Predictions for 2013 show continued increases, but at a slower rate than 2012.

Overall, though, the shortage of truck drivers still looms. The industry will need more than 96,000 new drivers every year for the next 10 years, according to ATA, to offset lost drivers and older drivers getting out of the business. Fewer and fewer young people are moving into the industry as a way of life. An estimated 20,000 to 25,000 driving positions could go unfilled this year, according to projections.

So, where can the industry turn to fill the void?

Women.

According to statistics from 2008, 8.8 million people participated in one way or another in the trucking industry. Of those, only about 15 percent were female, of 1.3 million. That, however, involves the entire trucking industry, from offices to drivers.

There were about 3.4 million truck drivers in the United States in 2008, of which only about 166,000 were women. That comes down to about 4.9 percent of the total driver population.

The trucking industry has always been thought of as a predominantly male-dominated industry. The female presence in the industry, though, has been increasing over the past decade with more women drivers, owner and managers.

Several studies indicate that women are well-suited for leadership roles within companies. Those studies show that women are better at communication, engaging employees and overall planning than men. The same, I believe, would be true for the trucking industry and truck drivers. While the stigma of the industry stereotypically places a male behind the wheel of a big rig, women are well suited and perfectly capable of doing the same job.

The image of men being behind the wheel of big rigs, though, is perhaps the first and most difficult hurdle to clear when talking about women filling the gap. Another issue that could have an impact on women driving is the time away from home. This has also become an issue with male drivers, who want to spend more time with their families. The same would be true with female drivers and may develop the industry to consider shorter routes and delivery schedules to reduce the time spent on the road.

One area that will help in getting women more involved in the trucking industry, though, comes from the Women in Trucking Association. In 2012, WTA formed a separate, charitable organization known as the Women in Trucking Association Foundation, a nonprofit organization designed to provide funds for members seeking training in areas vital to the trucking industry.

After spending a year obtaining funds, the organization is now ready to award its first scholarships. The $500 scholarships will be awarded in four categories: leadership, safety professional, technical skill and professional driver. Applicants for the scholarship are able to submit a request for funding online at www.WomenInTruckingFoundation.org. To be awarded a scholarship, you must be a member in good standing with the organization.

Scholarship applications will be accepted through the end of July and scholarship recipients will be notified in August. Funds will be dispersed to the educational facility of the woman’s choice on behalf of the grant recipient.

It is a good start. Women and the trucking industry are a great fit. It is an employment pool the industry can draw from to overcome some of the shortages that are predicted and would benefit both the industry and women in the long run.

About the Author
Larry Hurrle is the editor of IT Magazine. Hurrle, 51, has been a professional journalist for more than 30 years at both daily and weekly newspapers in the Northwest. He attended Boise State University and has served as editor of the Kellogg Evening News in Kellogg, ID; the Argus Observer in Ontario, OR; and the Independent-Enterprise in Payette, ID.

I frequently observe companies that attempt technology-based change initiatives with the latest and greatest new technologies (i.e. EOBM, TMS-rollouts, etc.). Many companies believe that the provider of this technology will also ensure that their technology will successfully effectuate the intended changes. They effectively defer the planning, execution and, most importantly, control to this third party. More times than not, this recipe fails and along with it goes the change initiative. The result: Blame the technology and try to find a “better technology.” In other words, they blame the equipment and not themselves.
When my clients engage my consulting services to help effectuate change, I advise them that successful change involves a three-step process: Plan, Communicate and Execute. These are not mutually exclusive as each step comprises elements of the other two steps.
Step 1 – Plan
Since planning is the most critical step, most of my attention will be here. Successful planning means an objective discovery of the real problem driving the change. Frequently the stated and/or obvious problem is not the real problem, but rather a symptom of a bigger, underlying issue. We can better discover the real issue by channeling our inner four year old and repeatedly ask why. In Total Quality Management (TQM), the 5-Why Process is a useful tool to achieving real issue discovery. For example, if we are having trouble staying compliant with the Unsafe Driving portion of CSA:
Q1: Why are we having this trouble?
A1: We’re ticketed too often for speeding, illegal lane changes, etc.
Q2: Why are we getting ticketed so often?
A2: Because our drivers are rushing to make their deliveries
Q3: Why do they need to rush to make their deliveries?
A3: Because their schedules require them to make “x” number of daily deliveries
Q4: Why do we need to schedule so many deliveries per driver?
A4: Because otherwise we can’t meet our service commitments
Q5: Why are our service commitments so tight?
A5: Because the competitive landscape requires them.

