Let’s talk about the school supply journey! And no, not the parental run-around to find everything on your kid's school supply list, as dramatic as that oftentimes is (for us anyway). This journey we’re talking about starts months, if not almost a year, before the back-to-school rush! Whenever a product has a "season," a lot of planning goes into production and ultimately logistics to get it to where it needs to be—on time. That little box of crayons? It’s been through a lot before you even set your eyes on it. From factory to backpack, let’s take a big picture look.

Obviously, the journey of our box of crayons starts at the manufacturing phase. Suppliers will source and provide the raw materials, goods, and services required to create the product within the factory, and then the manufacturing will begin.

After the crayons are manufactured, boxed, and labeled, they will be loaded up to travel by air, road, ocean, and/or rail to be distributed to warehouses and distribution centers across the country. This is where Sureway comes in. Our agents utilize our numerous partnerships across the globe to create a plan to get freight where it needs to be, efficiently and affordably.

Once the freight reaches its assigned warehouse, it is stored before being distributed out to designated wholesalers and retail stores by drivers. Before getting sent off, the products will be stock-checked, and quality assured to make sure the products are good for sale at their retail location.

Once the freight arrives at its retail destination, products will be inventoried and will either make their way to the shelves or made available online for store pick-up or home delivery. At this point, we can grab a box of crayons off the shelf or add them to our cart to finally check those crayons off our list!

Whether it’s notebooks, folders, or anything in between, all the school supplies we see on shelves today take a similarly complex and lengthy trip. As freight brokers, we’re always happy to be a part of providing a seamless solution for helping product make its way to its final destiny—in this case, an elementary student’s priceless artwork, no doubt.