What a Trucking Dispatcher's Eight-Hour Phone Call Says About Driver Retention

Scott Rea:

Is it hard to find people that drive a truck? Yes, it is. Is it harder today than it was back in the eighties? Yes, it is. But that doesn't mean that it's a shortage, just means that the market has changed.

And so that's kind of the big point, is that freight continues to move out there on the streets, on the highways every day. That's kind of the general take, is just supply and demand is shifting and it will forever.

Carlo Solórzano:

Welcome to Don't Get Played, a podcast from Cisive.

This show is for talent acquisition leaders and people managers who care about trust at work. How it's built. How it's measured. And how leaders design systems that hold up when speed, risk, and accountability collide.

I'm Carlo Solórzano, Senior Director for Cisive Driver iQ.

For years, the trucking industry has treated the driver shortage as a fact of life. Not enough people want to drive… or so we’re told. So carriers compete for a shrinking pool and hope for the best. But the math tells a different story. Freight still moves every day, on every highway. Which means drivers exist. What's actually breaking down is retention. And the discipline it takes to keep a driver once you've found one.

My guest today is Scott Rea, President of AvatarFleet. His company helps carriers get recruiting, compliance, and safety right at scale.

In this episode, we take on the shortage myth head on. We get into why supply and demand explains more than a headline number ever could. We talk about what corners actually get cut when a fleet gets desperate to fill a seat. And why those shortcuts show up later as accidents and insurance costs. We cover what a real audit exposes in most driver files. And why a wall of documentation can make a lawsuit disappear before it ever gets to court. Then we dig into what actually keeps a driver around. From the promises a carrier makes to the relationship a driver has with dispatch.

If your compliance is one bad day away from a courtroom, you need to hear this. Let's get started!

Scott Rea, welcome to the podcast.

Scott Rea:

Carlo, my man. Good to be here.

Carlo Solórzano:

It's been a long time coming. So glad to have you.

Scott Rea:

Thank you for the invite, my friend.

Carlo Solórzano:

Oh, any time. Hopefully this will be the first of many.

Scott Rea:

I'll be back as many times as you invite me.

Carlo Solórzano:

Good deal. Well, hey, so here, you know, we like to talk through a lot of hard-hitting issues, right? And there's a long-standing myth, if you will, or a long-held belief around a driver shortage, right?

And you've said publicly that you don't think there is a driver shortage, but rather a retention and quality problem. Walk me through why you think that.

Scott Rea:

You are coming right outta the gate, man.

Carlo Solórzano:

Coming in hot.

Scott Rea:

Yeah. You know, the ghost of Jimmy Hoffa could raise his head today when we talk about this, 'cause that's about when this thing started, was when deregulation, you know, went into place back in the eighties. It's really more about the pendulums of supply and demand. Supply and demand is never perfect.

It's always wavering. And it's either a driver's market or a carrier's market when we're talking about recruiting, and it's more of a pendulum swing. But the main comment is that freight still gets there, right? Until freight is rotting at the docks because there are literally zero drivers. Like, that's a shortage.

And so when people can't find enough drivers, they then need to pay more, which means that rates go up, and so the freight still moves. And so you as a carrier, it may be difficult, and like, let's acknowledge that. Yeah. Is it hard to find people that drive a truck? Yes, it is. Is it harder today than it was back in the eighties? Yes, it is.

But that doesn't mean that it's a shortage, just means that the market has changed. And so that's kind of the big point, is that freight continues to move out there on the streets, on the highways every day. And so what's actually breaking down, Carlo, and part of this is I think we've made it too easy to apply and recruit, which means we've got a conversion problem, which frustrates the heck outta recruiters.

I dunno if you know this about me, Carlo. I'm a recovering recruiter, and we would, you know, you give me a hundred names from Indeed, we'd hire two. So you're like, that's really where the frustration comes from, is you gotta sort through a ton of names to find the ones that you actually want to talk to.

And man, I've talked with some recruiters that when they pick up the phone, they're really like, they're disheartened, 'cause they know that it's a 98% chance that, like, this is a waste of time. So I think that's where, like, it's rooted in reality, you know, that it's hard to find people. But freight is still moving.

So, anyways, that's kind of the general take, is just supply and demand is shifting and it will forever. It's just, we're on a pendulum, and happy to chat more about where we are in the market, 'cause it seems like we're ticking back up over to a driver's market.

Carlo Solórzano:

Seems like simple Econ 101, supply and demand, right? And you're always at various points along those converging lines.

Scott Rea:

Always. And so where we are right now, Carlo, it seems like in 2026, somewhere earlier this year, the pendulum swung, and, you know, some data we see out there, you know, we watch, you know, FreightWaves primarily, but that professor of Michigan State, it's pretty solid too. And, you know, the general sense out there is 25% of truckload carriers raised their pay in Q2.

