Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Technology Adoption and Trust Building: George Schultz's Corporate Leadership Evolution

Transcript

Technology Adoption and Trust Building: George Schultz's Corporate Leadership Evolution · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:11
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:14
adversity. My name is Anthony Codaspodi and
0:17
today's guest is George Schultz, Chief Operating Officer at Fetch
0:21
Package Inc, the company behind the family multi family housing
0:26
industry's first comprehensive off site package management
0:29
solution. By removing property staff from
0:32
handling deliveries, Fetch Package ensures reliable service
0:37
straight to residence doors. They have managed over 40
0:40
million packages across 27 active markets, serving around
0:44
400,000 apartment homes nationwide.
0:48
They have expanded their services to include a full suite
0:52
of community amenities like valet trash storage, the Fetch
0:56
market, and even services for off campus student housing.
1:00
George is also a strategic advisor to Parcel Paying, which
1:04
is focused on bringing new technology to package protection
1:08
and delivery verification. By leveraging existing
1:11
technology, they create an unbroken chain of custody that
1:16
protects revenue, enhances compliance, and builds lasting
1:19
trust between merchants and their customers.
1:23
George joined Fetch in January 2021 after holding leadership
1:27
roles at major organizations like Amazon and FedEx.
1:32
Now before we get into all that good stuff, today's episode is
1:35
brought to you by my company, Add Back Benefits Agency, where
1:39
we offer very specific and unique employee benefits that
1:42
are both great for your team and fiscally optimized for your
1:46
bottom line. One recent client was able to
1:48
add over $900 per employee per year in extra cash flow by
1:53
implementing one of our innovative programs.
1:56
Results vary for each company and some organizations may not
1:59
be eligible. To find out if your company
2:01
qualifies, contact us today at AD Back benefits.com.
2:05
Now back to our guest today, COO of Fetch Package, George
2:09
Schultz. Thanks for making the time to
2:10
Share your story today. Andy, thanks for having me.
2:13
I'm excited to have a conversation today and see where
2:16
the discussion takes us. All right, let's jump in.
2:19
So you've worked for some of the industry heavyweights and
2:22
fulfillment of shipments to consumers, variety of roles at
2:26
FedEx and then later on Amazon. Can you maybe talk about how the
2:31
cultures differ in each of those environments?
2:35
Yeah. And, and thanks for the
2:36
question. Really two distinctly different
2:39
cultures. You know, FedEx, the culture was
2:41
was kind of grounded in operational discipline,
2:44
reliability, strong emphasis on process adherence, team
2:48
coordination across a really broad fast network.
2:52
And it was about steady execution and building that
2:56
brand trust through consistency. And Amazon, on the other hand,
3:00
it was a high velocity environment.
3:03
It's driven by just kind of this relentless focus on innovation,
3:06
customer obsession. The pace was intense.
3:09
The focus was on data-driven decisions and rapid iteration.
3:14
You know, Amazon's culture rewarded big ideas but demanded
3:18
rigorous accountability. Both of them helped me grow into
3:22
the leader end of the day. But FedEx taught me the value of
3:25
structure, while Amazon instilled in me a bias for
3:28
action scalability that that I carry into my role today at
3:31
Fetch. Starting with FedEx, can you
3:35
share a story of something notable that happened there that
3:38
still influences how you approach Business Today?
3:42
Yeah, I've, I've got a couple. You know what?
3:44
When I look back at that time, you know the, the, the first
3:48
thing that that was kind of an epiphany moment for me.
3:51
I was a part time package handler while I was in school
3:56
and the handheld delivery device was just being deployed across
3:59
the network. And you know, Anthony, this was
4:02
a time where drivers would go out and they have their
4:04
clipboard and a pen and you know, the, the package number
4:08
was written down. The address was was what's?
4:10
The time period we're talking about.
4:13
This would have been in the late 80s eighty 788.
4:19
So you had, you know, reams of paper that that entry clerks in
4:23
the office at night are hand keying into the system.
4:27
So the handhelds deployed and literally the next day you just
4:32
plug the handheld in and there's no data entry.
4:35
And it was one of those moments in time where you're watching it
4:38
happen and you're thinking, oh, this is going to change
4:42
everything. So being on that front end of of
4:45
that deployment for me was this epiphany of you had better keep
4:49
up with advancements in tech. You better learn it.
4:52
You better get comfortable with it.
4:54
If you don't, and you choose not to, you will be left behind.
4:58
What did the handhelds look like back then?
5:02
This is kind of embarrassing. So you can actually look it up
5:05
and see it in the Smithsonian. So it's actually in the
5:08
Smithsonian you're part of? Ancient history.
5:10
Now it's. Old history, but you know, it's
5:13
a, you know, handheld symbol device that.
5:20
Was it like the size of a tablet?
5:22
Was it? No, no, smaller, you know, like
5:25
3 inches wide, maybe 5-6 inches long with a, you know, a little
5:31
tip that reads the barcode. Yeah.
5:34
So kind of like. A keyboard keyboard on it so you
5:36
can hand key information. It's only a fat BlackBerry.
5:41
That's a good description. OK.
5:43
All right. You said you had a couple from
5:46
FedEx. What was another one?
5:48
You know, these, these events happen.
5:51
You know, I was advanced in my career.
5:53
I was running a really large hub.
5:55
You know, it's during peak season, massive snowstorm hits.
5:59
And you know, we, we've got thousands of packages delayed.
6:02
Trailers are backed up in the yard.
6:05
You know, we're rerouting shipments manually.
6:08
And you know, you make a call to bring in extra headcount,
6:12
drivers, dockworkers, you're reassigning routes.
6:15
You're, you're trying to reroute trailers in the network.
6:18
You know, the, and the lesson for me is that sticks with me is
6:22
it's about over communicating. You know, at times as a leader,
6:26
you think I've, I've said that enough, I've said that enough,
6:28
I've said that enough. But it is a lesson that was
6:31
ingrained in me that over communicating, empowering the
6:37
team to to make decisions and and learning to trust the front
6:41
line team to make quick decisions when when you give
6:43
them clear guardrails. That experience still influences
6:47
how to approach crisis management, clear goals, trust
6:49
your team, and and constant, frequent communication.
6:53
What was it specifically about that situation that taught you
6:58
the importance of over communicating?
7:00
Was it just that people were so frazzled that they just need to
7:03
kind of keep hearing the same reassuring comments?
7:07
You you can watch the, the emotional panic like filter
7:11
through the various levels of leaders and into the front line
7:14
employees. So it's this real palpable
7:17
moment in time where you're watching it happen.
7:21
You know, you look out at the at the yard and you see like
7:25
trailer after trailer backing up and in your head you're like,
7:27
there's this is not going, there's like there's no end
7:30
insight. And it's that moment where you
7:34
think it's just not going to be achievable.
7:38
So at, at FedEx, you know, when it backed up like that, it was
7:41
a, it was a, it just demanded that as a leader, you stay calm,
7:45
you stay focused. And you just reiterate, this is
7:49
what we're doing. This is the message, this is the
7:51
plant. This is how we're going to do
7:52
it. Step by step.
7:53
You, you, you break chaos into manageable bites.
