These are not New Year’s resolutions.  Rather, they are my top 10 transportation related items that I would like to see progress on in the upcoming year.

1. Stop showing that annoying UPS commercial.  The “What Can Brown do for You” campaign was somewhat humorous, but the long-haired artist at the white board has gotten to be stale and annoying.  Shouldn’t they have the same hygiene  rules as they do their employees?  A guy in a brown uniform with a fresh haircut would suit me fine.

2. YRC survival.  Hey, if you’ve never made a mistake in life, then you can disagree.  But Yellow and Roadway were great companies with awesome people.  Trying to grow too big, too fast and a few bad acquisitions was a formula for what we currently have.  Thus far they are resilient pulling out all stops and I hope they make it.

3. The LTLs flush the NMFC.  It’s been 75 years now since the truckers borrowed this jewel from the railroads.  It’s archaic, subjective and controlled by truckers.  Let’s make progress on moving toward density and pallet-based pricing.  We need less complications in our lives.

4. Update Fuel Surcharge Tables.  Fuel surcharge for LTL and TL carriers typically kick in when the price of diesel averages above $1.15-$1.20/gallon.  If any of you think we are ever going to see that again, I have some foreclosures in Florida I want to sell you.  At least UPS has raised their minimum and the others should at least move to a starting point of $2/gallon.  Isn’t this partially the reason for year-after-year 5-7% GRIs?

5. Fix Weight and Inspection Changes.  If you have a customer who is outright cheating, stop doing business with them!  However, use of forklift scales that weigh in increments of 5 pounds should be prohibited.  Pricing and tariffs are based on rates to the pound.  I know LTL carriers have to find revenue to offset their unrealistic discounts, but forklifts scales should be outlawed, so long as they can only weigh in 5 pound increments (more on that in the future!).

6. USPS Wins a CLIO and More.  I love the new USPS ads that say shipping is complicated!  You know what?  It is!  Their flat rate boxes are innovative and I hope through their various programs they offer some form of competition to UPS and FedEx.  Based on what I know about the small package world, they need some competition!

7. Governments Realize the Importance of Trucking.  No, not the importance of bringing in extra revenue through fees, assessments, taxes and tolls. Trucking/transportation is the second largest component of the GDP and they have been as hard hit as anyone from this recession.  Let’s not find additional ways to have various governments increase their revenues by making it harder on our industry. 

8. LTL Carriers Innovate.  There’s all kinds of opportunity here.  Simplifying rules tariffs would be a good start.  How about developing a program to take back the multi-package heavy shipments that you let UPS and FedEx take from you?  Don’t run the other way by hiking minimum charges.  Find and create cost-effective ways of dealing with this multi-billion dollar segment.  It might just help your bottom line!

9. Don’t Pass Employee Free Choice Act.  Without getting political, we’ve already lost enough jobs to foreign competition.  Increasing the number of unionized workers will not stop the flow.  Every worker should have the right to choose whether they want or need to be unionized.  They should be able to vote on it privately, and not through a public card signing where peer pressure can influence the outcome.

10. More Shippers Leverage Technology.  For manufacturers and distributors, shipping costs equate to 5-15% of expense.  These companies likely have accouting software, inventory management software, software to manage sales people, customers and human resources, yet they don’t have anything to help them optimize and control shipping costs.  The times have changed and what once was an extremely expensive tool has now become affordable for most.  Do your research.

Okay, I’ ll follow up in 12 months to see if any progress was made on my wish list.  That’s the beauty of a blog.  It’s my wish list, but I am hopeful one or two of these struck a chord with you!