PODCAST · business
Warehouse and Operations as a Career
by Warehouse and Operations as a Career
Sharing job and career experiences through discussion & participation
Episodes
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Fair, Unfair, or Illegal?
Welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I’m Marty T Hawkins. Today we’re doing something I always enjoy, another Ask Me Anything episode! Let’s see, we’re at episode 383, and I’ve got three questions that have come in recently that I think deserve a little conversation. And I’ve got...
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When Warehouses Looked Up
Today, let’s talk about a piece of equipment that, depending on how long you’ve been in the light industrial world, you may remember being a pretty significant part of the daily operation. The order picker. Or, as most of us have called it for years, the cherry picker. Now, if you’re picturing…
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Showing Up, It’s More Than Being There
Showing up. Now, when I say showing up, I’m not just talking about clocking in on time or about making it to the interview. I’m not just talking about being at the startup meeting, standing on the production floor, sitting behind a desk, or walking into the warehouse every morning. I’m talking...
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Horseplay, Drama, and Standing Around, What Are They Costing Us?
Welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I’m Marty and today, I thought we’d talk about three things that we see in just about every warehouse, manufacturing facility, distribution center, and production environment at one time or another. Horseplay. Drama. And standing around. Now,...
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Simple Machine, Serious Business
Today lets talk about probably one of the most recognized, most used, most abused, and quite possibly most underestimated pieces of material-handling equipment in our industry. The pallet jack. You know the one. Two forks. A handle. A couple of wheels. And maybe a battery. And depending on which...
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Do What You Say You’re Going To Do
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I’m Marty, and today let’s talk about something that sounds incredibly simple. So simple, in fact, that we probably hear it growing up from our parents, teachers and coaches. And once we enter the workforce, we hear it from...
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Just One Thing
Today let’s talk about something I’ve been asked many times over the years. “Why warehousing?” Or “Why transportation?” Or “Why the supply chain?” After unloading trailers, pulling orders, operating forklifts, supervising teams, managing operations, and on to the executive team, I’ve been asked...
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The Career Ladder
Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I’m Marty, and as always, I appreciate you spending a little of your day with me. Today I want to talk about something that’s been on my mind for quite a while. Over the past several months, I’ve spoken...
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The Pre-Trip – Not Just for Equipment
Today we’re talking about something that can literally save lives, protect equipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, prevent product damage, eliminate downtime, and even set you up for success outside the warehouse. It’s called the pre-trip. Now, I know what some of you are thinking…
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The Guard Shack – More Than a Gate
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I’m Marty, and as always, thank you for spending a little time with us today. You know, it’s funny how some of the most important jobs in our industry happen in the smallest places. Think about the size of a distribution...
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Don’t Burn The Bridge You’re Standing On
Hi All, Marty here with Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I started off this week hearing a peer’s name I hadn’t heard in probably 12 to 15 years. A colleague was on his way to a meeting with a a prospective client and shared who he was meeting with. It was a gentlemen we’d both worked with…
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The Raise Starts Before You Ask
Welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career. WAOC is on the road again this week, hitting up Nevada and Arizonia. It’s always nice to get out and walk a few operations and meet new team members. I’m Marty and today I’d like to talk about something every employee wants but not everyone...
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The Career Hidden in Plain Sight
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career. Over the last several years we’ve discussed dozens and dozens of opportunities in warehousing, transportation, manufacturing, distribution, and logistics. We’ve talked about forklift operators, order selectors, recruiters,...
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The Job Is Available. Are You?
Yep, there is a gap between available jobs and job ready candidates. There are jobs available, but employers are becoming much more selective about who they hire. A few years ago, many facilities were simply trying to fill positions. Today, employers are looking for candidates who can bring...
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Learn the Language, Grow the Career
Welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I’m Marty and today I want to talk about something a listener brought up recently. They asked me, “Why don’t you just stick to explaining warehouse positions instead of all the other stuff that doesn’t make us more money?” Well, I guess that…
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Band It, Strap It, Block It
Last week while talking about all the different types of shipping containers I mentioned strapping and banding, closing up and securing D containers, and our loads. We had a few people write in asking if I could explain banding. A couple of listeners took strapping as securing the load in the...
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More Than Just A Box
A young associate, from what I could gather, had been on the job for 3 days, and was asked to go over to another building and help load out D-Containers. They were quite shocked to learn they were not the large metal containers, as she put it, that looks like trailers. She asked if I’d ever seen...
