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U.S. tariffs didn’t just shake the retail giants this year — they cracked the small businesses holding up Main Street. In this episode, Gia breaks down how sudden policy flip-flops are forcing small retailers into production halts, supplier switches, inventory shortages, higher costs, and heartbreaking layoffs… all during the most critical season of the year.

Featuring reporting and insights from Reuters, Business Insider, Fortune, Retail Dive, PYMNTS, and The Guardian, this episode pulls back the curtain on the human side of trade policy — the late-night emails, the sourcing crises, the shipping delays, and the quiet exhaustion behind “Out of Stock.”

Small businesses don’t have the buffer the big-box chains do… so every tariff bump lands like a gut punch. And this holiday season? Many won’t recover.

Gia breaks it down with truth, grit, and the logistics perspective few ever hear.

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Visit the blog: giakat.blogspot.com

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Sometimes the biggest moments don’t hit all at once — they ask you to sit with them.

In this short update from the crossroads, I’m sharing some news that still feels unreal: Holding the Line: A Logistics at a Crossroads is heading to Podfest 2026 in Orlando after winning the Buzzsprout Creator Pass.

This episode reflects on where this podcast began — quiet conversations at a kitchen table, long days processing AR reports, stories shared by dispatchers and yard crews — and how those moments slowly turned into something worth being heard.

Now, 39 episodes in, the journey continues into new rooms, new conversations, and new possibilities.

As Podfest approaches, I’ll be sharing behind-the-scenes moments, live reflections, and what it means to bring logistics stories into creator spaces that rarely hear them.

Thank you for riding with me — and for standing at the crossroads together.

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🎙️ Podcast: Holding the Line: A Logistics at a Crossroads
📍 Live updates from Podfest 2026 coming soon
📱 TikTok & YouTube launches on the way

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🎧 New episodes every week.
Follow Logistics at a Crossroads on your favorite podcast platform.

📬 Want to connect?
Find me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/reginahunter
Visit the blog: giakat.blogspot.com

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In this episode of Holding the Line: A Logistics at a Crossroads Podcast, Gia widens the lens — because the story didn’t stop with BNPL or post-pandemic credit traps.
Now the bills are breaking people long before the debt collectors do.

Across the country, utilities are cutting power as prices surge. Electricity rates have jumped 11% since January, triple the rate of inflation. Families paid an average of $204 in July — the highest on record since 2008. And millions of low-income households are still waiting on federal energy assistance that stalled during the government shutdown.

Gia connects the dots no one wants to say out loud:

🔹 When wages don’t move but utilities do, survival requires math that no family can sustain.
🔹 When electricity becomes a luxury, the economy is already in crisis.
🔹 When essentials require financing, the supply chain feels the quake next.

Episode 39 expands on the threads from Episodes 37 and 38 — the cost of convenience, the rise of BNPL, and the quiet financial emergencies unfolding in kitchens, bedrooms, and now at the breaker box.

Gia dives into:

• The national rise in power shutoffs — and who’s hit first
• Why electric bills have become the newest “unpayable invoice”
• How the shutdown delayed life-or-death heating assistance
• The connection between consumer strain, freight shifts, and retail contraction
• What happens when families can’t keep the lights on — literally or financially

This is more than a money issue.
It’s a warning flare.

Support the show

🎧 New episodes every week.
Follow Logistics at a Crossroads on your favorite podcast platform.

📬 Want to connect?
Find me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/reginahunter
Visit the blog: giakat.blogspot.com