POL Biden’s speech today about supply chain

Reader

Veteran Member
Caught a short snippet of his address regarding unloading the container ships 24/7. Will this make a difference with prices and supplies right away or will it take time? Do any of you think this will solve the supply chain problem? Thank you.
 

Wildweasel

F-4 Phantoms Phorever
Only of they can magic up truck tractors to pull the containers wherever...

AND if the places those magically produced trucks can go to the receivers and unload 24/7. From my experience most warehouses/distribution centers around southern CA are not open 24/7. So all this will do is push the problem out the gates of the ports and in front of the gates of the receivers those trucks are going to.
 

Hi-D

Membership Revoked
Caught a short snippet of his address regarding unloading the container ships 24/7. Will this make a difference with prices and supplies right away or will it take time? Do any of you think this will solve the supply chain problem? Thank you.

2nd quarter of 2022. People (the little people) will be out of savings. The holiday season and winter gone. Interest rates and tapering taking hold.
 
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TKO

Veteran Member
Caught a short snippet of his address regarding unloading the container ships 24/7. Will this make a difference with prices and supplies right away or will it take time? Do any of you think this will solve the supply chain problem? Thank you.
I still want to know where they get the workers? Is he ordering the military to unload?
 

Mprepared

Veteran Member
[/QUOTE]
They can't even get their own to get vaccinated and only want woke. I guess if the woke are still able to breathe they might get a few in a draft, but they need all those vaccinated to drive trucks and unload boxes. Where are they?
 
The words coming from a man who literally can not find his ass using both hands. This supply problem will only get worst and then take the leap beyond worst. It is part of the grand plan. Prep best you can and then try to throw a couple extra on top.
Not only he couldn't find his ass, but remember he said: "They wiped my butt"? I watched that over and over and laughed in hysterics each time.
They can't even get their own to get vaccinated and only want woke. I guess if the woke are still able to breathe they might get a few in a draft, but they need all those vaccinated to drive trucks and unload boxes. Where are they?
[/QUOTE] They are all dead.
 

et2

Has No Life - Lives on TB
He really isn’t too smart his he. We have issues with every part of our delivery and distribution system. Can’t load freight if there’s not enough trains or trucks , warehouses and distributors to step up.

China Joe is one stupid man. Or just throwing up a smoke screen.

Shortage of Railroad Workers Threatens Recovery


Shortage of Railroad Workers Threatens Recovery
Struggle to bring crews back draws scrutiny from regulators, who were already concerned about lean operations
By
Updated July 22, 2021 12:05 pm ET
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CSX locomotives at a yard in Bowling Green, Ky.; CSX says it has ramped up hiring lately to handle increased shipping demand.
Photo: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg News

America’s freight railroads are struggling to bring back workers, contributing to a slowdown in the movement of chemicals, fertilizer and other products that threatens to disrupt factory operations and hinder a rebound from the pandemic, according to shippers and trade groups.
The problems have attracted scrutiny from federal regulators, who have been concerned that cost cuts and new operational plans implemented across most freight railroads that have been celebrated on Wall Street have resulted in lackluster service for some customers.
“The railroads cannot strip down to bare-bones operations,” said Martin Oberman, chairman of the Surface Transportation Board. “It’d be like a professional football team only having one quarterback.”
The board, which oversees freight railroads, is examining ways that it could improve competition in the rail industry, a mission highlighted in the Biden administration’s recent executive order to promote more competitive markets across numerous industries.
WSJ Newsletter
Notes on the News
The news of the week in context, with Tyler Blint-Welsh.
The challenges largely stem from two issues buffeting the U.S. economy: labor shortages and widespread supply-chain bottlenecks as manufacturing ramps up and the economy snaps back.
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Union Pacific freight trains in St. Louis; The company says it has taken steps to mitigate congestion of freight moving into Chicago.
Photo: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg News
Railroad executives say they have done their best to manage through a pandemic that has forced swaths of their workforce to quarantine and caused fluctuating demand from irregular production at some plants.
CSX Corp. CSX 1.40% Chief Executive Officer Jim Foote said that the railroad had expected to hire 500 new conductors by now to help with the increased demand and higher-than-expected attrition, but has added only 200 so far. “It is an enormous challenge for us to go out and find people that want to be conductors on the railroad, just like it’s hard to find people that want to be baristas or anything else,” he said.
Railroads retrenched quickly when the economy seized up last year, furloughing thousands of workers and taking hundreds of locomotives offline. It came in the midst of a multiyear push by railroads like CSX, Norfolk Southern Corp. and Union Pacific Corp. UNP 1.14% to streamline their operations by running fewer trains with more cars, changes that already had resulted in fewer workers.
Some railroads implemented the Covid-related cuts in ways that would allow workers and locomotives to quickly be recalled should the pandemic ease quickly. Instead of furloughs, some railroads set up reserve boards that allowed the workers to use unpaid time off or work one week a month. That let them keep their benefits and return to duty in just 48 hours, instead of 15 days under normal furloughs. Idled locomotives were parked and maintained so that they could resume hauling trains.



