Unboxing the Trends January 2025 With Lori Boyer and Tim Ranagan From EasyPost - Ep. 53
In This Episode
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
Transcript
Tim Ranagan 00:00
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Unboxing Logistics. I'm not Lori Boyer, your normal host. My name is Tim Ranagan, and we are introducing a brand new segment for our Unboxing Logistics listeners titled Unboxing the Trends. Guess what? We still have Lori Boyer here today. Well, we're gonna put her in the hot seat and I'm gonna ask her about some up and coming trends that she noticed in January.
Lori Boyer 00:26
Awesome! I am so excited for this, Tim. Although it feels a little weird being on the opposite side.
Tim Ranagan 00:31
Yeah, it feels weird for me, too. This is my debut being involved in the Unboxing Logistics podcast, but thanks for having me, Lori. I'm excited for this opportunity.
Lori Boyer 00:40
Love it. And everyone, Tim is one of my favorite co workers here at EasyPost, so you are just in for a treat.
Tim Ranagan 00:46
Well, Lori, jumping right into it. We wanted to discuss some of the biggest trends that we've noticed in January. There's been a lot going on in the news, a lot going on across shipping and logistics. So we wanted to discuss some of the biggest buzz that you've seen. Are there any trends that you've noticed that seem to have dominated some of the news cycles recently?
Lori Boyer 01:08
Of course, you all know I'm the biggest nerd in the supply chain industry and spend way too much time reading up on all the issues going on. So yeah, it's 2025. And 2025 has been real peeps. It's, it started with the bang, and as I was trying to go over all the different things that happened just in January, you know, there were three that really stood out that I thought that we should talk about today. We started the year with kind of the port strikes over on the East Coast. We hit the big fires, you know, the big scary natural disasters. And all of the people who have been affected there in California, but that was an issue.
And then, of course, the change of the presidency and the tariffs and all of those that have just blown up the news in the last few days. So, Tim, where would you want me to start?
Tim Ranagan 02:04
Yeah, let's let's dive into the port strikes. I think that for our logistics listeners, that was kind of a heavy hitting topic.
So let's start there. What are your thoughts on what you saw with the port strikes and how that's affected some of the people in shipping and logistics?
Lori Boyer 02:21
Okay, so the port strikes, I think, you know, we all know that they were kind of put on pause and came back in January. Resolved really nice and easily and, in a way, before we hit the deadline. The, you know, they were able to get the wages they wanted.
They had a great increase. I think it was a 62 percent wage increase, which we would all love a raise of that caliber. But I think the piece that was really interesting to me, and I think will be interesting to our audience is the piece around automation. So one of the aspects that the laborers were looking for and the union was looking for was reassurance that their jobs were not going to be replaced by automation and by all the tools, especially there in the warehouses.
Tim, I'm interested in what you think about that. Cause I like had some strong feelings, but I would love to hear yours.
Tim Ranagan 03:12
Yeah. It's a difficult conversation, right? You know, automation has been prevalent throughout history, right? You start in jobs where new advances in technology seem to shift the need for workers in a specific area around.
And I think we're seeing that right now in shipping and logistics. And I think for business owners who are looking to adopt automation into their workforce, it's always necessary to keep the people in mind, right? We can find other opportunities for them adopt the technology with your people in mind and I think that that keeps things moving forward from a relationship standpoint with your employees.
Lori Boyer 03:57
I like that, Tim, and really that ties back to kind of what the agreement end up really was with the strike, was that they agreed that rather than replacing jobs, that they would find use automation and still, you know, have roles for the people. And really that's what it's been throughout time, in the most part. When automation comes, it can feel scary, but, you know, we need to make sure our people understand that that is making their jobs easier and potentially creating new jobs.
So that's the ports. Do you want me to go into the fires next before we hit?
Tim Ranagan 04:31
Yeah, let's, let's, let's talk about the, the California fires. And again, you know, our hearts go out to those who were impacted and affected by the wildfires. It's, you know, it's terrible to see people go through a crisis like that.
And, and we wish nothing but the best for those who have been affected. But curious, Lori, what you've seen in the news cycles about how this has impacted our industry specifically.
Lori Boyer 04:58
Work and supply chain and logistics can seem like kind of a side note when you look at all those who lost their homes and even their that being said, there is still business out there.
And I was speaking with a friend at the time who was really, really concerned because he had a lot of stuff coming through the ports in California. And and, and there was a lot of concern going into it about what potential issues we may see. Fortunately, there were not huge hiccups. And I think that that was great.
We had some short term kind of stuff, but people were able to divert and go to other ports. And so generally, we didn't see any huge supply chain disruptions. As, you know, they're rebuilding, they're anticipating a few hiccups in there. But for now, we're okay. I think the main lesson from this for everyone as we go on, it's just, you know, natural disasters are here and accelerating.
We received over eight inches of snow here in, I'm here in the Dallas area, where Tim, I know you're in Utah and you guys hadn't seen a flake of snow at the time.
Tim Ranagan 06:01
It's almost like it skipped right over us and went straight to Texas.
Lori Boyer 06:04
It's like the world is upside down, you know, our friends in Atlanta, it's snowing. I think the lesson is we've got to be prepared. Who knows, you know, add agility and, and being flexible right now has never.
