Rethink your hires

Where do fleets most often fall short on compliance—and how can you get ahead of it? One expert breaks it down, with practical advice for reducing risk across your operation.

We’re also looking at a new program designed to help trucking companies hire and support military veterans, potential win-win for fleets and service members alike.

Plus, AI is no longer a future trend. It’s here, and it’s reshaping everything from LTL freight brokering to drayage. Is your team ready?

By Shefali Kapadia | for The Inside Lane

Stop hiring generalists: The solution to risk reduction at your fleet

Leaders know that hiring the right—or wrong—people can make all the difference in your business. In trucking, that conversation often focuses on drivers, but safety, compliance and HR managers are just as critical. 

We chatted with Rob Carpenter, Vice President of Compliance and Managed Services at Trucksafe Consulting, for his tips on hiring the right people and reducing risk in your fleet.

What are the biggest compliance mistake that you see small trucking companies make? Are they avoidable?

Licensing standards, hiring criteria and qualification validation are huge. We see a lot of fleets in litigation that face huge exposure for unqualified or unlicensed drivers. Many [compliance mistakes] are for not self-certifying their medical certificate with their respective DMV. The second most common mistake I see is child support suspensions. Continuous licensing monitoring like Samba Safety makes this completely avoidable and promotes a participatory vs. reactive driver monitoring and qualification program.  

What's your no. 1 piece of advice to trucking executives to reduce risk in their business?

Hire the right people to develop and manage defensible programs. Environmental health and safety (EHS) managers seldom know fleet. EHS is typically occupational safety, industrial hygienist, etc. They often do not specialize or even comprehend fleet compliance and defensible risk. HR managers seldom know fleet; HR is vastly different for regulated fleets. Practical fleet compliance and defense programs are best led by fleet experts. Stop hiring generalists that have no fleet or transportation industry experience.

If you could change FMCSA's regulation to help improve trucking operations, especially for small fleets, what would it be?

Driver-Vehicle Inspection Report (DVIR) completion only for defects was a great step and eliminated the unnecessary documentation of every pre- and post-trip inspection, regardless of whether a defect existed or not. I think changing the ELD requirements under 49 CFR 395 adding facial recognition, or DL insertion into the system as they do in Germany, would eliminate a large portion of wasted labor being allocated to admin who have to assign unassigned drive time manually.

A good reg to add is continuous monitoring. Fleets are required to run motor vehicle records once a year, and this leaves huge gaps of exposure that's unnecessary.  

What's a lesson you learned as a truck driver that you'll never forget? 

Don't just take any role with any carrier or fleet due to a lack of options or just because you've been offered the role and need personal cash flow. Focus on your needs, values and wants and choose the right mode, the right cultural fit, the right money, the right location, home time, etc. Driver turnover is high often because drivers play the short game when selecting a driving position and don't research the role, the company or what they personally want or need out of an employer. 

The first mile of trucking is starting to embrace AI

Drayage trucking companies that haul freight to and from seaports are smashing the stereotype that they're old fashioned, traditional businesses. 

Instead, they're realizing how efficient AI can make them and embracing the tech to automate tasks like container monitoring and spreadsheet updates, writes Toni Pisano of drayage software company PortPro. 

"AI has arrived in the supply chain—in the first mile, the last mile and everything in between—and it’s making supply chain operators work smarter instead of harder," Pisano writes. 

Why this matters: The logistics and trucking world is full of manual, repetitive tasks that are well-suited to AI. A human doesn't need to sit around and manually refresh container schedules or type numbers into a spreadsheet when an algorithm could do that, allowing the person to instead focus on strategy and relationship building. 

Get more details at Fast Company.

RIP: FedEx founder Fred Smith dies at age 80

NEED TO KNOW: Change coming to the commercial driver medical card process

TRAGIC CRASH: Driver with 30 years experience killed after losing brakes

TRAFFIC... JAM? Truck hauling trailer of blackberries overturns

"You're retired, and you're forced to come back because of money." -Troy Austin, host of TalkCDL Trucking Podcast

There's a somewhat worrying trend unfolding in the trucking industry. Instead of enjoying their golden years, retired drivers, some in their 70s or even 80s, are looking to rejoin the trucking workforce. Why? Because they're unable to afford retirement. Austin recalled one driver who was 88 years old and looking to get back into truck driving. Listen to the full story here.

Survey: Industry sees lack of English proficiency as key safety issue

Three in four trucking industry readers believe non-English proficient drivers are "a big problem," according to a survey conducted by FleetOwner. Among the respondents, 90% agreed that English proficiency should be an out-of-service criteria, and 93% want to see English added to CDL tests. 

Why this matters: OOS violations for failure to comply with English proficiency begin this week, and the survey indicates the majority of the industry supports the move toward stricter enforcement. Trucking owners and managers will need to ensure their drivers are properly prepared to respond in English, or they could be put out of service. (FleetOwner)

Freight recession expected to linger into 2026

A variety of economic indicators point to an unfortunate forecast: the freight recession keeps going and going. Cancellations of trailer orders soared to 37.6% in May—which was the highest rate in a year—due to steel and aluminum tariffs and general economic uncertainty, according to FTR data. International trade is a big question mark, also due to tariffs. Up to 25% of U.S. trucking volume comes from international trade volumes.

Why this matters: It's been a tough road for trucking, and things still aren't looking up. Fleet executives may be waiting longer than expected for supply and demand to come back in balance and for rates to respond accordingly. (Truck News)

Truckload Carriers Association launches veteran hiring program

 The Truckload Carriers Association is launching a new program that provides resources and tools to fleet managers to help them hire veterans. TCA is bringing together carriers and their lessons learned in hiring veterans to create a roadmap for other fleets. Plus, the association is giving fleets a checklist to ensure they have the tools they need to support vets. 

Why this matters: The TCA program could solve one of the main challenges businesses face in hiring veterans: having the right resources to support veterans during onboarding and beyond. Military vets possess many of the skills beneficial to the trucking industry, such as quick thinking, communication and leadership, and some may have even operated trucks or equipment while serving, making them a potentially good fit for trucking careers. (Transport Topics)

C.H. Robinson deploys AI agent to automate LTL freight classification

C.H. Robinson has launched an AI agent that will help classify LTL freight, especially in light of changes to the National Motor Freight Classification system. LTL classifications have historically been conducted manually, but CHR's tool will automate the process with the ability to classify 2,000 orders every day. CHR has been an early adopter of AI, using the technology to automate quotes and match loads with carriers.

Why this matters: Logistics, at its heart, is a relationship business. But some essential tasks are mundane, repetitive and not the best use of a human's time. This is where the AI agent comes in, making the logistics process faster and potentially less error-prone while freeing up people to focus on the strategic tasks that matter most. (FreightWaves)

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