Good day,
Following our recent story on Top 5 ways to be a “shipper of choice,” Maverick Transportation reached out to FreightWaves to tell us about a program they’re working on to better identify good shippers.
FreightWaves spoke with Shelby Padgett, operations analytics manager at Maverick Transportation, by phone.
“We have recently nailed down our KPI’s and put weights on them based on how important each category is. Knowing whether they’re a ‘shipper of choice’ is something our customers have been asking for. With the current driver shortage, it’s also something that the sales team will be able to use as leverage with customers that aren’t exactly scoring well. We’re hoping it can push for better rates or even improvements to their policies and/or facilities,” says Padgett.
Did you know?
According to Deutsche Bank, 53.1% of the U.S. Post Service’s ground package volume comes from Amazon.
Quotable:
“The vast majority of [contractual rate increases] are in the 10% to 12% (range), which is very, very solid for a contract renewal rate, and we feel pretty good about that.”
-Jeffrey Rogers, CEO of Universal, during the Q1 earnings call
In other news:
Trimble’s David Wangler dies
David Wangler, president of Trimble Transportation Enterprise, died suddenly April 26. He was 56. Wangler joined TMW Systems as CEO in 2006, bringing more than two decades of experience in the supply chain and manufacturing software arena, having most recently served as president and CEO of Bedford, Mass.-based SupplyWorks Inc. (Heavy Duty Trucking)
Trucker gets lost in the woods with truck full of chips, doesn’t eat any
When Oregon truck driver Jacob Cartwright first set out on Tuesday to deliver a shipment of potato chips, he never expected to emerge from the wilderness four days later—on foot. (CNN)
DP World and Virgin unveil Cargospeed hyperloop ‘transport revolution’
DP World has launched Cargospeed, a partnership with Virgin Hyperloop One that will develop a hyperloop-enabled cargo system. While the location of the first system has yet to be revealed, it is no secret that the port operator – together with the UAE government – is keen to launch a system linking Abu Dhabi and Dubai. (TheLoadstar)
U.S. annual inflation measures jump; consumer spending picks up
U.S. consumer prices accelerated in the year to March, with a measure of underlying inflation surging to near the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target as last year’s weak readings dropped out of the calculation. (Reuters)
Tesla doesn’t burn fuel, it burns cash
The company that Elon Musk built to usher in the electric-car future might not have enough cash to make it through the calendar year. (Bloomberg)
Final Thoughts:
In an earnings season full of nothing but good news and record profits, Universal Logistics joined in the overall celebration. But one of its segment was unprofitable, for reasons that show just how strong the market is.
According to the company’s first quarter earnings statement, and a transcript of its earnings supplied by Seeking Alpha, Universal’s Dedicated segment was unprofitable in the first quarter, despite an increase in revenue of 12.8%. “Our Dedicated unit turned unprofitable in Q1, primarily due to contractual business, where we had to secure outside transportation at higher then contracted rates,” CEO Jeffrey Rogers said in the conference call.
The red ink would have been created then by a squeeze with silver linings: increased demand for its services, not enough capacity to fulfill it, and a need to turn to outside providers at higher rates that were unprofitable.
Hammer down everyone!
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