Part of the Problem? Or Part of the Solution?
USA Today says major retailers “benefited from California port trucking companies that forced their drivers into debt, made them work up to 20 hours a day and sometimes paid them pennies per hour.” Photo: U.S. Dept. of Transportation
“>
USA Today says major retailers “benefited from California port trucking companies that forced their drivers into debt, made them work up to 20 hours a day and sometimes paid them pennies per hour.” Photo: U.S. Dept. of Transportation
“>
I didn’t mean to – but I ended up ignoring the news over the long, four-day, July 4th weekend. Which was nice. For a lot of reasons. But anyway, this little gem right here was the first story to catch my eye this morning while perusing my IPad and waiting for the Red Bull to kick in. (I don’t do coffee.)
Now, there’s a lot going on in this piece, which is essentially USA Today’s Part II look at alleged unfair labor practices in trucking today. And I’m not going to focus on the labor issue here – although after 30-plus years in the workforce, trust me when I tell you I have very definite, and strong opinions about the relationship between labor and business owners today, “trickle-down” economics, and wealth/income inequality today.
Maybe we’ll get into that some other time.
For me, the more immediate takeaway from this story is a new reality that some retailers don’t seem to grasp yet. And that leads directly to a lesson that smart fleet managers will take to heart: If you’re a retailer – particularly a “retail giant” – it matters more than ever which companies you partner with to serve your customers.
Let’s put it this way: If you’re a holistic retailer marketing goods to urban customers with a New Age, sustainable vibe, you cannot afford to have even a hint of slave labor anywhere in your business chain – from the Chinese companies making the goods you sell to the trucking fleets hauling your products to your customers’ doorsteps. And it doesn’t matter how many YouTube …Read the rest of this story