The 5-Why Process doesn’t have to repeat 5 times and it could actually be more than 5 questions. When we hit a why, that we don’t have a clear answer for, we likely are at the real issue.
Once we have discovered the real issue, we need to properly define the scope of both the problem and its intended solution. A frequent planning occurrence is when the problem is clearly defined, but the solution slowly expands to include more than just the problem. In project management terms this is called “scope creep.” While it is admirable that a solution goes well beyond its intent, if the “well-beyond” is not planned, it could compromise the entire initiative. The signs of scope creep will usually include budget and time overruns.

Once the scope has been established, proper risk management must be employed. What are the risks involved with rolling out this new technology? If it is an EBOM rollout, will our veteran drivers have trouble with it? If they do have trouble, can we provide them the proper support? With the difficulty in finding new drivers, what is the risk with rolling out this initiative and possibly losing some veteran drivers? What is the plan if we do lose these drivers? While we cannot possibly plan for every contingency, we can plan for every category of risk. This will give us a significant head-start in successfully addressing the problem and continuing unabated.

Step 2 – Communication
There is no such thing as “over-communication.” The key is to provide honest, constant and relevant communication between the change team members, upward to senior executives and outward to those that will be affected by the change. This communication must take place in every step of the change process for the initiative to be successful. Since most of us resist change primarily because of the fear of the unknown, we must make special and concerted efforts to combat this through every form of organizational communication (i.e. face-to-face, email, video conferencing, etc.). Most importantly, if we don’t have an immediate answer, we must honestly and in a timely fashion, communicate this as well.

Step 3 – Execute
Assuming that we have planned and communicated properly, we still must execute according to plan. If we have planned properly, then the likely “hiccups” inherent in any change initiative will have been planned for and can be addressed according to plan.
The end result will not be an ill-planned innovative rollout, but a rollout that encompasses the best of change management and most importantly, accomplishes its intended goal(s).

About the author

Moe Glenner is a twenty year plus veteran of the logistics and supply chain industry, a highly volatile and frequently changing industry. Throughout this time, he has served in a variety of management and senior management roles as well as an outside consultant. As a one-time entrepreneur, Mr. Glenner founded 2 separate privately-held transportation companies.

Mr. Glenner holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in History from Northeastern Illinois University, a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management (Lake Forest, IL), Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification from Villanova University (Philadelphia, PA) and is an professional general aviation pilot.

As Director – Global Logistics for Steel Warehouse Company (a $2 billion major enterprise in the steel industry), Mr. Glenner transformed both the culture and finances of the previously ailing transportation department from a cost center to a profit center, earning him the respect and accolades of colleagues and senior management.

Currently he is President of PURElogistics, LLC, a leading change management, logistics and supply chain consulting firm entirely dedicated to providing best practices in change management, logistics and supply chain strategies. He is an in-demand and frequent speaker at industry trades shows and conferences, speaking particularly on leading organizational change.

Mr. Glenner, a longtime Chicago native (and die-hard Bears/White Sox fan), currently resides in South Bend, Indiana.

***This is an article written for IT Magazine, you can view the full  March/April 2013 magazine at itmagazine.truckstop.com

Bernanke’s first major appearance of the week was in his Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress. In this speech, the Chairman of the Fed provided Congress with an assessment of the current economic situation before outlining policies that the Fed is using to help boost economic activity. In particular, Bernanke outlined two “tools” that the Fed is wielding: “forward guidance” for the federal funds rate, and “large-scale purchases of longer-term securities.”

Both of these tools aim to promote economic growth by reducing uncertainty about the future financial environment. I’ve previously discussed how economic uncertainty can hinder business activity, and the Federal Reserve Bank is acting to provide a more stable outlook for U.S. businesses.

In a second appearance last week, at the Annual Monetary/Macroeconomics Conference in San Francisco, Bernanke extended his discussion of the Fed’s current policies. In this longer speech, the Fed’s Chairman outlined four “prongs” of the strategy, which he characterized as relying “primarily on monitoring, supervision and regulation, and communication.” Again, the underlying motivation is to reduce economic uncertainty so that businesses feel more comfortable about expanding their operations.

