Unboxing Logistics

Just a few weeks ago, EasyPost launched a new product: Luma, an AI tool that helps businesses understand their current shipping performance and make smarter (and more cost-effective) decisions.

Joe Dieter, head of product marketing at EasyPost, explains how Luma works and what sets it apart from other AI shipping technologies.

Luma in a nutshell

What exactly is Luma? Joe starts with a simple description: “It's the ultimate AI advisor at your fingertips that has been trained on billions of historical shipments.” 

He goes on to explain, “Your AI is as good as the data that fed it. When you have the data of billions of past historical shipments, that means you have a good AI. A lot of the [other] AI shipping tools out there haven't processed billions of shipments.”

What can Luma do?

Luma offers three main benefits for shippers:

1. Insights into today. “Luma will give you actionable insights on how you're shipping,” says Joe. It answers questions like “What is the cost per package?” “What is the average time in transit?” and “Why are shipments delayed?” 
2. Recommendations for tomorrow. “The second thing Luma does is give you a better version of shipping tomorrow by making really specific recommendations.”
3. Automatic shipping optimization. Finally, “The third thing Luma does is it takes those recommendations … and automatically purchases shipping labels.”

Who can use Luma?

Anybody using the EasyPost API suite can use Luma, but Joe notes that other EasyPost solutions might be compatible with Luma in the future. 

“EasyPost offers more than … our APIs. We offer enterprise-grade products … we have SMB products. … And Luma will be accessible through some of those other products over time.”

Links

• Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-dieter/ 
• Learn more about Luma: https://www.easypost.com/luma

With the world of shipping and logistics constantly changing, it can be hard to keep track of every trend. In this episode, Nate Skiver, founder of LPF Spend Management, catches listeners up on the world of parcel shipping in 2025—what’s changing, what will likely stay the same, and what you can do to optimize your parcel management strategy.

Carrier changes lead to more complex pricing 

Right off the bat, Nate points out a major trend that businesses should be aware of: changes to carrier pricing structures. He explains, “FedEx and UPS continue to make pricing more complex. … That continues to be something that shippers have to really stay on top of.” 

It’s a similar story with USPS. According to Nate, the Postal Service’s network changes have “created some uncertainty with pricing, particularly [for] lightweight packages.” 

How to make the most of carrier partnerships

When choosing carriers, Nate recommends determining your requirements for cost, transit time, and delivery reliability. After analyzing how well your current carriers are meeting those targets, “See where the gaps are. … Look for opportunities to find the right partner or partners to help close those gaps.”

He also notes, “To get the best pricing that your volume commands, [negotiations] need to happen early in the year.”

The bottom line: prioritize parcel

Nate’s final advice is simple: “Prioritize parcel.”

“Parcel gets the short end of the stick within supply chain. Even though it ends up being … a very, very large expense budget line item, it just doesn't get the priority, perhaps—and it should. … Invest in people and partners.” 

Links

• Connect with Nate on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/levelplayingfield/ 
• Visit the LPF Spend Management website: https://www.lpfspendmanagement.com/ 

Exciting news! In our new Unboxing Logistics segment, Unboxing the Trends, the EasyPost team will be doing a monthly recap of the most impactful shipping and logistics trends in 2025. 

During this episode, Lori Boyer and Tim Ranagan discuss January’s port strike resolution, the devastating California wildfires, and President Trump’s brand-new tariffs. 

What do these events mean for your business? Listen to find out!

Port strikes shed light on automation concerns 

While port strikes were resolved in January, they brought up an important question for businesses and employees alike: how far should we take automation? 

As Lori points out, this was a primary concern for port workers. “One of the aspects that the laborers were looking for was reassurance that their jobs were not going to be replaced by automation.”

While this concern is valid, it’s clear that technological progress isn’t going to halt anytime soon, and Tim recommends that business owners find a balance. “Adopt the technology with your people in mind. … That keeps things moving forward from a relationship standpoint.”

California wildfires emphasize the importance of contingency planning

Despite a few logistics hiccups, the California wildfires didn’t affect shipping as much as some people feared. Still, as Lori and Tim point out, there’s an important lesson to be learned about responding to natural disasters. 

Lori puts it simply: “Natural disasters are here and accelerating.” Tim adds, “This is a good opportunity for business owners out there to look at their preparedness. Do they have any contingency plans for their supply chain in the event of a natural disaster?”

If tariffs stick around, costs could rise

When it comes to the new tariffs, we’re still in wait-and-see mode. But while you’re waiting, you can prepare for different possible outcomes. Lori recommends that business owners ask themselves “If these tariffs stick around for a while, what will that mean for me?”