Employers Competing for Workers Turn to Signing Bonuses and Freebies

0:00 / 6:31
Employers Competing for Workers Turn to Signing Bonuses and Freebies

Employers Competing for Workers Turn to Signing Bonuses and Freebies
Low-wage work is in high demand, and employers are now competing for applicants, offering incentives ranging from sign-on bonuses to free food. But with many still unemployed, are these offers working? Photo: Bloomberg News
But other workers who were furloughed have been slow to come back, with many of them balking at relocating to new assignments. Training took months and Covid-19 protocols stretched some training classes out further.
Shippers noticed. The American Chemistry Council, whose members include companies like Dow Inc. and Honeywell International Inc., said in a letter to the STB that railcars were waiting at yards for more than a week and travel times for some routes more than doubled. Some factories were close to closing because of lack of materials and others slowed production, the companies said.
Jeff Sloan, the trade group’s senior director of regulatory and technical affairs, said that the deteriorating service shows that the railroads cut too deep ahead of the pandemic and were unable to catch up. “They clearly weren’t as prepared as they should have been for the increase in traffic,” he said.
CSX, based in Jacksonville, Fla., was the first U.S. railroad operator to implement the operating philosophy called precision scheduled railroading starting in 2017, when Hunter Harrison, who pioneered the ideas on Canada’s major freight lines, joined the company as CEO. The strategy calls for running fewer trains longer distances and keeping them on a tighter schedule, allowing the railroad to scrap locomotives, employ fewer workers and shut facilities.
The implementation is jarring to operations and customers complained about mayhem on the tracks as the changes took place. But other railroads followed suit, in part due to Wall Street pressure to lower costs and boost margins and stock prices.
CSX and others say they have ramped up hiring lately to handle the increased shipping demand. Norfolk Southern had 114 conductors in training as of mid-June and plans to add between 72 and 96 new trainees each month for the remainder of the year.
CSX’s Mr. Foote said the challenges are prompting the railroad to re-evaluate its approach to hiring for certain jobs, such as those that require people to work during weekends and holidays, or spend days away from home. They are providing $3,000 bonuses to workers who provide referrals for new hires, which Mr. Foote said has helped boost the pool of applicants.
“It is a challenge for us to figure out ways to bring more normalcy to the hours worked by a railroad employee in order to make the job more attractive,” Mr. Foote said. “It’s not about the job.”
Across the freight rail network, employment levels still remain below pre-pandemic levels. According to data shared with the STB, railroads reported 47,444 transportation employees in June, down from about 51,800 in March 2020.
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
Why do you think freight railroads are struggling to bring back train crews? Join the conversation below.
Not all railroads are scrambling to find workers. Union Pacific executives on Friday said the railroad has been able to hire workers to run their trains. CEO Lance Fritz said that furloughed employees, including some out of work for up to a year-and-a-half, are returning at a 70% rate.
“To date, while sometimes it’s difficult, we are finding the talent we need,” Mr. Fritz said.
The worker shortages are being exacerbated by congestion from products entering and exiting the rail system. Backlogs at ports mean strains on the freight railroads that are pulling cargo inland, while a tight market for trucking also creates pinch points when trains transfer containers to the highways.
“The supply chain is only as good as the weakest link in the chain and there are a lot of weak links in the chain,” Citi transportation analyst Christian Wetherbee said.
Union Pacific and BNSF Railway Co., a unit of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., BRK.B -0.26% have taken steps to mitigate some of the congestion of freight moving into Chicago. Union Pacific this week suspended traffic for seven days from certain West Coast ports into a Chicago intermodal facility to clear some of the backlog of trains waiting to be unloaded. BNSF said that it would be metering traffic from some West Coast ports into Chicago.
Mr. Oberman, the STB chairman, said that there are some industries that are reporting good service, but others continue to be plagued by the same issues, including crew shortages, late deliveries and other service cutbacks. “I don’t think we are overall having a system that works the way it should work,” he said.
 

