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Shipper and Receiver Relationships Need Some Work

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At TRAFFIX, we are not only committed to providing the best service to our clients while remaining innovative in the industry, but we are passionate about educating individuals about the challenges that the trucking industry is currently facing throughout North America. Although we are only in February, 2018 has already been a year of immense change and it doesn’t look like it will be slowing down anytime soon. While it is exciting to see new technologies implemented and operational standards improving for both trucking companies and driver’s, there is one relationship that needs some counselling if you will, and that is the one that exists between shippers and receivers.
 
The relationship that exists between shippers and receivers has always been a complicated one, which has evolved and changed over the years. From the early 1930’s to the early 1980’s before the deregulation of the market, this relationship was strictly a closed one as regulations dictated which company could transport goods to specific locations and why. After the Motor Carrier Act of 1980 and the Freedom to Move Act of 1985, this relationship opened up as trucking companies could now transport products freely without being hindered by the regulations that had stifled the market in previous years.
 
Now, initiatives to re-regulate the market are underway, with the interests of drivers in mind. The ELD Mandate has been designed to manage driver hours and prevent overworking and fatigue behind the wheel, while allowing for a greater work/life balance to be maintained and more specific records regarding each shipment to be kept and communicated to the parties involved. While this shows the massive extent in which the industry is changing, it also sheds light on how broken the relationship is between shippers and receivers.
 
It comes as no surprise that the average truck driver has to wait for their trucks to be loaded and unloaded at each location that they visit. What is surprising, however, is the amount of time that these processes and procedures take, so much so that the United States Department of Transportation has released a study highlighting how time wasted at loading docks is impacting the industry! It is estimated that income is reduced by approximately 1 billion dollars due to waiting times, causing for-hire drivers and carriers to lose income on an annual basis. While drivers are estimated to lose upwards to $1534.00 per year, carriers are estimated at losing upwards to 302 million per year! While some of this lost income can be offset by detention fees enacted by shippers, lost revenue remains to be an issue that is costing everyone money; money that could be better used elsewhere.
 
The United States Department of Transportation has also found a correlation between wait times and vehicle crash risks, concluding that for every 15 minutes of dwell time, the risk of a vehicle crash is increased by 6.2%. Why is this the case? Due to increased dwell times, drivers are experiencing greater fatigue while losing hard earned income. They are therefore attempting to make up this lost revenue by taking on more jobs and decreasing the time it takes to get from point A to point B.
 
While data is limited at this time, movements are being made to have an increased analysis of the existing relationship between shippers and receivers, and how crash risk should be analyzed with more precise and more defined data. This is why the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has been called upon to analyze this issue further so that steps can be made to resolve it.
 
While the ELD Mandate should begin to provide data on the amount of time driver’s spend waiting for their rigs to be loaded and unloaded, one would assume that it will also provide insight into how driver’s respond to these dwell times in how they operate their rigs. It will be interesting to see how this data is consumed and analyzed as it begins rolling in, as it may show more relationships within the industry that need some work.