Focus on Freight

The Strangest Secret

My Uncle Fred is notorious for sending forwarded e-mail messages. The number of messages I receive from Uncle Fred daily has been trending downward as his level of experience with the internet increases, this is my assumption anyway. But every so often I receive a gem, a message that strikes a chord. Be sure to click the link at the end. 

From the mind of Uncle Fred...

For all of us there are turning points in our lives. One of mine was the first time I heard The Strangest Secret in 1964. It was then, and still is, the most powerful and thought provoking message I've ever heard. In many ways it changed my life.

Earl Nightingale's radio recording that he called The Strangest Secret electrified his listeners all over the country. The stations that carried his syndicated show were deluged with requests for copies of it.

As a result, the audio version of Nightingale's message was recorded, and sold over 1 million copies. In fact, Earl Nightingale's recording of The Strangest Secret was the first non-music record to exceed the one million mark!

Just take 3 minutes to watch The Strangest Secret movie. If you truly understand the concept, it can change your life forever.

Don't forget to pay it forward by sharing this email with friends, family, and co-workers.

Just click this link to watch. Click Here

MC-2 Partners with PEI

In the last quarter of 2009 PEI was approached by one of our largest customers, MC-2, regarding a 2 year project associated with the purchase and management of a semi-truck which would ultimately power Alcatel-Lucents "Executive Briefing Center on Wheels". Based on our long history and close relationship with MC-2, not to mention our expertise in the trade show industry, we were awarded the project. Today I had my first live view of the truck and trailer, I must say that it was impressive. The truck itself is a beautiful white Volvo with a 5,000lb APU which pulls an powers Alcatel-Lucents trailer. The trailer expands into a multi-room conference center with a server room and even a party deck on top. You can read more about Alcatel-Lucent's mobile showcase on their website at http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/us/events/2009/mobileebc/landingPage.html.

More pictures are available on PEI's Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stockbridge-GA/PEI/155720959572

Its 2010, here we grow again...

Our new office addition has officially been completed thanks to the freakish coordination skills of Jay Patterson:). Jay did an awesome job managing the design of the addition, as well as the construction, the flooring, the layout, and the finishing. Jay made it look easy (but we know it wasn't) great job Jay! Check out our facebook page for a pic http://www.facebook.com/#/pages/Stockbridge-GA/PEI/155720959572.  

Kenny

Welcome Melissa Platt

We are pleased to welcome Melissa Platt to our Atlanta sales team. Melissa is a native of Atlanta, GA. She earned a B.A. in Marketing from the University of Georgia and is a huge fan of Georgia football. Melissa has extensive sales experience in the healthcare and tradeshow industries. She is relatively new to transportation sales, but we are sure that she will prove to be a valuable asset to PEI. We expect great things!

Festival of Carols

PEI was the proud sponsor of the 2009 Fayette Festival of Carols which featured the Atlanta Young Singers of Callanwolde, the Fayette Festival Orchestra, and The Southern Nights Chorale (starring our own Ken Paraiso singing baritone). All of the ensembles were fabulous and the production itself was excellent. It was a great way to get into the Christmas Spirit! I hope to have some video to upload soon. Stay tuned…

The Season of Giving

Paradise Empowers, the charity organization funded by the PEI companies, recently made a $10,000.00 donation to Living Water for Girls. Living Water is a therapeutic residential program developed to meet the specific needs of girls, 12-17 years of age who have been victimized by commercial sexual exploitation.

Lisa Williams, the founder of Living Water and a member of McDonough Christian Church, presented to a Sunday school class which was attended by PEI employee Gayle Smith. The presentation spoke about the young girls who were being forced into prostitution in the Atlanta metro area. Gayle was so moved by the presentation that she facilitated a meeting between the founders of Paradise Empowers and Living Water. Since both organizations were founded and operated by women who care strongly about the empowerment of women, a natural kinship was formed.

A federal credit union close by agreed to match every dollar raised by Living Water and at last count the total amount was $86,000.00.

We are so glad that we could help.

http://www.livingwaterforgirls.org/

http://www.paradiseempowers.org/

Zen and the Art of Logistics Marketing

I recently received an e-mail from my Uncle Fred which simply asked “do you know what shippei means?” Knowing that he must be familiar with our web address www.shippei.com I thought I would humor him by searching shippei on Wikipedia and was surprised by what I found. A shippei is actually a curved bamboo staff which is used as a symbol of a master’s authority in Zen Buddhism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shippei. I just found this to be extremely interesting. I have always been fascinated by Buddhism and the other eastern “religions” so I was excited to learn something new regarding the subject. Anyway this article triggered my interest so I surfed a bit more and ended up spending an hour or so reading about Zen and Buddhism. The article stated that the aspects of Zen training include: “a life of humility; a life of labor; a life of service; a life of prayer and gratitude; and a life of meditation.” Wow! It was truly inspiring to me how these attributes aligned with what we value here at PEI. It was like a sign that no matter what, we need to stay humble, to serve well, to work hard, to be grateful, and to be still and experience this moment…

TSA Regulations

We’ve heard from numerous customers who are concerned about a recent report that air cargo shipments could experience significant delays after August 2010 when new TSA regulations are implemented. While it is true that new regulations are scheduled to take effect in August 2010 we don’t expect there to be any substantial impact to the air cargo supply chain. Currently, 100% of the cargo loaded on to narrow-body passenger aircraft is being screened at the piece level by the airlines. This represents 96% of passenger flights originating in the U.S. and its territories. The upcoming change will require all air cargo to be screened prior to being loaded onto any passenger aircraft narrow-body or wide-body. 

 The TSA has developed a strategy in order to reconcile any potential impact to the air cargo industry, a key component of which is known as the CCSP or certified cargo screening program. The CCSP was developed to allow early screening of cargo in the air cargo supply chain and will permit manufacturers, warehouses, distribution centers, third party logistics providers, indirect air carriers, airport cargo handlers, and independent cargo screening facilities to apply and participate in the program once they are vetted and audited. This is a voluntary program and will provide additional cargo screening capacity to ensure that the supply chain is unaffected. PEI has contracted with a number of screening facilities nationwide to guarantee that your air cargo shipments can be screened and tendered without delay. For more information, or if you are interested in applying to become a certified screening facility please visit the TSA website at: http://www.tsa.gov/what_we_do/tsnm/air_cargo/programs.shtm#cert

EDPA Luncheon

We had a great time yesterday sponsoring the south east chapter EDPA luncheon at 103 West www.edpa.com. I really enjoyed meeting some of Atlanta's best exhibit design professionals. Also, we were lucky enough to hear a presentation from Stacey Hylen from http://businessoptimizercoach.com/ on "Strategies to capture low hanging fruit and rapidly increase sales". Stacey noted that many businesses have difficulty with strategic planning, accountability, cutting back rather than growth, and find themselves working in the business rather than on the business, Some of Stacey's recommendations were to implement up-sell, affiliate / co-marketing, client re-activation and referral programs. Stacy was about strategy, implementation, and measurement. I love it!

Southern Nights Chorale

 

We are so exited to present this video of our very own Ken Paraiso aka "Pops" performing the National Anthem with the Southern Nights Chorale at the Atlanta Braves game on 08/15/09. Sorry it took so long... I finally figured out how to capture the video, yes!