But, the Federal Reserve’s actions to reduce economic uncertainty are easily undermined by the whirlwind of obscurity being produced on the Fiscal Policy side of government. In his report before Congress, Bernanke called out the Legislature directly:

“Although monetary policy is working to promote a more robust recovery, it cannot carry the entire burden of ensuring a speedier return to economic health. The economy’s performance both over the near term and in the longer run will depend importantly on the course of fiscal policy. The challenge for the Congress and the Administration is to put the federal budget on a sustainable long-run path that promotes economic growth and stability without unnecessarily impeding the current recovery.”

Indeed, Mr. Chairman. It is very challenging to promote financial liquidity when pedaling up a Fiscal hill.

-Jeremy West, Internet Truckstop Economist

In another article, I examined transitions from and to for-hire employment in trucking. If manufacturing and construction are close substitutes for trucking, should all three of these occupations be swelling their payrolls simultaneously – especially when the overall unemployment rate remains at 7.9 percent?

Below, I update my previous analysis to incorporate time, showing the extent of employment transitions to and from trucking during each year over the last decade. Specifically, I use the previously discussed CPS-MORG employment transitions to show the ratio of new truckers to former truckers by year, rather than combined into a single measure for each sector. I present this ratio for three of trucking’s most related sectors: construction, trade (wholesale or retail), and manufacturing.

In the figure, a value of zero for a sector indicates that there is an equal flow of workers moving from that sector to employment in trucking as there is exiting for-hire trucking to that sector. A value of 0.5 indicates that there are three new truckers coming from that sector for every two former truckers departing for that sector.

Construction activity sharply declined during the recession, so it is not surprising to see an influx of construction workers into trucking towards the end of the decade. However, now that the construction sector is rapidly expanding again (.pdf), this trend could easily reverse.

The relative shift of truckers to manufacturing during recent years is also concerning, and as manufacturing activity continues to improve, this pattern is likely to continue.

Retail and wholesale trade appear to be the most balanced of the sectors, in terms of transitions to and from trucking. At this time, there is little reason to anticipate this pattern changing substantially.

About the author

Jeremy West is the Internet Truckstop research economist for the weekly Trans4Cast. Jeremy examines the broader economic picture and reports how the current economic headlines relate to the trucking industry. He holds a bachelor of science in Economics, with minor degrees in Business and Creative Studies, from Texas A&M University, where he is currently completing a doctorate in Economics. His research focuses on empirical analysis of topics in industrial organization, particularly those affecting the transportation sector. In addition to his academic training, Jeremy held several previous positions in corporate financial planning and economic forecasting. Jeremy enjoys the opportunity to offer highlights and analysis of the trucking industry.

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Anyone who has spent a long time in trucking can tell you that construction and manufacturing are some of the closest employment substitutes for possible truck drivers. Like trucking, these occupations are physically demanding, require long hours, and necessitate safe handling of heavy equipment.

As an economist, I am interested in exactly how close manufacturing and construction are as substitutes for trucking employment. To address this question, I use the “Merged Outgoing Rotation Groups” version of the Current Population Survey (CPS), which is originally collected by the U.S. Census Bureau in partnership with the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

One feature of the CPS is that many individuals are surveyed about their employment twice, one year apart. This allows for researchers to link (anonymous) individuals across two sequential years to examine changes in their employment. Below, I use the CPS from 2000-2011 in this way to study transitions into and out of full-time employment as a truck driver.

Over the past decade, the U.S. averaged roughly 4.15 million truck drivers each year, representing around 2.6 percent of all full-time employees. Note that this number includes all surveyed individuals who described their employment as truck driving, not just TL and LTL truck drivers. The data do not allow for further dissection of this occupational category.

Using the sequential links in the data, the CPS shows that about 75% of respondents who were employed full-time as truckdrivers remain employed full-time as truck drivers during the following year. In Figure 2, I examine the roughly 25% of drivers who changedeither to or from driving a truck for employment from one year to the next.

Figure 2 displays the ten largest employment categories for individuals who transitioned into or out of full-time truck driving between their surveys. Interestingly, transitions to and from other types of employment appear to be very balanced, with drivers as likely to switch to any other particular occupation as they are to switch from it.

