Eric Joiner's Freightdawg.com - The Logistics and Supply Chain Blog!

Freightdawg for President?

Be afraid...be very afraid.  

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Spike does have some Talent

My friend and fellow blogger, Rob Mark, who runs the really excellent Jetwhine.com wrote a nice article about freightdawg.com and the article about Colleen Barrett of Southwest Airlines.   

What impressed me most though was how perceptive Rob is.  He immediately recognized that the true talent behind freightdawg.com is Spike the freightdawg. Spike appears in the intro article on this blog and to the right here.   

He really is a a unique beast.

I mean, how many dogs do you know that can not only discuss logistics and supply chain, but also type?  Spike is mad at me right now.  Mainly because there are close to 400 articles on this "blawg" and I haven't given the actual "Dawg" one by-line or even a mention.  Ok I suck. I think Spikes words to me were "gravy sucking pig"...but that's another story.

I travel a lot. You think I write this stuff?  Heck no. Spike writes most of it. I just pimp his work. He's on a tether only because I don't pay him enough and I figure Rob Mark or some other blogger will pay him more. Anyway he is a good dog.   

Spike costs me a few T-bones but he better start thinking fuel strategy if he wants any more. (hint to you "dawg"...you are only as good as your last article!  Don't forget I got you from the pound. I still know where it is.)   

Sorry.  I have to "keep it real" with Spike. Otherwise he starts thinking he is Snoopy and will get an agent.  I'm not playing that Charlie Brown thing with him.

The Real Secret though is that Spike has Brothers.   

Roscoe is his older brother and Robbie is his kid bro. Likable and good dogs, but somewhat less experienced with this venue.

Spike has an "edge" that neither of the siblings have. Plus he can type. Spike has been pushing me to give the two moochers a job.  Times are tough when gas is $4.10 a gallon. 

I might give the two brothers section leader jobs.

Roscoe tends to think about urban transit, railroads and heavy freight.

Little Robbie is a newbie. He tends to think "Green" That's the future anyway.  Given that he's also a smart pup, I might also give him a shot at the AST&L articles that appear here.

What do you think?  Should Roscoe and Robbie render paw prints here?

I might do it anyway just to keep Spike in line but the two others will be taking typing lessons in the next couple of weeks at least!

I'm not running some "Alvin and the Chipmunks" operation here.

Eric

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Gone Fishin'

Dear Freightdawg readers, 

I'm going on my annual spring fishing trip starting Sunday, March 16th through mid week next week.  During that time, I won't be working on the blog.   Not to fear however, I'll post a couple of "Best of Freightdawg.com" articles that I think remain worthy of commentary.

I will post some pics and video on my return! (guess I better catch something!)

See you Thursday when I return!

Eric

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Just call me "Grandpaw"

This week there was a new parcel delivery that went perfectly.

Anybody who follows freightdawg.com knows that I put up new content regularly. This week has been an exception! On February 20th at 11:41AM our first grandchild, Gavin Joiner was born. Our daughter Claire and the baby are now home and healthy and happy. A great week for the Joiner clan!  Between a hectic work week and this blessed event, Freightdawg took a little rest.   In the meantime our family added 8 lbs 2oz of perfection.

Just call me "Grandpaw". I'll put up with the teasing just to enjoy holding this little fellow.  My sister teased me the other day about this and I said "but you're a great aunt!" in retort, she said ..."I was always a GREAT Aunt!. You're GRANDPAW!" 

Yes I am. And blessed to be so.   Look for more freightdawg topical stuff next week.

Eric

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Reading Freightdawg.com

Some Ergonomics in Play Here.

Anyone who has followed this blog for more than 30 days will notice a few things.  First is that articles all have main highlights in BOLD.  Second, that recent articles not only have content in both black BOLD but also in red BOLD.   There is a reason.

My experience in readability online shows that serious content that takes more than 1000 words to make a point won't get read to the finish.  People don't have time to read that much.  I think it has a lot to do with PC monitor reading. It's just not very easy to do.   To alleviate that problem, one thing I have done in the last 6 months is to highlight and bold the significant messages in my blog articles.  This makes reading articles online very quick in digest form.

