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[Megalosaro]

I heard a great one today.

A client was refusing to provide ISF info.

"We're not an importer. We just take possession after the shipment is cleared"
Lulz

 

[Megalosaro]

Oh man here's a new one.

A client set up an order of "books" going from JFK to LHR.

Got flagged while screening. Shipment had 1 book in the box. And then like $12k in jewelry.

Fucking idiots.

 

[BannedEpisode]

What is your opinion on TTIP?

Edit: misread this as TTP.

 

[Undefined]

working sucks in general.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

Oh man here's a new one.

A client set up an order of "books" going from JFK to LHR.

Got flagged while screening. Shipment had 1 book in the box. And then like $12k in jewelry.

Fucking idiots.

Lol wtf

 

[phisheep]

no we're not. we're not mind readers, you need to ask questions.

ASK. QUESTIONS.

Really important this. Five years back when I first started bulk importing I rang around until I found a helpful guy at a logistics firm who was not as stressed as the rest of them, asked if he would help my understand the process and we worked though everything by email over the course of about a week.

That helped enormously, he got my business, and we've had no problems since - well not quite *no* problems because problems happen - but we don't end up blaming each other for them.

 

[cwmartin]

Oh man here's a new one.

A client set up an order of "books" going from JFK to LHR.

Got flagged while screening. Shipment had 1 book in the box. And then like $12k in jewelry.

Fucking idiots.

Why does this bother you so much? Does this have an effect on your income, or any repercussions from superiors?

It's not your job to prevent people from lying is it?

 

[CrocMother]

I know the OP says it sucks, but the posts in this thread make working in logistics sound interesting lol.

 

[skybald]

So which is preferable:

a) someone telling me how to do it so I can get it right from the start, saving you the need to deal with a package from someone who doesn't know 100 % every detail of what they're doing

b) Telling me to do figure it out myself without any guidance, which leads to me sending incorrect packages in a trial and error strategy until I finally get it right, costing me precious time and forcing you to deal with potentially dangerous packages?

You are supposed to be trained to ship DGs in ANY amount.

 

[Megalosaro]

Why does this bother you so much? Does this have an effect on your income, or any repercussions from superiors?

It's not your job to prevent people from lying is it?

Because I have to explain to someone that they are trying to commit fraud. Because I have to get bitched for having the audacity to question their ethics and imply they would do anything illegal.

Plus the shipment missed the lockout for the flight while we waited on the revised CI so we could recut the MAWB and file AES.

 

[cwmartin]

Because I have to explain to someone that they are trying to commit fraud. Because I have to get bitched for having the audacity to question their ethics and imply they would do anything illegal.

Plus the shipment missed the lockout for the flight while we waited on the revised CI so we could recut the MAWB and file AES.

Don't take it to heart. My client's lie to me all the time because they want something. They have to deal with consequences of that and their shitty business practice, not me, and you certainly don't have to deal with the consequences of your shitty customers.

 

[BannedEpisode]

I know the OP says it sucks, but the posts in this thread make working in logistics sound interesting lol.

I like my job a lot.

I work in Free Trade and General Analytics though so I'm not as often dealing with customers/clients directly so I don't get burnt so often.

OP is right though, it gets tedious making sure people aren't breaking the law, intentionally or otherwise.

 

[studyguy]

Oh this thread bumped.
I'm looking for another job that doesn't deal with it currently.

4 years is enough for me fam. I think I peaked when I found out a shipment that was meant for overnight to Mexico was left somewhere in Indio because the driver cut his fucking leg open trying to go to the bathroom. Dude huffed it north for an hour, dropped the trailer off at some lot then went to a hospital without telling anyone, all in the dead of night so come morning it was probably the strangest shit I've ever heard.

Just fuck my shit up.

 

[~*~]

I can relate. I've been working for a Medical Equipment Company that mainly ships within the USA. But for the last year or so we have been shipping more over seas, but the customer has to arrange the freight forwarding and it's been a total crap shoot and pain int he read trying to figure paper work the codes what country needs what etc... on top of the I needed yesterday orders. It's real stressful.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

You are supposed to be trained to ship DGs in ANY amount.

You didn't answer my question

 

[nampad]

I have never shipped anything that isn't legal or required you to do things that are impossible.

So please, don't lose my stuff and say it wasn't your fault!