One potential impact to be ready for? Higher costs. And if costs do rise, you’ll need a plan of action. “As we have to pass price increases on to our consumers, we're going to have to figure out how to balance that. How much of the burden do you take on? How much of the burden do you pass on?” 

Links

• Connect with Lori on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loribboyer/ 
• Connect with Tim on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-ranagan-mba-2717bb125/ 
• Visit EasyPost’s website: https://www.easypost.com/ 

Many businesses have perfected their outbound logistics. Products are picked, packed, and shipped with near-perfect accuracy, and customers are delighted. But some merchants haven’t put enough thought into the question posed by Amena Ali, CEO of Optoro: “What happens when all this stuff comes back?”

In this episode of Unboxing Logistics, Amena and Lori discuss the challenges of returns—for both customers and sellers—as well as strategies for improving the process. 

How to improve the returns process for customers

As ecommerce has exploded, consumers have been “trained by the Amazons of the world” to expect box-free, label-free returns. Rather than asking customers to print labels and repackage products, Amena recommends providing convenient drop-off locations where shoppers can return unwanted items without going out of their way.

Regaining value from returned items

If it takes too long to restock and resell returned items, your business could be losing money. 

Amena estimates that “for a 100-dollar item, it can cost nearly 30 dollars to do the processing. She continues, “Speed to stock is absolutely critical. The longer it takes a retailer to manage their returns, guess what? You are missing that peak season window for that item, which means you're going to need to mark that down.”

Embracing recommerce

Returns are closely intertwined with sustainability concerns—we’ve all heard the horror stories of brand-new products ending up in landfills. To reduce waste, Amena recommends embracing recommerce.

“A lot of brands and retailers are engaging in those strategies to refurbish [products], and [they] actually have trade-in programs so you can return an item and it goes on to its next home.”

Links

• Connect with Amena on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amenaali/ 
• Visit Optoro’s website: https://www.optoro.com/
• Read Optoro's 2024 Returns Unwrapped report: https://4771362.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/4771362/Optoros%202024%20Returns%20Unwrapped%20Report.pdf

Going into the new year, your customers, investors, and partners all have one thing in common: sustainability is a big concern. As natural disasters rage across the world, people are increasingly committed to preventing climate change—and they expect your business to do its part by reducing carbon emissions. 

Tom Raftery, host of the Climate Confident and Sustainable Supply Chain podcasts, joins Lori on this episode of Unboxing Logistics to share some sustainability trends and predictions going into 2025. 

Trend #1: Electric vehicles (EVs) will become more popular

Living in Spain, Tom has a close-up view of Europe’s environmental regulations. He explains that a variety of factors will combine to make electric vehicles the popular choice in 2025: 

“All of the EV manufacturers who are selling into Europe are … going to be pushing EVs even more next year to make sure they're not hit with fines. When you look at that, and you look at the fact that the costs of EVs keep dropping year on year, you see that for fleet managers, they're far cheaper to own and operate than traditional diesel vehicles.”

Tom concludes, “I think at least here in Europe, but probably even more broadly, the penetration of EVs will ramp up significantly in 2025.”

Trend #2: Artificial intelligence (AI) will take center stage

When it comes to tracking scope 3 emissions, which aren’t directly produced by your business, Tom emphasizes the importance of partnerships, data sharing, and AI tools to organize all the information you collect. 

“You need to be able to report the emissions coming from your suppliers. And that gets rather tricky because it's third-party information. You've got to talk with them ... [and that involves] taking in enormous amounts of data. What we'll start to see is AI helping organizations to work with that data that's coming in … [to] get the insights … [and] make recommendations.”

Trend #3: Sustainable organizations will win over stakeholders

According to Tom, making sustainable choices helps businesses attract and retain both customers and employees. “Your customers will … find you and they'll stay with you more easily if you have a good sustainability story to tell. … It's easier to find good employees … because people want to work for an organization that's doing good things.”

But the benefits of going green don’t end there. Tom explains that other stakeholders, including banks, insurance companies, and investors, also look more favorably at organizations that incorporate sustainability.

The bottom line? “Sustainability has gone from being a nice-to-have to now being a business imperative.”

Links

• Connect with Tom on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomraftery/ 
• Follow Tom on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@tom.f.raftery 
• Follow Tom on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/tomraftery.com 
• Listen to the Climate Confident podcast: https://www.climateconfidentpodcast.com/ 
• Listen to the Sustainable Supply Chain podcast: https://www.sustainablesupplychainpodcast.com/

Last January, Chris Caplice joined us to discuss the top supply chain trends of 2024. This year, he’s back to talk about what the world of shipping and logistics will look like in 2025. 

