David Correll cited his research from the Driver Initiative to congress at a hearing. He claims truck drivers are underutilized, largely because of bottlenecks outside their control. Some of these are warehouse hours, loading and unloading delays, and other issues that cause drivers to waste time idling. And they may not even get paid for the idle time.
He thinks, and I agree, that there’s no easy solution. People simply don’t value drivers’ time. It’s going to take a revolution in thinking on the part of people who are served by drivers and who serve them.
And parking places and bathrooms! Treat truckers like human beings.
Nordstrom and a number of other retailers are starting to keep more inventory, by buying larger lots and holding some. The fact that retailers are publicizing this means that they are starting to recognize that inventory shortage is a substantial issue. With sources of supply bottlenecked, stuff can’t be moved to the US as quickly.
Does it make sense to place larger orders earlier? Devotees of the bullwhip effect will say that’s counterproductive. Perhaps, in the long run with perfect coordination with suppliers. But when you have near-disaster conditions in the supply chain for, say, clothing manufactured in Vietnam, and ocean carriers blanking just about every other sailing, you need to take some action. That may mean committing to larger purchases and saving some of it against future demand rather than trying to sell it all at once.
We’ll see if the policy works, and how quickly it damps out. Especially if the ocean supply chain begins to normalize. Inventory is expensive, and the expense is both highly visible and easily tracked, unlike the lost business due to shortages on the floor.
It’s not going to be easy to sue a carrier for delays and blanked sailings. But whatever your taste, you have to document everything. The author, a lawyer, points to many types of documentation required to substantiate your claim.
I believe that the threat of many suits may well be useful to annoy carriers. They’re less likely to engage in reprehensible behavior like blanking if they know a bunch of shippers are going to be suing them. Those little lawsuits are annoying because each has to be dealt with somehow, and if the plaintiffs (shippers) are persistent, the annoyance may be enough to get the carrier’s attention.
Now there are two ways that attention can go. One way is that the carrier offers to settle and doesn’t complain too much. This may be a sign they care about your future business– at least a bit– or that they are taking a generous attitude toward customer service. The other way is hardball. They may deny everything and threaten you back. That is a sign they don’t want your future business, and just want to dispose of this claim to be able to tell authorities they have dealt with it. In this case, you probably won’t get anything, unless you have deep pockets for the law, and can pursue a case for which you are unlikely to recover your expenses.
And whatever action you take, don’t expect prompt resolution. One thing companies do is try to string out a case hoping the plaintiff loses interest or has a need to move on and not spend the time. That manages to get a lot of complaints off their back.
However, company lawyers are expensive too, and a stream of annoying lawsuits is not how the company wants its lawyers spending their time. So harassing the company with a lawsuit might get you some attention.
Supply Chain and Logistics 