 

[Kite]

I know the OP says it sucks, but the posts in this thread make working in logistics sound interesting lol.

Logistics is very interesting, that is why I majored in it. Somehow I ended up in Purchasing instead. But people trying to blow smoke up our ass and get you to break regulations happens everywhere, just gotta grow a spine and not take their bs. So they get angry with you, so what?

 

[skybald]

You didn't answer my question

Ok, the answer to your question was you did not have the legally mandated training required to ship a DG, so you would have had to pay someone who was legally trained.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Ok, the answer to your question was you did not have the legally mandated training required to ship a DG, so you would have had to pay someone who was legally trained.

But I needed to ship that package yesterday and literally didn't have time to involve a third party. Instead I put people at risk by trying over and over until I got it right. (Or would have, but luckily I got it right on my third attempt.) Because of answers like that. What a great outcome!

 

[Megalosaro]

But I needed to ship that package yesterday and literally didn't have time to involve a third party. Instead I put people at risk by trying over and over (Or would have, luckily I got it right on my third attempt.) until I got it right. Because of answers like that. Until I eventually got it right and was allowed to ship it. What a great outcome!

This is the sort of shit we have to deal with. Your facility should have had the proper training in the first place. It is your LEGAL responsibility. If your facility can take the time or money to do this, it shouldn't be operating

 

[Generate]

Working in logistics isn't that bad. It's actually pretty fun.

 

[aznpxdd]

Preach brothas, used to work in a freight forwarder and now running my owning trading company. Gotta deal with logistic bullshit on the daily.

 

[Megalosaro]

Working in logistics isn't that bad. It's actually pretty fun.

What do you do, specifically.

Cause I can tell you what I do. And I wouldn't call it fun.

 

[dragonflys545]

I did operations/logistics. Now I'm in production, so much better lol! But I still gotta deal with operation shit from time to time which suck ass! Especially when dealing with factories oversea.

I shipped 100+ PCS of consumer goods this one time to PR... Took fucking weeks to get it released, because I was missing a couple of line of the goods in the packing list/commercial invoice.

 

[Davidion]

I did operations/logistics. Now I'm in production, so much better lol! But I still gotta deal with operation shit from time to time which suck ass! Especially when dealing with factories oversea.

I shipped 100+ PCS of consumer goods this one time to PR... Took fucking weeks to get it released, because I was missing a couple of line of the goods in the packing list/commercial invoice.

I design software and services, and would love to do work for logistics; obv not the same kind of work that OP is talking about. But it's a target rich environment if you're looking to make things that help people deal with PAIN.

Then again, we have everyone jumping to the robot overlord brand of logistic management so...

 

[99Luffy]

I used to work for a company that would put all the chemicals in the middle of a pallet cause they didnt want to pay the dangerous goods fee.

 

[Megalosaro]

I design software and services, and would love to do work for logistics; obv not the same kind of work that OP is talking about. But it's a target rich environment if you're looking to make things that help people deal with PAIN.

Then again, we have everyone jumping to the robot overlord brand of logistic management so...

Please. God. Do something about our TMS.

 

[Davidion]

Please. God. Do something about our TMS.

I'd love to find a gig where they'd let me work on that.

For complex domains like logistics, health care, gov't, et al, It's not that solving these software and services problems are impossible. It's hard work, and so many people's lives can be made better, but most of the time it's the lack of political will/interest, moronic hyper sales-driven business models, and idiot management stakeholders who only knows how to bullshit.

Shit eats me up too, but I feel bad for folks like you because you're the ones who have to deal with it on the ground.

If I didn't think I'd be wasting your time (since I'm not working in the domain right now) I'd ask to interview you and your co-workers about this stuff. It's fascinating.

 

[Furyous]

Does shipping 30 pounds of "baking soda" in correctly labeled boxes count? Someone tried to get me into a business venture on such things but I had too many questions and wound up getting cast out of the entrepenurial opportunity. OP only do business with the right people. If a dude asks you for assistance with his local independent business venture then make sure you have backup, lest you wind up in the wrong place at the right time.

 

[Megalosaro]

I think there are two other factors driving it too.

1) it's a fairly conservative industry where change is resisted on all fronts snice there are so many hands in the pot and everyone is afraid something new will break the syste

2)it's a race to the bottom in terms of rates. Clients don't really care about bells and whistles. They view our function as a necessary evil. That attitude has shifted to our side as well, so we don't really want to pay for instrastructural changes and improvements.

