Your local economic recovery depends on YOU

Ever wonder how much stuff fits in a truck trailer, in a railroad car, or in a warehouse? It is amazing walking into a Sam's or Costco and seeing stuff racked up to the high ceilings. Well in a customer shopping warehouse, the standards for stacking and storing are a lot more stringent and they aren't allowed to stack too high or too close in many cases. But when you are at a Budweiser shipping facility, the stacks are very high and seemingly endless. And to see how many trailers are loaded (and they always load them to the maximum of the weight limit so drivers are reminded to go in full of fuel or you'll be stopping quite regularly) with pallets of cases and kegs; it is really an astronomical count. In fact Budweiser wants their product shipped as efficiently as possible and are concerned enough to have a full scale on site at most of their facilities. It also helps them to pack as much as they can on every shipment. Nothing wrong with that!

Haven't been to the beer locations for shipments in a while, but they do take care of the drivers by allowing them to tour and provide pretty good estimates of when they will be loading. Nothing like knowing how much free time you have so you can plan a bit. I do like to be proficient with my time when I can; it doesn't always work that way. Sometimes I have more time than others, and it can be very unpredictable.

When delivering at small businesses, most of the time the deliveries are very quick. Larger companies, especially unionized, are very strict about appointment times and only do what they have to do, when they have to do it. Getting unloaded or loaded at these facilities can be taxing on the patience and waiting on someone who decided to go to lunch before signing the paperwork to release the driver (and had the bell rang 30 seconds later, the signature would have been on the paperwork). Typically it is something minor that keeps a driver at the dock for extended periods of time. Drivers can do a lot to prevent extended waits by watching the progress, but other times that becomes interpreted as pressuring. Waiting out of the way can be taken with the opposite effect. But not always. The best way to know is to go to the place often enough so they know who you are. With good working relations, it is amazing how much more efficient the loading or unloading time can be.

Preplanning of the loads and staging allows the process to run smoother, requiring the company to be organized. We all have our bad days and excellent ones... but if every day is out of control, there's a problem. Been to places like that, feels good to leave from there with the stress of the facility staying behind.I Like going places where the wait time is minimal (who doesn't?).

As I said earlier, some places are really great to go to, usually because of the people working there. Places that are organized and the people enjoy their jobs are typically the places drivers like to go. And places where they keep the place clean is more of a reflection of how the people will be.

Funny how minimalist levels of work tend to happen regularly at the places where nobody wants to work and workspaces are typically pretty dirty/unkept. Show up, do the job and leave; the rest is someone else's job. Places where the workers that take pride in their jobs and workplace also are safer. It stands to reason that a positive productive work place also has the equipment maintained, it is kept clean so it is easier to identify a problem early on. It reduces worker stress from worrying if the equipment is going to fail which in turn alters the workers attitude. A healthy work environment results in savings for the company. The incentive is there for all levels of workers with the payoffs being partially intangible, but very noticeable.

We must remember that if our economy is to get better, we all have to strive to do more than we are required to do. However, some employers have stretched their resources too thin and are taxing the productivity of the workers. Many people have had peers lose their jobs and have had to cover all of their work in addition to their own. Added responsibility can only happen so much before the quality begins to suffer. Quality is part of the competitive edge that will help us regain our economy and jobs. But if our quality isn't there, the customer doesn't buy it, and then the demand is lessened. Basically, there is a balance that needs to be maintained once it is achieved with workload, productivity, morale, quality and value of the product. More items must be made in the US if we want to regain our financial stability. The service sector is way out of balance with production. Outsourcing has become troublesome by taking away jobs, exploitation of workers, dissolving community funds available for maintaining community infrastructure (less tax income), less cross training of experienced workers to new replacements (apprenticeships), and lower quality of products being produced (often with serious degraded quality consequences).

Our community is seeing many cuts in services available due to budget cutbacks. This is due to lower amount of local production of products. The more we keep our local production stable, increasing quality, job stability, and reinvesting within, the less likely we are to prolong our economic agony. The economy isn't just local. There are dependencies from various locations around the world and that will continue. But we need to start producing more goods that are required at basic needs levels and make them of the highest quality possible, exporting more than we import.

Massaging the numbers to reflect some positive angle instead of the overall meaning will continue to pull the wool over many people's eyes and falsely convince them that the economic downturn is over. Economic recovery depends upon local efforts as well as state and national levels. Being more efficient with everything we do will eventually make a difference. For example, why aren't the large quantities of supplies shipped by rail (like all the Budweiser beer for example) and then at local/regional distribution points, drivers could move the product to vendors. The reason is 'on demand replenishments' where products are produced closer to the 'as needed basis' to reduce inventory stored on hand. The problem is that this severely strains the replenishment system and forces 'on demand' shipments.

There is a national buy local movement that has been going on for some time that is growing in momentum. More locally grown produce is being supplied to restaurants, grocers, and distributers every day. This has a multi faceted affect of communities by allowing more people to work, reducing transportation costs and actual purchase prices, and even a positive environmental impact. We still have a heavy reliance upon foreign imports, but as the number of imports decrease, our recovery stands a better chance of increasing. Please try to buy more locally produced goods; if you can't then at least buy products made in the United States. Everyone makes a difference!

That's all for today Folks! Be Safe, Have Fun, and watch out for those crazy drivers!