et2

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Caught a short snippet of his address regarding unloading the container ships 24/7. Will this make a difference with prices and supplies right away or will it take time? Do any of you think this will solve the supply chain problem? Thank you.

Smoke screen. He’s not done destroying it … more to come
 

rafter

Since 1999
He is an idiot...yeah I know we already know that. He come out to save Christmas in mid October when the stuff should already be in the warehouses and in the stores. And Psaki says he has been working on it for months??? :rofl:
 

mistaken1

Has No Life - Lives on TB
If by 'save Christmas' you mean insuring there is no chinese junk on the store shelves to send even more retailers down the toilet then yes he has been working on that for months.
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
We watched part of his speech, and from what we got out of it, he was threatening to start nationalizing a lot of transportation systems.
 

Techwreck

Veteran Member
Once the current system is broken down, frightened people will be desperate for someone to fix it.

Things like self reliance and private property will not likely be part of the "build back better" solution.

Central planners will of course need total control to make sure that there is "equity" in our new utopia.

And dissenters, aka domestic terrorists, will be to blame for any failures, and will be dealt with accordingly.

The scripts and talking points are probably already written and ready to hand to the pretty paid media liars to read.

Space on top of the fence is getting scarce.
 

wvstuck

Only worry about what you can control!
Once the current system is broken down, frightened people will be desperate for someone to fix it.

Things like self reliance and private property will not likely be part of the "build back better" solution.

Central planners will of course need total control to make sure that there is "equity" in our new utopia.

And dissenters, aka domestic terrorists, will be to blame for any failures, and will be dealt with accordingly.

The scripts and talking points are probably already written and ready to hand to the pretty paid media liars to read.

Space on top of the fence is getting scarce.
I ready to die on this hill... Anyone else?


hill to die on
Something so important that it must be dealt with, despite the difficulty and potential problems that could result.In negotiations with your new company, your salary must be your hill to die on—accept nothing less than the amount you want!
 
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The Snack Artist

Membership Revoked
Was watching "Stinchfield" last night on Newsmax. He is a trucking company owner. He said, "Joe, is suggesting we can fix this by driving the trucks at night." He leaned in and whispered like joey does, "We already run at night joe. We always have."

MaryPete is having a grand old time shipping and receiving (so to speak). He's another idiot chosen because he's a pole smoker and not because he was qualified. He doesn't know anything about transport.

The whole thing is a con to destroy America. I really can't believe this is happening.
 

Ravekid

Veteran Member
Working around the clock would defiantly solve the time problem. The cost problem could possibly get worse. People expect shift differential pay for working evening and overnight hours, as well as working on the weekend. So labor costs should go up, and that added cost will be passed onto consumers.
 
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