A special delivery benefiting the foster children of Arizona

Customer service and loyalty has always been important to us. Therefore, when we were approached by past customers, Sheri and Sal Barbera of Sweetles, a publishing company for children’s books, to assist with a special delivery, we were happy to help.

The couple was on a mission to donate over 1,000 copies of Sal’s book, “Mary Elizabeth the Spotless Cow,” to Arizona Helping Hands, a non-profit organization benefiting the state’s foster children. In need of a way to get the donations from the printing facility located in Brainerd, MN to Arizona Helping Hand’s headquarters in Scottsdale, AZ, Sheri turned to Pilot. After remembering her previous experience with Pilot and the value we placed on her customer as if they were our own, Sheri was confident we’d handle this delivery with the same special care.

Tom Drake, VP, domestic/Canadian operations and traffic, and his team worked hard to ensure Arizona Helping Hands received the donations properly and I‘m happy to report we were even able to get them the books ahead of schedule.
 
We take on every delivery with our customer’s best interest in mind and we couldn’t be more pleased to help donate our services to support such a momentous cause. Thanks to Sheri and Sal, the real heroes, for reaching back out to Pilot and allowing us to help make a difference!

Pilot de Mexico open for business!

Planting Pilot roots in Mexican soil has been in the works for some time and I am happy to announce that we've officially expanded our operations to Mexico, where we’re now doing business as Pilot de Mexico. The first station under the Pilot de Mexico brand, located in Mexico City, is a full service operation and will address customers' transportation and logistics needs within the city and the interior states of Mexico.

During our national meeting this year, the growth of the Mexican economy was brought up in almost every breakout session. For example, Gordon Branov, executive VP of business development, pointed out that Mexico’s economy is the 11^th largest in the world, making the region an obvious choice for our growing international footprint. Phil Annese, director of automotive, noted that in the next two years, Mexico is expected to surpass Japan in automotive business, opening up doors for our eager sales reps to make an impact in the country.

Under the management of Alberto Ochoa, a 17 year industry veteran, along with the continued support of sales, customer service and the Pilot community, I have full confidence that Pilot de Mexico will exceed expectations. And because of the potential in this market, I don’t anticipate Mexico City being our only station in Mexico for very long.

Thank you to everyone who played a role in making Pilot de Mexico a reality!

Hola Mexico City, Hello Vancouver!

In the past few years we've expanded Pilot’s international footprint; first Amsterdam, followed by Toronto and most recently offices throughout Spain. I couldn't be happier to introduce the company’s newest additions, Mexico City and Vancouver. We issued a press release last month and the news has quickly taken off. The company, along with its new stations, have already been featured in publications such as The Philadelphia Business Journal, Air Cargo World, Logistics Management, and many more.

Both locations, opening in the first quarter of 2015, will be full-service stations and will allow Pilot to expand our offerings to current customers, while also providing us the opportunity to grow and attract new business. Vancouver’s position in the I-5 corridor, which runs up and down the West Coast of the U.S. into Canada, is a huge advantage along with the added access to the Far East that will allow for increased Asian import and export business. The Mexico City location will give us the presence we need to develop a national network in Latin America and better support our existing U.S. stations.

We've recruited the help of Alberto Ocha, who has seventeen years of experience in the international freight forwarding industry to manage the Mexico City location, and Lygdel DeLeon a thirteen year veteran in transportation and logistics to manage the Vancouver location.

Congratulations to the Pilot family as we continue to grow, and especially to those involved in getting these two stations off the ground!

Doing business in Africa…Challenge accepted

Pilot has a presence just about everywhere in the world, and being everywhere is sometimes no easy task. International freight forwarding comes with its challenges, particularly in regions where the infrastructure isn't quite the same as what we are used to in the U.S. No continent better exemplifies the obstacles we come up against than Africa. In the past several years, our business in Africa has greatly increased, thanks in large part to work with the U.S. military, and I’m proud to say that we’ve successfully conquered significant obstacles on many occasions in the course of doing that work.

Shipping into and out of Africa presents a number of unique challenges that we and our partners have to work through to make sure we can deliver the great quality service that our customers expect. Some of these issues include political unrest, a lack of infrastructure, equipment that doesn’t work, and airports that can close on a moment’s notice. It’s this new set of challenges that really tests what we’re good at, which is being flexible.