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The First 30 Minutes & Last 30 Minutes
Marty here, and thanks for stopping by Warehouse and Operations as a Career! I had a listener comment that on several episodes I had said something like early is on time and on time is late, and if you’re on time you’re late. They stated that I placed way too much weight on the time clock. And I...
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Attachments. More Tool. More Talent.
Welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I’m Marty and I’ve received a couple of different questions about forklift attachments over the last couple of months, so I thought we’d find a few answers for them. So today let’s talk about a few different tools we can see in warehousing,...
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Ownership, It’s All About Choices
In our world of warehousing, transportation, and supply chain operations, titles or what we call ourselves can vary widely. You may be in sanitation, running a scrubber and setting the plate for the next shift or you may be a yard spotter moving trailers or maybe you’re on a forklift racking...
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Fight the Feedback… or Use It
Let’s talk about something that many of us have experienced, but very few of us accepted well or maybe even truly understood. That moment when your supervisor says hey, can you step into the office for a minute? Your heart rate picks up. Your mind starts racing. And before you even sit down…
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It’s Not a Poster, It’s a Choice We Make Every Shift
Let me ask you something, how many times have you walked into your facility, heard the safety message, maybe even repeated Safety is our number one priority, and then went right back to doing the job the same way you always have? Not wrong, just familiar or normal. Because that’s where most of us...
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Doing or Leading
I’m glad you’re here with me today, because we’re going to talk about something that a lot of us think we want but may not fully understand what we chased until we’re in it. Today’s topic is about reaching for frontline management in the light industrial world, what it takes, why we chase it, and...
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Work Life Balance
Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I’m Marty and It’s great to have you back this week. As I travel around to different facilities, and different regions, I’m hearing the phrase, no, not a phrase, I’m going with words, I hear the words, work life balance. Now, I’m going to tell you right up...
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Why Finding a Job Feels Harder Than Ever
I’d like to talk about something that is a struggle right now, something I’m hearing from associates, candidates, recruiters, and even hiring managers. Why is it so hard to find a job today? I had to pause for a second when this was brought up to me, that question doesn’t always make sense. We...
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1, 2, 3 of the Day
While walking a warehouse with an old friend and ex coworker this week, he brought up what years ago we used to call our 1, 2, 3 of the day. It was a simple term we used for training new unloaders, sanitation, and order selectors. It came up as we were talking about how things are a little...
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Confidence and Earnings
Welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career, I’m Marty and today I thought we’d talk about something that probably is not listed on any job description, job board advertisement, or our resumes even. But I think it plays a huge role in how we perform our work and how we grow in our…
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AMA – 2 Important Questions – The “R” Word & Forklift
So, I sat down at the mic and I don’t have a clue what I’m going to talk about today! I’ve had a lot of questions come across over the last few weeks, let me look at those I guess. Oh, and I’m Marty and I appreciate you joining us here at Warehouse and Operations as a Career this week. Ok…
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Short Chaser, The Last Line of Defense
Hi all, I’m Marty and welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career. Today we’re talking about one of the more important roles on the shipping side of things, and oddly, it’s hardly ever brought up. I find myself discussing it today only because a listener wrote in that they had applied…
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The Cherry Picker & The Position
Welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I’m Marty, and today we’re talking about a piece of equipment that almost everyone in our industry recognizes, but not everyone fully understands it. If you’re a long time listener you’ll remember I spent about 6 years operating it on the 2nd...
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What You Sign Matters, Earn from It
Let’s talk about something that doesn’t get people excited. No machines, nothing about forklifts, and no mention of productivity or numbers. I’d like to talk about paperwork. I know I know, but this isn’t boring paperwork. This is the paperwork of life. The kind of documents that quietly follow…
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More Than Cleaning
When I talk about warehouse sanitation, I often say, “It’s a great way to get your foot in the door.” And every now and then, someone pushes back and says, “I don’t want to clean restrooms or take out trash.” I understand that reaction. On the surface, sanitation doesn’t sound exciting. It…
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The Best 3 & Top 3 Positions
Today’s episode comes directly from a listener’s question, and I love these because they tell me people are thinking about their futures. The listener didn’t share a name, just their email address. Anyway, their question was what are the three best jobs in the distribution field? Now, before I...
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Attitude over Experience
Welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I’m your host, Marty T Hawkins. Today, I want to talk about something I’ve heard repeatedly over the years, but especially over the past few weeks, and that is the growing importance of, lets see, what am I going to call it, attitude over...
