Shipping partial or underutilized truck loads and the incredible damaging effect they have on customers that are over paying and truckload owners who struggle constantly finding qualified and professional over the road truck drivers.

Most people including those in the transportation industry whether they are brokers 3PL companies LTL (less than truckload) carriers or truckload carriers are not aware of the magnitude of how often shipping partial truckloads occurs outside of a 1000 radius or inside the 1000 mile radius that has less of an impact nor has any knowledge of how to address this problem let alone solve this problem.

Below is a picture of just one of the examples that we are talking about and can assure you that this happens thousands of times each and everyday and will outline how this negatively impacts all parties involved including the loss of a shippers customers due to being over priced due to freight and product costs especially when shipping to long haul destinations.

Since our company in Michigan has been dealing with this issue for over twenty years, we are acutely aware of the practices reasons and frequency why this happens and have developed a solution that benefits everyone. However, we do not have a nationwide network to present to a broader audience but we sincerely hope that others will adapt a similar business model and culture unique to the industry like ours.

There is a very serious driver shortage that has no fix on the horizon and is not sustainable as more trucking companies close (many due to not being able to find drivers) and more drivers getting out of the business with an unequal amount of people that want to become a truck driver. It is a tough and lonely job that pays well but not the best as it pertains to one’s health nor family life or quality of life in general.

THE NEGATIVES

1. As a shipper or receiver of the product, your profits are greatly reduced by over spending and losing your competitive edge that may lead to losing existing customers and inability to market your product to others.
2. The amount of loads available which many are underutilized will increase everyone’s rates due to capacity issues as we had two years ago. It’s all about supply and demand meaning that when there are more loads than drivers your rates skyrocket and there’s nothing that you can do about it.
3. The quality and professionalism of the drivers are becoming diluted due to the dire need to hire more drivers that may not be trained long or well enough to handle the pressures of driving a cross country week in week out.
4. If you are a truckload owner you are most certainly like me, constantly looking for qualified drivers as turnover within our industry is steady at 90% per year (really) and spending a lot of money through the process. This fact has been ongoing for at least the last 10 years with no end in sight because fewer and fewer men and women simply aren’t interested in driving jobs, as in the past.
5. Other negatives to be considered are:  Excess fuel and the damaging environmental emissions, traffic congestion causing a greater risk of accidents, unnecessary wear and tear on our infrastructure, etc. Simply put, underutilized truckloads add to the total amount of loads on the road.  This is not sustainable with the driver shortage, or the shippers’ loss of customers.

If you are looking for professional team driving service in Michigan, give us a call today at (866) 613-9251.