Glenn Gooding spent 21 years at UPS — from package handler to driver to corporate revenue management for Dell, IBM, and Apple. He then spent nearly two decades in third-party parcel negotiation. Glenn shares how carriers price, how they view 3PLs, and what operators must do to compete.

TOPICS COVERED:

- 21 years at UPS: package handler to corporate Special Pricing for enterprise clients

- The Nintendo story: zone skipping 900,000 Game Boys for Black Friday delivery

- UPS vs FedEx DNA: Teamster drivers vs contracted operators and the RLA

- COVID's impact on the carrier market and the residential volume hangover

- USPS losing $9.1B per year and the Delivering for America plan

- Amazon, Walmart, and Target building their own delivery networks

- How carriers view 3PLs as resellers and why that must change

- Zone skipping for 3PLs: peak season strategies and carrier collaboration

- Volume thresholds: $2M+ for one carrier, $10M+ to multi-source

- Custom corrugated, returns, and inventory positioning as value props

CHAPTERS:

0:00 Introduction

0:19 Glenn's UPS Career: Package Handler to Revenue Management

3:50 The Nintendo Story: Zone Skipping for Black Friday

7:09 UPS vs FedEx: Ground DNA, Air DNA, and the 1997 Strike

12:10 The UPS Driver as Brand Ambassador

17:30 Bird Dog Solutions and Third-Party Negotiation

23:10 Enterprise Pricing: 10% Out of Dell's Costs Year Over Year

28:10 COVID and the Small Parcel Market

33:44 USPS Crisis: Delivering for America

37:03 Amazon, Walmart, Target: Building Their Own Networks

43:01 Multi-Sourcing: Why No Single Carrier Works

48:43 The 3PL Margin Problem and the Carrier Perspective

56:29 Proving Value: Average Zone, Corrugated, Network Efficiency

1:09:03 Zone Skipping for 3PLs: When and How

1:18:05 Returns as a Differentiator

1:29:20 The Fragmented Marketplace and What's Next

1:40:27 Who's Innovating in Small Parcel

1:43:29 Closing Thoughts

ABOUT THE GUEST:

Glenn Gooding spent 21 years at UPS and nearly two decades in parcel negotiation at Bird Dog Solutions and iDrive Logistics.

KEY TERMS:

Glenn Gooding, UPS, FedEx, USPS, small parcel, zone skipping, carrier negotiation, 3PL, Bird Dog Solutions, iDrive Logistics, Delivering for America, gig economy, residential delivery, demand surcharges, returns, multi-sourcing

Supply Chain Saga is produced by Mark Taylor, CEO of Warehouse Republic, a 3PL serving omni-channel e-commerce brands that sell through marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, and Shopify, as well as retail partners like Nordstrom, Scheels, and Bass Pro Shops.

Website: warehouserepublic.com
Podcast: supplychainsaga.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/warehouse-republic
Host: linkedin.com/in/marktaylor

Have a logistics question? Email mark@warehouserepublic.com

Ben Emmrich spent 10 years at Google managing parcel carrier relationships for Google Shopping before leading carrier partnerships at Shippo for four years. He discovered that alternative carriers could save shippers 30–40% on small parcel — but nobody could access them at scale. In 2021, he founded Tusk Logistics to solve that problem. Recorded live at BGSA 2026 in West Palm Beach.

TOPICS COVERED:

- From Google Shopping to Shippo to founding Tusk: how Ben discovered the alternative carrier ecosystem

- What alternative carriers are: regional operators like GLS, UDS, CDL, and DoorDash that deliver for 30–40% less than UPS or FedEx

- Zone skipping explained: when it makes sense, how to back-load trailers with multiple carrier stops, and linking freight tracking to final mile

- Volume thresholds: local alternatives first, zone skipping at 10,000+ parcels per day

- Chinese 3PLs entering the US market: zone skipping at massive scale with regional last-mile delivery

- UPS margin optimization under Carol Tomé: closing facilities, prioritizing margin over volume

- The Fast Group collapse: what happens when PE-backed carrier consolidation fails

- Anti-fragile shipping: why single-source UPS shippers were panicking during the 2024 Teamsters near-strike

- 3PL billing pain: unified invoicing across multiple carriers

- Dynamic parcel pricing: negotiating rate caps with carriers who flex down

- Ship with Walmart at $6.90 all-in vs. $15 loaded through traditional carriers

CHAPTERS:

0:00 Introduction: Live at BGSA 2026 in West Palm Beach

2:30 Ben's Story: Google Shopping, Shippo, and Discovering Alternative Carriers

9:10 What Tusk Is: Shipping Infrastructure for Alternative Carriers at Scale

10:10 China's Inroads: Chinese 3PLs, Zone Skipping, and Regional Last Mile

13:57 Zone Skipping Explained: How It Works and Multi-Stop Trailer Strategy

16:12 Volume Thresholds: When to Start with Local Alternatives vs. Zone Skips

21:43 Tracking Visibility: Linking Freight Tracking to Final Mile Across Carriers