7:59
So staying calm over communicating and the importance
8:03
of keeping up with technology. Yeah.
8:06
Was was that keeping up with the technology?
8:08
Did that come naturally to you? Some people are more drawn to
8:12
tech and gadgets. Or was that something that was a
8:14
little unfamiliar or uncomfortable?
8:17
Yeah, honestly, for me, it, it was uncomfortable.
8:21
You know, my, my undergrad degree is in philosophy, a minor
8:25
in Eastern religion. So I wasn't very tech focused at
8:30
the time. And you remember that the, the,
8:32
the decade we're talking about, this is late 80s heading into
8:35
90s. So you're on the front edge of,
8:37
of tech. It was very much outside of a
8:41
comfort zone. And what I will compliment the
8:45
FedEx leadership with early adoption moved fast on the tech
8:51
side, deploying tech early and often.
8:55
And again, it was. It was about forcing yourself to
8:59
to adapt and forcing yourself to jump in even when it's
9:02
uncomfortable. OK.
9:05
FedEx, now Amazon, very different environment.
9:08
What's the story there you can share with us that influences
9:12
how you do Business Today? Yeah.
9:15
For, for me at Amazon, you know, it's, it's very much as soon as
9:21
you're there, there's, there's this immediacy of speed and
9:25
urgency. And you know, my team was
9:29
responsible for the launch of the new robotics air hub just
9:34
during the time of, of COVID. Really, you know, this is
9:37
cutting edge tech and robotics, but the real challenge for me
9:41
was aligning teams across, you know, engineering, operations,
9:45
safety, legal, you know, even our government relations teams.
9:51
And you know, you're, you're dealing with that as well as,
9:54
you know, potential supply chain disruptions on, you know, the,
9:58
the raw materials needed to build these facilities out.
10:01
And you know, the, the teams at Amazon and, you know, I credit
10:07
the, the senior leaders with this is we were able to hit
10:10
launch deadlines by focusing on, again, small iterative wins,
10:14
daily standups, real time tracking and just kind of
10:18
relentless problem solving. It, it, it did teach me more
10:22
fully that the complexity is, is attained by breaking it into
10:28
actionable steps and engaging the right teams.
10:33
And, and so for, for me, the differentiator between FedEx and
10:36
Amazon is at FedEx, you're doing it with a really small couple of
10:40
people. Whereas Amazon I learned the the
10:43
value in really engaging all those various support teams
10:51
fully and keeping them as part of the the team across the
10:55
entire project. And again, it's these are still
10:59
principles that apply routinely at Fetch while we're rapidly
11:03
scaling our business, so. Was that more inherent and just
11:10
sort of the the environment at Amazon or was that more
11:12
particular to the specific project that you were working
11:17
on? Yeah, I would suspect as you go
11:19
through Amazon and talk to people in fulfilment and AWS,
11:25
the different branches of Amazon, you're going to hear
11:28
some very similar stories. And I was sharing this with with
11:32
a connection yesterday. One of the most valuable lessons
11:37
is you're you're given these really big complex goals at
11:42
Amazon and in your head you immediately think, and this is,
11:46
I guess a parallel with the FedEx hub story, but in your
11:50
head you're like, this is inhuman.
11:51
This can't this is not possible. There's this is not doable.
11:57
It did teach me to trust like the larger group in the larger
12:01
team effort. And and yeah, that's a scary
12:05
thing is, is and it's, you know, it's your accountability, but
12:09
you have to entrust others to drive project work through to
12:13
the finish line. And you know, if you surround
12:15
yourself with the right people and you do your homework and you
12:18
do your, your rigorous hiring bars and you've got that quality
12:24
team built, you have to trust. And it's it's hard to build that
12:29
level of trust, particularly the speeds we were moving.
12:34
How did you do that? What accommodations did you make
12:36
in your approach to be able to develop the those relationships
12:40
and that trust? I would, I would love to tell
12:42
you I was great at it and it just came naturally.
12:45
It, it wasn't natural. It was very uncomfortable.
12:49
I didn't do a great job of it in in numerous cases.
12:52
You know, you, you, it, you make mistakes.
12:57
You know, you, you try to do too much yourself.
13:01
And, and that's a humbling lesson is you in your head.
13:05
Well, I'm at this big leader at Amazon.
13:06
I've got all this responsibility.
13:10
You know, it's embarrassing when I look back and think about how
13:12
I, I manage some of those moments in time.
13:15
You know, you'd love to be able to turn back the clock and, and
13:18
adjust your, your persona, but you know, it's FedEx.
13:25
Here's the comparison, Anthony, FedEx, you're surrounded by tons
13:29
of people who have 1520 years knowledge.
13:33
So with this hub, I was running my second in command and, and
13:40
the next level down all the way down to your, your lower levels
13:45
were very, very competent. Just knowledge was tremendous.
13:50
And you know, Amazon, it's new leading new.
13:54
You know, when I joined, I was like employee 26,000 something
13:59
and when I left there's 1.3 million.
14:02
So there's this constant layering of new on new on new.
14:05
So, you know, and building that trust to more directly answer
14:10
your question is, you know, I screwed it up big time.
14:14
I tried to do too much, I tried to own too much.
14:16
I didn't count on the team enough.
14:18
And when you're, when you're looking at your clock and
14:21
calendar and you realize you're, you're just consumed and you're,
14:25
there's no end. You, you are, are a bit pushed
14:28
into that corner of, well, you'd better trust somebody to start
14:31
doing more. And, you know, I got some really
14:34
good direct feedback from some of my subordinate team members
14:38
who were like, you've got to let go and let me run this.
14:42
And, and I think that's a lesson for everybody in leadership is,
14:45
you know, sometimes you got to shut up and listen to your, your
14:48
team. And I had a couple of really
14:51
good second, third level leaders who challenged me to, to, to let
14:57
go a little bit. That's great.
15:00
It's uncomfortable to think. It's uncomfortable to think back
15:02
about those moments. Well, and that's how we grow
15:06
though, isn't it? Right.
15:07
Being able to look in that rear view mirror and say, wow,
15:11
there's some things I could have done better.
15:13
And sort of finding a, a fine line between not beating
15:17
yourself up too much for the past, which you cannot change,
15:21
but being able to understand it and learn from it and become
15:24
better at what you're doing. Try a different approach going
15:27
forward. Absolutely.
15:29
No. Before we move on to talk about
15:31
Fetch, just curious, the robotics that you were working
15:34
on there at Amazon, was that the the Kiva systems that are moving
15:37
the inventory around on the floor?
15:39
Sure. Yep.
15:40
So it was a combination. So it was, you know, with the
15:44
Amazon Robotics team, which is warehoused in Boston, the
15:47
informally known as Kiva. But now Amazon Robotics can't
15:53
say enough good about that team. Some of the brightest minds and
15:57
robotics are there, some of spun off to start their own things.
16:02
But it was the former Kiva. We were deploying Pegasus
16:07
drives, which is exactly what you're thinking.
16:10
But we also in KLAL, Lakeland, FL, we introduced for the air
16:17
team the very first robotic induction.
16:19
We called it Robin, you know articulated arm that is
16:22
inducting packages into the conveyance.
