Acertus on Risk Reduction, Hiring and Vetting of Drivers
Transcript
Kelly : What’s your driver vetting process? It’s a rough bunch of guys out there. And it has to be a challenge.n
nTrent : It’s a great question Kelly. And we get this a lot from customers. I’ve been in logistics, and in this space management. started off managing drivers for 20 years. And right, it runs the gamut from independent and owner operators out there to large publicly traded carriers. What’s important when you’re choosing a logistics partner is the risk associated with who you’re using. So assertive, we vet insurance every day, we’ve had authority every day for every single one of our 10,000 Plus carriers. n
nWe take pictures, we understand equipment where they want to run and we profile them, think of it as a freshman JV varsity type profiling scheme, to go on with your, your, your fight song earlier, to understand how you know what’s appropriate for the job to be done. And that’s both equipment types. And obviously, you know, what’s needed from an SLA perspective. n
nSo throughout there, we’re obviously managing what I am very confident is the best in class and largest fleet of carriers in the space to provide service that’s needed to our customers, you don’t always need a 10 car, you don’t always need a nine car. Sometimes you need a flatbed, or physically driven cars, which we employ with two drivers, and we use a gig economy of drivers to actually do deliveries at times and pickups.n
nKelly : That’s what I wanted to ask. Do some of your drivers, I would assume that probably a lot of your drivers do work for competitors as well. And then I’m not sure that you answered the question about vetting them. There’s extensive background checks, I would assume and you’ve worked with them for a long time, you know, the process? And then I have another driver oriented question after that the answer as far as the competitive aspect of drivers driving for the competition is concerned.n
nTrent : Yeah, a couple different questions in there. Obviously, we’re using not just drivers, but also carriers out there in the space. And, and those are, whether they spot market or contract, they’re hauling for our competitors, they’re hauling for our customers. And vice versa. Obviously, we try to provide a platform that’s very sticky, and they come back to us because we can provide them with more reasonable situations, whether that be they want to be home every night, whether it’s a pay situation. There’s a lot of different variables that are associated there. When you look at the vetting process. Absolutely. I mean, if it’s a driver, we’re doing full background checks, we’re understanding what the requirements are for the customer. And then obviously, what the regulatory practices are, and then obviously, our insurance, for making sure that our goal is to mitigate the risk to our customers. n
nThere’s a lot of risk associated with this. Across the board. Right? If there’s ever litigation, I know in the freight world, there’s a lot of challenges, and everybody kind of points back to the Tracy Morgan accident with Walmart and kind of that forward run and a new risk tolerance level to logistics. So we’re obviously very, very keen on mitigating the risk to our customers, right, we are providing a service. That’s not just a price and not just logistics, but it’s a risk mitigation strategy for every CFO out there listening for sure.n
nKelly : I get that itu2019s super competitive to find those kinds of folks. I know, it’s tough as hell for dealers to get techs. I could only imagine how difficult it is to get drivers because I hear ads for drivers all the time.n
nTrent : Yeah, absolutely. And it runs the gamut. I mean, you know, I think the demographic is a unique demographic out there to find a driver, whether it’s over the road or intercity, so it’s, it’s a challenge out there. You’ve got to prove it’s not just about pay, it’s about culture. It’s about being home. It’s about being scheduled on time, right? Get the wheels turning and earn and then get them home. n
nRight that’s, that’s a philosophy here and a philosophy I’ve always had even when I managed drivers because just like Kelly and you and I and everybody else listening out here, we all have events. We have scheduled soccer games for kids and things like that, that we’ve gotta get home. And being able to schedule those things out is really important for drivers. As you think about that work life balancen
nTrent : It’s a great question Kelly. And we get this a lot from customers. I’ve been in logistics, and in this space management. started off managing drivers for 20 years. And right, it runs the gamut from independent and owner operators out there to large publicly traded carriers. What’s important when you’re choosing a logistics partner is the risk associated with who you’re using. So assertive, we vet insurance every day, we’ve had authority every day for every single one of our 10,000 Plus carriers. n
nWe take pictures, we understand equipment where they want to run and we profile them, think of it as a freshman JV varsity type profiling scheme, to go on with your, your, your fight song earlier, to understand how you know what’s appropriate for the job to be done. And that’s both equipment types. And obviously, you know, what’s needed from an SLA perspective. n
nSo throughout there, we’re obviously managing what I am very confident is the best in class and largest fleet of carriers in the space to provide service that’s needed to our customers, you don’t always need a 10 car, you don’t always need a nine car. Sometimes you need a flatbed, or physically driven cars, which we employ with two drivers, and we use a gig economy of drivers to actually do deliveries at times and pickups.n
nKelly : That’s what I wanted to ask. Do some of your drivers, I would assume that probably a lot of your drivers do work for competitors as well. And then I’m not sure that you answered the question about vetting them. There’s extensive background checks, I would assume and you’ve worked with them for a long time, you know, the process? And then I have another driver oriented question after that the answer as far as the competitive aspect of drivers driving for the competition is concerned.n
nTrent : Yeah, a couple different questions in there. Obviously, we’re using not just drivers, but also carriers out there in the space. And, and those are, whether they spot market or contract, they’re hauling for our competitors, they’re hauling for our customers. And vice versa. Obviously, we try to provide a platform that’s very sticky, and they come back to us because we can provide them with more reasonable situations, whether that be they want to be home every night, whether it’s a pay situation. There’s a lot of different variables that are associated there. When you look at the vetting process. Absolutely. I mean, if it’s a driver, we’re doing full background checks, we’re understanding what the requirements are for the customer. And then obviously, what the regulatory practices are, and then obviously, our insurance, for making sure that our goal is to mitigate the risk to our customers. n
nThere’s a lot of risk associated with this. Across the board. Right? If there’s ever litigation, I know in the freight world, there’s a lot of challenges, and everybody kind of points back to the Tracy Morgan accident with Walmart and kind of that forward run and a new risk tolerance level to logistics. So we’re obviously very, very keen on mitigating the risk to our customers, right, we are providing a service. That’s not just a price and not just logistics, but it’s a risk mitigation strategy for every CFO out there listening for sure.n
nKelly : I get that itu2019s super competitive to find those kinds of folks. I know, it’s tough as hell for dealers to get techs. I could only imagine how difficult it is to get drivers because I hear ads for drivers all the time.n
nTrent : Yeah, absolutely. And it runs the gamut. I mean, you know, I think the demographic is a unique demographic out there to find a driver, whether it’s over the road or intercity, so it’s, it’s a challenge out there. You’ve got to prove it’s not just about pay, it’s about culture. It’s about being home. It’s about being scheduled on time, right? Get the wheels turning and earn and then get them home. n
nRight that’s, that’s a philosophy here and a philosophy I’ve always had even when I managed drivers because just like Kelly and you and I and everybody else listening out here, we all have events. We have scheduled soccer games for kids and things like that, that we’ve gotta get home. And being able to schedule those things out is really important for drivers. As you think about that work life balancen