Tim Ranagan 06:18
Yeah, I agree with that a lot, Lori. I think again, you know, natural, natural disasters are a hard thing for anybody to have to experience. But there's always lessons to be learned out of these. And for business owners, looking at this situation, we're fortunate for the people that you've talked about that it didn't affect their operations, but there's countless stories that we've heard over the years of natural disasters having a negative impact on supply chain.
And this is a good opportunity for business out there, business owners out there to kind of look at what their preparedness looks like, right? Do they have any contingency plans for their supply chain in the event of a natural disaster, a wildfire, or a sudden snowstorm in an area that they don't have Infrastructure to support something like that. And so, you know, you hear more and more these days of companies adopting, you know, multi carrier strategies or, you know, leveraging wider based supply chain networks in order to make sure that their end customers aren't affected by these natural disasters.
And I think that you can look at these situations as a reason why it's important to have those conversations early on instead of having them after the fact.
Lori Boyer 07:36
Yes, absolutely. I think that, you know, I've had a lot of experts on the show over the last couple of years, but one lesson I hear from all of them, you know, we want to be proactive and not reactive to things. And so.
Tim Ranagan 07:48
Absolutely.
Lori Boyer 07:50
Okay, so the big elephant in the room.
Tim Ranagan 07:54
Yeah, so this seems to have dominated news cycles pretty consistently over the last several days. Lori give it to us straight. What have you been hearing and seeing over news cycles about tariffs?
Lori Boyer 08:10
Tariffs, all of our favorite subject. Yeah, so obviously this last week the tariffs that President Trump had promised came into play. And, you know, I think we saw kind of almost some panic from some people online. And so I think my first message, especially to businesses who are like, oh, it's just like, calm down just a little bit. Like, let's just wait. And while I said we want to be proactive, not reactive, let's also not be reactive really fast before we see what's actually going on.
Right. And so my recommendation for the next couple of weeks is sort of a wait and see and kind of do some of those scenario running that you talked about, Tim earlier, like sit down and say, okay, if these tariffs stick around for a while, what will that mean for me?
And I have, I do follow, you know, a ton of really amazing experts on this. I, you know, all the biggest news people on it. And so here are some of the potential scenarios that you might want to look into and kind of just run your numbers. Experts say that probably the most likely impact if these tariffs stick around would be, of course, you know, an increase in costs for parcel shippers, especially like from your carrier standpoint. So for that, I think you've kind of mentioned it earlier, Tim, make sure you're not just with one carrier or stuck with this rate. There's a lot of tools you can use. EasyPost even has their own tools to shop, rate shop, make sure that you're finding the best options available for you.
There may be some supply chain headaches, and this is especially, I want to point out, small businesses may be impacted the hardest from some of these. The de minimis loophole or de minimis, you know, exemption is, has been closed with this. And so that means for people who are shipping very low price items under 800 per shipment they used to be able to get by without, you know, the import fees.
That is no longer true. So for some of our smaller businesses, maybe if you shop, if you sell through Etsy or some of the Shopify's or especially Temu, SHEIN, and that kind of stuff. It could be if this sticks around that you're going to want to move warehouses closer to home where you're not going to need to import across the borders.
I am hearing some things when it comes to shipping. You know, you're going to have to balance. There's the potential, obviously, as we have to pass prices and increases on to our buyers, to the consumers, we're going to have to figure out how to balance that. You know, how much of the burden do you take on?
How much of the burden do you pass on? If you pass it on, or if you keep some, should you instead do some of it in your shipping costs? You know, is there a potential for not having free shipping offers? Those kinds of things are things that some of the experts are playing with. But I think really my, my real advice is just to make sure that you're doing your, you know, scenario, running through scenarios. Don't jump too fast into doing anything crazy, keeping an eye on the situation because it could change just as quickly as it has. Tim, and any other thoughts from your perspective?
Tim Ranagan 11:23
Lori, I love, I love what you've said, right? Let's not be overreactive to the current news, right? I think that that's a great piece of advice for all of our listeners out there. Right now is an opportunity for everyone to be a little prescriptive to their specific situation, right? You brought up some great use cases, talked about small businesses, mid sized businesses, enterprise businesses. These tariffs are going to affect each of those areas of our economy in different ways, right? And I think that we can be a little prescriptive now as business owners and say, play that what if game. What if this happens, then this is the direction that our company should go in.
And, and ultimately stay informed, right? There's, there's a lot of news out there, there's a lot of information being shared. Make sure that you're staying informed and being prescriptive to your specific scenario.
Lori Boyer 12:21
I love that you said that, Tim, because it totally brings us full circle on this episode.
Staying informed is really what Unboxing the Trends is about. That's why we put this together so that our unboxing logistics community would have an easy and quick, like, 10 minute way to stay informed with the biggest things people are chatting about.
Tim Ranagan 12:40
Yeah, thanks, Lori. So, to our Unboxing Logistics listeners out there, this is a wrap on this first episode of Unboxing the Trends.
Now we want to hear from you. We would love to get your thoughts and ideas on our next month's episode for some current trends that are happening throughout February. So if you'd like to get involved, please, please drop a comment down below. We'd love to hear from you. And we'll put Lori on the hot seat again next month.
Lori Boyer 13:08
Awesome. Thanks everybody.