're not you're getting the same stuff.
Blythe Brumleve:
1:26:39
So by the storebrand get the same ingredients and save some money, because we're all gonna need it. Yep. All right. Final thoughts. Are we got Freightways to future supply chain happening in Cleveland soon do you want to give folks a little bit of insight as to what they can expect?
Grace Sharkey:
1:26:57
Yeah, it's gonna be really great time, I will tell you this, we've got some huge shippers coming to this thing for everyone who's saying, you know, I'd like to see a little bit more of a shipper presents at these events. That's happening now. To name a few for you got Nestle, Coca Cola, body armor just signed on Red Bulls gonna be there, too. There's another bit L'Oreal. A couple more that I'm just like missing off the top of my head. But I'm really excited, we got some big shippers that are going to be there a number of really great economic workers, analysts, directors, etc. So we're gonna, I think you're gonna leave there with a really great idea of where the economy's going, when we might see a turnaround. And when what exactly is fueling the economy today. So if you're sitting there and you're trying to really figure out what to do with your business over the next couple of years, don't just think okay, Freightways future supply chain this mind, this must just all be tech related. That's not at all the case. I think, like you were at the one last year. I mean, we left there with a really great idea of like, the labor that we're going to need in this country, the immigration issues arising and it's a really great way of getting an update of just where our our economy is, I mean, we supply chain fuels, the economy, our economy, our supply chains move with the economy as well. So make sure that if you're looking for the outlook and what's happening down the road, really consider coming to this event. We've got go check out the site today live that freeways.com to name some companies that are going to be there speaking as well. We've got turbo parade vision Maven rider project 44 Ben Gordon, Cambridge capital Dunham Halliburton, that was the other one I was trying to remember the port of Cleveland. Revenue of Convoy pay cargo torque, Triumph pay eco trucker tools pallet trader. Well, Tara, tremble. JB Hunt, of course, harbor trucking associations. Venture 53 A whole this list has gotten way bigger than even yesterday. So come go check out the site. See who's going to be there. We've got hotels and everything for you. It's gonna be a great time after party on the first night JB 360 Always hosts it we love a JB 360 party don't we like it's gonna be we love a Jamie 360 party. I got actually got my my little bracelet right here ready to go for next year?
Blythe Brumleve:
1:29:41
The light up bracelet?
Grace Sharkey:
1:29:42
Yes, you like have to of course,
Blythe Brumleve:
1:29:44
those are a hot commodity.
Grace Sharkey:
1:29:46
I know it still works. And so that's going to be at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. So I'm actually going to be doing the Sirius XM show. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame too. Yeah. And they just had their new class inducted too. So it should be Up to date. So go go check it out gotta be there and then shoot me an email at g [email protected] If you want to meet or set up a meeting because I'll have some time for you to
Blythe Brumleve:
1:30:10
hack Yeah and what we will get make sure to get this show published next week so we're recording on a Thursday I'm gonna try to get it up by next Tuesday we're recording on the eighth so I can't do math right now. But also I am running late for a meeting with an interview with Chris jolly if you guys follow any kind of logistics podcasts you know he is a freight marketing machine as well. So he I was already sent to me in a sad face email because I am about three minutes late so go go figure with the freight brokers worrying about being a few minutes late right any last words on where folks can can find you know more of your work more of your insight
Grace Sharkey:
1:30:50
find me on LinkedIn there you'll see my link tree it'll get you to all my social media sites all the articles I've wrote add me on LinkedIn follow me. Uh, shoot me a message and I'd love to hear from you and see what excites you about our supply chain as well.
Blythe Brumleve:
1:31:05
Hell yeah. Another great show. I wish we could have had more time we're gonna have to like budget like more than two more than an hour for our shows because it didn't even feel it just blew by. But thank you everyone for for listening to another episode of everything is logistics. Until next time, another episode another great episode of freight friends. That happens once a month. Grace thank you again. You're awesome I hope you enjoy this episode of everything is logistics, a podcast for the thinkers in freight, telling the stories behind how your favorite stuff in people get from point A to B. If you liked this episode, do me a favor and sign up for our newsletter. I know what you're probably thinking, oh God, another newsletter. But it's the easiest way to stay updated when new episodes are released. Plus, we drop a lot of gems in that email to help the one person marketing team and folks like yourself who are probably wearing a lot of hats at work in order to help you navigate this digital world a little bit easier. You could find that email signup link along with our socials and past episodes. Over at everything is logistics.com And until next time on life and go Jags