Of truck drivers who changed their full-time occupation, the largest employment category is Other Transportation or Warehousing (e.g. driving a bus). Construction and Manufacturing are respectively the second and fourth most likely alternate industries for truck drivers, representing a combined 17% of occupational transitions. So, during the past decade about 4.25% (17% of 25%) of truck drivers shifted to employment in either construction or manufacturing from year to year.And, about 4.25% of “new” truck drivers transitioned from either construction or manufacturing in each year.

For these reasons, it is well worth keeping a close eye on anygrowth in construction and manufacturing employment as we enter 2013.

About the author
Jeremy West is the Internet Truckstop research economist for the weekly Trans4Cast. Jeremy examines the broader economic picture and reports how the current economic headlines relate to the trucking industry. He holds a bachelor of science in Economics, with minor degrees in Business and Creative Studies, from Texas A&M University, where he is currently completing a doctorate in Economics. His research focuses on empirical analysis of topics in industrial organization, particularly those affecting the transportation sector. In addition to his academic training, Jeremy held several previous positions in corporate financial planning and economic forecasting. Jeremy enjoys the opportunity to offer highlights and analysis of the trucking industry to subscribers each week. Take advantage and subscribe today!

New Plymouth, Idaho

January 7, 2013

Internet Truckstop is First Load Board to Help Members Navigate New CARB Regulation Internet Truckstop has rolled out a new decision support tool and a free webinar series to help Truckstop.com members’ transition into new regulations, now in effect, from the California Air Resources Board (CARB). The new CARB regulation just went into effect, on January 1st, and requires every carrier driving on California roads to comply with the rules, or face hefty fines. While the weight of the regulations primarily fall on carriers, brokers and shippers will face penalties if they fail to ensure they are contracting with compliant carriers. Internet Truckstop is the only load board that offers companies looking for trucks a quick sort function to find compliant carriers, saving time when searching for trucks to move freight on California roads. Internet Truckstop’s four-week CARB webinar series begins on January 9th, with a different hour-long webinar being offered each Wednesday starting at 12:30 p.m. MST.  Each meeting will feature a visit from a member of CARB, with topics to be covered including: vehicle inspections, diesel particulate filters (DPFs), TRUCRS Reporting System, Truck and Bus Regulations, the Transport Refrigeration Units (TRUs) regulation, drayage truck regulation, public fleets, public transit agency, solid waste collection vehicle regulation, tractor-trailer greenhouse gas emission reduction regulation and enforcement of regulations. “It can be overwhelming to those in the industry to stay on top of the stream of new regulations.  Internet Truckstop continues to offer information-driven solutions to our Truckstop.com members.”  Pat Dickard, Internet Truckstop Corporate Trainer For more information on Internet Truckstop’s free CARB webinars, contact Pat Dickard at 800-203-2540 x 6181 or visit the ITS Business Development Webinar Series page. About Internet Truckstop Founded in 1995, Internet Truckstop was the first online freight matching service. Listening to the transportation industry is the driving force behind all of the innovative business tools that they develop. These easy-to-use tools, the largest freight database and a commitment to their customers makes Internet Truckstop the leader in Internet freight matching. Source: Justin Morken 800-203-2540 ext. 6283 justintm@truckstop.com www.truckstop.com Internet Truckstop Po Box 99, New Plymouth, ID 83655 www.truckstop.com

Today marked the first day for ITS and CARB’s month long webinar series, “Will You be Able to Drive in California?”

With over 150 participants that came to the webinar full of questions regarding the new laws for driving in California. There will be another chance next week for more questions to be answered when another webinar is offered. The topic for January 16th is  Diesel Particulate Filters (DPFs), Truck and Bus Regulation, TRUCRS Reporting System. Don’t miss your chance to register! Click here for more information and registration.

Every driver’s day has its ordinary “driving down the road” challenges and having a good attitude can you stay positive and not overreact to difficult situations.  The right attitude will make a more professional, safety conscious driver. It can also help you earn more money and get more enjoyment from driving.  However, the challenges the industry faces has made a positive attitude difficult to maintain.

Here are a few of the challenges that have brought on some sleepless nights for many owner-operators and company drivers:

• The changes in CSA regulations
• Hours of service regulations
• Clean air regulations
• Increased cost of equipment
• Increasing diesel fuel prices
• Difficulties getting loans for new equipment purchases
• Less parking spaces for trucks
• Rates not keeping up with costs
• Detention pay (the lack of and the need for)

So how do you keep up a positive attitude when you are faced with these challenges? Maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel, knowing carriers have been successful at improving truck efficiency and reducing costs by optimizing fuel, improving truck and trailer aerodynamics, improving power train efficiency, and inventing new tools or ways to get the job done. If carriers can come out ahead, owner-operators and company drivers can too.

