Warehouse and Operations as a Career

Hey hey, Marty here, and I’d like to thank you for checking in with us here at Warehouse and Operations as a Career again this week. A topic that came up two or three times this week was direct deposit. More and more companies, even small facilities, have switched to direct deposit over paper checks. It’s how we get paid, so I too believe it’s a big deal. And it can be a bit confusing if we don’t...

Hello everyone, Marty T Hawkins with you, and welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career! I was looking through the job boards and Facebook groups this week and noticed an unusual amount of advertisements for EPJ operators, and several comments about what does EPJ mean, and do they train, a few asked what kind EPJ. In the business EPJ is short for Electric Pallet Jack. Skimming over the...

Welcome back to another episode of Warehouse and Operations as a Career. Today, I want to take a look at a topic that’s crucial to the success of any business. And it’s a tricky subject, because it comes with so many different angles and things to consider. Hang on, don’t roll your eyes when I say it. Ready, ok, here I go, today I want to expand on retention and reducing turnover in our warehouse...

Thanks for stopping in again, I’m Marty with Warehouse and Operations as a Career, as you know, where we talk about warehouse, transportation, and our light industrial careers. Anything and everything to do with the manufacturing, production, and distribution worlds as they relate to us as warehouse men and women. I was thinking about stalled careers this week. How and, I guess I mean more like Wh...

 Imagine this: You’re at work, it’s been a long day, and suddenly, a colleague makes a snide comment that hits you in just the wrong way. You’ve been holding in frustration for weeks, and this one comment feels like the last straw. You lash out, words are exchanged, and before you know it, the situation has escalated beyond control. What started as a verbal altercation now turns...

Welcome back to another episode of Warehouse and Operations as a Career! I’m Marty, and today, we’re diving into two, of the many many, responsibilities that every warehouse and operations associate must understand and accept. Whether you’re a seasoned worker or just starting out, understanding and owning these responsibilities can make a world of difference in your career. We’re talking abo...

Welcome to another episode of Warehouse and Operations as a Career, where we explore the unsung heroes who keep our industries running smoothly. I’m Marty, and today we’re diving into the world of general labor tasks in the warehouse and light industrial industry.     Warehouses and light industrial facilities are really the backbone of countless industries. From manufacturing, product...

It seems, to me anyway, that people are just talking to hear themselves talk sometimes. And I know that’s not the case. I’ve heard so many reasons why people didn’t get hired for a position, and why so and so received a new promotion, why a job pays so little or why a job pays so much. Even opinions on what a job should pay. And a lot of people commenting on background friendly jobs, or lack there...

Hello all, Marty T Hawkins with Warehouse and Operations as a Career the Podcast! Thanks for clicking into another episode, this just happens to be our 300 th time to visit and talk about the industry I love, and am quite passionate about! We’ve entertained many guests over the years, order selectors, driver helpers, forklift operators, pallet runners, over the road truck drivers, warehouse leads,...

A Career Talk hosted by Belmar Integrated Logistics!

Welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I’m Marty T Hawkins and I thought we’d talk a bit about forklifts today. And I’d like to get a few questions answered regarding forklifts as well. I’ll tell you what, in a few minutes I’ll share how you can land one of those higher paying forklift positions!    As we all know, forklifts are an essential tool for material handling in warehouses,...

Hello all, Marty back with you at Warehouse and Operations as a Career. Its been busy, but busy is good. The first quarter of 2023 is gone. How’d you do, achieve all you’d planned for?   Lets see, oh, I wanted to say something about the 2 nd quarter real quick. Today we’ll be thinking about how hard a little change is and how accepting a little change can pay off for us and our families in a big w...

WAOC is mobile today and at one of my favorite festivals!  We’re hanging out at the Taste of Oak Cliff.  It’s a great community event, everyone comes together, store fronts, restaurateur’s and yes, a couple of sourcing and staffing agencies and one training center. So I wanted to take this opportunity while out and about to discuss jobs and careers and like I mentioned try and get a few questions...