27:04 Rate Comparison: $10 Retail to $6.50 Loaded with Alternative Carriers

30:23 Carrier Consolidation: The Fast Group Collapse and Ecosystem Dynamics

34:12 UPS Strategy: Carol Tomé's Shift from Volume to Margin

37:35 Anti-Fragile Shipping: Why Optionality Beats Single-Source Risk

41:20 3PL Billing Pain: Unified Invoicing and the Smart Zack File

49:01 Dynamic Parcel Pricing and the Future of Rate Shopping

55:35 What Keeps a 3PL Operator Up at Night

1:04:04 When Carriers Pitch Your Clients Direct: How to Handle the Conversation

1:13:18 How to Work with Tusk and Closing Thoughts

ABOUT THE GUEST:

Ben Emmrich is the founder and CEO of Tusk Logistics. He spent 10 years at Google and four years at Shippo before founding Tusk in 2021 to make alternative parcel carriers accessible at scale.

KEY TERMS:

Tusk Logistics, alternative carriers, regional carriers, zone skipping, small parcel, GLS, UDS, CDL, DoorDash, Shippo, Google Shopping, FedEx, UPS, USPS, carrier performance, unified invoicing, dynamic pricing, PLD, parcel level data, anti-fragile, Carol Tomé, Fast Group, BGSA

Supply Chain Saga is produced by Mark Taylor, CEO of Warehouse Republic, a 3PL serving omni-channel e-commerce brands that sell through marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, and Shopify, as well as retail partners like Nordstrom, Scheels, and Bass Pro Shops.

Website: warehouserepublic.com
Podcast: supplychainsaga.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/warehouse-republic
Host: linkedin.com/in/marktaylor

Have a logistics question? Email mark@warehouserepublic.com

Jonathan Green became VP of Technology at Colliers International at 22 and spent 13 years scaling the company from 40 employees to 15,000 across 122 acquisitions. He went on to build direct-to-consumer systems for medical device companies, reverse engineer claims processing in healthcare, and now runs Health Admins — acquiring TPAs and rebuilding them on Salesforce. In this episode, he shares practical ways any supply chain operator can start using AI tools today.

TOPICS COVERED:

- From making video games for Sega and Activision to becoming VP of IT at Colliers International at 22

- Building Snap-On Smile's D2C system on Salesforce in eight weeks — from $2M to $18M in revenue

- Why Salesforce is the only platform that inherits security, updates three times a year, and interrogates your code

- WMS systems are a race to the bottom — why none are leveraging AI effectively yet

- Notebook LM for supply chain: upload contracts, manifests, and invoices and ask questions of your data

- Custom GPTs: build one for marketing, one for manufacturing, one for logistics

- Crystal Knows: AI personality profiling from public data to prepare for any meeting

- Make and Zapier: workflow engines that stitch together WMS, Zendesk, Slack, QuickBooks, and Bill.com

- Why curiosity and critical thinking matter more than technical knowledge for adopting AI

CHAPTERS:

0:00 Introduction

0:44 Jonathan's Story: Video Games, Colliers International, and Medical Devices

6:44 The Common Thread: Stitching Together Existing Technologies

9:35 Why Salesforce Is the Only Platform That Verifies Your Code

13:40 Real Estate, WMS, and Where AI Opportunities Exist in Supply Chain

16:31 What Steps Should 3PL Operators Take to Keep Up with AI?

19:11 Getting Started: Notebook LM, ChatGPT, and Custom GPTs

23:23 Stitching Tools Together: Make, Zapier, and Workflow Automation

26:00 Building Your Online Brain: Crystal Knows, Storyworth, and Personality AI

28:59 AI in Real Life: Diagnosing Appendicitis with ChatGPT at 1 AM

31:30 The Big Picture: Starlink, Rural Access, and Why Curiosity Wins

32:13 Tool Recap: Crystal Knows, Notebook LM, Superhuman, Make, and Salesforce

34:52 Closing Thoughts

ABOUT THE GUEST:

Jonathan Green is the CEO of Health Admins and a technology leader with 30 years of experience. He became VP of Technology at Colliers International at 22 and has built technology systems across commercial real estate, medical devices, and healthcare.

KEY TERMS:

Jonathan Green, Health Admins, Colliers International, Salesforce, AI, artificial intelligence, Notebook LM, ChatGPT, custom GPTs, Crystal Knows, Make, Zapier, Superhuman, beautiful.ai, WMS, workflow automation, direct to consumer, platform thinking, TPA, claims processing

Supply Chain Saga is produced by Mark Taylor, CEO of Warehouse Republic, a 3PL serving omni-channel e-commerce brands that sell through marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, and Shopify, as well as retail partners like Nordstrom, Scheels, and Bass Pro Shops.

Website: warehouserepublic.com
Podcast: supplychainsaga.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/warehouse-republic
Host: linkedin.com/in/marktaylor

Have a logistics question? Email mark@warehouserepublic.com