Driver Pay on the Rise

Driver pay has been on an upward trajectory, and according to recent reports, there's no indication that this trend will decelerate anytime soon. This is a crucial development for drivers and small carriers alike, as higher wages can lead to better retention and attract new talent to the industry. As driver shortages continue to challenge the trucking sector, offering competitive pay becomes a viable strategy for maintaining a stable workforce.

For owner-operators and small fleets, this means budgeting carefully to accommodate the rising costs of staffing. However, the flip side is that attracting quality, experienced drivers might reduce turnover and potentially lower recruitment and training costs over time. Additionally, adjusting pay structures to align with prevalent industry trends can give smaller carriers a competitive edge.

At VAU0, we recognize the shifting dynamics of driver compensation and offer solutions that integrate payroll management with our transportation management system, streamlining financial planning and operations.

An ELD Reset on the Horizon

The FMCSA is considering revising certain ELD-related rules, which could significantly impact how small carriers manage compliance. The proposed changes aim at refining the guidelines to address ongoing challenges and ambiguities in the current ELD mandates. This potential reset is viewed as a step towards making ELD compliance more streamlined and less burdensome.

"A well-structured compliance policy can save smaller carriers headaches and potential fines down the line."

For small carriers, it's vital to stay updated with these changes to avoid non-compliance penalties. Engaging with industry groups or forums where such updates are discussed frequently can be beneficial. VAU0 offers comprehensive insights on compliance through our updated compliance solutions, tailored to assist carriers in navigating regulatory changes efficiently.

Next-Gen Trucking Education

Patterson High School's annual event highlighted the importance of educating the next generation of truckers. As seasoned drivers retire, the need for well-trained fresh talent becomes more pressing. Initiatives like this school event play a pivotal role in inspiring young drivers to join the industry, thus potentially easing the driver shortage in the long run.

For carriers, supporting such educational initiatives can serve as an investment in the future workforce. Creating partnerships or offering internships and training programs can not only help in talent acquisition but also enhance a company's reputation as a proponent of industry education and innovation.

Reviving the English-Language Proficiency Rule

The FMCSA's move to reinforce the English-language proficiency rule indicates its ongoing commitment to safety and effective communication on the road. For carriers, this might mean paying closer attention to the hiring process, ensuring that new drivers meet these linguistic requirements, which are not just regulatory, but also practical concerning road safety.

Small carriers might need to consider implementing language proficiency training or assessments as part of their recruitment processes. While this could seem like an additional hurdle, it ensures that drivers are prepared to handle documentation, road signs, and emergency situations effectively.

Mack Trucks' Unique Customer Engagement

Mack Trucks is setting a new standard with its innovative approach to customer engagement, recently throwing a birthday party for a dedicated customer. While this might seem extravagant, it underscores the significance of building solid relationships with customers and the value of brand loyalty.

For small carriers, this illustrates the importance of personalized customer service. Implementing simple gestures of appreciation, such as thank you notes or loyalty discounts, can significantly bolster customer relations and set a small fleet apart from its competitors. Additionally, these strategies can lead to more word-of-mouth referrals, a vital growth channel for smaller operations.

What Carriers Should Do This Week

• Review and adjust driver pay scales to ensure they are competitive, anticipating future increases.
• Stay informed on potential ELD regulation changes and evaluate current compliance processes.
• Explore partnerships with local educational institutions to support trucking education programs.
• Assess and implement English-language proficiency checks during the hiring process.
• Develop strategies to strengthen customer relationships with personalized engagement initiatives.

In 2022, we were running a small fleet and spending approximately $400 per truck per month on software. TMS license, ELD subscription, e-sign service, separate accounting integration. Four different logins. Four different monthly invoices. Four different support teams to call when something didn't work.

None of it talked to each other without manual data entry.

The software evaluation that changed everything

We spent three months evaluating every major TMS and fleet management system on the market. AscendTMS, McLeod, Motive, EZLogz, KeepTruckin, TruckingOffice, Axon. We signed up for demos, trials, and in two cases, paid for actual subscriptions to test them properly.

What we found was consistent across almost all of them: the software was built by people who had never dispatched a truck. You could tell immediately. The terminology was slightly wrong. The workflows assumed steps that no real dispatcher would take. The ELD and TMS were always separate systems that "integrated" — meaning they sometimes shared data, if you configured things correctly, and the configuration broke whenever either vendor pushed an update.

"The best way to evaluate trucking software is to use it under real pressure. Not in a demo. Not in a test environment. On a real load, with a real deadline, when a broker is calling every 30 minutes for an update."

The specific things that were broken

Without naming specific vendors: one major TMS required five screen transitions to update a load status. Not five clicks — five full page navigations. On a mobile browser from a truck stop, that meant 45 seconds to tell a broker the truck was loaded. Another system had beautiful analytics dashboards but couldn't tell you, in real time, how many hours of drive time your driver had remaining without navigating to a separate compliance module.

The ELD market was worse. Most ELD systems were designed to satisfy FMCSA's technical requirements — which they did — while making the user experience as painful as possible. Drivers hated them. When drivers hate their tools, they find workarounds. Workarounds create compliance risk.

The moment we decided to build

The decision was made on a Tuesday afternoon when our dispatcher spent 40 minutes re-entering data from a rate confirmation PDF that our ELD had already captured in a different system. The information existed. It was digital. It lived in three different places that didn't talk to each other, and a human was manually transferring it between systems.

That's not a technology problem. That's a lack of ambition problem. Nobody had decided to solve it because the existing systems were profitable enough without solving it.

What we decided to build instead

One platform. ELD and TMS as the same system, not integrations. AI that reads rate confirmation PDFs so dispatchers don't have to. A dispatcher — eventually an AI dispatcher — that covers nights and weekends so loads don't get missed. E-sign built in, not bolted on.

And priced at zero through 2026, because the goal was to prove the product worked before asking carriers to pay for it.

Two years in: did it work?

The Rate Con AI has a 95%+ accuracy rate on standard broker formats. ERETH ELD passed FMCSA's technical certification. Our AI dispatchers book real loads for real carriers after hours. The carrier dashboard still occasionally has a minor bug — we fix them the same day they're reported.

Would we have been better off just using an existing system and focusing on freight? Financially, in the short term, probably yes. But we would have kept paying $400 per truck per month for software that we knew was mediocre. And we would have missed the opportunity to build something that actually works the way the industry needs it to work.

We don't regret it.