As executive director at MIT Center for Transportation Logistics and chief scientist at DAT Freight and Analytics, Chris is deeply immersed in the supply chain industry, and he shares some great insights about trucking, tariffs, and more.

Listen to learn what you should expect from the new year—and most importantly, how your business can prepare.

Trend #1: The truckload market will enter an inflationary period

Chris explains that since the late 1990s, “the truckload market has been on a series of cycles. … Capacity is tight and prices go up. Demand exceeds supply. And then it crashes back down and the opposite happens.”

Going into 2025, Chris anticipates that the market will again enter an inflationary period—one where shippers have less leverage. He advises businesses to “fix your roof before it starts raining.”

Trend #2: Global conflicts will continue—but supply chains will remain resilient

Despite ongoing crises, Chris is optimistic about the global supply chain’s ability to adapt and continue to function. “Global supply chains are so dynamic and flexible. … It's similar when there's a natural disaster, like a hurricane. There's always a sharp shock, but it's usually bounded geographically and temporally because the system recovers. We're very good at self-healing.”

Trend #3: Businesses will try to stay ahead of tariffs

What about tariffs? Here’s what Chris has to say: “Tariffs will probably have a big impact. We'll see how that plays out because you don't know what Trump says and what Trump will do, what'll actually get through the Senate. But if tariffs really do increase dramatically I don't think it'll change demand that much—maybe slightly. It might change how things enter the country … but I don't know how dramatically it'll shift the overall shipping patterns.”

In the meantime, many businesses have already begun importing more inventory than usual in an attempt to stay ahead of tariffs. “You hear the stories of especially small shippers bringing in a lot now just to stock up for the year. So we're going to see a lot of heavy inventory costs.”

Links

• Connect with Chris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-caplice-1839/ 
• Visit the DAT Freight and Analytics website: https://www.dat.com/ 
• Visit the MIT Center for Transportation Logistics website: https://ctl.mit.edu/ 
• Roads Rarely Traveled by Woody Richardson: https://www.amazon.com/Roads-Rarely-Traveled-Truckload-Purchasing-ebook/dp/B0CW8Y5QHK/
• Transportation Adventures of a Food Shipper by Rob Haddock: https://www.amazon.com/Transportation-Adventures-Food-Shipper-Truckload-ebook/dp/B0DJ5XMLKV/

If you’re thinking about diving into ecommerce for the first time, you have a lot to consider. To succeed in the digital world, you may need to rethink inventory management, the customer experience, and more. But as Filipa Almeida, chief customer officer at Onport, points out, you’ll also expand your businesses’ reach exponentially. 

Why move to ecommerce? 

Plenty of business owners are content running their brick-and-mortar stores—why should they add digital sales channels (and make their operations a whole lot more complicated)? Filipa’s answer is simple: today’s customers expect an online option. 

“[Customers’] needs and requirements are evolving, and they expect retailers to evolve with them. They expect their favorite stores to provide the experience of purchasing online. … They expect to have the option of going into the store if they feel like going to the store or just having that same product at the click of a button.”

Challenges of going online

Getting started with ecommerce comes with lots of challenges, including logistical concerns. Businesses need to answer several fulfillment questions: do I want to go omnichannel? Will I ship internationally? And the list goes on.

Filipa points out that the customer experience also gets tricky when brick-and-mortar stores go digital. When small business owners see their customers in person every day, they get a good sense of what keeps shoppers happy. In the online realm, it’s harder to tell what’s working and what’s not. 

“So understanding how they can have that visibility … is something that really weighs on [merchants].”

How to choose the right ecommerce platform

If you’re considering getting started with ecommerce, you’ll need to choose the right platform. Filipa’s advice? Don’t be afraid to get in the weeds researching features.

She says, “When a retailer is looking at which platform to choose, they need to [ask], what am I looking for? What is critical for my business and for my operations? And then isolate that, try to narrow down those critical requirements … and look at the options available in the market.”

Links

• Connect with Filipa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/filipa-almeida-0114a029/ 
• Visit Onport’s website: https://onport.com/

Having worked in the logistics industry for 22 years, with 10 of those focused on ecommerce, Steve Syverson has had countless opportunities to hear from small business owners about the challenges and uncertainties they face. In this episode of Unboxing Logistics, he answers some of their most common (and pressing) questions.

Should you use staffing agencies during busy times? How can you choose the right warehouse technology? When does using a 3PL make sense? Listen to learn the answers!

How to boost staff morale during peak season

Peak season can be incredibly stressful for business owners and employees alike. The key to smooth sailing, Steve says, is finding ways to ease the load on staff. That could involve anything from pizza parties to flexible work schedules to bringing in temporary workers.

