Episodes of Check Call the Podcast come out every Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. EST on FreightWavesTV.
Want to be on the show?
Drop a comment below with your biggest supply chain headaches for a chance to join me on the Check Call podcast.
Hot take
We’ve covered a lot of carrier retention tips for the past few weeks, and as we get closer to the month of love, we should start with love for our drivers. It doesn’t have to be Driver Appreciation Week for us to take some time to do something nice for a driver.
Drivers have been anonymously surveyed every other year, or yearly, depending on the company that does the surveying. Drivers have said over the past year the thing they want most is empathy.
We’ve all done it. Something goes wrong with a load and when it goes south quickly, the first thing everyone does is blame the driver. Sometimes it genuinely is the driver’s fault. Other times, though, we’ve unfairly thrown the driver under the bus and damaged our relationship with that carrier.
Drivers are just doing their job the best they can. Individual carrier reps can set them up for success by making sure all the details of the entire shipment are explained up front. I say 2022 is the year we remember drivers are people too and hear them out when they tell us what they need.
Empathy, check. The next biggest thing for drivers? Better pay. If you can’t offer higher rates on the load or anything for waiting times, what about some clarity on how they’re getting paid. Forty-one percent of payment questions are primarily regarding how payment works. Drivers want to know how much they’re getting paid, just like the rest of us. We want a consistent check to base our living expenses on.
Drivers will talk if you give them a space to have their voices heard. In response to having drivers surveyed or asking what they need, be ready to make those actionable changes. Some things are small, like fully explaining how payments work. Others are trickier, like getting home time.
2022: the year of the driver, or at least the year of listening to what others might need.
Quick hits
I got three looks, I got three looks and that’s it. Leaving Asia, sitting in the water, getting to the port, and that’s it. Those three looks are taking longer. Goods imported from Asia by ocean are now taking over three months and rising to get to their domestic receiver. That Pacific problem is not getting any better anytime soon.
Goods getting unloaded and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach this week were originally sent to the U.S. in early October — ya know, when there were only like 60-70 ships waiting for berths. While we aren’t seeing shortages on retail shelves anymore and some spot rates on containers can be something that resembles favorable, we are far from done with this congestion crisis.
To deal with that, work proactively with international shippers and customers to ensure that they can re-route to less congested ports and order early to avoid fulfillment failures.
Welcome to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Robin Hutcheson. She has been named deputy administrator, replacing Meera Joshi. Joshi was never confirmed and Hutcheson will serve as acting administrator until she or another person is nominated and confirmed by the Senate.
Hutcheson previously coordinated COVID-19 response and recovery efforts for the Department of Transportation and was instrumental in the Safe Streets and Roads for All program. She might be stepping into a large dumpster fire, but here’s hoping that she can bring people together over common topics like driver parking and hours of service.
TRAC Thursday
From the warmth of the South to the frigid temperatures of Michigan, this week’s TRAC Thursday lane is Dallas to Lansing. Currently it’s sitting on the high side of average at $2.66 per mile. The Dallas market is slightly loosening and Lansing is tightening a bit. Capitalize on the decent rates now as we’re likely to see some more ups and downs in the next few weeks.
Can I take your order, maybe?
Trailer manufacturing has taken a few hits in 2021. Worker outages from omicron, parts shortages, “supply chain disruptions,” you name it have pushed trailer manufacturing back, forcing manufacturers to scale back the volume of orders to only what they can confidently produce. Current 2022 production timelines are booked through August.
Without an influx of materials, healthy workers unable to catch COVID and a full warehouse of parts, trailer orders will continue to decline. It’s time to start telling those shippers to adjust some expectations of pristine, brand new trailers and approve the ones that just show up.
The more you know
Union members threaten to strike over BNSF’s new attendance policy
RAD-M plans delivery bot based on autonomous Roameo platform
Historic floods ‘hammered’ British Columbia’s trucking industry