CURTAINSIDE TRAILER BLOG

According to the American Trucking Association, our industry is now short about 35,000 drivers.

How did that happen? Consider another statistic from the ATA: In large truck fleets, driver turnover stands at about 95 percent—and that’s actually a slight decrease from other recent years. Conversely, at smaller fleets with less than $30 million annual revenue, turnover is currently around 90 percent, but trending upwards. The fact that the minimum-wage fast food business has even worse employee turnover (averaging 145% annually) should be little comfort. Now more than ever, the question of how to keep drivers happy keeps fleet managers and trucking execs awake at night.

The fleet manager of only a few years ago—confined to an office, tethered to a desktop computer—is history.

Today, the job description has expanded to include multiple functions, many of which require a manager on the move. Mobility imposes the need for mobile connectivity and data accessible far from home base and stationary technology. Apps purpose-designed for fleet managers increasingly enable decision-making in motion. Often these apps are offered as accessories to modern primary fleet management software already in use. Most are available on both Android and iOS platforms for smartphones and tablets. Here are three standout examples that have earned high ratings from users.

With oil prices fluctuating wildly and sometimes reaching outrageous heights, many fleet managers and owner/operators are looking for ways to trim down their fuel costs. Fortunately, there are several simple and common sense steps you can take to cut out unnecessary fuel waste and improve profit margins.

Fleet managers are a special breed.

Like the guy balancing spinning pie plates on a stick, the fleet manager always has something up in the air that requires immediate attention. Keeping a private fleet on the road represents the largest recurrent expense in many companies. Competition is more keen than ever in freight hauling, and the options to distinguish your fleet from one across town or across the country are limited. Today’s fleet manager isn’t “the guy in the garage” anymore. To hold the job, you need expertise in a variety of disciplines that extend beyond the fleet itself, like finance, operations and sales. To stay competitive in the 21st century, you need to remain agile and informed. Here are some suggestions for keeping those plates spinning:

Back-hauls help make the return trip from shipping destinations profitable as well as productive.

Deadheading, driving an empty trailer back from a delivery, is a waste of fuel, driver time, and vehicle wear and tear on the return trip. Locating a back-haul load at or in the nearby vicinity of where the outbound load was delivered is the key to optimizing revenue opportunities.

Multi-tasking is increasingly the nature of the fleet manager's job.

It's a trend that seems likely to steepen as time goes by. Staying connected to the industry at large is just one of the items that demands daily attention. It’s important to keep up with industry trends, financial metrics, government regulation and advances in technology—all of which affect the freight industry and your company's ability to compete profitably. In addition to flipping through the pages of printed publications, the internet offers a number of sites that should be included in your bookmarks. The challenges posed by fleet management—and the ability to formulate the right decisions at the right time—rely on the quality of information you’re exposed to every day. Here are some reputable and clickable sources to keep you in touch with the pulse of the industry.

Until recently, the infrastructure of trucking didn’t exactly occupy the cutting edge of innovation. While trucks themselves became more high-tech, software applications for the trucking business lagged behind. Today, the smartphone has become a must-have accessory for truckers and freight managers. Apps produced by a wide array of start-ups have gained ground and re-defined business as usual in the trucking industry. Here are just three trucking apps that now boast impressive download figures:

Self-driving cars and solar-powered aircraft: the media is full of transportation advances that promise to impact our lives in the future. Likewise, the trucking industry is also spawning a stream of innovation. The future of freight hauling looks more efficient, more profitable, and greener. Eighteen-wheel rigs with micro-turbine electric drive, truck platoons linked by vehicle-to-vehicle speed and braking control—these techno-wonders are still well beyond the horizon. However, in the more immediate future of 2016, we can look forward to examples of practical innovation in trucking like these: