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 – A recent driver panel during a Translo webinar revealed most drivers simply want fleets to communicate, be honest, and be transparent.
New episodes of the Weekly Report premiere every Wednesday at 10 AM CT on our YouTube channel and blog page.
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 September 9, 2021, Weekly Report below.
Numbers At A Glance – September 9, 2021
[one_half]
Truck Driver Searches |
| WoW: Δ Up 15% |
|---|
| MoM: Δ Up 3% |
| YoY: Δ Up 23% |
Load Volume |
| WoW: ∇ Down 4% |
|---|
Volume by Segment |
| WoW: Dry Van ∇ Down 1% |
|---|
| WoW: Refrigerated Δ Up 3% |
| WoW: Flatbed ∇ Down 9% |
Spot Rates |
| WoW: Δ Up 10¢ per mile |
|---|
[/one_half]
[one_half_last]
Clicks On Driver Postings |
| WoW: ∇ Down 3% |
|---|
| MoM: ∇ Down 21% |
| YoY: ∇ Down 4% |
Truck Postings |
| WoW: Δ Up 8% |
|---|
Truck Posting by Segment |
| WoW: Dry Van Δ Up 22% |
|---|
| WoW: Refrigerated Δ Up 16% |
| WoW: Flatbed Unavailable |
Rates by Segment |
| WoW: Dry Van Δ Up 13¢ per mile |
|---|
| WoW: Refrigerated Δ Up 12¢ per mile |
| WoW: Flatbed Δ Up 6¢ per mile |
[/one_half_last]
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September 9, 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 September 9, 2021, is available for your convenience in PDF form below.
Click the image to download September 9, 2021, Driver Recruiting Insights PDF.
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Weekly Report – September 9, 2021 Transcript
Hello everyone and welcome to the Weekly Report. For Randall-Reilly, I’m Joshua Miller. The data was a little delayed coming off the long holiday weekend so we’re a day late getting the report out this week. We do apologize for that, but hey … we’re here now! Before we jump into the report – if you’re watching us over on YouTube don’t forget like, share, and subscribe. Over on our blog, you can sign up for the monthly newsletter or just poke around and find other great content available there. Now onto the report!
THIS WEEK IN JOB BOARD SEARCHES AND CLICKS
Truck driver searches were up 15% WoW, 3% MoM, and 23% YoY. Meanwhile clicks on truck driver postings dropped by 3% WoW, 21% MoM, and 4% YoY.
Searches for truck driver jobs once again spiked to a record high and click counts continue to fall in line with what we saw one year ago.
One thing to keep in mind moving forward is that those federal unemployment benefits expired this week (on September 6th to be exact). With those benefits coming to an end, we could potentially see search and click levels spike this week. Around seven and a half million Americans were receiving those benefits. Although 26 states already ended those extra benefits, this week marks the conclusion for the federal unemployment payments for the final 24 states.
THIS WEEK IN FREIGHT
Load postings dipped by 4% WoW. While refrigerated was able to notch a gain of 3%, WoW, both dry van and flatbed postings fell (a 1% decline for dry van and a 9% drop for flatbed).
That 3% gain for refrigerated resulted in another all-time high. As I noted last week, refrigerated volume typically peaks heading into Labor Day before easing off until just before Thanksgiving when it spikes once again.
Truck availability was up by 8% WoW. Dry van surged seeing a 22% increase WoW, while refrigerated wasn’t far behind with a 16% gain. The flatbed truck availability data, however, is unfortunately unavailable.
Spot rates rose by 10¢ per mile WoW. All three segments saw gains as dry van was up by 13¢, refrigerated was up 12¢, and flatbed was up 6¢ per mile WoW.
The week heading into Labor Day usually sees stronger spot rates for dry van and refrigerated markets, and this once again proved to be the case this year. In addition to the holiday weekend, we also had Hurricane Ida down on the Gulf Coast and its remnant’s impact heading up the East Coast, which also likely bolstered van rates (though the weather did not seem to lead to greater volume).
NOW FOR THE STORY OF THE WEEK
Transflo recently hosted a webinar that encouraged truck drivers to discuss their experiences and the various things fleets can do to help bridge the gap between management and drivers.
A panel of drivers emphasized most drivers just want fleets to communicate, be honest, and be transparent. This begins from the word go during onboarding and continuing through the driver’s tenure with the company.
Nearly every driver survey the past decade lists pay as the primary reason a driver leaves a fleet. Drivers on the panel, however, argued that sometimes drivers will simply answer pay on a survey as a quick and easy out. In their view, many drivers look to leave a fleet because of poor relationships, too few miles, or because they feel the fleet hasn’t kept the promises made during their recruitment or onboarding.
Drivers can quickly lose trust and faith if they encounter recruiters who are not fully upfront and honest or dispatchers who have trouble keeping trucks moving due to poor communication skills.
These issues lead to lost income, and the dollar figure becomes the physical manifestation of the problems that are occurring. It’s often difficult to point to a relationship, but very easy to point to the resulting loss of pay.
One way to combat this is to check in with drivers often and ask them how the fleet is doing. Then – and this part is important … actually respond to show that you heard them and value their feedback.
And that does it for this week’s report. Come back and see us next week for more stats and an all-new story of the week. Until then, have a great week everybody.
