Rich Solarte

#3PLs if you have clients with returns or obsolete inventory I have a list of 30+ reputable liquidators for you. Comment "list" or message me "list" and I will DM it to you! List includes marketplaces, organizations, and individual buyers. I'll continue to add buyers to the list that I come in contact with 🙂 We're currently toying with the idea of liquidation marketplace on the admin side of ProperSKU. This way 3PLs can help clients navigate moving costly inventory off their balance sheet and free up space in the warehouse for fresh inventory. #3PL #ecommerce #logistics #liquidation

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“Sales is sales, people are people” This is probably a unpopular opinion, but I think this is a little misleading . I was debating with friend last night, saying that if 5 elite smb logistics sales reps competed against 5 elite enterprise logistics( no prior relationships everything equal) reps and could only sell to 1b + companies they would get destroyed. And Vice versa applies. Why? What goes into selling at the enterprise level is much different than the smb level. Different skill set. It’s the same game, but totally different conversations, relationship building , values, problems. Why do you think so many recruiting firms on the w2 side don’t touch recruiting agents or if they do aren’t very good at it? It’s the same game, still people, still recruiting, but totally different conversations and skill sets. I share this, because you don’t have to be an elite sales person in general you just have to be elite at the niche/arena you are in. Heck, you could get rich being an elite produce broker in the SE. If you aren’t good at something you might not be bad at sales, you might just be selling the wrong thing for your skill set! What do you guys think, is sales really sales and people are people or is that misleading? Happy Monday!

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To recap the 2Q24 earnings for publicly-traded LTL carriers, I felt it appropriate to come up with one word or phrase to define each carrier. Also, for comparison purposes, I felt it appropriate to look at a 2-year comparison, 2Q22 vs 2Q24. This takes out some of the noise from the Yellow Corp closure. Essentially, this gives us a peak into how each carrier took advantage of the Yellow Corp situation.   🔴 ABF: Transactional.  Transactional pricing weighed heavily on results, and still does. Their OR worsened by 4.3 points to 89.8, they experienced a large shift in freight profile (huge drop in shipment size), but maintained their revenue market share. 🔴 FedEx Freight:  Right-sizing. Finding a way to prosper while shrinking their network. Their OR held steady at 78.1, they improved their yields noticeably, but they did lose revenue market share. 🔴 Forward Air: Under construction. While the newly-merged operation undergoes its reconstruction, costs are up and business has dropped. Their OR worsened 7.9 points to 92.5, they lost major market share, and yield change was poor as price cuts were used to keep customers. 🔴 Knight Swift: Super-sizing. Explosive network and business growth while building out a national footprint. Their OR worsened by 4.6 points to 89.2, but they added major market share via new longhaul business while maintaining yields. 🔴 Old Dominion: Steady. As I have alluded before: death, taxes, and ODFL. While their OR deteriorated 2.4 points to 71.9, they maintained market share and yields. 🔴 Saia: Concerning. Costs from terminal expansion have begun to impact profits. Their OR worsened by 2.9 points to 83.3 but they have won serious market share gains while maintaining yields. 🔴TForce Freight: Fat. Their CEO feels there is too much fat that still needs to be cut. Their OR slipped 1.9 points to 92.3 and they experienced major market share losses with a big shift in profile (weight/shipment up bigly) and poor yields.  🔴 XPO: Transforming. This carrier is being re-built with the addition of Mr. Dave Bates. Their OR held steady, and good market share gains wave been won while maintaining yields. The industry is clearly down when compared to 2022, which was a banner year for carriers. When including Yellow Corp, tonnage and revenue is down 23%, and weight per shipment is down 3%. Even excluding Yellow Corp from the mix, tonnage and revenue among the remaining carriers  is down 11%. The 2nd quarter of 2022 was about as good as it has ever been for LTL carriers, as seen by their mostly robust OR figures. ORs were at historic lows and business was strong. Maintaining an OR within several points of those marks while keeping market share and yields steady is quite the accomplishment. There are some sharp operators in this industry indeed. But continued softness could begin to really test their mettle.