16:25
So. What do you mean by inducting
16:26
packages into commands? Well, you you bring in the
16:29
container and it's, you know, the the arm is actually grabbing
16:33
the individual package and sequencing it out.
16:36
Gotcha. OK.
16:38
That must have been really fascinating to be a part of
16:41
frontline of some really cool technology.
16:45
Again, you're surrounded by these incredibly brilliant minds
16:49
who are helping facilitate these deployments.
16:53
And you know, it creates this incredible level of complexity
16:57
with labor planning, ensuring you have the right headcount.
17:00
You know, you're, you're constantly evaluating your math
17:03
on flow to ensure, all right, Robin can induct X amount of
17:07
packages every hour on the hour. And you know, you start flowing
17:11
it through the entire air hub to, to determine what your
17:15
overall capacity is going to be for that, that hour, that shift,
17:20
that day, the week, month. And it just, it, it's a great
17:25
level of complexity, but it's fascinating to watch it happen
17:28
and, and evolve. And really what happened was our
17:31
very first robotics facility was Arlington Airfield in Texas.
17:36
That was Gen. 1. Gen. 2 was the Lakeland, FL,
17:40
Florida location and those are really kind of a footprint to,
17:44
to learn and iterate for the larger I, I call it mega hub in
17:50
CVG, the Cincinnati location where, you know, I think that
17:54
the numbers like 107 sixty sevens, you can, you can have
17:58
parked out front of the mega hub.
18:01
It's a massive engineering feat. And you know, when you think
18:05
about the engineering team and the air teams that structured
18:08
that and built that, it's an amazing feat of technology that
18:12
they put into place there. If you're ever in CVG Airport,
18:16
you have to take a moment to check that out.
18:19
All right, noted. All right, now let's move on to
18:22
Fetch. How did the opportunity to join
18:23
that organization come about, George?
18:26
Yeah, so I made the decision to to leave Amazon in November of
18:33
2020. Just decided to step back.
18:37
It's time to reassess. And you know, I was, I was
18:41
really drawn to Fetch in 2021. You know, I was introduced
18:46
through a connection to the CEO, Michael Patton, whose vision for
18:50
for solving this package problem just resonated with me.
18:54
It was so simple. It was brilliant.
18:56
You know, it's, you know, apartment communities are, are,
18:59
are not, and these multi family dwellings aren't prepared for
19:01
e-commerce deliveries. They're just not designed for
19:04
it. They're not set up for it.
19:07
Didn't you know, when I looked at my experience in logistics,
19:10
you know, the team at Fetch was looking for somebody to scale
19:13
operations while keeping, you know, the service levels high
19:17
and felt like my background in, in optimizing fulfillment
19:21
logistics made it a natural fit. And there was this instant
19:24
connection with, with the team. When I met him in Austin, you
19:29
know, Michael Patton, the CEO, it was his idea.
19:34
He brought it to life. Boone Putney, our CTO, truly one
19:39
of the best tech leaders I've ever worked with in my career.
19:42
I'd put, I'd put the tech team at Fetch up against anybody I've
19:45
worked with. They're fantastic.
19:48
And Aaron Anderson, the CFO, great financial leader.
19:53
And there was just this instant connection with, with the
19:57
leaders of Fetch and I instantly knew this is where I want to be.
20:02
Just felt right. It was just, you know, small
20:04
just passed a funding round, just getting started and.
20:09
It was exactly the type of opportunity I wanted to to take
20:12
on in the start up side having worked for, you know, big
20:15
established. For you, yeah.
20:18
Yeah. I felt like I needed to, yeah.
20:21
I felt like I needed to really explore that part of, of, of
20:24
business and see, you know, kind of build this from from not
20:27
scratch, but nearly scratch. Yeah, big, big change for, you
20:31
know, coming from like well established corporate
20:33
environment, you know, safe job, comfortable benefits.
20:38
But now you're like, hey, I want to take all this experience that
20:41
I've built up over the years and I want to put it to work and
20:44
something that's, you know, just getting off the ground.
20:46
So what's the problem that that Fetch was trying to solve in the
20:49
early days? Yeah.
20:51
So Fetch really was, was set up to solve the package overload
20:55
problem for those communities, you know, apartment managers
20:58
from just getting and still are getting buried under e-commerce
21:02
deliveries. You know, you know, it, it takes
21:06
hours of staff time, space they don't have.
21:10
You know, residents want convenience.
21:11
They don't know, they don't want to go to a package room and dig
21:14
through mounds of packages to find their, their delivery.
21:19
And, and really what Fetch did is to take that problem off site
21:24
to allow packet or to allow property managers the ability to
21:29
do what they're there to do, which is manage the property,
21:31
not be packaged, concierge in. When I first joined Fetch, I'll
21:37
give you an example. I went to a property launch in,
21:40
in Denver. This is a large multi family,
21:45
you know, multi level facility, beautiful apartment homes.
21:49
And the package rooms are the, they took a 2 bedroom apartment,
21:55
turned it into a package storage room.
21:57
So #1 they're losing an apartment to only packages.
22:01
They had hired 3 full time employees just to deliver and
22:04
manage the packages in this property.
22:07
So you've got 3 full time people additive, you know, which is
22:10
eating their margins. The residents are frustrated
22:13
because they're, they're, you know, they're not able to scale
22:15
it as effectively as they wanted to.
22:17
So we came in and literally the next day they're able to
22:21
refurbish that apartment, lease that apartment.
22:24
We're managing the packages off site the residents get to via
22:27
our apps schedule when they want that delivered to their
22:30
apartment. So how does this work then when
22:34
you say off site, when I first, you know, was looking at your
22:37
website, I thought, oh, they probably set up like a locker
22:40
system somewhere in the lobby and that's where the packages
22:42
get stored. But this is this is more complex
22:46
and more white glove than what I had originally pictured.
22:49
Yeah. So we, we have our warehouses
22:52
off site. Then when I say off site, this
22:55
is an important piece. I'm not a big fan of mega hubs
22:58
and huge operations. You know, we want to be nimble
23:01
and close to the residence. Our average distance from the
23:05
communities we serve is 7.8 miles.
23:09
So we're very close, you know, very, for those who know
23:12
logistics, the stem miles are very low.
23:15
So we're, we're very nimble and close.
23:17
We keep our facilities small. So for instance, you know, in
23:22
Dallas Fort Worth, we, you know, we have multiple locations, you
23:27
know, in that whole Metroplex, we've got 7 locations servicing,
23:31
you know, Dallas Fort Worth market.
23:33
But the process is simple. The carriers deliver to our
23:37
address. We received that package, scan
23:41
it into our inventory and at the moment we scan it into our
23:44
inventory, the resident receives a notification on the Fetch app.
23:49
So you know, Anthony, you it, it alerts you on your app, Anthony,
23:53
your Nikes have arrived. And then you would pick your
23:55
delivery window. You want those delivered.
23:58
You can pick day or you know, you can pick a certain day and
24:01
you can pick, you know, delivery windows within that day.
24:06
Or you can have us hold it for extended period if you need us
24:09
to hold it. So it it's a convenience for you
24:11
for, for business travellers who are out and about and out of
24:15
town for a week. You know, we can hold it for a
24:18
delivery day when they're returning from that trip.
