HOURS-OF-SERVICE RULES BACK AS TOP CONCERN IN ANNUAL TRUCKING INDUSTRY SURVEY
SAN DIEGO, CA – The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), the trucking industry’s not-for-profit research institute, today unveiled its list of the top ten critical issues facing the North American trucking industry.
Operational impacts being experienced across the supply chain from the changes to the Hours-of-Service (HOS) rules that went into effect in 2013 once again propelled the HOS rules to the top of the list in ATRI’s annual survey of more than 4,000 trucking industry stakeholders. The complete results were released at the 2014 Management Conference and Exhibition of the American Trucking Associations (ATA) meeting in San Diego, CA, the nation’s largest gathering of motor carrier executives. The ATRI Top Industry Issues report also solicited and tabulated specific strategies for addressing each issue.
Coming in a close second to the HOS rules in terms of industry concern is the growing driver shortage, which replaced the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program as the number two issue. However, a number of challenges still exist with CSA, which ranked third overall on the 2014 list.
Related to the driver shortage, driver retention moved to fourth place from seventh place in 2013 as trucking fleets work to retain their most experienced and qualified drivers. Finally, industry concern over the timing and specifics of the pending FMCSA Final Rule on electronic logging devices (ELDs) caused this issue to round out the top five industry issues of 2014.
The state of the nation’s economy, which first appeared on the top industry list in 2008 and held the number one spot for three years in a row (2009-2011), dropped to number nine on this year’s list. The 2014 list also has a first-time issue, Driver Distraction, which debuted in 10th place amid industry concern over the safety impacts of car driver use of cell phones while driving.
The ATA-commissioned survey results and proposed strategies will be utilized by the ATA Federation to better focus its advocacy role on behalf of the U.S. trucking industry and ATA Federation stakeholders.
“ATRI’s annual survey of top industry issues gives us direct insight in to all of the complex forces affecting motor carriers and drivers so that we can plan accordingly, and focus on running a safe and profitable industry,” said ATA chairman Phil Byrd, President/CEO, Bulldog Hiway Express, Charleston, SC.
“As we all know, the trucking industry constantly faces changes and challenges to how we operate safely and efficiently,” ATA President and CEO Bill Graves said. “However, our industry has always responded to these issues with determination and ATRI’s work gives us the information to decide where to focus our energies first and foremost.”
ATRI is the trucking industry’s 501(c)(3) not-for-profit research organization. It is engaged in critical research relating to freight transportation’s essential role in maintaining a safe, secure and efficient transportation system. A copy of the survey results is available from ATRI at www.atri-online.org.
NEW ATRI RESEARCH FINDS INDUSTRY’S OPERATIONAL COSTS ON THE RISE AGAIN
Arlington, VA – The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) today released the findings of its 2014 update to An Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking. The research, which identifies trucking costs from 2008 through 2013 derived directly from fleets’ financial and operational data, provides motor carriers with an important high-level benchmarking tool and government agencies with real world data for future infrastructure improvement analyses.
The average marginal cost per mile in 2013 was $1.68, an increase from the $1.63 found in 2012. After the Great Recession and a sharp decline in fuel prices resulted in decreased industry costs between 2008 and 2009, costs steadily rose through 2010 and 2011, with a slight decline in 2012. The increase in average operating costs in 2013 is attributed to the ongoing driver shortage and the resulting wage increases by motor carriers to ensure retention of experienced, qualified drivers.
“Carriers have experienced significant increases in equipment and labor costs, as well as second-level line items like tolls and health care benefits. Given tightening capacity and strengthening freight demand, ATRI’s operational costs report enables carriers to evaluate business opportunities wisely,” commented Andrew Boyle, Executive Vice President of Boyle Transportation and a member of ATRI’s Research Advisory Committee.
Since its original publication in 2008, the Operational Costs of Trucking reports continue to be one of the most requested ATRI reports among industry stakeholders. In addition to average costs per mile, ATRI’s report documents average costs per hour and includes cost breakouts by industry sector. Also new this year, ATRI is publishing a one-page fact sheet with the key findings of the report.
A copy of this report and the fact sheet are available from ATRI at www.atri-online.org.
ATRI is the trucking industry’s 501(c)(3) not-for-profit research organization. It is engaged in critical research relating to freight transportation’s essential role in maintaining a safe, secure and efficient transportation system.
Four Core Principles
Boardroom founder Marty Edelston had 4 core principles for business and life success:
1. He outworked everyone.
2. He had insatiable curiosity.
3. He surrounded himself with people smarter than himself
whenever and wherever possible.