“Don't layer more stress on your teammates—they're already stressed. Your job as an owner of a brand or a business is to … figure out ways to mitigate some of that stress. Because at the end of the day, you want them to perform at their highest level.”

Common SMB inventory management challenges

Steve describes one pitfall ecommerce businesses often fall into: “What I see with SMBs typically is they tend to overbuy or overestimate demand. [This] puts them in a really tough position from an inventory perspective.” 

While overstocking leads to inefficiencies in the warehouse, Steve points out the bright side: it doesn’t necessarily affect customers. Stockouts, on the other hand, can destroy the purchase experience and cause you to lose customers.

The solution? Use technology to forecast demand accurately and gain visibility into stock levels. “Without those insights, without the technology platform … you're setting yourself up for failure because you're just not going to know what you have.”

Pros and cons of working with a 3PL

In Steve’s experience, the biggest hurdle brands face when deciding whether or not to work with a 3PL is the “perceived loss of control.” However, once they make the leap, “they never look back, because now it's given them the ability to scale their business. They're focused on going to shows, to conferences, building strategic partnerships, working with new vendors, finding new manufacturers … and marketing their brand.”

Links

• Connect with Steve on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevesyverson/ 
• Visit NFI eCom’s website: https://ecommerce.nfiindustries.com/

Porch piracy isn’t fun for anybody. But that doesn’t stop Lori and Eric from having a little fun discussing it! In this episode of Unboxing Logistics, they react to videos of porch pirates getting caught in the act. At the same time, they bust some of the most common porch piracy and package protection myths, including these three: 

Myth #1: Once a package is marked as delivered, your job is done

It’s a myth that every online merchant wants to believe: once a package reaches its destination, it’s not their problem anymore. Sadly, customers don’t see it that way. As Eric points out, when a package is stolen, shoppers “[don’t] blame the thief or the carrier. They hold the merchant responsible.”

But look on the bright side! If you do things right, your response to stolen packages can help build long-term customer loyalty. 

“Once … the consumer starts to use your product, they have a relationship with you. And that relationship will last as long as you're around if you continue to do a good job.”

Myth #2: Doorbell cameras are effective deterrents against porch piracy 

Eric says that while doorbell cameras are useful for providing evidence of porch piracy, they’re not a very effective deterrent. The thousands of porch piracy videos online are proof that thieves have thought up plenty of clever (and not-so-clever) ways to conceal their identities when snatching packages. 

Myth #3: Package protection is only needed during the holidays

Some businesses believe they only need to offer package protection during high-volume periods like the holidays, when porch piracy is most common. 

Eric’s response? “Peak season, holiday season, fourth quarter—that's when the most volume is being shipped. … But [porch piracy] is a year-round opportunistic crime that is way out of control and isn't letting up at all.”

Links

• Connect with Eric on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-thorson-norton/ 
• Visit Norton Shopping Guarantee’s website: https://norton.buysafe.com/ 

What comes to mind when you hear the term AI? For some, artificial intelligence is an exciting step forward, bringing possibilities of error reduction and cost savings. For others, it’s little more than a marketing buzzword. 

Henrik Bergsager and Kushal Pillay of Powerhouse AI are in the first camp. In this episode, they discuss how AI tools can significantly improve warehouse operations for small and medium-sized businesses.

Uses of AI in the warehouse

AI can be used to improve virtually any warehouse task, including inventory management, demand forecasting, and storage optimization. Henrik notes that businesses should approach problems one at a time, not all at once. “By focusing on these smaller cogs in the warehouse, you don't need massive amounts of investments to get up and running.”

Getting started with AI

Getting started with a new tool is always daunting. For a smooth transition, Henrik says, “You have to get the rest of your employees on board. … You need to get all the warehouse workers understanding why we're doing this, [what are] the benefits of introducing new technology.”

Kushal adds that organizations should focus on the KPIs they’re trying to improve with the technology. He adds that it’s important to keep expectations realistic—don’t expect the tool to eliminate human labor. “[At the] end of the day, you're not buying a robot. You're buying a certain software, which does a job for you.”

How much technical expertise do you need?

Fortunately, you don’t have to be a technology genius to take advantage of AI warehouse solutions. 

As Kushal puts it, “Most of the tools out there [don’t] need you to know the deep details of how they work. … The only thing we need is what is the input, and what do you expect as the output? The rest of the work is done with[in] the system.”

Links

• Connect with Henrik on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/henrikbergsager/ 
• Connect with Kushal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kushalpillay/ 
• Visit Powerhouse AI’s website: https://www.pwh.ai/