Tucker Company April Newsletter

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TU C K E R C O M PA NY W O R L D W I D E
APRIL 2013
FREIGHT FORUM
Tucker Moves Trees for Beach Replenishment
Working with Haddonfield students, Tucker delivered recycled Christmas
trees to Seaside Heights following Hurricane Sandy.
Tucker lent a hand, or in this case, a freeof-charge truck driver and 45’ tractortrailer, to students of Haddonfield
Memorial High School (“HMHS”). The
students provided a day of service on the
first post-Sandy Martin Luther King Day of
Service, helping coordinators in Seaside
Heights, New Jersey.
Trees provide an environmentally friendly
root system for beach dunes. They Mayor
agreed, then reached out to Jim and Jeff
Tucker, owners of our 52-year-old firm, who
offered free transportation and logistics.
Jean Shea, parent of Patrick Shea, an
HMHS student, spearheaded the initiative.
Shea asked Haddonfield Mayor Tish
Columbi for the town’s used Christmas trees.
On Saturday, January 19, Tucker staff and
families, and Haddonfield elementary,
middle school and MHMS students and
parents loaded the trees into trailer. On
Monday, January 21, the truck and a bus
full of HMHS students traveled to Seaside
Heights to unload and help the installation.
Tucker Opens Texas Office
Big interview for Big Truck TV
Tucker
Company
Worldwide is
pleased to announce the
opening of our first Texas sales
office, located in Houston. A significant
percentage of Tucker’s freight volume
originates and/or delivers in Texas. Our
Texas and greater Southwest customers
have been well served for years by our team
domiciled on the east coast, but as
business and relationships continue to
develop, we felt compelled to offer our
customers more direct contact. Texas is a
huge market, and we’re delighted to now
call Texas “home.”
On April 11, 2013, Jeff Tucker sat with the
producers of “Big Truck TV” to discuss
carrier selection, the Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration’s public policy vs.
conflicting agenda tug-of-war, and the new
2013 Carrier Selection Framework coauthored by Tucker as chair of TIA’s Carrier
Selection Framework Committee. The
interview will appear on its video blog,
www.bigtrucktv.com in a future segment.
D I D YO U KN OW?
TIA’s 2013 Carrier Selection
Framework was published in April.
Call Tucker for your copy.
Jeff Tucker Selected Vice Chairman of TIA
Jeff Tucker was appointed the next Vice
Chairman of the Transportation Intermediaries
Association (“TIA”) on April 10, 2013. Jeff’s
dad Bill was one of the co-founders of the TIA
in 1978, as deregulation was beginning.
Jeff has previously served as Secretary and
Treasurer, as well as Chairman of the TIA’s
first Legislative Committee, its first Carrier
Selection Committee, and Chairman of TIA’s
Government Freight Committee.
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T U C K E R C O M PA N Y W O R L D W I D E : F R E I G H T F O R U M
BIG CHANGES AHEAD
New hours of Service regulations take effect July 1, 2013
The FMCSA has told the public that it will not delay introduction of
the new Hours of Service (“HOS”) rules past July 1, 2013. That may,
or may not mean an imminent across-the-board capacity shortage,
but it will mean that certain carriers will no longer be able to sustain
serving certain customers, or lanes, once they understand what the
new HOS rules mean to their operations.
The 2004 HOS rules change saw widespread customercarrier changes, as carriers shifted from less attractive freight
to most attractive freight (low driver responsibility and delay =
attractive freight).
There is no way to sugar-coat it; 2013 HOS rules change will
impact your operation. It is expected to be among the top most
significant challenges shippers faced in several years. The extent
of the impact is up to the shipper. The smartest shippers and
smartest brokers will proactively manage the process starting now.
They’ll:
a. “Double-down” on pre-existing great relationships and ensure
strong brokerage component.
APR I L 2013
b. Invest in those relationships,
and build stronger bonds
now.
c. Seek to better understand
their own operations, and
ask their partners questions.
d. Stress to their internal teams,
vendors and customers, the
importance of good
communications, flexibility and advance notice. In freight, time
and communication are simple to understand:
a. Advance notice = Least cost routing = product & freight
savings
b. Late notice = High cost routing = product & freight
increases (and lost sales, etc.)
Those who don’t plan now to adapt to 2013 HOS will likely be left
with an expensive problem that results in lost sales, downed
production time, and lots of headaches, for which the only “cure” is
money that isn’t in anyone’s budget.
This is not the time to gamble. Trust those who got you through
tough times. Two other factors to keep in mind: (1) Chances are,
2013’s growing season and peak season will strain capacity, on
top of tightening HOS rules. (2) The driver shortage issue is not
improving. In fact, as the housing market finally seems to be
showing life in pockets around the country, burdensome trucking
regulations and better pay from construction opportunities are
driving drivers away.