Warehouse and Operations as a Career the podcast. Marty T Hawkins here. We need to get to a lot of questions being sent in regarding several of the positions we’ve been speaking on so I’ll try and get something put together in the next couple of weeks. I had to charge our equipment over at the distribution training center this week, so I thought of…

Hey everyone, Marty here with Warehouse and Operations as a Career. As we continue our series on job descriptions, task, and their opportunities, I thought we’d stick with transportation as a topic. Tonight, I want to dig into a position that doesn’t always get the spotlight but is absolutely critical across several industries, the driver helper. I…

When we talk about logistics, warehousing, and distribution, transportation is the vital link that keeps everything moving. Without trucks on the road, vans on the streets, and skilled professionals planning routes, freight doesn’t move, and shelves don’t get replenished. While warehouses store and organize, transportation makes the connection to c…

Here we are in the middle of the 3rd Quarter already. Schools are starting back up here in the states, the summer vacations were great, visiting with all the friends and family was a bit exhausting and everyone’s getting ready for that final push through to the holidays next quarter. I mention all that because this is a unique time of year regardin…

Welcome back to another episode of Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I’m Marty, and today we’re going to shine a well-deserved spotlight on a role that might not always get the recognition it deserves—but one that most large warehouses relies on. We’re talking about the floor sweeper/scrubber, the man or woman behind that buzzing machine who gl…

It’s week 31 of 2025. Welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career, I’m Marty, and today we’re diving into two important yet often misunderstood roles within the warehouse world—Inbound Dispatchers and Outbound Dispatchers. Now, if you’ve worked in a distribution center, chances are you’ve interacted with one or both of these dispatch teams…

Hey all, Marty T Hawkins here, and welcome back to another episode of Warehouse and Operations as a Career! We’ve spent the mid-week in Bolingbrook Illinois, and I am dreading heading back to the Texas July heat this evening! Today we’re taking a closer look at three important but often underrated roles within the warehouse. These are the kinds of …

Thanks for stopping in at Warehouse and Operations as a Career again, I’m your host Marty and we have a lot of ground to cover today! I hope everyone is having a great week. Can you believe we’re almost through the 1st month of the 3rd quarter of 2025 already. What week are we in, let’s see, 29, week 29 is coming to a close. Today I thought we’d ta…

Hey again, Marty here with Warehouse and Operations as a Career. We work, that’s how the world works. I’ve had the fortune of working in the light industrial industry or the warehouse and transportation fields for my entire career, over 45 years. I’ve errored, messed up, been irresponsible, negative at times and I consider myself more than lucky fo…

Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I’m Marty, and it has been a bit. Life and careers both are why we work. Over the last 7 months, well, off and on longer than that I guess, referring to my lack of weekly episodes, a lot has changed in both life and careers for a lot within our manufacturing, production, and distribution industries. Today I’d l…

We all work to pay our bills and provide a better living for our families. Some of us, I hope most of us, are fortunate enough to enjoy our jobs so much that it isn’t work at all. I’m Marty with Warehouse and Operations as a Career and today I’d like to start off with a question from a gentleman here locally. You know, we’re often taught and traine…

Hello everyone, Marty T Hawkins here with Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I want to sincerely thank you for checking in with us each week and I hope we mention something that will affect your career in some kind of positive way here today! I want to share something real quick. I went to the grocery store today, a national chain, it’s close, c…

Marty T Hawkins back with you and another episode of Warehouse and Operations as a Career. Is everyone having a fabulous week so far? Today let’s talk about a few of the things that we as employees sometimes must deal with, many times things we possibly bring on ourselves. Throughout my travels each week I hear about lost jobs, NCNS, layoffs, and a…

Hey hey all, you found Marty and Warehouse and Operations as a Career here again. Here we are in week 50 of 2024. I just realized we haven’t talked about our 2025 goals or plans yet. Maybe we can get that in over the next few weeks. I’m big on goals and planning, and I’m pretty much right on target for the year. Anyway, before I get started running…

It’s been another great week hasn’t it! I’m Marty and I’d like to thank you for joining us again here at Warehouse and Operations as a Career. This week let’s spend a few minutes on controlling expenses. I had a conversation last week with a V.P. of Op’s about a facility that had had over 1000 short on truck cases the previous week. That’s a huge e…

Hi all, it’s Thanksgiving here in the states, a time to spend with family and friends, a time to slow down a bit and reflect on what is really important in our lives and be thankful for what ever that is. We’re working on a few great episodes with some long-time listener’s I consider subject matter experts in the coming weeks that I’m super excited…

Welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career, I’m Marty and I thought we’d talk about finding work today, something that’s not always easy. Over the last month or so I’ve received so many questions from job seekers, a lot of frustration with the system and hiring processes, being interviewed, and feeling ghosted, being told your overqualifi…

Hi again to all from WAOC, I’m your host, Marty T Hawkins, and I’m glad you decided to spend a few minutes with us talking about our light industrial careers. I was going to speak to logistics today, but, well, I’ve had a few conversations this week that pushed me to rethink that. Oh, and for all the WAOC subscribers out there, I have to apologize …

Marty here with Warehouse and Operations as a Career! I hope you enjoy our show each week and we’re offering up something you can take away from it and it helps you in your career some how or way. We have a lot of fun sharing our experiences and really enjoy getting to throw in an opinion or two every once and a while! Don’t forget about our Facebo…

Have you ever heard that you only get one chance to make a first impression? I’m Marty T Hawkins and I’d like to thank you for checking in with us here at Warehouse and Operations as a Career! Whither you are a Supervisor or a lead, an Employee, Recruiter or an HR Generalist, maybe you’re in Benefits, we’re all some of the first people our new and …

Welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career. How has your week been? Productive, Challenging, Informative, Positive, and Safe is my answer! I hope each of you feel the same way. However, I’ve read about, and spoken with a few people that, well, I’m going to say haven’t had such a positive experience this week. I’ve heard from or read about…

I’ve had several questions about order selecting lately, I’ve been meaning to get to them, and a young job seeker wrote, I’ve pulled orders at 3 companies before so I have a lot of experience, but I’ve applied at this place offering XX dollars an hour and they say I don’t have the experience. It’s a lot of money and I want that job. So today let’s …

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 bi…

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 …

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…

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 caree…

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 …

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 …

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 indus…

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 com…

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 300th 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 runne…

A Career Talk hosted by Belmar Integrated Logistics!بقلم Warehouse and Operations as a Career

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 esse…

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 2nd quarter real quick. Today we’ll be thinking about how hard a little change is and how accepting a little change…

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 a…

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, a…

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 t…

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 …

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 tra…

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 …

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 kn…

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 may…

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 T…

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 a…

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, …

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 2nd quarter plann…

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 pe…

Hello all, Marty here with Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I want to thank you for checking in with us today, and I think I’d like to talk a little about Ethics, maybe a little on Workplace Violence and our Reporting. Earlier this week I was talking with a gentleman that had just came out of his Companies yearly meeting on Business Ethics. Se…

Anhydrous Ammonia, anyone know what that is? I’m Marty T Hawkins with Warehouse and Operations as a Career and we appreciate you checking in with us! My apologies, I’m a bit horse today but let’s have some fun anyway! I brought up the words Anhydrous Ammonia a few weeks ago and had gotten a few questions about it so lets look it up today! Merriam W…

Everyone having a great week out there. I certainly hope so! I’m Marty and welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career. I have an old friend that always said work is work, that’s why they don’t call it fun. I always disagreed with him. Work is work but it has to be fun, to a point I mean. If you know me at all you know that I believe we ha…