Last week, a bunch of truckers came together, as part of Operation Black and Blue's efforts to advance a Commercial Drivers' (a.k.a. Truckers') "Bill of Rights". What did we learn from watching this protest?
First, while the turnout appeared to be much less than their forecast that thousands of truckers would participate in the protest, rates in the spot market still went up. So when a relatively small group of truckers have the ability to move the market, it indicates that the capacity crunch is real and that the "Perfect Storm For Shippers" scenario may be more likely.
Second, if you watch some of the videos from the protest, it's obvious that the impact of the ELD mandate is likely to be much greater than is currently being forecasted — especially for small to midsize carriers. Instead of talking about how the ELDs will impact them financially, the opponents of ELDs continue to frame it as a "Big Brother" and lack of privacy issue. From our vantage point, they are clearly concerned that ELDs will result in their being able to drive fewer miles. And the loss of revenue will cause (in their words) thousands of truckers to leave the industry.
Third, there are very few "surprises" on their Trucker's "Bill of Rights". More importantly, the issues they are addressing are not going away anytime soon. As noted above, revising the ELD rules tops their list of demands, but there are other "Big Deal" issues such as Hours of Service (HOS), Parking Availability, Detention, Lumping, and Lumper Fees on their agenda. And since many of these issues are "pocketbook" issues, the truckers/protesters are suggesting that we will see a mass of small to midsize truckers exiting the industry if these demands are not addressed. And if this exodus were to occur, it would make the capacity crunch even worse.
And that leads to our closing question: Are you prepared for the disruptions happening in the logistics industry? We’ve assembled some exclusive resources for shippers in our Perfect Storm Preparation Center to help shippers understand and prepare for the challenging time ahead.
It contains interviews with leaders in the industry like the Director of MIT’s Center for Transportation & Logistics, Yossi Sheffi, and the CEO of Werner Enterprises, Derek Leathers.
Additionally, for those of you who are interested in some examples of how you can reduce your freight costs, we also produced a brief video that includes some tips about how to reduce freight costs beyond just asking for lower rates.
We provide all of this because we’re on your team, we’re here to help, and we’re passionate about helping you navigate these challenges. If you’d like to get in touch for any reason, we’d love to hear from you, so give us a call at 630-833-0890 or send us an email.
