#supply-chain
209 episodes
#4912: How Airlines Stock 80,000 Parts for a Single Fleet
Inside the staggering scale of aircraft parts logistics — from 450,000 part numbers to 12-hour global delivery.
#4881: How Your Bag Actually Travels 22 Miles Through the Airport
99.24% of bags arrive safely. But 33 million still go astray each year. Here's how the system actually works.
#4837: The Pink Mark on the Lantern
How a pink smudge on a Fenix lantern reveals the hidden structure of Amazon's marketplace.
#4810: How a Stop Sign Gets Bought: B2B Procurement Decoded
Follow a stop sign from Hartford's need to a DOT depot — and learn why B2B pricing has no catalogue price tags.
#4806: The Vest That Saves Road Workers
How a fluorescent vest and thirty years of standards cut highway worker deaths — and why smartphones are reversing the gains.
#4772: Amazon's Three Shadows: Packaging, Returns, and Warehouse Labor
How Amazon's selection, delivery, and returns create hidden costs in cardboard, waste, and worker safety.
#4770: Is Made in USA Actually Better?
Why we trust American brands even when their tools are made in China — and what actually determines quality.
#4761: The Click That Changed Storage: Akro Mills Deep Dive
Why a 1940s Ohio bin company still beats Uline knock-offs at 8-foot drops.
#4715: Best Stores for Durable Workwear and EDC Belts
Five brick-and-mortar stores that actually stock workwear, outdoor gear, and serious EDC belts — no Amazon required.
#4705: The Parasite Hiding in Your Salad
Cyclospora isn't a bacteria—it's a parasite that turns lettuce into an incubator. Here's why outbreaks keep happening.
#4693: Can You Live Entirely on Amazon?
We audit the plan to buy every aspect of life from one retailer, and find the gaps that don't fit in a box.
#4680: Inside Amazon's Delivery Machine: From Robot Picking to Your Doorstep
How Amazon's fulfillment centers, 750K robots, and Prime's economics make next-day doorstep delivery feel like gravity.
#4679: Inside the Machines: Amazon vs. AliExpress Marketplaces
We break down the structural differences between Amazon's FBA logistics machine and AliExpress's cross-border escrow model.
#4612: Rubber Ducks by the Gross: The Industrial Supply Wonderland
What happens when a regular person shops at McMaster-Carr? Gross quantities of rubber ducks, petri dishes, and the pipe threader you never knew you...
#4598: The Real Cost of a 7-Cent Screw
Why local hardware stores can't compete with AliExpress — and what that means for communities.
#4571: How Shenzhen Became the World's Export Machine
A deep dive into how one city became the default engine of global trade, from factory floor to cargo plane.
#4554: Inside the Eurobox: The Hidden Standard That Runs Warehouses
The shipping container is famous. The Eurobox inside it? Not so much. We trace the cascade of standards that makes modern logistics work.
#4547: Can an AI Agent Fix Your Shopping Cart?
We explore whether an AI agent could kill dark patterns, consolidate orders, and bring enterprise procurement to your home.
#4537: Unboxing the Warehouse: From Joseph's Silos to Slotting Algorithms
From Roman FIFO granaries to gravity flow racks — the unglamorous engineering that keeps civilization fed.
#4520: The Secret Rulebook of American Trucking
Why a 48x40 pallet rules U.S. trucking, wrecks ocean shipping, and costs importers billions.
#4519: Why US Freight Uses a 48x40 Pallet
Why the US uses a 48x40 GMA pallet, 53-foot trailers, and 80,000-pound weight limits — and how it all differs from Europe.
#4518: Pallet Wars: What Importers Lose in the Gap
How pallet mismatches between Asia, Europe, and North America cost importers time and money.
#4517: How to Turn Around a Shipping Container Without Getting Burned
The clock starts at discharge. Avoid surprise detention bills by understanding the return process.
#4511: The Wall With a Door: Israel's Deliberate Border Gaps
Why Israel left kilometer-wide holes in its security barrier — and what happened when they slammed shut overnight.