We use terms of "transparency" "visibility" and stuff like that. But at the end of the day the only thing we care about is moving stuff from point a to point b as cheaply as possible, so we can jack up your rate and get a good margin.

 

[Davidion]

I think there are two other factors driving it too.

1) it's a fairly conservative industry where change is resisted on all fronts snice there are so many hands in the pot and everyone is afraid something new will break the syste

2)it's a race to the bottom in terms of rates. Clients don't really care about bells and whistles. They view our function as a necessary evil. That attitude has shifted to our side as well, so we don't really want to pay for instrastructural changes and improvements.

We use terms of "transparency" "visibility" and stuff like that. But at the end of the day the only thing we care about is moving stuff from point a to point b as cheaply as possible, so we can jack up your rate and get a good margin.

Interesting. Do you then see any headroom for investing in process improvements? Is it a lost cause?

 

[Fhtagn]

But I needed to ship that package yesterday and literally didn't have time to involve a third party. Instead I put people at risk by trying over and over until I got it right. (Or would have, but luckily I got it right on my third attempt.) Because of answers like that. What a great outcome!

Super shitty that you put people at risk just cuz you were in a rush. You're offloading blame here when your organization is the one that messed up.

 

[Corsick]

I feel sorry for anyone working in freight forwarding or 3PLs. Luckily I cut my teeth at the place they typically try to get to eventually, so I'm very fortunate.

 

[pigeon]

My first job was at a transload firm in Oakland.

We had a shipment once from a client who owned a restaurant with some franchises in California and some in the Philippines and wanted to ship a container load of beef back to Manila.

The one weird thing is that she wanted to come in and supervise the load personally. So we told her sure, come on in and watch the load.

Halfway through the day the foreman called me on the phone and asked me if I wanted them to lay the ribeye steaks out for the USDA inspector. I said no, we didn't have an inspection planned today, why? He said because none of the ribeye boxes had inspection stamps.

This puzzled me, to say the least, so I called the client on her cell (she was out on the dock) and asked her why the ribeye steaks didn't have inspection stamps. She said, as near as I can remember, "oh yeah, that's why I want to make sure they're packed in the back of the container."

I asked her to come into the office and talk about it. Miraculously by the time she arrived in the office the story had COMPLETELY changed and she actually was shocked to hear that the steaks weren't inspected and technically weren't legal to export! Unfortunately the shipment had already been scheduled and everything so was there anything we could do?

This was definitely above my pay grade so I sent her in to talk to my manager, who sat down with her for about an hour and then called me in, looked at me sternly, and said "so, technically it's legal for us to pack and ship a box with meat that hasn't been inspected, it's just not legal for it to be received in the other country." Also she had them sign an indemnification just in case.

So that's how I became a smuggler. Also she brought along an attractive young Filipino niece who flirted with me a bunch while I was trying to negotiate this problem. This really happened. To this day I'll never know whether I was just super hot or what.

Later I went to the restaurant and she gave me free steaks. They were delicious.

 

[TheVBkid]

I like my job, but sending DG overseas can be annoying with every shipping compnay using their own declaration forms. Wish it was just standard.

 

[Megalosaro]

Interesting. Do you then see any headroom for investing in process improvements? Is it a lost cause?

I think so. There is definitely rumbling from the younger crowd for change. Find a firm with young management and you might make headway.

Avoid Japanese owned firms lol

 

[Rad-]

Working in factory related logistics isn't that bad. I oversaw logistics division of my ex work place. It was work heavy sure but it had its good points as well.

However I don't even want to imagine what's it's like working in a logistics centers. Must be hell at least if you are the one answering customer calls.

 

[Stereogatari]

Working in logistics isn't that bad. It's actually pretty fun.

It certainly is. I swear I'm starting to see it like an RPG game. Each countries customs has certain requirements (strengths, weaknesses etc.) lol.

It's actually quite fun to fully see through an order. From initial sale, to entering the order, setting up the actual shipment and then monitoring it all goes smoothly. It honestly is like a game to me, I enjoy the job a lot.

Originally when first working at my company I was so stressed though. It was my first proper office job so the time sensitive nature and classic management style of my boss frustrated me a lot. But it shaped me from a boy to a man and now I find the job as water off as a duck's back and have learned so much thanks to it being a small business that I believe I could start an operation of my own.