To give you an example, we recently had a 747 full of military freight going into Africa. To unload a 747 is no ordinary task—it requires a device called a K-Loader, along with about seven trucks that can then unload cargo once it’s on the tarmac. Plus, as I mentioned, it’s not uncommon for the airports in Africa to have issues with their equipment. In this case, we found out at the last possible minute that the K-Loader at the airport that we had chosen as our destination was broken. We had to quickly re-route to fly into a different airport, find a K-Loader that did work, make sure the runway could hold the weight, and find seven trucks that could unload the cargo and transport it down to the airport of the original destination. All of that happened in about an hour and a half.

This is the kind of situation that continues to set us apart. There will always be challenges, and as long as there are, Pilot will continue to find ways to overcome them.

Pilot recognized for excellent service and customer value

It's awards and ranking season in the shipping and logistics industry, and Pilot has once again been recognized by Inbound Logistics and Logistics Management magazines. These awards are a true reflection of the hours logged, calls answered, and overall customer service provided by Pilot employees across the globe.

I’m happy to tell you that we have, for the fifth year in a row, been named to Inbound Logistics’ Top 100 3PL Providers list. Continuing to make this list is a huge win for us. Our logistics program is still relatively new in the scope of Pilot’s history, yet we continue to grow and expand our services and market share.

We also received our 25th Quest for Quality award from Logistics Management, ranking second in the air freight category and first overall in value. We hold this award in high regards because it’s determined by a survey of the magazine’s readers, who are our customers. Logistics Management readers are some of the industry’s most influential shippers, who are asked to evaluate the providers they work with in order to calculate the rankings. To be placed this high in the rankings is a clear sign that we are doing something right and providing great customer service.

Everyone at Pilot enjoys winning awards. Who wouldn’t? However it’s not just hanging a plaque on the wall in our headquarters that gives us satisfaction, but the reasons that we earned them. Our dedicated employees are the reason we keep gaining recognition and I want to thank them for an incredible year so far. Great job, everyone! 

On-time deliveries at an all-time high this holiday season

I want to take a moment to congratulate and thank everyone on the Pilot team for their hard work over the holiday season and in the months leading up to it. Not only did we handle a record number of shipments this year, but we did so while achieving an extremely impressive on-time performance.

This year’s holiday delivery rush was our best ever, delivering more than 40,000 televisions and other large items to consumers in the month of December. There's no doubt that the new technology solutions we launched this year aided in making our network more efficient and error-free. But it's also important to note that our success this holiday season -- and through the year -- would not be possible without our team of dedicated employees.

There is still large numbers of orders coming in after the holidays, but we anticipate that when the numbers are all in, our home delivery on-time performance rate will be well over 99 percent for the month of December, which is an incredible achievement during a notoriously difficult delivery season. Once again, thanks to the staff and Pilot community for making that possible!

Pilot Introduces Customs Brokerage Service Offering

Over the past several years, we have continued to add more services to our arsenal in our quest to provide the best possible service to our customers. To that end, we have just announced the launch of Pilot Customs Brokerage (PCB). PCB is now processing and handling the customs clearance of imports for Pilot customers everywhere in the U.S. We are also offering customs brokerage as a stand-alone service for companies who are not current customers, allowing us to broaden our reach and bring in new business.

Ilyse Dawicki, managing director of customs brokerage, is spearheading the new PCB operation. Ilyse has over 20 years of experience in customs brokerage and has undoubtedly been a great asset to our team.

With the help of Ilyse and this new service we are able to better serve our customers and eliminate the use of third party brokers. PCB not only adds to our growing list of customer services, but to our overall growth as a company. Congratulations to everyone involved in putting PCB into action!

Technology: It’s here to stay, so let’s embrace it and use it to our advantage

Supply & Demand Chain Executive recently asked me to share my thoughts on the technology advances that are helping propel our industry into a paperless environment. In an article that was published this week, I discussed not only what the industry is doing as a whole, but how Pilot’s use of technology is allowing us to really level the playing field and compete with the big guys.

