Joseph Zeno

A $780,000 load of branded spirits left Tennessee bound for a retail distribution hub in Ohio. The carrier had hauled similar freight before. The pickup number matched. The documentation checked out. Hours later, the delivery location was altered through authorized system access. When the discrepancy surfaced, the conversation centered on who approved the carrier. Not who verified the individual who showed up. Accountability is not about having a policy. It is about enforcing identity at the point of pickup. Let's evaluate your driver verification process.

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KDP closed 2025 with $16.6B in net sales, 8.2% growth year over year, and $4.2B in adjusted operating income. U.S. Refreshment Beverages grew 11.9%. Operating cash flow approached $2B. Those results don’t happen by accident. They happen through disciplined execution at scale. Over the past year, we pushed our Fleet of the Future forward: • Lighter-weight equipment to improve payload efficiency • Aerodynamic trailer upgrades to reduce fuel consumption • More disciplined driver scheduling to protect utilization • Cleaner DC-to-DC transfers to minimize recovery moves Small operational gains compound across thousands of loads. A 5% improvement in fuel efficiency across a large private fleet meaningfully protects margin. Higher trailer utilization reduces empty miles without adding assets. Smarter scheduling protects driver hours while supporting volume growth. Public earnings reflect private discipline. As we look toward projected low-double-digit EPS growth in 2026, execution speed and operational integrity matter more than ever. Where have small operational improvements created outsized financial impact in your organization? #CPG #SupplyChain #TransportationLeadership #BeverageIndustry #Operations

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𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝑻𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔: 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝑴𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝑾𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒆 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 Thirty years in produce grower side, the shipper side, now the logistics side Forza Logistics Group, and one thing has never changed: Produce and freight don't operate in neat little boxes. Weather shifts harvests. Yields fluctuate. Orders change overnight. Truck capacity moves with the market. When everything's flowing, freight moves. That's the easy part. But when markets tighten, and trucks get selective, the fundamentals matter more than ever. Here's what makes carriers choose your freight when they have options: Have it ready. Nothing kills a relationship faster than a driver showing up to freight that isn't staged. Make pickup simple. Clear instructions. Organized facility. No guesswork. Set realistic appointments. Tight windows with long wait times push trucks to the next shipper. Respect driver time. Detention isn't just a line item. It tells a carrier exactly how your operation runs. Honor accessorials. Pay quickly. Fairness isn't a nice-to-have it's how you build carrier loyalty that lasts. Stop gambling on the cheapest truck. Produce is perishable. One bad reefer, one missed temp setting, one delayed delivery, and your load is a claim, not a sale. The cheapest rate is never cheap when it's sitting on a dock getting rejected. Communicate when things change. Loads shift. Volumes adjust. That's produce. But a shipper who picks up the phone early gives a carrier time to adjust. The ones who go silent until there's a problem? Carriers remember that too. Build the bench before you need it. The worst time to find reliable capacity is when you're desperate for it. The shippers who move freight smoothly in tight markets are the ones who invested in carrier relationships when the market was loose. Here's the reality: carrier loyalty isn't built by squeezing margins. It's built through consistency and follow-through. When trucks have options, and in produce, they always do, carriers remember exactly which shippers make their lives easier. Those loads move first.

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Opportunity for Wine & Beer Importers Using the Southeast One of the more complex categories in e-commerce and DTC fulfillment is alcohol. Licensing, compliance, age verification, carrier constraints, and state-by-state regulations make it very different from traditional fulfillment. If you are seeking a partner to support wine and beer e-commerce fulfillment, creating a strong Southeast node for brands and importers selling direct-to-consumer send me a note and i can make the connection. The site is also in the process of becoming FTZ (Foreign Trade Zone) certified, which will provide additional advantages for companies importing beverage products into the U.S., including duty management and greater supply chain flexibility. With Savannah and Charleston serving as major gateways for beverage imports, having a fulfillment operation in Atlanta can provide both efficient port access and strong reach across the Southeast consumer market. Now is a great time to get infrastructure in place ahead of the holiday season, when beverage gifting and DTC demand tends to spike. Always interesting to see how specialized fulfillment capabilities continue to evolve alongside the growth of regulated DTC categories.

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Arrive Logistics’ new majority-owner deal comes with no debt and a plan to push growth harder. CEO Matt Pyatt breaks down why the company took Mubadala Capital’s investment, what changes internally, and why Arrive still sees a freight market that’s vulnerable to disruption.

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