I Need Your Voice – Speaking at NGFA This Sunday

What are the biggest issues you’re facing right now?

The obvious one—rates have been depressed to unprofitable levels for way too long. It’s drained a lot of carriers of any extra capital they had.

A lot of us have had to get creative just to stay afloat. We’ve made changes like:

• Adding overnight loaders

• Renting drop lots near 24-hour facilities

• Spec’ing equipment to maximize payload

• Implementing better tech for shipper transparency

All of that has made us more efficient and actually benefits the customer. But those improvements came out of necessity in a down market—and they should be rewarded when things swing back.

What do you wish shippers truly understood about trucking?

I don’t believe there’s a driver shortage—I believe there’s a shortage of jobs that are worth staying in.

This job is tough. Time away from home is tough. The strain on families is real. Drivers need to be paid enough to justify that.

Right now, customers are racing to the bottom on rates, and it’s squeezing out the top-tier drivers and equipment. I want to pay my drivers more—but when revenue per load drops this fast, the margin just isn’t there.

What that creates is a cycle: the good drivers and good operators leave. They get replaced by lower-quality operations, and in the long run, that costs the customer more.

Saving $5/ton doesn’t mean much if:

• A mill shuts down because a load didn’t show up

• A truck breaks down mid-delivery

• Poorly maintained equipment contaminates product

COVID rates definitely broke the system. We don’t need those rates again, but we do need balance—something that keeps both carriers and customers profitable.

At the end of the day: quality costs.

Where are things breaking down in the supply chain?

The race to the bottom on rates has opened the door for a lot of subpar carriers.

Vetting has gotten weak because people are desperate to cover loads. That’s led to:

• Higher out-of-service equipment

• Unqualified or improperly licensed drivers

• Insurance gaps

• Double brokering and shady practices

I don’t think corporate-level management fully realizes how bad it’s gotten.

And let’s be honest—when a truck held together with zip ties pulls into a customer’s facility, that reflects directly on the shipper. Is that how you want your company represented?

What needs to change?

We need balance across the board.

• Better carrier vetting – Fair but strict enough that everyone plays by the same rules

• More enforcement – Reward carriers doing things right, push out the bad actors

• Sustainable rates – Not COVID-level, but enough to support:

  • Driver pay

  • Equipment maintenance

  • Reliable service

We also need a better path for new drivers. Right now, insurance restrictions force them into mega carriers where they often get burned out or taken advantage of.

2 out of 3 drivers leave the industry within the first two years—that’s a huge long-term problem.

At the end of the day, carriers need to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

A lot of us have been stuck in it for a long time—and not everyone is going to make it out if things don’t change.

Note: Yes I used AI to make my message clearer, you should try it, makes you sound extra smart, it is like coping off the smart kid in class.

My Honest Opinion,

My message to these guys and gals would be about brokers. The brokers are the biggest problem in our industry, and the shippers are best positioned to deal with them. They are the ones who can set standards and requirements before giving their loads to the broker. Things like setting a maximum % the broker can keep (or better yet shipper sets the high side of what they are willing to pay to move the load, and the broker getting paid a flat fee per load covered). The shippers can completely eliminate double brokering in a single day, how you may ask? By verifing the rate con before loading a truck. When the rate con is signed it should be shared with the shipper imidiately by the broker, this will show the shipper that the they aren't taking any extra off the top, and that they didn't double broker the load. I'm not saying that all brokers are bad, but its just like with trucks on the road a few bad ones give the whole industy a bad name. Doing these few simple things would greatly improve their load coverage, stop the race to the bottom, and improve our rates as carriers, without raising their shipping cost. Of course companies the size that will be at this confrence could hire two or three people to do all their shipping by truck in house and never let a broker touch their business and greatly improve their relationships with carrier and the trucking industry. If smaller companies can't justify the people in house use a 3PL, not brokers, it would be better for us all.

Hi Jared,

I would say I agree with everything everyone else has said, and add I think it is disheartening to see the way shippers, recievers and brokers who sit in a office, push and demand so much for so little, while they are home with their familes every night. We just ask for a little respect and consideration for all we do to pickup and deliver a load on time, with no damage to loads and be able to provide for our families. We often miss some of the most important events because we take pride in what we do, and want to teach are kids that hard work pays off. But there have been many trucking shows that talk about how little a professional driver who has more regulations than a airline pilot. But makes less than minmum wage when you do the math on how many hours he works to make that paycheck. So please remind them we are important too and that there is no such thing as a backhaul it cost money before you turn the key on, and our trucks and trailers are not storage bins and if they are shouldn't we get paid storage fees?

Thank you Jared for being our voice and God bless

Hi Jared,

on a few occasions I have been booked a load and had to dead head to get to said location to pick up, after a few hours after agreeing to the rate con, I get a call usually from the broker that said there is not enough product for the load. one way that would help with this is being in contact directly with the driver and not the broker once the load is booked. on that particular occasion the broker had to pay out of pocket to compensate for the miles driven just to cover fuel. but still ran at a loss. if there was a way to have an industry standard when a load is booked, to compensate the driver from the facility for their time and cost of making the trip if there is no product left to pick up. I know there is grey area umongst this but due to margins being so tight and fuel costs on the rise and rates plummiting, that can usually make or break the week of work being profitable or not. Im a one man show. not only does that effect the load thats book but usually when I hit the road I try to have the next few loads lined up. It can make the rest of the week a scramble to reschedule the week. A domino effect if you will.