The Department of Transportation has been moving fast on commercial driver’s license reform since September 2025, and carriers that haven’t been preparing are at risk of getting caught flat-footed. When the FMCSA issued its emergency interim final rule last fall, the agency justified it as an urgent safety measure. Courts then paused it. Now, after reviewing thousands of public comments, the FMCSA has issued a formal
Ever remember hearing, “If all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you do it, too?” It’s a drastic example, sure. But it was always about the same thing: avoiding the pitfalls of following the crowd when the consequences could be serious. What does that phrase have to do with running a fleet? More than you’d think. Popular AI dash cam and telematics
As 2026 gets underway, the less-than-truckload (LTL) sector is cautiously optimistic after a disappointing 2025. Industry leaders are pointing to signs of a potential rebound, including declining interest rates, improving consumer sentiment, and tightening truckload capacity that typically pushes smaller shipments back into LTL networks. However, the timing remains hazy. The somewhat sunny sentiment is
North America has felt the sting of inflation over the past few years. But for the trucking industry, it’s been a double whammy: an extended freight recession layered on top of rising costs across nearly every line item. Numbers and research tell a story. According to ATRI’s 2025 Operational Costs of Trucking report, the average cost to operate a truck dipped slightly to $2.26 per mile last
For the first time in its 21-year history, “driver shortage” didn’t crack the Top 10 overall concerns in the American Transportation Research Institute’s annual Critical Issues in the Trucking Industry survey. So why do recruiting and retention still appear to be challenges for fleets? A freight market sending mixed signals and a recruiting environment where the old playbook no longer applies don’t help. After four years of overcapacity and soft demand, driver
A year ago, we made five predictions about where the trucking industry was headed in 2025. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, let’s see how they played out. 1. Market recovery without a boom. Verdict: ❌ As it turns out, even our tempered expectations were too optimistic. The anticipated rebound hasn’t materialized. Overcapacity remains stubbornly persistent, and freight volumes have stayed soft throughout the year. The sector continues what analysts describe as
Coming into 2025, there was widespread expectation that the freight market would finally turn a corner. Instead, uncertainty has reigned supreme. Would-be turnarounds in rates and volumes have been brief false starts, leaving the trucking industry to wonder whether we are approaching an uncomfortable new reality where stagnation becomes the default state. As 2025 winds down, several prominent topics have grabbed attention, from regulatory crackdowns to long-awaited policy changes.
November is here; the jack-o-lanterns and costumes have been put away. Soon it’ll be time to defrost Mariah Carey and Jimmy Stewart for their December classics and debate whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie. That also means that it’s gift-giving season, and if you’re reading this, there’s probably a professional driver on your list.
During the freight recession that’s plagued the trucking industry since April 2022, a huge problem has been excess capacity. The number of for-hire carriers in the market has grown precipitously over the last several years, with a massive increase in the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021. According to SONAR data, the total number of
Nearly a year ago, industry analysts declared the “Great Freight Recession” over. Tender rejections were climbing, spot rates showed signs of life, and capacity appeared to be tightening. The second Trump administration fueled optimism about pro-trucking policies from Washington. 2025 hasn’t delivered on that promise. Back-and-forth tariff announcements and negotiations have created uncertainty across supply