Let’s be honest, our industry has not historically been the most tech savvy. However, in the past few years we have taken major leaps forward that have changed our business for the better. We have streamlined the process of delivery, allowing our customers to close the communication gap and ultimately solidify sales. With the introduction of Compass, we now have the tools and base we need to adapt and create more apps or add-ons that will continue to give us an advantage within the industry.

To read the full article, check out Supply & Demand Chain Executive’s website. And if you have any questions on the topic, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll be happy to get back to you.

Pilot helps Isle Surf & SUP reduce damage and increase sales

For a number of years, our San Diego station has worked with Isle Surf & SUP, a company that sells stand up paddleboards (SUPs) and surfboards. Pilot handles all SUP imports and nationwide home deliveries. I recently spoke with Marc Miller, the co-founder of Isle Surf & SUP, about how Pilot has been able to help his business.

The SUP industry presents a shipping challenge, as these boards are oversize and can be easily damaged. Marc told me that with his previous domestic shipping partner, they were seeing damage rates of roughly 20 percent. Pilot has been able to work with Isle to improve their boxing and has brought their damage rates down to the two to three percent range. This improvement has meant happier customers and a reduction in the man hours normally spent dealing with customers who have received damaged products or delayed shipments.

In online retail, shipping rates can make or break a sale. And in an industry selling large items that need special treatment, shipping costs for consumers can be exorbitant. However, we were able to work out competitive rates for Isle that—along with a lower damage rate—has allowed them to offer free shipping to its customers. This is a MAJOR competitive advantage, and part of the reason that Isle has been able to take advantage of the recent SUP boom and has seen overall sales growth of roughly 100 percent this year.

The shipping and handling of paddleboards has the potential to be one huge headache, but our team in San Diego has proven that it doesn't have to be. Congratulations to Marc and team on such impressive growth this year!

Pilot customer gets massive boost from Shark Tank

Back in the spring, we featured our customer, Tower Paddle Boards, as they were about to appear on ABC's "Shark Tank." Six months later, we've got some exciting updates to share. In case you missed the episode, Tower was one of the lucky companies to have a "Shark" decide to take a chance on them. Billionaire investor Mark Cuban agreed to make a $150,000 investment in the business, which has resulted in enormous growth for Tower.

I spoke with Founder Stephan Aarstol this week (in advance of an update on the company scheduled to air on "Shark Tank" tonight) about what's happened this year, and how Pilot is supporting his company's growth. Aarstol told me that since the episode featuring Tower Paddle Boards originally aired, the company has seen sales increase more than 800 percent year-over-year, taking them from $250,000 in sales for 2011, to a projected $1.5 million for 2012. And if those numbers weren't enough, an article in Entrepreneur Magazine recognized Tower as one of the top 10 "Shark Tank" success stories.

Meanwhile, Pilot is continuing to handle all of Tower's inbound freight from China, as well as domestic delivery of thousands of completed paddle boards a year. When I asked Aarstol how working with Pilot has helped his business, he told me that the paddle board industry is notorious for high incidence of damage during shipping. Before Tower started working Pilot, they had been experiencing a 15 percent damage rate. After working with Pilot to make improvements like double boxing, that rate is down in the five percent range. Additionally, Tower is partnering with Pilot to explore other possibilities for international shipping, including setting up a warehouse in Australia, from which Pilot will facilitate the delivery of paddle boards to consumers who order from Tower's website.

Our San Diego station has really enjoyed working with the team at Tower Paddle Boards, and is thrilled to see the company thriving. Once again, congratulations to Tower on the huge success -- we're happy to play a small role in making your business run smoothly!

Pilot customer jumps into the Shark Tank

Last year, Pilot's San Diego station started working with a Pacific Beach-based company called Tower Paddle Boards, handling their entire supply chain from the import of their products from overseas to warehousing and domestic distribution. The startup sells stand up paddleboards direct-to-consumer, taking a unique, web-based approach to this fast-growing market.

Next week, Tower will gain a whole new level of exposure when founder Stephan Aarstol appears on ABC's popular show, "Shark Tank," where they will ask the "sharks" to invest in the company.

Everyone at Pilot is extremely excited for Tower, and we're rooting for a bidding war among the investors!

Tune in on March 16th at 8/7c to check out the show. Good luck, Stephan!