24:21
But once they're notified, they schedule it.
24:24
We batch it up for our drivers and then our drivers deliver it
24:27
to them. So when a resident orders
24:33
something, say on Amazon, what's the actual physical address that
24:37
they're entering in? Is it the address of their?
24:40
Warehouse. No.
24:41
OK, so they're all instructed. Hey, now that you're living
24:44
here, if you've got anything larger than an envelope that you
24:47
want delivered here, you sign it to this address.
24:50
Correct, it's and then here's an.
24:52
Important. Here's an important message for
24:54
you. The USPS is beginning to scale
24:57
back their services on mail. So one of those services we're
25:01
providing currently for off campus student housing is mail
25:06
sortation. So what's happening is USPS is
25:09
no longer sorting multifamily residence mail.
25:13
They're bringing a bulk delivery and dropping it at the apartment
25:17
community. And then the property managers
25:20
are then having to pay someone to sort the mail to their
25:22
resident. So that's a service we're also
25:25
offering now. So Postal is changing.
25:27
It's evolving as a. Service.
25:29
So in some cases postal mail is getting delivered to the fetch
25:33
warehouses as well. Well, the the mail, the US mail
25:36
is still going directly to the property.
25:38
We meet the mail there and sort it for them on site.
25:42
Gotcha. Interesting.
25:43
You know, and I worked as an office manager in a dorm here at
25:47
Ohio State. And so it was my staff that was
25:51
responsible. And we had to schedule somebody
25:53
to, you know, sort the mail, you know, deliver it to boxes in
25:56
three different buildings. And it was the least popular
25:59
shift. It was the hardest to get
26:02
somebody to to. They just they hated the the
26:05
monotony of it. They hated the IT was just it
26:08
was grueling to everybody. And so I can see how this would
26:11
be really an attractive add on service.
26:15
So once one of the advancements I'd like to share with you that
26:19
that Boone and the tech team have deployed and we're rolling
26:23
it out across the network is a verified delivery.
26:26
Now with our our core original service, you could demand
26:30
signature only, meaning we wouldn't deliver it unless there
26:32
was a signature. We now have advanced it where
26:36
you as a resident will get AQR code or a numeric code depending
26:41
on what you're more comfortable with.
26:43
So if you've got a high value shipment coming to your
26:46
apartment, you can request a verified delivery and that'll
26:50
require our delivery personnel to scan that QR code or enter
26:53
that code before we hand you that package.
26:57
Interesting. OK, so this goes into my next
27:00
question, which is so somebody gets a notification on the app,
27:03
hey, you've got a package, you know, let's schedule it for
27:06
delivery. They choose a date and time.
27:09
And then do they have to meet you at the door of the building?
27:12
Do you guys somehow have access to the building and you can go
27:14
right to, you know, their apartment door?
27:17
That's a great, great important piece of our puzzle is we
27:23
partner with those communities so we have access to get to the
27:28
door. So when you think about these
27:30
multi family dwellings, there's numerous access points.
27:32
You have to have a fob or a key. So our our role with those
27:37
property management companies is to partner at the level where we
27:41
have access for our team to get in and out of the property.
27:46
Wow. I mean, that's, there's got to
27:48
be a great deal of trust built up, you know, for that, for
27:51
these communities to do that. What kind of assurance?
27:54
Like how? How do you build up that trust
27:56
with them? We go through a rigorous
27:58
background check evaluation of our team before they're brought
28:01
on board. So we, you know, do a thorough
28:03
background check and review before we put people in that
28:07
role. Now that you've got this access
28:13
to the building, which is, I don't know if I want to use the
28:16
word unprecedented, but that's in my mind it it's highly
28:20
unusual for a service provider to get that.
28:24
Does does that open the door to more opportunities for you guys?
28:29
Well, it it does. And again, you know, we're,
28:33
we're excited about the launch of our new services, Fetch
28:36
Market Valley Trash, Fetch Storage and all you storage is a
28:42
great example. If you think about apartment
28:45
living, your space is constrained in some cases.
28:48
So if you've got, you know, winter items that you know, you
28:52
don't want to take up your, your space during the summer months,
28:56
we bring storage bins to your door.
28:59
You fill them up, you call us when you're ready and we
29:01
retrieve them, You know, you seal them.
29:04
So you know, I've got this seal. It's mine.
29:07
That's the number, so no one's going to access it.
29:10
So you've got some security there and then we return it to
29:12
our warehouse for safe storage. If you want it back the next day
29:16
because you forgot something, we bring it back the next day.
29:19
If you don't want to touch it for three months, you don't have
29:21
to. That's really interesting and
29:24
success to. What are the size of these
29:26
storage containers? We've got some that are
29:30
extremely large. So you, you think there's really
29:33
large storage where you can put up like a Christmas tree.
29:36
You can store a Christmas tree in that.
29:39
You could put some sporting equipment in it, you know,
29:41
winter jackets, things of that nature.
29:45
And then we, you know, we have multiple sizes so you can scale
29:48
it as you need it. And I can request it to come
29:51
back to my location anytime I want.
29:55
You got it. No more.
29:57
No more trips to to the rental unit, you know the storage unit,
30:02
you know. No more driving off site to go
30:04
get your stuff. You've got the convenience of
30:06
somebody bringing it to your door.
30:07
It's a real white glove level service.
30:10
How long is that? What do you guys call that?
30:13
The fetch storage. Fetch storage.
30:15
How long has that product been available?
30:18
We've been doing it for over a year in a few select markets and
30:23
this year we rolled it out nationwide.
30:25
OK, so kind of like a a pilot, let's sort of like learn what we
30:29
don't know, kind of iron out the wrinkles, and now you feel like
30:33
you've got the wrinkles ironed out and you're ready to push it
30:36
to all your locations. We're a big fan of testing
30:39
before we deploy. So tell me about some of the
30:44
other services that you guys are offering now.
30:47
Yeah. So fetch market.
30:48
Fetch market. Is is one that we're really
30:50
excited about. It's a great amenity for the
30:52
residents. You know, you have to think
30:55
about products like if you need Tide detergent, you need, you
30:59
know, pods for the dishwasher, you want to Red Bull some, you
31:03
know, if you want Doritos to think all those convenience
31:07
items that you would go to the store for and we near now carry
31:11
in the fetch market. So through our app, whether you
31:16
have a delivery or not. So a package delivery, you're,
31:19
you're the market's not dependent on the package
31:21
delivery. I mean, you can access the
31:23
market, you can choose, you know, what items you want and
31:27
then we gather them up and then we deliver them directly to your
31:30
door. Here's the biggest
31:33
differentiator and what we're doing versus some people in the
31:36
market like a go puff. We don't charge you a fee for
31:39
that service. So if you're in a, if you're in
31:42
one of the in Austin. So we're we're this is our first
31:45
markets Austin's we have 50 properties we're offering this
31:48
to you don't pay an additional fee for this.
31:52
You have access to it via that app and we don't allow tipping.
31:56
So all the things people hate about door delivery, the
31:59
tipping, the added fees, those are gone.
32:02
You don't have those anymore. So whatever the price is that
32:05
shows up on the app, that's what they're paying.
