Kevin Hill, host of The New Warehouse Podcast, joins Sunny Ray to trace his path from an accidental warehouse career to becoming one of the industry's leading media voices. Hill started as a 2012 temp in the inventory department at the Simon and Schuster distribution center in New Jersey, never imagining warehousing would become his calling. After stints running a college coffee house, ghostwriting, and working at PetSmart, he eventually found his niche launching The New Warehouse Podcast in 2019, now celebrating seven years since its first episode. He coined the viral phrase "warehouses are sexy," complete with a website and merchandise, to make the industry more approachable. Hill also briefly ran a 3PL and micro fulfillment center in Philadelphia before returning fully to media in 2023. The conversation covers the psychological barriers workers face around robotics, the difference between companies that implement automation successfully versus those that chase trends, and his prediction that entry level warehouse roles will shift from material handling to robot supervision. Hill is currently building a private intelligence community focused on warehouse innovation and technology.
A temp job at a book warehouse turned into a media empire making robots and pallets cool.
What was your first day on the warehouse floor like at Simon and Schuster, and did you think it would become a career?
I had just finished school and needed a job, so I took a temp role in inventory at the Simon and Schuster distribution center in New Jersey. Seeing all the orchestration behind getting books out the door fascinated me, and problem solving became my role. I did not know right away it would be a career, but over time I realized I could build one in warehousing.
Where did the 'warehouses are sexy' mission come from?
A friend worked for a blog that shot cars in a glossy, sexy style, and I wondered why we could not do the same for warehouse equipment and robotics. I wrote a LinkedIn article titled 'Warehouses Are Sexy?' and it stuck. Now we have t shirts and own the domain warehousesaresexy.com, and we are slowly converting people to believe warehouses really are sexy.
How did The New Warehouse Podcast start?
I needed to learn more about the industry myself since I had no formal background in it. I planned to blog but did not have time to write and edit, so someone suggested a podcast, which felt new back in 2018. I started in 2019 just talking about warehouses, people responded well, and it snowballed into sponsors and eventually my full time media company.
What is the relationship between workers and robots, and are we all screwed?
We are not all screwed. There is still roughly a three million job gap in the US even if every position were filled, and fewer people want the physical labor jobs anyway. Robots fill that gap and address repetitive, heavy, tiring work, but companies often forget the human side. I once saw a worker get upset within ten minutes of a robot demo because nobody explained why it was there.
You built a 3PL and micro fulfillment center in Philadelphia. What pushed you to make that leap, and why did you step back?
An opportunity came through a podcast guest who needed fulfillment services out of Philadelphia, and I was ready to leave my nine to five and control my own destiny. We ran it for about two years and I loved controlling the operation instead of working for someone else. Eventually I realized the real business opportunity was serving the industry through media, so I closed the 3PL and focused fully on the podcast since 2023.
After interviewing hundreds of founders and operators, what separates companies that get automation right from those that struggle?
A lot of companies chase shiny object syndrome, grabbing cool robots at trade shows without defining the problem first. The ones that succeed optimize their processes before automating, because a robot cannot fix a bad process, it just makes it fail faster. Understanding the why behind the investment and being methodical is what separates the winners from those that struggle.
What does the warehouse of five years from now look like?
We will keep growing to serve the whole spectrum of operators, from resource rich companies like Amazon to smaller ones without the same access to technology. AI and robotics will keep getting more accessible and commoditized, reaching further down market. I also think the entry level warehouse worker shifts from a material handler today to more of a robot supervisor or exception handler role.
Building something daring? Sunny talks to founders like this every day. Fifteen minutes to see if your story belongs on the stage.
Claim your pre-interview