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3 Questions for all Parcel Shippers: 1. 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀, 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘀, 𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁? What if there was a way to get that money back automatically?  2. 𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁-𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲? What would a second opinion reveal about your current carrier agreement?  3. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸? Imagine a system that catches and claims every dollar you're owed—without lifting a finger.  Would you like to explore how this works? The ProfitTrust parcel management technology can save you up to 30% of your shipping spend without changing carriers or accounts. #ParcelAudit #ShippingCostSavings #3PL #DTC #Retail

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I often get asked what makes w2 reps become agents besides the money? Besides money by far the 2 biggest things I hear are: 1. KPIS I’ve talked to reps who if they don’t sell a certain percentage of Drayage, TL, and LTL they get comission docked doesn’t matter if they are doing 100k in GP. I’ve talked with reps if they don’t make a certain number of phone calls they don’t comission doesn’t matter if they are doing 30k in GP. I’ve talked with reps who are required to contact prospects too frequently, or they are micromanaged and have talked about management blowing deals for them. Not being able to run certain freight because it doesn’t make enough money, or it’s not in their companies niche. 2. Freedom. The idea of having to sit in a office until 5pm when all your work is done at 3pm is not appealing for a lot of people especially when they are getting 5 percent comission. Having to ask permission to lose money, getting pto denied, etc is also not appealing. Having a company that is not acommodating to after hours concerns with carriers, credit, etc. Yes, money talks. But a lot of agents leave w2 for other reasons besides the money. Some of these w2 companies make my life very easy as well. I appreciate them for that. #sales #logistics #trucking #agents

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How should you network? I was thinking about this yesterday, and I think some people could get something out of this story. About a year ago Josh Lyles the founder of Salesdash CRM a freight specific CRM reached out to me to have a coffee chat. It was obvious on that call Josh wasn’t asking for me anything, or trying to sell anything. We talked about all types of things and just connected. We ended up staying in touch and talking pretty frequently. When I was considering freight tech Josh was able to connect me with some people and help me, there was nothing in it for him. He’s helped me with some personal stuff as well. When Will Hopkins and I announced we were starting our podcast Josh texted me that he wanted to sponsor it. It worked out pretty well for Josh, Will didn’t know Josh previously and signed up with salesdash for about 50 users, and loves it. I’ve been able to refer Josh other business as well, not because he asks but because I know he has a great product but more importantly he’s a better person. In a world of pitch slaps, negativity, and take take, I am happy to be surrounded by a lot of people like Josh. Happy Friday! #networking #logistics #sales #trucking

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I used to email or say to a new prospect "Got freight?" It worked 1 out of 10 times (pre 2019) Why it doesn't work anymore? 😖 Skeptical Clients - During COVID, an influx of "new people" who bought a $100 course and was able to get a surety bond for $1200 came into the market and pitch the client their weight in gold and most the time left the client hanging. 😖Overworked Clients - Post COVID (1 year), it is impossible to keep staff and the one's that did get hired were over paid and under qualified 😖 Scared Clients - Post Covid (2 years), corporate is down their neck to perform or be replaced, at any second they feel either a merger or pink slip. Empathy is going to be important as you navigate this new terrain in logistics, NO ONE is safe and all these posts on how one company is safer than other because of XXX, let me tell you this very candidly. In my 25+ years in logistics, I have seen companies get cancelled/go bellyup for more reasons than I can count. NOONE is SAFE, because NOONE can predict the future. My key words for this season: Be unapologetically kind, empathetic and work darn hard each day!