32:08
That's it. That's it.
32:10
No hidden fees. What's?
32:11
The what's the wait? Sorry, say that again.
32:14
I was cutting you off. No hidden fees, no no surprises
32:18
ever. It's you pay what you pay just
32:21
for the item. And so what's the advantage of
32:23
this over like like just, hey, I need some tide.
32:27
So I ordered on Amazon. For for us it's it again, is
32:33
that accessibility? So we're coming right to your
32:35
door. You don't have to pre arrange
32:37
it. You don't have to meet in the
32:38
lobby. You there's no extra steps for
32:41
you. It's coming right to your door.
32:43
And is that something what you're describing are kind of
32:46
lower value items, Is that something that they have to
32:49
arrange the delivery time or will you kind of leave just
32:51
outside their door for them? We can do it however the
32:54
resident chooses. OK all.
32:58
Right. Was there another new service in
33:00
there? So market storage, we, we're,
33:05
we're again, we're doing valet trash, which we're really
33:09
excited about. We again tested that in a couple
33:12
of markets. We believe that the and for
33:15
those of the may not be familiar with valet Trash and multifamily
33:18
living, this Valet trash service.
33:21
You set your trash out at night outside your apartment door, one
33:25
of our service providers comes by and retrieves it, takes it to
33:28
the dumpster or to the the trash collection location.
33:33
You never have to touch your trash, you just set it outside
33:35
and then you forget about it. So how?
33:38
Does it normally work if I live in that same apartment building
33:41
and I'm not using your valet trash service?
33:43
Well, how does my? Trash.
33:44
You don't have valet trash. Yeah, the residents have to
33:46
carry it, find the dumpster, get into the dumpster, come back up
33:50
to their apartment. It's just a value added amenity
33:53
for, for residents living in these apartment communities.
33:57
So we, they're, they're this industry exists, it's been
34:02
around for a while. And what we learned is that the
34:06
service levels were not great, you know, frequently missed,
34:10
forgotten, left a mess. And we were confident with our
34:15
tech, our access to the buildings, our knowledge of
34:18
multifamily buildings and our ability to, to use our labor
34:22
planning and our labor tracking that we can do a far better job.
34:26
And we tested it in two different markets.
34:30
One of the best compliments we got was from a resident who said
34:34
this is the best trash experience I've ever had
34:37
anywhere I've lived, including the, the, the home I lived in
34:40
and the trash service in that community.
34:43
So when, when you have residents giving you that positive
34:46
feedback and appreciation, you, you know, you're on to
34:48
something. And we, we again, we rolled it
34:51
out nationwide this year and it's really taken off and people
34:55
are are excited about the, the predictability, the certainty of
34:59
of the fetch service on the valet trash.
35:02
Are there any new services that are in the works that you can
35:06
give voice to? I saw that smile.
35:10
Am I ready to talk about it? That's what he's thinking.
35:14
There there are some non disclosures.
35:16
So I can't, I can't. Here's what I would say.
35:20
We we were excited to be offering.
35:22
I'm a big fan of sweating our assets.
35:25
So in in the business world, you know, you invest in a location,
35:29
you invest in equipment, you invest in vehicles.
35:33
Any time those aren't in operation, I see it as a
35:37
negative. You know, if you have storage
35:39
space that's underutilized. I had a great manager one time
35:43
told me if you see concrete you're not sweating your assets,
35:46
you got to figure out how to sweat the asset.
35:50
We're we're, we're entering into the next level of services where
35:56
we can provide some, you know, we've got our core operation
35:59
hours, so we've got ability to handle other volume off hours.
36:05
So we're partnering with some other folks to manage some
36:07
sortation and package management in our off hours.
36:11
So think of a kind of a three PL. sortation process.
36:15
So we're. Doing it on site at the the
36:18
apartment. At the fetch warehouse, doing it
36:20
at the fetch. Warehouse.
36:21
OK, yeah. And so who's paying for all
36:25
these different services? It it occurs to me that you know
36:28
something like the trash service or you know the the delivery,
36:33
you know the Fetch market, that's something that as the
36:35
resident I'm paying, but just for the sort of the core service
36:38
that you guys started with. Is that something where all that
36:42
is provided you know directly from the the apartment building
36:45
you've got the contract with their paying for your services?
36:49
Our contract is directly with the property management
36:51
companies who run these multi family properties.
36:57
And so as a resident of that building, I'm not paying
37:00
anything extra to you guys to get my packages delivered to me.
37:05
The resident never pays us directly for those.
37:08
It's always through the property management company.
37:10
If they do a pass through fee to the resident, there's usually
37:13
amenity fee for apartment homes, you know, So that's a pass
37:20
through fee that occurs for the residents.
37:24
Gotcha. And what does the sales
37:28
presentation look like to a property management company?
37:32
I'm guessing there's, you've got some math that shows, hey, this
37:36
is probably costing you guys X to manage yourselves right now.
37:42
We can come in and do it for, you know, 20% less becomes a no
37:48
brainer. Yeah, for for us, it's for, for
37:52
us, the, the approach is simple. It's a it's about allowing those
37:58
team members who are managing the property to actually do that
38:01
role and getting them out of the package business, you know, so
38:04
they no longer burdened with the hours of managing whether
38:08
they're trying to take it to a package room.
38:11
And and you know, what we've learned is some properties
38:15
invest in locker systems and what we know about lockers is
38:20
they get overflowed. There's not room for oversized
38:23
shipments. And you still you'll see the
38:25
locker bank and you'll see packages stacked on top of it,
38:28
around it, on the floor in front of it.
38:31
So that's not a great resident experience.
38:34
You know, in, in other multifamily locations, you have
38:38
package rooms and you can talk to any resident who's lived in a
38:42
property with a package room and they open the door and there's a
38:45
mound of packages that they're trying to dig through.
38:48
And look, this is offseason. Then you get to peak season and
38:50
the holidays and it, you know, it, it amplifies those
38:53
challenges even more. So the, the, the approach is
38:59
very simple that we're going to come in and remove your teams
39:02
from the package management business.
39:04
We're going to handle that for you.
39:06
We'll work with with you and your residents to ensure that
39:08
you've got a great service. And look, you know the, one of
39:12
the things, one of the metrics I'm most proud about is
39:15
holistically, you know, we're 98% customer satisfaction scores
39:20
for the past two years. We we have a service that's
39:24
predictable, dependable and that the residents and property
39:27
management companies can rely on.
39:30
What's the biggest logistical challenge that you guys run into
39:34
and trying to scale at the pace that you are?
39:41
You know, I think the, the, the largest challenge, you know,
39:52
when, when you think about scaling across the the markets
39:56
holistically, you know, we have the regular challenges of
40:01
facility capacity, driver retention, carrier delays,
40:05
carriers that are delaying delivery in do us until late in
40:07
the day. And you know one of the biggest
40:09
hurdles was stabilizing, you know, our 1099 driver network,
40:16
you know, and so large percentage of our packages
40:20
delivered by 10 and 9 gig workers and stabilizing that.
40:24
And the the way we went about that is.
40:27
Nick Preitch is, are are one of the VPS that that runs
40:32
everything to do with that piece of our business.
