No big deal. I teach you to work smarter not harder. Would have done you no good to do this 7 years and all wrong ;). Welcome!

Why? ‘Cuz driver shortage. Despite the allure of autonomous vehicles, trucks still need drivers and there aren’t enough. Mostly because the trucking companies don’t pay them very much. And regs. And lack of parking. And it’s actually expensive to become a truck driver. Yep, you too can work 70 hours a week, visit home once a week (unless you’re OTR – then every couple weeks or so), deal with four-wheelers who think trucks are just like cars (yes, you there) and sit at the gate at your favorite Amazon DC for twenty minutes all for the amazing rate of .42/mile. You can make a solid 45K if you don’t mind not having a life.

The economy is on your favorite interstate. Trust me. Most everything you need is on its way. The stuff that’s in the store wasn’t there three days ago. (Unless it’s a Star Wars action figure.)

I can’t sell a book. I can’t get a job in an industry where I have twenty years of experience. But I can go to a paid orientation for a trucking job next week.

Point being: I know for a fact that the freight business is backed up. They cannot move stuff fast enough because there simply aren’t enough drivers to do it.

Which means efficiency in shipping is becoming more important. Dock to rail to DC to box truck to house isn’t as efficient as dock to rail to DC to retail outlet. It takes more drivers to deliver stuff to everybody’s house than it does to deliver stuff to a store. On-line retailing has shifted driving duties from you to box truck drivers. (Ever wonder why your stuff is late and really expensive to ship?) Point-to-point single unit shipping just can’t keep up.

So, with this shortage of drivers, I think supply chain managers are going to see a rosier distribution picture by expanding retail outlets. Shifting the last mile back to the consumer means being able to get more drivers behind the wheels of trucks that are most efficient at distributing the nation’s commerce: the big ones.

And, just an aside (if you’ve read this far): The next time you get aggravated by a big rig pulling into the left lane and “slowing you down,” understand that any truck that has a major carrier’s name on it is governed (The engine is physically restrained) to not exceed anywhere between 60 and 65 miles an hour. They’re not going any faster because they can’t. And trust me, you really want it that way.