Week in Review: When Hackers Meet Your Salad & Thieves Love Trains

Your groceries are stuck in cyber-limbo, train robbers are having a field day in Chicago, and Shein thinks slapping “sustainable” on fast fashion will fool everyone. This week brought us UNFI getting ransacked by hackers (goodbye, smooth Whole Foods runs), supply chain managers suddenly becoming the MVPs nobody saw coming, and freight train heists that make the Wild West look civilized. Plus, Big Pharma finally discovered boats exist—and work pretty well for moving pills around—while Shein’s carbon emissions are growing faster than its clothing inventory. Here’s what went sideways this past week.

Aisle Be Back: Cyberattack Leaves Grocery Giant Scrambling

Your weekly Whole Foods run just got more complicated. United Natural Foods (UNFI)—the distributor keeping 30,000+ stores stocked across North America—got hammered by hackers so badly that it’s still filing SEC warnings about potential order fulfillment disasters. When one of the continent’s biggest grocery distributors goes down, everyone feels it.

Too Little, Too Late: Damage Control at 30,000 Stores

UNFI discovered the hackers rifling through its systems on June 5 and immediately started shutting down networks. But it was too late: the damage was done. As Whole Foods’ primary distributor—with a fresh contract running until 2032—UNFI’s digital meltdown is sending shockwaves through the entire grocery empire. The company won’t say if hackers demanded ransom, only that it has reported the incident to law enforcement and is “working to restore systems safely.”

Supply Chain Meets Supply Pain

UNFI’s digital nightmare joins a growing parade of cyberattacks targeting retail and grocery operations. U.K. retail giants Marks & Spencer and Co-op got hit in recent months. At the same time, Google issued warnings about hackers specifically hunting American retailers (though it kept the victim list under wraps). And with UNFI not saying when it expects a full recovery, buckle up for more.

When Supply Chains Go Rogue: The Art of Corporate Gymnastics

Supply chain managers have become the most important people in corporate America, and EY Ireland recently figured out why. They brought together a group of leaders to make sense of global trade’s chaos, and everyone agreed on one thing: companies that master speed and agility will dominate.

Lightning-Fast Pivots Beat Fortune Telling

Teleflex mastered supply chain speed the hard way. The med tech giant’s corporate vice president of manufacturing and supply chain, James Winters, was literally booking air freight during Trump’s Rose Garden announcement in April: his team had already ramped up manufacturing for China-bound products and stockpiled inventory before the president finished speaking. When you’re handling 23,000 products across 80,000 customers—with $3 billion on the line—speed beats speculation every time. Companies that wait for tariff announcements to finish trending on social media are already too late.

Real-Time Tracking Saves Sanity (& Money)

Tariff enforcement has become increasingly challenging, with ocean carriers creating nightmare scenarios that would break even seasoned accountants. Vessels making stops now get slammed with tariffs from multiple countries: some unlucky shippers face China plus Canada tariffs hitting 177%. But you can fight back with real-time tracking on every container and digital twins that create complete replicas of your entire supply chain, monitoring everything from location to congestion to conditions. When you get proper end-to-end visibility, you have the solutions needed to dodge these expensive surprises—before they hit.

How Freight Car Break-Ins Became Chicago’s Hottest Side Hustle

Dozens of people casually strolled away from derailed train cars last fall, arms full of big-screen TVs like they’d hit the world’s most chaotic Black Friday sale. CBS Skywatch captured the scene on Chicago’s West Side, where thieves turned freight cars into their shopping mall for hours—while police waited over an hour for Union Pacific officers to respond and secure the tracks. And since October, many other similar smash-and-grab spectacles have hit the region.

When Train Cars Become Pop-Up Shops

Freight train heists have become full-blown theatrical productions, with thieves specifically hunting high-demand, big-ticket items for maximum payoff. Commander Michael Ware from Cook County’s Organized Retail Crime Unit recently raided what he called a “mini-Home Depot” on Chicago’s South Side, recovering $400,000 worth of stolen exercise equipment that disappeared from Joliet train cars. The 57-year-old store owner, Isadore House, now faces charges for allegedly turning stolen cargo into his own retail empire.

