Help Us Celebrate National Truck Driver Appreciation Week!
Over 3.5 million men and women haul goods across America. These professional truck drivers have extremely demanding jobs, which feed directly into the health of our economy. They drive both night and day to ensure goods arrive safely and on time. Sometimes they leave thier loved ones behind for multiple days at a time. Without these truck drivers, local commmunities across the nation would not receive the products they want and need! National Truck Driver Appreciation Week (NTDAW), which runs September 13th through September 19th 2020, was designed to honor and celebrate these American Heroes. "On behalf of Sleek Technologies, we thank these amazing men and women for thier crucial role in pushing our economy forward, especially during these challenging times," said Mike Nervick, Sleek Technologies CEO. It's no secret that 2020 brought many new challenges. As most Americans shifted to remote working, truck drivers continued to face the pandemic head on, making personal sacrifices and risking virus exposure. To this day, they continue to remain a crucial piece in overcoming COVID-19, and pushing America back to normal. So the next time you are out and about and pull up next to a truck driver be sure to wave and say, "Thank you"! Join our newsletter. click here
Looking for Additional Capacity, Along with Cost Control?
Shipper Capacity & Cost Control Have you heard about Sleek OTS Plugin? Sleek OTS Plugin was designed to help our shipper customers navigate market fluctuation. OTS, Optimal Transportation Spend, places capacity, and freight cost control, in the hands of shippers. To learn more about OTS, read The Executive’s Guide to OTS, click here. Sleek OTS Plugin offers many benefits to shippers: Additional Capacity: When capacity tightens chances are a shipper’s primary carrier network acceptance rates are declining. Shippers are left to find other means to move freight. Sleek OTS Plugin automatically opens up a dynamic carrier network to immediately increase shipper tender acceptance and capacity. Cost Control: Sleek OTS Plugin helps shippers control cost by stabilizing rates throughout the year to reduce cost overruns. “Using non-contracted rates to move freight can cost an arm and a leg”, said Mike Edwards, Sleek Technologies Enterprise Sales Leader. “As loads move down the waterfall tender process the cost increases on average 15% for the second carrier and 25% for the third carrier.” Once the load is accepted, the shipper is left wondering what percentage of the total cost went to the broker/ middleman versus the driver. With Sleek OTS Plugin, shippers pre-set a NBAp, next best alternative price. Once the NBAp is defined, capacity opens, and drivers have the ability to bid directly on the shipper’s freight. There is no middleman, so drivers take home 100% of the total cost tendered. In the end, without the middleman, the shipper saves money by leveraging OTS and NBAp, while the carrier makes more revenue per load. Schedule OTS Demo. click here Learn More About OTS. click here Join...
Rise in Offsite Safety Inspections Impacts Carriers & Number of Audits
Did you know more than 50% of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) safety audits are now done offsite? An offsite audit consists of uploading electronic documentation and phone interviews, which moves the inspection process along much faster compared to in-person meetings. The shift from onsite to offsite has made it easier for FMCSA to conduct more inspections. According to an article published by Overdrive, entitled Smallest carriers, the largest share of DOT audits, now face increased offsite scrutiny, just under 1.4K audits were performed last year Jan through July; looking at this same time period in 2020, 3.6K audits have been completed. The same article suggests that by the end of the year, there will be 5X more audits performed year-over-year. Since small carriers make up the largest percentage of trucks on the road, it makes sense that they also make up the biggest share of audits. “Small carriers have already endured so much this year’” said Dean Corbolotti, Sleek Technologies. “Adding increased scrutiny and fines will make it even more difficult for the small carriers to stay afloat.” Carriers can be proactive by staying on top of their CSA (Compliance, Safety, Accountability) scores, which are generated from several data sources including roadside inspections, crashes, investigation results, and registration. The FMCSA identifies high-risk carriers using CSA, so if a carrier has a higher than normal score they should prepare for an offsite audit. To check your CSA, click here. Join our newsletter. click here
Contracted Freight Shifts To Spot
Last week, spot van rates hit record highs. Here's what Dean Corbolotti, Shipper Engagement at Sleek Technologies, had to say about the topic. #SleekPOV "For the first time in almost two years, spot rates jumped higher than contract rates. In the short term, I don't see this changing. Outbound tender volumes are at all-time highs, while truck capacity has decreased due to COVID. Tender rejections hit 25%, on average, causing contracted freight to shift into spot which is costing significantly more. I predict this market will continue through at least the end of September, if not longer. Contract rates will need to be renegotiated in order to mitigate costs in many markets." Technology, like Sleek OTS Plugin, can help shippers manage market ups and downs. The software plugs directly into a shipper's TMS, and runs behind the scenes opening up capacity backed by a shipper's pre-determined price to help stabilize pricing during tight markets. “Sleek OTS Plugin is a seamless, and simple way, for shippers to successfully navigate market fluctuation,” said Corbolotti. Schedule OTS Demo. click here Learn More About OTS. click here Join our newsletter. click here
Does Your Transportation Team Have OTS?
Managing a transportation and logistics budget is arguably the most difficult job within a company. Why? Because the team has zero control over a variety of variables (like weather) that can impact goods arriving on time and within the planned budget. One new way to manage market fluctuations (and ultimately the transportation budget) is by ensuring the team has an OTS solution. What is OTS? OTS stands for optimal transportation spend. If a shipper has an OTS solution they avoid higher costs and delays in delivery times during tight market conditions. In short, OTS helps shippers bypass brokers, and the costly spot market. OTS provides direct access to carriers (cutting out the middleman cost). OTS also provides 100% rate transparency so the shipper can understand true market cost on a specific lane-- the shipper will finally know what the driver is getting paid to move the load, not just one total cost that usually contains a hefty broker margin. OTS, was designed to integrate and run behind the scenes in a shipper’s Transportation Management Systems (TMS). During the waterfall tender process, OTS solution provides additional carrier options based on the load attributes and the carriers SLA scorecard, enhancing the carrier pool and removing brokers and the costly spot market. OTS automatically opens up capacity and uses a predefined next best alternative price set by the shipper. Once the load is tendered, the shipper immediately sees the cost to move the load in their TMS, and immediate savings are realized based on the NBAp. To learn more about OTS, read “A Quick Read: The Executive’s Guide to OTS (Optimal Truckload Spend). Schedule OTS Demo. click...