4. He always thought about what he could do for you first.
7 Steps to Establishing Yourself as an Industry Leader
By Craig Ballantyne
In the summer of 2000 I was finishing up my master’s thesis in Exercise Physiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario (Canada’s ‘steeltown’). At the time, I lived with two buddies, and the only computer with Internet access in our house was in my friend’s room in his basement apartment.
One Saturday afternoon, after getting home from running tests in the lab, I noticed my roommate was out at one of his Kung Fu classes, and so I went down to look for job opportunities on a fitness website.
It was during this fateful Internet search that I stumbled across the email address of the fitness editor for Men’s Health magazine, the biggest fitness publication in the world. I decided to take a chance and send him my latest fitness email newsletter, even though it had only 150 subscribers.
A few days later the editor replied back, and wanted to use a piece from my article in an upcoming issue. Just like that I had instant credibility. This one opportunity would be the foundation for the exponential growth of my fitness information publishing business over the next 10 years.
It allowed me to become a leader in my industry, and that has made all the difference. And today we’re going to cover my favorite advanced leadership mindset and marketing tips I was taught by one of my mentors, Dan Kennedy. These 7 steps will help you break the 6-figure and even 7-figure barriers in your business by establishing yourself as leader in your industry and niche market.
1) You Must Have Extreme Self-confidence
Your business is not only about selling your product. It’s also about attracting people who want everything you have to offer. Your business is YOU. It doesn’t matter if you run a shop on main street in your town or a website serving people from all over the globe, you must be confident that what you bring to the world is unique and different from everyone else offering similar products.
2) You Must Take Action and Implement What You Learn
This step is not nearly as much fun as thinking big, but it is just as essential. The most successful people in the world are action takers. They don’t think too much, they just get it done. If you’re struggling with implementing what you know, then set more deadlines in your business. If you already have deadlines, cut them in half. Be bold. If you have a product planned for release in 3 months, cut that back and set a deadline of 2 months. You’ll find a way to get it done and you’ll be one step closer to being a leader in your industry. Life rewards action.
3) You Can Never Be Satisfied
You can never rest or try to sustain status quo. As Kennedy says, “You must be finding the replacement for the replacement.”
If you are a salesperson having a record year, you must still be looking into the future and planning for when sales aren’t as easy. You must continue to stay hungry and remain on top of the trends in your industry.
Likewise, if you’re an online information marketer, it doesn’t matter if you are getting 10,000 visitors per day to your site from Search Engine Optimization and affiliates, if you don’t keep coming up with new stuff, eventually your traffic will dwindle and your business will die.
Keep learning and networking, and never be satisfied as long as you remain in business.
4) Really Big Thinking – “Make no little plans”
This is my favorite step on the list. I just love to think big, and to plan and predict future opportunities for my business. It’s a great exercise to do on airplanes, because research shows we’re more creative when we get outside of our daily work environment – plus, it’s much more productive than watching a movie you’ve seen before.
When it comes to big thinking, always be conceive and believe that you will achieve great plans. You must be sure of yourself that you will dominate your chosen niche. You must not be afraid to create bigger and bolder ideas everyday and always be looking for markets where you can charge top dollar, and bigger projects and products that will allow you to do so.
5) You Must Work on the Macro and Micro Components of Your Business
Everyone wants to be the “idea guy”, but if you want to succeed you have to force yourself to be good at ideas, follow through, and details. You need to have every aspect of copy, product creation, and lead generation in place if you want to create a 6-figure or 7-figure income.
6) You Must Develop Multiple, High-Value Skills
It’s not enough to be just a good speaker, or salesperson, or product creator. We need multiple skills. First we have to identify an opportunity, then generate leads, then build interest in our prospects, then persuade our prospects to become customers, and finally deliver extreme value and service. Don’t just stop when you’ve become good in one area of expertise.
You also need to develop the skill of learning how to say NO. Too many folks spread themselves too thin, so you have to decide what projects are right for you and will advance your business.
7) Always Focus on Strategic Associations
If you sit at home and think you can avoid seminars and mastermind groups yet still develop powerful affiliate and business relationships, you are sorely mistaken. You need to be at seminars, having conversations in the hallways and at the bar, meeting new people online and offline.
Listen, by nature I’m an introverted person. A highly introverted person. I’d much rather read a book than introduce myself to a stranger. But guess what? Of all the strangers I’ve introduced myself to at the dozens of conferences I’ve attended, not one of them has bit me. And many of them have become friends, and a few of them have become lifelong business partners.
In fact, I might never have had my chance to run Early to Rise if it wasn’t for a Mastermind group I joined where I met Matt Smith, my business partner. So get out there. Go to seminars and events. Plan ahead and have a list of people to meet and questions to ask AND people that you can help. Never go empty handed or without a plan.
Follow those 7 steps to start building a serious business and you’ll soon join the ranks of leaders in your industry.