40:36
You know, Nick's charged with customer satisfaction, customer
40:40
experience and innovation for for our company.
40:43
And you know, we tackled that challenge with daily operations
40:46
syncs, Nick's VP level oversight and streamlining our payment
40:51
systems to, to ensure we could, you know, improve, you know,
40:54
driver loyalty. And then, you know, the other
40:59
challenge is really the, the, the tech piece of it.
41:02
And, and Boone's team again, has done a fantastic job empowering
41:07
us with tech that allows us to move at a faster pace, you know,
41:12
so, you know, we've leaned on, you know, fast development and,
41:15
and cross functional teams to roll out those features fast.
41:19
And keeping up with that and, and ensuring we're, we're
41:22
constantly evolving on that is, is really a challenge.
41:24
You know, a lot of the, the problems are solvable.
41:27
You can solve capacity, you can resolve driver retention.
41:31
It's ensuring that your tech and, and your customer
41:33
experience moments are, are kept up with and advancing
41:38
appropriately. And I'm a big fan of tech.
41:40
I'm a big fan of AI keeping that experience moving at the speed
41:45
it should for for the resident customers and for the property
41:48
management customers. Can you dive into a specific
41:51
example of when you introduced a creative solution, whether it's
41:55
technology, process, design, team structure, whatever it was
41:59
and how it had the an impact on fetch?
42:02
Yeah, look, Boone's team created an inbound solution for us.
42:08
So when those packages arrived, scanning them into our
42:12
inventory, you know, we call it logging.
42:14
So logging those packages in was a very manual process.
42:20
And Anthony, you have to in your head and envision, you know,
42:24
UPS, FedEx, Amazon, DHLUSPS all dropping, you know, thousands of
42:31
packages on the dock and you've got your team standing there
42:35
trying to hand enter, you know, typing in information.
42:39
And it was very laborious. It was very painful.
42:43
Reminds me of your early days of FedEx where there was so much of
42:47
that was manual. There were some flashbacks.
42:51
Boone's team jumped in. They created this OCR, you know,
42:55
optical character recognition scanning process that you know,
43:02
advanced us immediately overnight.
43:04
We were able to just suck in that volume like it was nothing.
43:08
I mean, the speed at which we were able to inbound was no
43:11
longer the bottleneck. So is is we layered in that tech
43:16
solve it completely, completely changed our inbound processing.
43:21
And the thing I get most excited about is when we have prime
43:27
events, you know, prime sales events, you know, big volume
43:30
events, back to school events, we're able to, to absorb that
43:33
volume seamlessly and we're able to scale up our labor.
43:38
We're able to scale up our operations to pull that volume
43:41
in seamlessly now. So we, we avoid the delays, we
43:44
don't have to delay the, the processing.
43:47
And, and again, it's, it's due to the tech team's innovative
43:50
approaches to how we do our business.
43:52
They're constantly looking for ways to improve how we process
43:57
and do the work that we do. And so remind me, how many
44:00
markets are you in now? 27 now. 27 now, and I'm guessing
44:06
more coming and you want to give voice to.
44:09
We're recording here early September 2025.
44:12
Well, we, we just launched Tallahassee for in specifically
44:17
for off campus student housing for FSU.
44:19
It's a huge student housing market.
44:21
We just launched that. So I think my answer would be
44:24
wherever you see large student populations, you'll probably see
44:27
us launching next. You know, we, we've, we've got
44:30
some, some good opportunities in some of the Southeast markets.
44:35
You know, we've got our eye on places like Savannah, GA is a
44:39
great location to launch for multifamily because you can from
44:42
Savannah, you can touch Hilton Head, SC, which is a massive
44:45
multifamily location. And then you, you think about,
44:48
you know, State College and Knoxville and some other student
44:52
locations. You intentionally not mentioning
44:56
Columbus, OH because of your connection to that state up
44:59
north. Is there a school in Columbus
45:02
that we should know about? Columbus is on the road map
45:05
actually. OK.
45:06
So absolutely we would love to be the package service of choice
45:11
for for OSU. And, you know, we would love to
45:13
see Ann Arbor on that list as well.
45:17
Fair enough. Anything else we should say
45:20
about Fetch before we move into parcel paying?
45:22
Because I'm really curious to dive into what this is I I can't
45:26
wrap my head around it. Yeah, I'm a little excited about
45:31
that conversation. No, I, I just think our, our,
45:33
our success is, is driving and diversifying those services
45:37
beyond our package delivery, you know, with storage market trash,
45:41
you know, leveraging our existing network, leveraging
45:46
our, our tech with our, or with our partners and using data to
45:50
refine our offerings. You know, this is, you know, I
45:57
think the lesson is if you focus on your core strength, you can't
46:02
be afraid to branch out and try new opportunities.
46:07
And, and that's the thing that most excites me about Fetch is
46:09
we want to be the type of company that residents and, and
46:14
property managers know they want to have come to their location
46:17
to better serve their community. We just want to be a great
46:20
community partner for for those communities.
46:23
Yeah, I think it's going to be really interesting to see how
46:25
this evolves over the next even just 12 months because you guys
46:29
have sort of this unique level of access into these buildings.
46:34
And I think, you know, the Sky's the limit, you know, as much as
46:37
you guys can think creatively. OK, Yeah, we're.
46:40
Park, the only other thing I'll tell you is we're we're taking
46:42
that market idea out of Austin, we're going to Houston and
46:45
launching that market next. So that'll be the next big
46:48
launch of market for us and looking forward to the learnings
46:52
we get to to different locations to see if there's
46:55
differentiation their own product and skews that we need
46:58
to carry. So excited about that offering
47:00
coming up. Nice.
47:02
OK, what's the problem that Parcel Ping is aiming to solve?
47:06
Yeah, look, I was a former teammate of mine who's a
47:11
professor at Marquette, had some students in the master's of
47:17
supply chain. They were grads from his
47:19
program. And he wanted me to, to he
47:22
wanted to introduce me to them to, to see if I can offer a
47:26
hand. And Solomon and Tyler, who were
47:30
the founders of, of Parcel Ping, we're, we're working on this
47:33
idea to solve, you know, verified delivery.
47:38
And, and here's what happens. You know, let's, let's say as a
47:41
consumer, Anthony, you, you've got your eye on a beautiful, you
47:46
know, high end designer watch, you know, pick your brand.
47:51
A couple things happen in that moment.
47:54
You, you want to trust who you're getting it from.
47:57
You want to trust that what you are buying is what you're
48:00
actually going to get. So Parcel Ping is using a visual
48:07
AI verification system. So they developed this, this
48:11
cutting edge tech that's going to allow you as a consumer to
48:14
see that verification at pack. So at the moment that product is
48:20
packed. If, if, if you've ordered a, you
48:24
know, a phone or you know a, a watch, it is literally taking
48:29
that AI and confirming what you said you ordered is actually
48:32
what's going into that box. So step one, from the beginning
48:37
origin moment of your shipment, it's verified through the whole
48:41
supply chain. There are moments and times
48:43
where it will be verified via scans.