Here are ways to overcome some of these challenges and keep up your Christmas cheer:

• Creative Brainstorm. Around the holidays, since you might have some additional downtime, start brainstorming and thinking creatively on ways to solve your business challenges. Catch up on the latest Team Run Smart articles to get industry news and business tips, or read posts in the Team Run Smart Forums to see how other drivers are solving their issues. Call some of your friends in the industry who are successful and ask them for advice. A fun idea for the holidays that keeps me in a positive attitude, is to watch my favorite Christmas shows.  Seriously, it has helped me to relax and get the creative juices flowing.  Start thinking outside the box and find new ways get over those bumps in the road to start fresh for the New Year.
• Choose your loads wisely. If the hours of driving each day get reduced, find a way to deliver the product on time.  After all, if Santa Clause can make all his delivers to every house on the globe, surely we can find a way to make one delivery on time.  The change might be to quit hauling loads for folks that make us sit at a loading dock for an unreasonable amount of time without any detention pay.  Of course, this time of year, we can be held up by bad weather and road closers.  You may consider a computer program or GPS system that provides weather updates and road conditions.  Make sure you get the phone number for road conditions of each state and call ahead to change your route if necessary prior to being detained.
• Become a business minded entrepreneur. Changes in CSA will make us all better business minded entrepreneurs.   CSA regulations are changing the way owners evaluate and train their drivers. Using electronic logs to ensure drivers comply with hours-of-service laws and using smart phones and iPads to take care of daily paperwork are a just a few of these recent changes.
• Remember regulations may save you money in the long run. Regulations like the new CARB Greenhouse Gas Regulation will actually save you money because it forces drivers to take advantage of some of the fuel-efficient technologies available. This is better for you and the environment. (Link to CARB article.)
• Consider switching to natural gas from diesel.  Even though the cost of purchasing a new truck (which would most likely be necessary) is higher, the payback is fast because natural gas is less expensive than fuel.  There also exists the side benefit of burning a cleaner fuel with less bad emissions, making the clean air folks happy.  The engine manufactures are already developing the powerhouses for class 8 trucks.  Several companies are developing a network of refueling facilities, enabling cross-country trips.  (Link to natural gas article.)
• Embrace technology. The new technological advances going into the cab of a truck at a record-setting pace should be looked at as assets to enable us to do a better and safer job.  This integration of networked electronics with trucks means, in theory, telematics could do everything from automatically slowing a truck down when it approaches a blind curve, to diagnosing vehicle issues remotely for preventative maintenance. With telematics, your truck will have the ability to report your driving style to your boss or insurance company.  It’ll keep track of any risky maneuvers you perform and tell the police if it thinks you’re to blame for an accident. If you are a safe driver, you have nothing to worry about and it should help decrease the number of truck accidents on the road, which will help boost the industry image.  Telematics will also cut down on highway traffic and decrease the amount of fuel burned by idling vehicles, which will again make the clean air folks happy. Some even envision it will decrease potential litigation costs by keeping having the facts on the truck’s every move.

Plan ahead, keep positive, and make this a holiday season full of love, happiness, and optimism.  Let’s put the fun back into trucking for 2013.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

About the Author
Patrick Dickard -With over 25 years of experience in the transportation field, Pat Dickard brings a wealth of knowledge and application to the position of Corporate Trainer for Internet Truckstop. Transportation became a way of life as General Manager for a potato and onion packing and shipping facility in Oregon. He has experience shipping from Mexico to points throughout the US. Later years found Pat in the seat of a big rig traveling the highways of the country. By joining the staff at Internet Truckstop Pat is able to bring his experience as a business manager, business owner, truck driver, broker agent, and a shipper to the forefront to assist other folks in being more successful. Host of the ITS Business Development Webinar Series – Mr. Dickard covers subjects such as How to find new shipper clients, How to sell yourself and conduct a business meeting; Identity theft, theft of loads, fraud in the industry, How to qualify carriers faster with less risk, Insurance issues, tips and tricks of using the load board for best results, and negotiating rates.