So, during every PIT or powered industrial truck training class your instructor will mention, and I hope he or she will review, the Operators Manual with us.  This week, I had an individual ask why this was important, he stated that nobody reads those manuals. I understand the statement.  Did you know that when we purchase a new vehicle or car, we, as a new owner are supposed to read the owner’s m...

Forklift and Palletjack batteries.  Has your facility experienced any issues this week?  Our supplier called us this week to schedule our quarterly P.M. on our equipment and almost immediately I started hearing about batteries.  A palletjack battery in one state started smoking and another actually produced flames.  At one facility an unloader forgot to replace a guard plate, well, he said it alre...

Hey Team WAOC, everyone wrapping up the summer, getting the little ones back to school and trying to settle back into our routines?  July was a whipping for me professionally. Nothing really got out of hand, I just got overloaded.  I had a few 10 day classes come up, which was great, I really enjoy instructing those Logistics classes.  I filled in or covered a couple of other positions for the com...

Here we are, it’s that time again.  I’m Marty with Warehouse and Operations as a Career!  I’ve gotten behind on questions that’s been sent in again so let’s see if we can get a few of those answered or brought up for discussion today. A gentleman named Kevin has been looking into or thinking about becoming a driver and maybe launching a career in transportation.  He asked what was meant by doubles...

Hi all. I was speaking with a V.P. last week and he brought up micro goals.  I got to thinking, I talk a lot about goals and planning, but isn’t our normal progression within the industry just that, a bunch of micro goals.  From a unloader or G/L position, to being trained on the electric rider pallet jack as a runner, and on to maybe a receiver, or putaway or replenishment forklift driver a...

Hey everyone, Marty T Hawkins here, and I want to thank you for checking in with Warehouse and Operations as a Career.  We all, or most of the time, we know what our job is.  We know the task, the function, and we may even think we know what expectations our boss has for us.  Or do we know any of that?  And who’s responsibility is it to know that we know those things?    Well, today I thought we’d...

Another month is wrapping up folks!  We appreciate you stopping in with us again today!  I’m Marty with Warehouse and Operations as a Career.  We’ve had several questions lately about the front line management positions so I thought we’d talk about what those positions are and maybe I can share a few of the pros and cons of them with you.  At least maybe answer a few of those questions! So last we...

There are so many career opportunities in our industry, I learn about new task and positions within the logistics field every week!  Could you imagine planning and controlling the routes of container ships as an example? Today’s container ships may be something like 1200 ft long, with a draft of something like 50 foot and carrying as many as 14000 TEU. A TEU means Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit...

Welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career! We had an email question about Hand Trucks, a listener was wondering if there was a training course offered by anyone for its use? I gather there’s a position she’d like to apply for that had listed its use in the Job Description. She stated with 2 years of warehouse experience she had not had an opportunity to use one, seen them, but was a bit...

Marty here, and thanks for listening in to Warehouse and Operations as a Career again this week.  Let’s see, I’ve only taken a few notes for today’s show but I’m sure we can put something together.  I just noticed that this will be episode 286.  We’re getting close to that 300 mark!  I originally planned on doing 50 episodes!    OK, where’s my notes. Oh, I do want to mention that...

Hello all and welcome to week 15 of 2022.  You’ve found Warehouse and Operations as a Career and I’m Marty T Hawkins.  How is everyone doing?  I have been super busy for the last several weeks, but the ends in sight.  Speaking about the end of something, the first quarter of 2022 is here.  How did you do with your goals and how is your 2 nd quarter planning coming along?  I’ll change the topic so...

And it’s another week, a very productive week, and I hope a Safe week for all of us!  Marty here again with warehouse and operations as a career, and today I’d like to talk about a piece of equipment, well, in my experience, us warehouse folks will either love or grow to despise.  I may have been a little overly dramatic there, but I’ve known some people that, well, just couldn’t or wouldn’t make...