When you’re shipping freight within a region of the US, you have options for the type of carrier you partner with. You can work with one of the large long-haul carriers that operate nationwide. Or you can work with a regional carrier that specializes in your chosen region. In this article, we’ll examine regional truckload services and the many advantages you can gain by working with a regional carrier.
With the state supreme court’s Dynamex decision, followed by its Senate Bill 1402 (SB 1402), California’s position on the hiring of independent owner-operators by drayage carriers is now firmly established. In short, the state asserts that many of these contractors are not independent after all – and those that claim to be acting as employees of the hiring companies have solid legal ground to sue for wages and benefits.
Many beneficial cargo owners (BCOs) have seen the writing on the wall and are protecting themselves from possible legal and financial penalties by turning away from drayage carriers who engage contractors. Others are not yet reacting, while still others may not even be aware of recent legal precedents. In this article, we’ll get you up to speed on these developments and help you determine whether your prospective carrier’s drivers in California are actually considered to be on that carrier’s payroll or are sub-contractors.
Carriers are having a rough go of it as of late. The truck driver shortage has left them scrambling to find new drivers to fill seats vacated by those retiring, leaving the industry, or switching jobs. There just aren’t enough new drivers to fill the void.
In most parts of the country, carriers can augment their company driver force with independent truck drivers (“owner-operators”) to fill in service gaps. When it comes to logistics in California, however, this has become difficult due to regulations and landmark court decisions that alter the way drivers are classified in the state. In this article, we’ll examine some of these and explain why the ramifications ultimately affect shippers just as much as carriers.
The three states that border the Pacific Ocean are home to 48 million people, with the states just slightly inland adding millions more to the population of the “Western U.S.” With such a sizable chunk of the U.S. population residing in these Western states, West region distribution is a vital part of the supply chains of companies whose products originate in the Central and Eastern U.S.
In recent years, however, multiple factors – the truck driver shortage chief among them – have made long-haul truck runs to the West Coast increasingly unreliable and inefficient. The response of many companies has been to focus less on shipping West and, instead, store products in a West Coast distribution center operated by a third-party logistics provider (3PL).
California. A very big state with a very big population. In fact, it’s the largest consumer market in the U.S. and thus a very sensible place to have a distribution center. Making California even more sensible, from a distribution perspective, is the fact that most of the Pan-Pacific freight arrives via its ports. For many companies, these combined facts make logistics strategy simple: place a DC in California close to the arriving port and the West Coast distribution riddle is solved.
Looking a bit closer, however, we can see that West Coast distribution isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at choosing the right California warehouse space for your company and the impact it has on your port-to-market speed.
Everyone remembers the fairy tale story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears? As a refresher – Goldilocks sat in the chairs of the Papa, Mama and Baby Bear. She ate their porridge. And she finally fell asleep in Baby Bear’s bed after trying out all of them because it was “just right”. This story can be revamped into the 3PL selection process for many companies. Whereas, a company has gone to a national vendor thinking big has got to be better. Isn’t that the philosophy of the American dream?
Unfortunately, this shouldn’t be your approach when you are selecting an important extension of your organization, a partner who will share the responsibility of your supply chain. You need to ensure that you open your discussions to regional players who may be the perfect fit for your organization. Below are a few reasons why a regional provider can be a better fit at this time.
13530 Rosecrans Avenue
Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670
855.GO.WEBER (855.469.3237)
info@weberlogistics.com
a 
Capital Management
Portfolio Company