The holiday season is getting underway in the midst of continued Covid-19 restrictions and a very divisive, high-stakes, US election. Below are a two pieces to provide perspective on what we can expect. The first is a podcast interview by Bob Bowman of SupplyChainBrain with AlixPartners. The second is a summary of the Logistics Guide from Logistics Viewpoint.

I’ve also included a video which provides an excellent summary of how AI-driven social media contributes to the radical polarization that is occuring between friends, families, coworkers, etc, on all different types of topics, e.g. politics, Covid-19, climate change, etc. I highly recommend watching this short clip. It is only 6 minutes clipped from an 1.5 hour discussion from “The War On Sensemaking”. I’ve listened to the entire 1.5 hour session, which is really thought provoking. The conversation helped elevate my understanding of the dynamics of the polarization problem we face today.

“The Old Holiday Retail Season Has Become Meaningless“,

SCB, R. Bowman interviews AlixPartners’ SVP Alexa Driansky

• The Holiday season started in October with Amazon Prime Day
• 50% of consumers to started purchasing before Halloween
  • It is being driven by concerns for safety and to get it done earlier
  • An Oct-Dec Holiday Season is here to stay in the future years
• Growth is expected to be 1% to 2.6% over 2019
  • highend retailers are gaining and middle market retailers are losing ground
  • consumer spending is shifting away from travel to sending gifts, this year
• Black Friday will be mainly online sales and will remain important even with October being the new start
• Retailers should focus on 1) breaking down silos in their organization 2) embracing speed, and 3) accelerating insights from data
• buying-online with pickup curbside will expand for the holidays
• Beyond the holidays, retail stores will look different; all will be fullfilment centers, enable online shopping with curbside pickup, online buying while shopping in the store, stores with smaller footprints, and have “retail-tainment” (entertainment).

The 2020 Holiday Season Logistics Guide, Logistics Viewpoint, Oct 21, Chris Cunnane. (5 min read) – Summarizes hiring, wage ranges, and holiday shipping deadlines.

Most estimates put holiday spending around $1.15 trillion, which will be a 1 to 1.5 percent increase over 2019

• Amazon – In full holiday season mode, hiring 100,000, $1000 bonuses and $15/hr min. wage, adding 100 new buildings.
• UPS – Hiring 100,000, package handlers $14.5/ hr, drivers $21/ hr. shipping deadlines;
  • Dec 15 for UPS Ground,
  • Dec 21 3 Day Select
  • Dec 22 UPS 2nd Day Air
  • Dec 23 UPS Next Day Air.
  • surcharges ranging from $1 to $3 per package on high-volume US residential shippers
• FedEx – Hiring 75,000, expanding its Sunday home delivery service to 95 percent of the US, shipping deadlines;
  • Dec 15 for FedEx Ground
  • Dec 22 for FedEx 2Day
  • Dec 23 for FedEx Standard Overnight
  • Dec 5 for FedEx Same Day
  • surcharges to high-volume shippers, ranging from $1 to $5
• USPS – Hiring 35-40,000, predicts December 14 will the busiest day online with more than 13 million consumers visiting usps.com. Shipping deadlines;
  • Dec 18 for First-Class Mail and packages
  • Dec 19 for Priority Mail
  • December 23 for Priority Mail Express
• Walmart – Has hired 500,000 since the start of the pandemic. Wages at $15.75 up to $23.75 based on location, position and schedule.
  • Same day pick-up and delivery on 160,000 items
  • Free next-day or 2-day shipping on online orders over $35
• Target – Hiring 130,000, is paying all 350,000 hourly workers $200 bonuses.
  • Doubling the number of employees dedicated to same-day curbside pick-up
  • Cross-training employees to switch roles as task demand shifts

How Is AI Powered Social Media Dividing Us? (6 min video) – This short segment explains how AI is rapidly driving polarization through algorithms to capture more and more of your attention. From “War on Sensemaking” Part V with Daniel Schmachenberger – Rebel Wisdom podcast.

Comments

Everywhere you look we are seeing increased polarization. The full hour and a half video is worth listening to if you are trying to understand the problem landscape. Personally, I am sharing this with my family and friends in order elevate our conversations above polarized arguments and move toward making sense of why we have such polarized views.