For articles whose content is long and potentially complex, I have chosen two strategies to digest the content for readers.  First, all primary content will be highlighted and black BOLD.   For even tighter content control and digest, the very salient points will be highlighted in red BOLD.  The rest of the text will be in normal fonts.

Read Freightdawg.com articles normally, but if you are in a hurry, just reading the bold highlights will condense the article. reading only the red BOLD sections will seriously condense the articles to what you need.

Eric

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Rock On: Freightdawg.com is One Year Old.

Freightdawg.com will be one year old in January 2008. During 2007 I, and a number of associates, have posted over 250 articles on transportation, logistics and supply chain related subjects. 

"Your participation as a reader and responder have been vitally important and greatly appreciated."

Freightdawg started as a personal blog, but has grown to be much more. I've been in this industry for almost 25 years. For that reason, I figured I had at least something to share. What I found was that I had a lot more to learn! 

Freightdawg is more than a blog now. It is a journey.  Reader input and advice, as well as social networks like LinkedIn.com have contributed tremendously to both whom and what I know about our field. For that reason alone...establishing Freightdawg was a great idea and a blessing.

Thankfully, many supply chain professionals in industry, academia and business research share their knowledge.  Your data provides perspective and validation on what would have otherwise been conjecture here. One thing I have found to be universally true is that all I have talked with care deeply about our industry. While there are multiple constituencies that comprise the logistics business, all have an interest in its relative wellbeing.

"To those who read this blog and to those whom I have met this year, a humble THANK YOU."

I wish you both Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas.

Eric

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Smashing Idea!

Who says the freight business isn't tough? Check this silly game out.  It's been a long week and after hitting Cincinnati, Phoenix, Dallas and Houston in the last 7 business days. Just think of this game as my aggressive air travel schedule for the next month!

The object is to "smash the freight dawg"...but not the bunny. You get extra time for whacking the clocks.
 

My kids think this is my best thought out article yet!   They may be right!

Eric

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"The best of" Freightdawg.com

Vacation: June 23-30th

Its that time again.  The kids are road tripping me, my wife and my wallet off to Orlando to be uber marketed to by theme park minions from June 23-30th.   During that time, I hope you will enjoy a number of very good articles that have been published here previously.   Most of these articles pre-date the supplychaindaily.com feed that now distributes Freightdawg.com content all over the web. Hopefully that will put this rich content in front of new eyes as a result of the broader feed.

Articles tagged as "Best of" Freightdawg.com will be segregated into a new category for easy reach in the future.

I will attempt to post a new article during the coming week, in particular, I will post some post Paris Air Show video. For the most part however,  freightdawg readers will be in great hands with the high quality stuff we redux for the benefit of a growing audience.

(psst...I'm not telling Google!)

Eric

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SupplyChainDaily.com picks up Freight Dawg Feed

Freight Dawg News!

Good News!  Articles from freightdawg.com are now appearing in Logistics Management Magazines daily email news blitz called SupplyChainDaily.com.   SupplyChainDaily integrates the best news and articles concerning logistics, supply chain and general business from a wide range of sources.  Logistics Management has expanded SCD to now include industry related blogs.

We hope that by integrating with SupplyChainDaily.com, a wider audience will be exposed to Freight Dawg. Logistics Management/SupplyChainDaily.com will benefit by providing increased coverage and convenience to  readers through SCD's wider footprint. Look for freightdawg.com articles in the Transportation & Logistics section of SCD.

Sign up for SupplyChainDaily.com's excellent Logistics and Supply Chain e-news.  You'll get all the goodness of Freightdawg.com, plus much more.

To those who have surfed in here for the first time, Welcome!!

Eric

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Feedblitz Notice: Please Resubscribe!

Attention: Freightdawg Feedblitz subscribers

Some of you may have noticed a lack of Feedblitz email updates coming from freightdawg.com in the last couple of days.  I now know why!    It seems that some technical work we did last weekend with DNS servers accidentally "broke" the Feedblitz settings that send daily updates to you.

This has now been fixed, but unfortunately you must resubscribe.  Please use the subscription box in the right side rail that says "Get Email Updates".   

Apologies for the inconvenience!

Eric