48:47
And then when you unbox it, you'll then use that AI overlay
48:50
and you will verify that that item that you ordered is the
48:55
item that was packed. So it uses this this technology
49:00
to verify it and it doesn't. That doesn't really exist today.
49:06
So they've created this really unique approach.
49:09
So that's on the base level. And then you take a step beyond
49:14
and here's where it gets interesting.
49:17
If you're in the e-commerce business that if you're an
49:20
e-commerce retailer, you're you're facing fraudulent
49:23
behavior from consumers to the tune of multibillion dollar
49:28
impact a year. So if you look at E com and
49:31
retail, you've got billions of dollars of fraud occurring every
49:36
year where where consumers are shipping back not exactly what
49:39
they said they ordered. So what happens with partial
49:43
paying? It's really like this shield
49:46
that protects you as the the shipper too, because it's going
49:50
to push it's going to push that tech to your phone as a
49:54
consumer. So when you go to package your
49:57
return, you're using AI to say, hey, that that watch you ordered
50:03
and that you're returning is the watch that you got.
50:07
So that gives, it gives certainty to that company that
50:11
you're returning what you actually said you're returning.
50:14
OK, so let me see if I understand the problem here
50:17
because this isn't something that I, I, I don't think I've
50:20
experienced this personally. So there have been instances in
50:24
the past where somebody orders a a nice watch and what actually
50:28
comes, maybe I ordered a Rolex and what actually comes as a
50:32
Swatch. And it's like, this isn't what I
50:34
ordered. And the company says, well, we
50:36
shipped the and now, now there's this whole dispute.
50:39
And so what's happening on the company side is when they go to
50:42
pack that they're taking a photograph, that photograph gets
50:46
logged and time stamped, right? And then the package is tracked
50:50
at sort of the different waypoints, the different, you
50:53
know, delivery hubs that it passes through.
50:55
And so when it arrives at my home now it's sort of the end of
51:00
that chain of custody. I open up the box and I take a
51:02
picture to either confirm or deny that this product is still
51:06
that picture of the Rolex that they originally uploaded on the
51:11
retailer side. Is that right?
51:13
That's 100% right. And you know, as an early
51:17
engagement on this, they push this solution to to my phone and
51:21
I got to see it happen. It was amazing how good the tech
51:28
was on identifying the product and and confirming it.
51:32
It's so I've always said this, the person that owns the data
51:37
and controls the data wins and it gives certainty.
51:41
Look, shipping is kind of chaos, right?
51:44
You've got a 1,000,000 square foot warehouse shipping, you
51:48
know, hundreds of thousands of skews a day.
51:51
What are the odds that something's going to get
51:53
mispackaged? It happens there.
51:56
Even if it's a small percentage of defect within your your
51:58
supply chain, it's a defect and it affects your customer.
52:02
So it gives the purchaser certainty that hey, ice parcel
52:05
ping, they see that parcel ping logo and shield.
52:08
They know that they're going to get confirmation at origin and
52:12
they're going to confirm it at destination.
52:14
And then for the seller or for the E com retailer, it's a low
52:18
of certainty for them on returns.
52:20
And if you have nefarious characters out there who are
52:23
looking to fraudulently, you know, make some money off your
52:26
company, they're going to see that parcel, Pink Shield, and
52:28
they're going to avoid it. They're not going to try and
52:31
scam the company. It's certainty in a chaotic
52:34
supply chain. So the advantage in sort of the
52:37
reverse is so I'm the nefarious actor.
52:40
I've ordered this Rolex. I get it.
52:42
It's an actual Rolex. And I think, well, I'm going to
52:46
pull a fast one on them. I'm going to take my old Timex,
52:48
put it back in the box and say this isn't what I ordered or I
52:52
changed my mind or whatever and ship it back, you know, hoping
52:55
to get the refund on the value of a Rolex and using the, the,
52:59
and, and so this kind of thing I've heard, I've read before
53:01
this, this kind of thing happens a lot.
53:03
And so with the parcel paying in place, it's like, you know what
53:07
we saw you put a Timex in that box.
53:09
Absolutely. It, it is it, you know, again,
53:14
it's, it's, it's, it reminds me, it's very reminiscent of the
53:17
moment I met fetch. And I was like, this is
53:20
brilliant. This is so simple.
53:21
It's like, how is no one else doing this?
53:25
When I met, you know, Saul and, and, and Tyler and the partial
53:29
ping team. And again, the credit to, to
53:32
Tyler and Saul, they've, they've also built this incredible team
53:36
around them. So they brought in some of the,
53:39
the, the brightest minds and, and tech to advance the company.
53:43
And you know, Sam Rasner, who was AVP of development for Chewy
53:49
is now the CTO. She was at E Med as well.
53:54
She's a brilliant mind in, in developing and helping build out
53:58
the Parcel Ping foundation. So it's about bringing the right
54:01
team together too. And Parcel Ping is absolutely
54:04
100% done that and have built an incredible team that's going to
54:10
market with a solution that people are going to be thrilled
54:13
with. When is this going to be
54:15
available? When do you expect this with
54:18
your first customer? The end of Q3Q4 this year.
54:23
Oh, right here, September of 2025, this is right around the
54:27
corner. Is this the kind of thing where
54:30
you worry about Amazon copying your idea?
54:37
Trademarks and patents are wonderful things.
54:39
OK. And so could you see them
54:42
becoming a customer of this service?
54:45
I think there's potential for, I think companies like Amazon.
54:50
I think when you think pharmaceutical, I think when you
54:54
consider companies like UPS and FedEx who want a different level
54:59
of certainty. If you think about companies
55:02
managing returns for for the E com companies, if you think
55:07
about companies in the three PL. segment of of transportation,
55:11
this is a this is a solution that will absolutely, you know,
55:16
pay off. Do you see this being used, at
55:20
least in the beginning, primarily for high value
55:22
shipments? Like I order a bag of almonds
55:26
from Amazon, Probably nobody wants to go through the trouble
55:29
of taking a picture and verifying that.
55:31
Or am I thinking about it wrong? I think you're thinking about it
55:34
correctly until you get to the new food supply chain
55:40
regulations that are going to deploy that have that next level
55:44
requirement on verification throughout the supply chain.
55:47
So there's some, there's some regulation that's going to
55:49
affect the food and beverage industry in the, in the
55:52
Pharmaceutical industry that will demand a different level of
55:56
visibility to your supply chain. And you, you, you have to, to
56:02
look ahead and, and think that parcel ping is a is going to be
56:05
an interesting solution for those companies as well.
56:08
So that bag almonds may become more important for my visibility
56:11
of supply chain forward-looking. Yeah, you know, as I'm thinking
56:14
back to a lot of the articles I've read, I don't, I'm not
56:18
familiar with the problem of, you know, the the merchant
56:22
shipping fraudulent items. But maybe that's because I buy
56:24
most of my stuff from Amazon, I don't know.
56:26
But the reverse of people shipping back stuff that you
56:30
know, and getting, you know, refunds, like that's a giant
56:34
problem. And I think, you know, you put
56:36
AAB like a a billion dollar problem.
56:40
I could see this being this. This could be financially huge
56:44
for companies like Amazon, other large e-commerce retailers.