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You want to avoid a lot of issues with your carriers? Have your reps get better at setting expectations when booking a load. Scenario 1: Upon booking, the carrier rep tells the carrier that being late for the delivery appointment will likely result in holding the load for two weeks. The carrier is late for delivery and has to hold the load for two weeks. Is the carrier going to be pissed? I mean…probably. BUT, are they going to be so pissed that they call you a scumbag and demand that you either find someplace to unload this trailer or pay them some insane amount of money to hold for two weeks? Probably not. Scenario 2: The carrier rep books the load and doesn’t mention anything about holding the load for two weeks if they’re late for delivery. The carrier is late for delivery and has to hold the load for two weeks. NOW you have a justifiable irate carrier on your hands and you’re going to bleed time/money trying to solve the problem. Again, if you want to avoid problems, get better at setting expectations. #freight #3pl #transportation

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There is a lot of excitement in the trucking community that the current freight recession is over (heavily influenced by the articles from FreightWaves). While I’ve publicly said I expect a substantial increase in dry van truckload spot rates next year, it’s important to remember that a significant rebound of freight volumes will take some time to materialize (this isn’t an overnight thing). This can be seen in the most recent quarterly version of the trucking ton-mile index (now that September’s data is complete). One chart. Thoughts: •Q3 2024 came it 0.1% above Q2 2024; I feel good at this stage declaring Q2 2024 the bottom of the current freight recession, which began in late Q2 to early q3 2022. •While we saw very high levels of containerized imports, which appeared in sectors such as electrical goods wholesaling posting record inflation adjusted sales, it’s critical to remember that many freight-centric sectors of U.S. manufacturing continue to perform poorly relative to peak freight demand in the first half of 2022. These include: Wood products: https://lnkd.in/gNmwNRd5   Paper: https://lnkd.in/gYDt3kcK Plastic & rubber: https://lnkd.in/g8ya9dAw Nonmetallic mineral products: https://lnkd.in/gJEH2Gh5 Machinery: https://lnkd.in/gy2NrYza •It will take time for manufacturing activity in these industries to rebound. As I’ve said repeatedly, late Q1 to early Q2 2025 is when I truly expect demand conditions to get strong enough for spot rates to show the type of sustained increase needed to pressure contract rates. Implication: I get carriers are excited that brighter days are ahead in 2025. However, we need to be reasonable and understand it takes time for the manufacturing ecosystem to see sustained demand increases. Moreover, I have severe concerns about 2026, as I expect folks are going to be in for a very nasty inflation surprise… #supplychain #supplychainmanagement #shipsandshipping #freight #trucking

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Does going over the head of the DM for smb shippers really work? I am not talking about going to sales people, wharehouse staff, etc that’s different. But I was thinking about this, I think I shared awhile back, but my sisters now fiance is the CFO of a mid size shipper 100-300 loads a month. His dad is the owner. I never got their freight as a broker, my sister said no mixing freight and family, but we do talk logistics sometimes. He’s an extremely smart guy, but he didn’t know what a TMS was. A lot of basic logistics concepts he’s not familiar with. He’s focused on their product, customers, and other things. He pretty much leaves that all to the logistics manager. Most of the shippers I talk echo something similar that going over their head is a bad idea, and often the person over their head doesn’t know what’s going on. If it works for you great, keep doing you. This is my ancetodal opinion. Nothing is absolute, but I wonder how much time sales reps waste chasing after people who have no understanding or in some cases no care for what your selling? Happy Tuesday! #sales #logistics #trucking

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I'm convinced that most brokers who think they need more sales actually need better account management. Say you onboard a customer with five divisions, all of which route their own freight. How confident are you that your account manager: 1) Is actively trying to grow the business in the one division they started with? 2) Actually knows that there are four other divisions, all of which have freight? 3) Is trying to connect with and grow business in the other four divisions? If your account manager is just passively managing the business you handed them, you're better off teaching them to grow your existing business, rather than onboarding a bunch of other business (that will also be mismanaged). #freight #3pl #transportation