 

[Fine]

Anyone else work in Demand Planning/Inventory Management/Supply Chain? It's been interesting reading about the Logistics/Transportation side of things. I work closely with our warehouse to make sure that those steps are flowing smoothly, but I'm not on the actual ground floor of the logistics processes themselves.

It is pretty interesting how many people do not understand that stuff ships on containers on boats, and no, I can't speed up the boat or take it off the boat, or anything like that. The actual physical process of what happens in international shipment is completely lost to many.

 

[marimorimo]

Anybody have any clue why my international order shipped from a US online retailer took EXACTLY A YEAR to arrive? I chose the cheapest option w/o tracking as I had no problem with it in the past (took a month or more to arrive but that was expected), but a year is too much.

I ordered books of sheet music so nothing illegal there.

After the 2 month mark I complained to the retailer so I was able to get a new shipment expedited but I had to pay extra in duties.

 

[skybald]

But I needed to ship that package yesterday and literally didn't have time to involve a third party. Instead I put people at risk by trying over and over until I got it right. (Or would have, but luckily I got it right on my third attempt.) Because of answers like that. What a great outcome!

Answers like what? My answer? You should not have been shipping DGs. Full stop.

I used to work for a company that would put all the chemicals in the middle of a pallet cause they didnt want to pay the dangerous goods fee.

How were they not caught? Jesus christ

 

[ColdPizza]

I'm in a different part of the chain. I work as a software dev for customs brokerage so we are the ones transmitting the forms to CBP or CBSA. Our role is to make sure you stay within compliance to avoid hefty fines, at least on the paperwork side.

 

[Megalosaro]

I'm in a different part of the chain. I work as a software dev for customs brokerage so we are the ones transmitting the forms to CBP or CBSA. Our role is to make sure you stay within compliance to avoid hefty fines, at least on the paperwork side.

What are your thoughts on ACE?

 

[ColdPizza]

What are your thoughts on ACE?

I can't think of any glaring problems I've had with it. It was friendlier to program for and test than with ACI (20-30 second responses rather than 5-6 minutes).

Both programs have their issues though, and reading through docs like the CATAIR or ECCRD are some of the driest reading you'll do in your life though.

 

[enewtabie]

Next month will be 24 years in it. I believe that I've seen it all at this point. I think technology is the biggest change. When I started everything was manual paperwork.

 

[Cappa]

I love working in logistics currently working for a steamship line in spain. The second largest one in the world is your hint.

Yeah, but I agree with most everyone customers are stupid.

Being a steamship line, I don't necessarily see shady shit anymore(well at least in terms of customs etc lol plenty of shady shit within the company ...)but the number of freight forwarders that I work with that are completely clueless is fascinating.

What's an hs code? Huh you mean I need to send you shipping instructions can't you do it for me? Smh...

Next month will be 24 years in it. I believe that I've seen it all at this point. I think technology is the biggest change. When I started everything was manual paperwork.

Lots of people in the industry are worried about technology and think people are going to lose jobs because of it. Which I agree on but I think you're always going to need a human factor in logistics we'll see what the future holds

 

[Orin GA]

Working in logistics rock when you don't have to deal with customers.

 

[J Jizzle]

Been doing Logistics Project Manager roles for 10 years in the Pharma industry. I cant complain as I have enjoyed it and it's given me a career.

And for the trail above, it's the shippers responsibility to ensure the packaging/labelling/documentation is compliant when sending dangerous goods. 99.9% of incidents in transport related to DG goods are when people don't declare it.

 

[Shiloa]

Lots of people in the industry are worried about technology and think people are going to lose jobs because of it. Which I agree on but I think you're always going to need a human factor in logistics we'll see what the future holds

My company is working hard to eliminate as many people as possible.

We have AI being trained to do tasks, we have new systems replacing human intelligence, we have robots doing warehouse taks etc. For many things the investment costs are still way too high, but the industry will be almost completely automated in future.

The only extra people we hire are sales people and consultants.

 

[Megalosaro]

One the things my company moves is surgical equipment.

When our drivers pick up, they have to report the serial numbers they are picking up.

One of the trays were picking up were illegible. I got called into the principal's office and reprimanded for putting "??????" Instead of "XXXXXX" into the field