Personal Contributions in Logistics

My internship at Preferred Freezer Services has proven to improve my professional communication skills, develop valuable connections, and increase my overall understanding of how a company can operate at such a large scale. Working in the logistics department has exposed me to the methods and strategies that are adopted by companies to mitigate risk and maximize profits, all while maintaining a “customer-first” centric ideology. Logistics is an essential aspect of Preferred Freezer Services’ operations. My department oversees the transportation of our customers’ cargo from port to warehouse, and from warehouse to its end destination. Along the way, we manage the loading and unloading of the hauls, as well as the billing for all services provided. Specifically, my role has been to contact hundreds of different clients and follow up with them on the payment status of outstanding invoices. It is obviously not the most exciting role, but it has exposed me to an imperative part of business that I had not been involved with before. Typically, each day I reach out to roughly fifty different companies world-wide and either call or email them regarding their past-due service charges. Quantitatively speaking, I have received payments for nearly 60% of the contacts I have made, while many of the failed attempts are often first-time customers whose billing address, email, or phone number has faults in our system. Since I am primarily dealing with our small to medium-sized clients, our fees have a much larger impact on their companies, and therefore, their bills are often paid later than our much larger clients, Walmart and Costco. Likely the biggest problem I have faced while assisting accounts receivable with collections has been where our customers’ payment is sent to. This efficiency problem is related to the fact that we have over forty cold-storage facilities nation-wide, and many companies send billing to the warehouse they store their products at, when they should be going to the logistics department. This happens frequently, despite our clients being reminded about the correct billing address, and often results in frustration and/or confusion with all parties involved.

I do not anticipate working on the accounting side of logistics for the remainder of the internship, rather I expect to be moved into another department sometime soon. Since I work in the corporate office, a transition to another department would be very simple. My dad’s cousin, Joe Hayes, is head of HR and Recruiting here and has put me in contact with several VP’s in departments like finance, sales and marketing. I hope to have the opportunity to work in some of those fields and utilize my skills and knowledge to strengthen client relationships, develop innovative solutions, improve efficiency and transparency, and expand my understanding of fundamental business operations.