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LTL shippers: I highly encourage you to watch the NMFTA’s Shippers Only Listening Session on NMFC changes coming in 2025. It is linked in the comments below.   Big changes are indeed coming to LTL classification.   This listening session will help you prepare. Specifically, a very large and set of proposed changes will be issued on 01/30/25. These changes will be considered and voted upon at a public meeting on 03/03/25. Approved changes will then be implemented on 05/03/25. The proposed changes provide for classifying commodities by a 13-sub class-by-density scale when density is the primary transportation characteristic. These changes will include: 🔴 132 existing 11-sub items with CL60-CL400 ratings such as Plastic Articles, Athletic Goods, and Furniture will be extended to 13 subs. The two new subs will provide CL55 and CL50 ratings which allow shippers with very-dense handing units to get a lower class than the current CL60 minimum. 🔴 3,814 single-class items such as Poker Chips CL70, Brake Drums CL60, and Greenhouses CL200 will be cancelled and move under an exiting or new 13-sub item as noted above. Classes will range from CL50 for 50 PCF and above, to CL400 for less than 1 PCF. 🔴 129 modified density scale items such as Asphalt with 3 subs (CL55 for >=30 PCF, CL65 for >=22.5 but < 30 PC, and CL85 for <22.5 PCF will be cancelled and move under an existing or new 13-sub item as noted above. 🔴 1,198 sub-provision items such as Camera Tripods (CL200 if setup, CL100 if knocked down) will be cancelled and move under an existing or new 13-sub item as noted above. 🔴 In all, roughly 75% of the 7,000 NMF items in the NMFC could potentially be impacted with these changes. The list of items potentially impacted is extensive. See the comments for a link to this list. You can search the NMFC items you ship to see if they may be impacted. The LTL industry is rapidly moving towards the day where shippers must know the weights and dimensions of their handling units (pallets, crates, etc).  While this will undoubtedly cause some disruption, the best plan of attack is to get in front of these changes and be prepared. Put in a plan now to capture accurate handling unit dimensions and weights. There are many topics to cover with these changes, and I will address them in future posts. One unexpected issue is that the NMFC’s Mixed Commodity rule will not be changed, at least not yet. That means if you ship multiple commodities on a pallet, you may still have to itemize each commodity in order to be correct. This will depend upon the carrier(s) you use. Note sure why the NMFTA chose not to modify this rule to align with their other changes. While you may feel otherwise, these are all very positive changes for shippers. Classification will be simpler, invoicing issues will reduce, and you can gain the benefit of reduced freight charges as you learn to build denser and more-squared off pallets.  

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Anyone else competitive? Question for you: What's your position to RateView? new "Benchmark" tool within DAT Freight & Analytics' IQ Platform. Anyone got my demo data beat? *demo data represented here, I am in no way affiliated to actually moving freight

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Freight fraud is a hot topic right now for carriers and brokers. 2 Dawgs, 1 Pod. will be back at 2cst on Friday to talk everything fraud and highway related with Michael C.. Is it a good idea to be sharing stories on the bad guys on social media or is that helping them get better? Should we be relying on the fmsca to fix things? There is a lot of different possible topics on the idea of fraud, I will say from everyone I talk to everyone loves Highway and they are becoming a household name in that space. I know it’s a common question that comes up when I talk to potential agents, and they are happy to hear we utlize highway. They have definitely figured something out in this space imo and excited to talk about it. #fraud #freight #logistics #trucking