56:49
For an e-commerce retailer, having that level of
56:51
technological certainty and and ability to put that shield out
56:56
there is going to be a game changer and for all intents and
57:00
purposes, nearly eradicate their fraudulent return behavior.
57:04
It's crazy. I can't wait to see this in
57:07
action. If you just do a research on
57:09
fraudulent returns, you'll be by the amount of money that's being
57:13
spent. And if you talk to anybody
57:15
that's in retail on the E com side, the the number of of
57:19
instances where they've had to fight a claim of fraudulent
57:22
returns. It's and it's an obvious need in
57:25
the marketplace. George, I've just got one more
57:28
question for you, but before I ask it, I want to let people
57:32
know how to get in touch with you.
57:33
They can find you George Schultz on LinkedIn.
57:36
If you just search George Schultz and Fetch package,
57:40
you're going to find him. Also, there's fetchpackage.com
57:44
and the newest venture that you're involved with, which is
57:48
equally as exciting, parcel ping.ussofetchpackage.com,
57:53
parcel ping dot US, and George Schultz fetch package on
57:56
LinkedIn. So last, last question for you,
57:59
George, be curious to hear about a serious challenge that you've
58:04
overcome in your life, personal or professional.
58:07
What was that? How'd you get through it?
58:08
What'd you learn? Yeah, I for me, I think it's a
58:13
combination of things. You know, Anthony, when I, when
58:18
I started my career, you know, as an hourly employee and, you
58:22
know, a subcontract is as a janitor for, for FedEx.
58:25
I was cleaning the toilets in the warehouse for FedEx in the
58:28
early days. And on my journey, I've always
58:31
had a, you know, a little bit of this, you know, and a lot of
58:35
people talk about this is that imposter syndrome and feeling
58:38
like, you know, do I belong in this room?
58:42
And, you know, at moments in my career, it's, it's been, you
58:46
know, a hurdle, you know, emotionally, mentally, kind of a
58:50
hurdle to get through. And at FedEx again, the
58:56
challenge was you, you've got subordinate team members.
58:59
You know, you're the boss. You've got two or three levels
59:01
below you and you're looking at them going well, they can run
59:04
this location as well, if not better than I can, like I can't,
59:08
you know, So it, it, it's this, it's this feeling of, you know,
59:13
am I going to be good enough? Am I going to be able to add
59:15
value? How do I add value to to this
59:17
team? And then you get to Amazon and
59:21
you're surrounded by people who are, you know, next level
59:25
intelligence, skill and, and ability, who, who are coming out
59:30
of extraordinary successful careers in numerous industries.
59:34
And you're sitting at the table and you immediately feel like,
59:41
what, what the hell am I doing at this table?
59:43
Like, like, what value am I going to bring?
59:47
And you know, I guess the advice I would share to people for for
59:52
these moments is you ended up there for a reason.
59:56
You know everything you've done to this point in your life is is
1:00:00
made you who you are and in that moment and.
1:00:05
If you focus less on how did you get here or why are you here and
1:00:09
more on, you know, how do you solve the problem?
1:00:12
How do you And it's about training your mind to focus on
1:00:14
what's in front of you. And for me, I frequently step
1:00:18
back. I'm I'm I'm blessed with with a
1:00:21
team of people who reported to me who are remarkably talented.
1:00:26
You know, Kendall Drew leads our valet trash service.
1:00:29
There's nobody better at that than he is his ability to
1:00:33
consume data and and focus on outcomes and Dr. outcomes
1:00:38
through others is, is unshake. Nick Priet, who runs the
1:00:41
customer experience innovation for for fetch.
1:00:46
He can do that a hell of a lot better than I can and and then
1:00:51
Justin London, who is our VP of operations.
1:00:55
So if you think about those 41 locations across the US, you
1:00:59
know A-Z that's his job is to make sure those are successful.
1:01:04
He's, he's better at that than I am.
1:01:07
So my, my job is to look inwardly and go, how do I help
1:01:11
them? How do I, how do I remove the
1:01:12
obstacles for them? How do I, how do I get things
1:01:15
that are their way? How do I help them drive more
1:01:18
value? So it's always this challenge of
1:01:21
like, how the hell did I end up in this role?
1:01:24
Am I good enough? Am I smart enough?
1:01:27
And you know, at times I've over challenged myself.
1:01:30
You know, I'm constantly trying to read different books,
1:01:33
journals, stay abreast of what's happening.
1:01:36
You know, so there's this, there's this demand of constant
1:01:39
education. You have to say a prize.
1:01:41
So I watch companies like Figure AI and what they're doing,
1:01:45
robotics, the humanoid approach. Robotics is fascinating.
1:01:49
I think they're, you know, if you think about the fact that
1:01:52
they're already deployed and in Spartanburg, SC for BMW on the
1:01:56
floor in the manufacturing that's remarkable and more
1:01:59
coming. I'm meeting with with Contour
1:02:03
robotics in Austin Monday next week.
1:02:07
They're using robotics as a service fascinating company in
1:02:10
in. So if you if you feel that
1:02:12
imposter syndrome, go educate yourself.
1:02:15
Go learn, go consume other information and in always change
1:02:20
yourself to keep learning. But then just ask yourself how
1:02:24
do I add value here and now? I love that, you know, I, I am
1:02:29
constantly reminded how common this imposter syndrome is,
1:02:34
especially among really high achievers.
1:02:36
I talked with a lot of my guests about this.
1:02:38
I've had a guest on Gary Fry who wrote a book on imposter
1:02:42
syndrome and I had another guest that, and you're kind of
1:02:45
alluding to this a little bit where he actually learned to
1:02:48
embrace that imposter syndrome as his superpower and said, you
1:02:53
know what? This is the thing that kicks me
1:02:55
in the butt every day and make sure that I'm getting out of in
1:02:59
bed and I'm going to do the best job that I can and not getting
1:03:03
comfortable with where I am. And I think that's what I hear
1:03:05
you saying, George. It's like I, I feel like I'm
1:03:08
inadequate. I'm in the wrong room.
1:03:09
Look at all these smart people around me.
1:03:10
I got to level up my game. I got to go read.
1:03:12
I got to educate myself. I got to make sure I show up
1:03:15
with my A game every day. That's use it as a catalyst to
1:03:20
to motivate yourself. Nobody's going to motivate you.
1:03:23
Nobody's going to know, you know, if you're waiting to hear
1:03:25
the bell and you're waiting to hear the IT ain't coming, You
1:03:29
got to create it yourself. Like you have to take that
1:03:33
sometimes negative cloudiness and channel it and and use it
1:03:37
for a motivation to do more it. It's kind of like getting up and
1:03:40
working out, you know? You, you, you got to or what?
1:03:44
What does the military say? Embrace the suck.
1:03:47
You, you have to embrace the discomfort.
1:03:50
Do the hard thing George Schultz from fetch package and Ping
1:03:54
Parcel. I want to be the first to thank
1:03:56
you for sharing both your time and your story with us today.
1:03:58
I really appreciate it. Anthony, great, great having the
1:04:01
conversation, great meeting you and looking for the next time we
1:04:05
get to meet. All right, folks, that's a wrap
1:04:07
on another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
1:04:10
Thanks for learning with us today.