Despite record-breaking Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, small carriers are still worried about the state of the economy.
“The numbers were up a little, but I don’t know that it makes up for the bigger gaps that we’ve been seeing,” said Grant Goodale, co-founder and carrier experience officer at Convoy.
Goodale said small carriers are still being squeezed. Diesel prices are coming down but are still high, and maintenance costs, including the cost of singular parts, are through the roof. “Frankly, trucking rates are not keeping up with these increasing costs.”
Goodale and the folks at Convoy believe that this soft market will continue through the beginning of the new year as demand is declining faster than supply. Because of this, many carriers are shifting in order to survive the coming months and even quarters.
“They are changing their preferred territory, like where they will drive, to maximize the likelihood of being able to get a backhaul or even pay lower rates on diesel,” Goodale said.
With a network of roughly 80,000 carriers and 400,000 trucks, Convoy’s digital freight network automates the traditional freight brokering process, including load matching, pricing and scheduling, reducing overall cost and time.
Convoy is dedicated to helping carriers earn more with less hassle. Because 90% of trucking companies have fewer than six trucks, it has never been more important to help small carriers be as successful as possible, Goodale stressed. Convoy prides itself on offering a number of services to carriers in order to accomplish this.
And in today’s volatile economy, Goodale believes that the industry is seeing a more intense demand from shippers for things that enable them to have a flexible and efficient supply chain today.
“It is less about ‘tell me where the puck is going,’ and more about ‘help me be sure that whatever may happen next, I will be ready for it and I will thrive in the uncertainty,’” he said.