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Now that we are halfway through July, I wanted to look at where the dry van truckload spot market was at. Using data from DAT Freight & Analytics, I’ve calculated the dry van spot market cycle indictor as broker buy contract rates less dry van TL spot rates divided by the average of the two series. One chart below. Thoughts: •Historically, when this ratio falls below 10%, we tend to see a bull market pricing cycle begin, which is picked up well the Bureau of Labor Statistics primary service producer price index for general freight trucking, long-distance, truckload (https://lnkd.in/gUXXNHrd). Conversely, anytime we see the series move above 15%, we enter a bear market pricing cycle. Key dates for bull cycles labeled in black, bear cycles in red. These dates mirror swings in observed contract & spot rates picked up by BLS. •The bad news for carriers is that July’s reading of 15.8% is well away from the 10% threshold. As such, there aren’t signs of the market being ready to turn. •For the market to turn, we need more freight demand. Unfortunately, as I’ve been noting frequently, demand conditions just aren’t great now. For example, Cass Shipments, which tracks the trucking ton-mile index quite closely, fell in June to the lowest level since the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic (https://lnkd.in/gAZb34hZ).  As I’ll share next week, machinery manufacturing and wholesaling is especially weak. Implication: I continue to see few signs that the dry van truckload sector will enter a bull market pricing cycle in 2024. It increasingly looks like any capacity tightening felt in June was just a return of seasonality. Continued weakness in pricing and freight demand reinforces my emphasis on why domestic manufacturing activity must be front and center in discussions about freight demand, with less attention given to retail sales. #supplychain #supplychainmanagement #freight #trucking #economics #markets

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Last post confused some freight agents not understanding revenue vs gross profit, and c2g vs split model. Early at MoLo, sellers were quoting spot loads, leading pricing events, and helping w issue resolution. I had 8-10 people helping my daily operations, plus a large carrier sales team. Eventually, we built an account management team for enterprise accounts. Seller pays for an account manager to come in and run point, manually handling quoting and tender acceptance. If the seller was making 10% commission off the gross profit, seller gave up an additional 2% to bring on an AM, leaving you with 8%. You also have a monthly "hurdle", which is your salary. So if your salary is $50k a year, you needed to hit $50k in GP for that month before you take home commission dollars. In my mind, if I could take more off my plate to focus on sales, I could make up for that 2% loss in the long term. Shoutout to some awesome people that crushed it with me during some wild times! Emily Madden Taylor Krug Dale Renshaw Jordan Pastron Jared Fetter #teamwork #freightbrokerage #splitmodel

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Here are the 6 primary reasons why the US full truckload market is complex. 1) The TL market is massive, with annual revenues of over $400B, representing over 2% of the National GDP. 2) It's highly fragmented, with hundreds of carriers. 91% of truckload carriers have less than six trucks. 3) It's highly competitive. The barrier to entry/exit is minimal. 4) Every transaction involves at least 2 parties, if not more. 5) Power in the market will flip back and forth between shippers & carriers. 6) Truckload transportation is derived demand, meaning truckload demand is dependent on the demand of goods being transported. The source of this information is a published article in the Journal of Supply Chain Management titled "Reducing Uncertainty in the Freight Transportation Procurement" by Dr. Chris Caplice

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Focus on your core competency There has been much said & even more written about RXO, Inc.'s acquisition of Coyote Logistics. My good friend, Grace Sharkey 🚛🤖💙 wrote of the deal over the weekend. For those in the business, this deal comes as little surprise. It's no secret that UPS has struggled to make sense of the volatile world of the brokerage industry. When it's good, it's great, but when it's bad... it's really bad. And lately, it's been really bad. While leaders are tasked with unlocking new revenue, not all that glitters is gold. And oftentimes those same leaders make the case that an acquisition creates the magical formulae of 1 +1 = 3. So let's do the math: UPS bought Coyote Logistics $1.8 billion in 2015. RXO, Inc. will buy Coyote Logistics from UPS for $1.025 billion sometime in 2024. 9 years & nearly $1 billion (that's billion with a 'B') in value gone. This is not an aberration. Brokering freight is increasingly commoditized & the margins of 2015 will likely not materialize for some time. I believe that RXO, Inc. got a great deal. I believe Coyote Logistics is a great company. The deal makes sense, but the landscape is changing. 2H of 2024 is going to be very, very interesting. https://lnkd.in/gt9MGusT

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Interested in learning more about the impact of FMC's final ruling effective May 28? This insightful webinar with Alexandra Griffon and Eric Johnson, presented by the JOC.com gives you all the information available to date. Impacts drayage carriers, importers, freight forwarders, and YOU, so check it out and feel free to reach out with any questions! https://lnkd.in/efF4a3rd

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