The Weekly Report brings you updates on the most important driver recruiting metrics each and every week. In addition to updated click, search, and rate data we cover a new story of the week. This week’s story – Newer equipment gives fleets a major recruiting and retention advantage, as well as helping to lower onboarding costs.
New episodes of the Weekly Report premiere every Wednesday at 10 AM CT on our YouTube channel and blog page.
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We provide the Weekly Report in numerous formats every week. Which one is right for you? Watch the latest reports on our Recruiting Resources or YouTube pages, use our Numbers at a Glance section for quick visual references, download the Weekly Report PDF (available below), read the transcript, or listen to the audio version of the August 4, 2021, Weekly Report below.
Numbers At A Glance – August 4, 2021
[one_half]
Truck Driver Searches |
| WoW: Δ Up 11% |
|---|
| MoM: Δ Up 10% |
| YoY: Δ Up 18% |
Load Volume |
| WoW: Δ Up 1% |
|---|
Volume by Segment |
| WoW: Dry Van Δ Up 3% |
|---|
| WoW: Refrigerated Δ Up 3% |
| WoW: Flatbed Δ Up 1% |
Spot Rates |
| WoW: ≡ Flat |
|---|
[/one_half]
[one_half_last]
Clicks On Driver Postings |
| WoW: ∇ Down 15% |
|---|
| MoM: ∇ Down 5% |
| YoY: ∇ Down 10% |
Truck Postings |
| WoW: Δ Up 9% |
|---|
Truck Posting by Segment |
| WoW: Dry Van Δ Up 25% |
|---|
| WoW: Refrigerated Δ Up 14% |
| WoW: Flatbed ≡ Flat |
Rates by Segment |
| WoW: Dry Van Δ Up 3¢ per mile |
|---|
| WoW: Refrigerated Δ Up 6¢ per mile |
| WoW: Flatbed ∇ Down 2¢ per mile |
[/one_half_last]
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August 4, 2021 Driver Recruiting Insights
Would you like to have your own copy of the trucking industry data? All of the information covered in this week’s report for August 4, 2021, is available for your convenience in PDF form below.
Click the image to download the August 4, 2021, Driver Recruiting Insights PDF.
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Weekly Report – August 4, 2021 Transcript
Hello everyone, welcome to the Weekly Report. For Randall-Reilly I’m Joshua Miller. Let’s dive right in.
THIS WEEK IN JOB BOARD SEARCHES AND CLICKS
Truck driver searches were up across the board. We saw increases of 11% WoW, 10% MoM, and 18% YoY. On the flip side, clicks were all down. There were decreases of 15% WoW, 5% MoM, and 10% YoY.
And with those drops clicks notched their lowest levels since the last full week of May, but searches climbed to the second-highest level since the end of April.
Clicks increased on postings for inexperienced/trainee drivers and decreased for experienced drivers. But postings for company drivers and teams saw the largest percentage drop in activity WoW.
THIS WEEK IN FREIGHT
Load posting volume rose by 1% WoW. That breaks down to a 3% WoW increase for both dry van and refrigerated, while flatbed dipped by 1% WoW.
Truck availability on the spot market increased by 9% WoW. With that, we saw increases for dry van of 25% and a 14% increase WoW for refrigerated, while flatbed remained unchanged.
Overall spot rates were also unchanged last week, but we did see increases of 3¢ per mile for dry van and 6¢ per mile for refrigerated, while the rates for flatbed fell by 2¢ per mile WoW.
Thus far both spot volume and rates are outpacing seasonal expectations for the second half of the year. But … as we’ve mentioned on the report before, given all the craziness and ongoing disruptions, it’s a little hard to draw any conclusions or put too much weight into those seasonal expectations or projections just yet.
That being said, spot volume and rates are well above last year’s levels AND the five-year average from 2015-2019.
NOW FOR OUR STORY OF THE WEEK
Retention numbers have always been extremely important for fleets, but with such a tight market for drivers in our current economy, driver retention takes on even more importance. ACT Research’s Driver Availability index shows that driver availability dropped to its lowest point in March. And while we’ve seen some indications that the driver market has improved somewhat since then, driver availability currently remains low.
This tight market has led to fleets looking for new strategies beyond the obvious pay increases to attract and retain drivers. The average cost of onboarding a new driver can go as high as $10,000 if not higher for some carriers.
One thing that fleets have noticed is that providing newer trucks increases their chances of driver retention, which trickles down to lowering onboarding expenses. (The fewer drivers you lose and need to replace, the less money you need to spend onboarding new ones, right?)
Carriers that operate new trucks have an advantage in both recruiting new drivers and retaining their current ones. And this edge is only amplified because it is so difficult to get new trucks at the moment. So, if your fleet has newer equipment take advantage of it! Let drivers know what you have to offer. It could make an impact on their decision-making process.
New trucks featuring newer technology, advanced safety features, and fewer maintenance issues equates to less downtime and/or breakdowns on the side of the road. In addition, the cost for all that new safety technology (we’re talking things like collision avoidance, disc brakes, lane change, and electronic stability control, etc.) – those kinds of equipment typically yield a return on the original safety technology investment in about 18 months. This means carriers are able to reduce long-term truck repair and replacement costs, while at the same time lowering those onboarding costs.
And that does it for this week’s report. Thanks so much for joining us. We’ll be back again next week with more stats and a new story of the week. New reports debut every Wednesday at 10 AM Central time, and you can find those on our blog and YouTube channel in addition to all kinds of other recruiting content. So come on back next week as we take another look back to help you move forward. Until then, have a great week everybody.