The Numbers Don’t Lie: Crime Pays (Until It Doesn’t)

Cargo theft has become what Ware calls “a lucrative business” because stolen goods sell at 100% profit, and social media platforms overflow with deals that seem too good to be true (because they usually are). Chicago now ranks third nationally in cargo theft volume behind Southern California and Dallas, and what starts as retail theft often spirals into gun recoveries and broader criminal networks. Train burglaries have become what Ware describes as “the gateway crime” that opens doors to much darker enterprises.

From Sky-High Bills to Sea-Level Sense: Pharma’s Charting New Waters for Supply Chain Survival

Pharmaceutical companies are ditching expensive air freight for ocean transport, and the numbers make a convincing case. At LogiPharma’s 25th anniversary event, industry leaders gathered to figure out how this shift to sea could transform drug delivery while cutting costs and building stronger supply chains.

Tech Meets Tide 

Forget cargo containers disappearing into oceanic black holes: Maersk’s network now connects sea, land, terminals, and warehouses through reefer containers equipped with real-time Remote Container Management (RCM) technology. “Visibility helped engage internal stakeholders: this was the counter-argument for ‘why not ocean,’” explained Pfizer’s Thomas Fant. The company had tried ocean routes before, but investigations dragged on forever until Maersk stepped in with terminal control and owned assets.

Results That Float

The results speak for themselves: Pfizer went from eight ocean lanes to over 100, thanks to dramatically faster investigations and smart technical improvements. Pfizer has figured out the details that matter—like how in Montreal, pharma containers now average just 0.9 hours without power compared to 2.2 hours for regular cargo, and why sensor placement can make or break your temperature readings. After perfecting everything from airbag placement to thermal blankets, they can even adjust temperatures mid voyage, like when they successfully shifted from +20°C to +4°C near the Cape of Good Hope—proving that ocean freight genuinely works for temperature-sensitive drugs.

Green Dreams vs. Reality: Shein’s Net-Zero Promise Meets Fast Fashion Physics

Shein sells 600,000 items and made $30 billion to $32 billion in 2023 while promising net-zero emissions by 2050. The problem, though, is that Shein’s carbon footprint jumped by 81% in one year. You can’t exactly call yourself sustainable when your emissions grow faster than your profits.

When Math Ruins the Marketing

Shein loves bragging about getting 72% of its electricity from renewable sources. Sounds impressive until you realize Shein’s facilities only create 1% of its total emissions. The real mess happens elsewhere—and emissions exploded from 9.17 million metric tons in 2022 to 16.68 million in 2023. That’s like adding four coal plants to the grid. Shein’s AI-powered model ships clothes by air worldwide, with 61% of emissions from manufacturing and 38% from transportation. It tried moving some production to Brazil and Turkey, saving 314,000 tons of CO₂, yet it’s barely a dent when you’re bleeding emissions everywhere else.

Green Promises vs. Greenwashing Accusations

Shein got its 25% emission reduction targets approved by the Science-Based Targets initiative and claims it will cut 46,000 tons annually through energy audits, but environmental groups aren’t buying it. Stand.earth scored Shein 2.5 out of 100, pointing out emissions jumped 50% in one year, while Italy is investigating it for greenwashing and audits found child labor violations at suppliers. When most of your emissions come from suppliers you don’t control, promising net zero looks like wishful thinking. Shein built its empire on cheap, fast clothes—and now wants us to believe it can magically turn sustainable without changing what made it successful.

The Common Thread: When You Can’t See It, You Can’t Fix It

This week’s chaos all boils down to one brutal truth: the moment you lose sight of your supply chain, someone else is ready to exploit that blind spot. The winners succeed because they’ve mastered real-time shipment visibility—and they can pivot faster than problems can compound. It doesn’t matter whether it’s fighting cybercriminals, cargo criminals, or just trying to prove your sustainability claims aren’t complete fiction.

Arm yourself with innovation: let Tive lead the way in transforming your supply chain operations. Embrace the future of logistics—get started with Tive today.