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Recruiter
When people think about recruiting, they often picture office jobs, LinkedIn searches, polished resumes, and candidates who know how to sell themselves. But today, I want to talk about a very different role the Light Industrial Recruiter and why I believe it can be an outstanding career path for...
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AMA – Not My Job & A Raise
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I’m Marty and I thought we’d get to some more questions today, another Ask Me Anything episode. We had some really good ones come in, a couple of topics I’ve been wanting to get to myself. Let’s start off with this one from...
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What We’re Not Changing, We’re Choosing
Marty here with Warehouse and Operations as a Career. This has always been my favorite time of year. Not just because of the holidays, although I do enjoy a little time off and getting to spend some quality time with family and friends. It’s always been my reset or reboot time of year. I know a…
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Looking for Work is Hard Work
I feel Looking for Work Is Hard Work. One of the biggest misunderstandings about unemployment or career change is the idea that looking for work is something you do casually, or in between other things. A few clicks here, a few applications there, maybe scrolling on some job boards late at night...
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Ghosting, Applicants and Recruiters Own It
Ghosting has become a two-way street in today’s hiring world. Job seekers feel like recruiters disappear after they send in their application or even after a face-to-face interview. Recruiters, on the other hand, feel that applicants vanish just as often, not showing up for interviews, not...
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AMA – Three Great Questions
Welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career, I’m Marty, and today I thought we’d have another Ask Me Anything episode. I always like these because the questions don’t come from textbooks, supervisors, or managers, they come directly from real associates and warehouse workers with real...
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“It Was Only Blocked for a few Minutes”
In warehousing and operations, none of us begin our shifts planning to create risk or endanger someone. Most of us show up, jump on the forklift, our rider pallet jacks, or another piece of powered industrial equipment, to put away pallets, run freight across the dock, build loads, and try to hit...
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Why Warehousing and Transportation
Welcome back to another episode of Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I’m Marty, and today I want to talk about something a listener asked a few weeks ago. How does one choose a career, and more specifically, how do they end up in the light industrial, warehousing, and transportation fields.…
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Know Your Destination
When we think about goals and planning, most of us picture big dreams, buying a house, raising a family, finding stability, choosing a career, or one day reaching retirement. But for today’s young light industrial workforce, many of those ideas feel far away, maybe even impossible. And honestly,...
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NCNS
Few things disrupt operations more quickly than a No Call, No Show (NCNS). Whether it’s a missed interview, a new-hire training, an equipment certification, or the first day on the job, a single NCNS can derail productivity, frustrate clients or supervisors, and ripple through the schedule of an...
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Candidates and Clients Using an Agency for the Win – Win
Marty here with Warehouse and Operations as a Career. Today we’re talking about staffing agencies, what they are, why they exist, and the benefits they bring from both a client’s perspective and the applicant’s perspective. In our light industrial environment, warehousing, distribution…
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One Wrong Scan and Our WMS
Welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career! I’m Marty, and today we’re diving into something that quietly runs the show in almost every modern warehouse, the Warehouse Management System, or WMS. If you’ve ever scanned a label, followed a pick path, dropped a pallet in a location, or...
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The Cost of Comfort and Complacency
I heard of three individuals, in 3 different states, losing their positions this week, and that bothered me a bit. Two of them I’d worked with on and off over the last year. All three were right at the year mark in their positions, and each believed they had found their long term if not their...
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No Title Needed
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I’m Marty, and today we’re talking about something that reaches far beyond the warehouse floor, beyond any title, and beyond the company walls, we’re talking about leadership. Now, when you hear the word leader, most people...
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Grip It, Slide It, Lift It: Forklift Attachments
What do you think of when you think of forklifts? I’m sure a lot of us picture those forks sliding into a pallet, lifting it up, and moving it across the dock or racking it in the air to a reserve location. But the forklift can do so much more than just move and store pallets. I’m Marty T Hawkins...
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2 Sides to Turnover
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career. Today, I want to talk about turnover. I’m not talking about the dollars it cost , the HR paperwork, maybe some orientation expenses. Some look at just the expense of it. But in operations, we know there’s more to it.…
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Warehouse and Operations as a Career have?
Warehouse and Operations as a Career currently has 383 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Warehouse and Operations as a Career about?
Sharing job and career experiences through discussion & participation
How often does Warehouse and Operations as a Career release new episodes?
Warehouse and Operations as a Career publishes regularly with 383 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Warehouse and Operations as a Career?
You can listen to Warehouse and Operations as a Career on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Warehouse and Operations as a Career?
Warehouse and Operations as a Career is created and hosted by Warehouse and Operations as a Career.
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