Slow Returns

Today is typically the traditional first day of returns for elves, reindeer, and other North Pole employees. Unfortunately, due to the elves' strike, there are not nearly as many flights in and out of the Flight Operations center as most years. There are some elves here... many are frustrated with IFE union leadership and broke ranks to return... as are all the reindeer and other employees but it clearly does not have the same "buzz" around the town square as we usually have two days before Thanksgiving and three days before the ramp-up to full Operations.


I went for a run first thing this morning. I needed to get out and clear my head. I had tossed and turned all night last night thinking about the strike and its impact on this Christmas. But the run was a good therapy. The cold air, the sound of my footsteps crunching in the fresh snow, the bright moonlight, and the warm, yellow glow from the village was a great escape from the worries that had me tossing and turning all night. I headed out of the village for a couple of miles before turning back into the village and finishing up in the town square. I arrived in the square just as the Starbucks was opening. The smell of coffee lured me in. A 16oz cup House blend was exactly what I needed to re-energize. I sipped it while catching up with Ollie and Bo. Ollie is the head of Logistics and Bo is the head of Production. Both report to Candy, my Chief Operations Officer. And both had just arrived back at the North Pole last night after taking their families on vacation. The first few weeks of November are a traditional time for staff to take their vacations, as is January. Since everyone knows we are going to be work 16+ hour days from late November through Christmas Eve, they take the November time to spend with family. Ollie had been in Bali with his wife. Bo had taken his family to Tahiti. Both were excited to be back but obviously concerned about the strike. As elves themselves, they have a number of family members - non-management - who are on strike. It has been a stressful time for them as they have tried to be supportive of family but also try to explain why they supported the North Pole Inc. plans. After talking to them for about 30 minutes, I grabbed a venti, non-fat Caramel Latte for the walk back to the house. Mrs. Claus had breakfast waiting for me.


We had our first staff meeting this afternoon. It was a good news, bad news type of meeting. The good news is that the preliminary "naughty & nice" reports are in and the nice side of the ledger is higher than at any time since 1948. The bad news is, of course, the strike. Every area of operations... flight operations, distribution, production, etc.... reported a "red" status. Almost every area is projecting to be at less than 50% of capacity when we begin full operations on Friday. Even if the strike were to end today, it would be close to December 1st before we could get to 100%. To hit targets, we'd have to exceed and maintain 120% of our normal capacity & productivity by December 7th to fill orders at 100%. It's do-able but very optimistic. Of course, if we are anything here at the North Pole, we are optimistic.


Well... I need to go. I have a conference call with one of the toy manufacturer CEOs. We are going to discuss the possibility of using some of their staff and facilities to add production capacity. After that, I get a de-brief on the long-range weather forecast. Then its time to catch-up on email for a couple of hours before turning in around 2am. Good night.