That's a number. And that we're starting to see sign-on bonuses, the return of the sign-on bonus. And so that's usually a leading indicator that people are getting hungry and desperate. And I'm happy to share my opinion on sign-on bonuses. I think they're terrible for the industry, 'cause it's a sugar high that gets them in and just continues to promote churn and turnover on the topic.

Carlo Solórzano:

Couldn't agree more.

Scott Rea:

So anyways, just sounds like we're in the early innings of another driver wage war that's probably gonna, you know, be here for another four or five years. You know, we were down for four or five years, it was shooting fish in a barrel from the carrier's market. You know, here we are, and drivers are starting to hold the cards again.

Carlo Solórzano:

Yeah. Let's shift gears a little bit, Scott, and let's talk about you being old. No, just kidding. You've been heading up the efforts at AvatarFleet for a long time now, and so you probably got a lot of data to draw from.

So when a fleet gets desperate to fill a seat, what corners tend to get cut first? Experience?

Scott Rea:

You go down to minimum standards is the first corner. So you go to your insurance company, and they've got some posted guidelines of what a minimum standard is, and boy, when they say minimum, they mean it. And that's really, you just kind of follow those rules. And if it's a yes, then bring 'em on board.

Carlo, when I was younger and getting started in this game, you know, a marketing campaign we did was send out some mirrors to people, and the idea was, this is your new hiring process. If they can fog it, bring 'em on board, they're qualified. And what insurance companies do is they push what they can control, which is primarily years experience.

So, you know, we do a lot of work in captives, and we see a lot of two-year, you know, hiring requirements. But just 'cause you've been driving for two years does not mean that you actually know what you're doing. So you go to, like, these demographic things you can control.

Do you have a CDL? Do you have two years experience? And I'm just trying to find nothing crazy in that MVR, in the background check, right? And that's kind of where we start to see that mindset go. And what you're doing is you're not looking at all if they're a good fit for what you have to offer. Like, do they want your job?

So you're not asking questions about fit, desire. Will they like it? Will they be happy here? You're just trying to find someone that checks those boxes, and that's really what the industry gets focused on, and that's the biggest corner cut that, frankly, I don't know anyone was really good at in the first place, which was attracting them to a job that actually they want to do.

This isn't rocket science.

Carlo Solórzano:

Interesting. I think so often, fit and selling the actual job you have versus just trying to get a butt in a seat is, so often the emphasis is in the wrong place.

Scott Rea:

So when you just go in that mode, then you start to create that circle, that churn circle. Insurance companies have data that directly correlates retention to accidents. And when you're new, so you might have 10 years experience, but you've only been with Carlo's Trucking for two months, you're more likely to have an accident than the person that's only been driving truck for the year, because it's new to you.

And that creates an anxiety, it's uncertainty. You're not in a rhythm yet. You're not sure if you're actually gonna get paid what was promised you by the recruiter. You don't know the routes, you don't know the equipment, you don't know the highways. And so that uncertainty actually has correlation to creating accidents.

So as we talk about what is the exposure, it is beyond this, it's more than just negligent hiring. There's real insurance premiums, accidents, and lives on the line when you just play this minimum standards churn game.

Carlo Solórzano:

That makes total sense. Let's pivot and spend a few minutes talking about DQF and DOT compliance, shall we?

Scott Rea:

We shall. Another hot topic.

Carlo Solórzano:

It's all we cover here, Scott. So if a DOT auditor showed up tomorrow, what's the honest state of most carriers' driver files?

Scott Rea:

You know, if you talk with a person doing it, a hundred percent, and actually, to give that person credit, I'll give them 99.5, even, depending on whatever system they're doing today, if it's software or if it's a spreadsheet in their Teams drive. I think they're generally on it. Generally. But if it's a human process, like, the problem about humans is we're allowed to have a bad day.

Carlo, you're a stud, but I bet you had five bad days last year. Five out of 360. And so if on that bad day, you know, you just kind of miss a detail. Let's talk about the fun process of capturing a medical card. So the driver needs to go to the medical examiner. They gotta pass the physical. The ME then needs to upload those results to that state DMV. How about that for alphabet soup?

And then the carrier that has to remember then to run the MVR, just for another alphabet soup, within the 14-day, 15-day range that's required by law. Now, how fast the ME, the medical examiner, uploads it depends on who that person is, who that shop is.

How long does it take for the state to upload or to take that and, you know, and post it so that, you know, our friends at Samba can go find it and run it? That's all a delay. And those are three steps, three screens, and a Post-it note and a reminder. And again, if one of those bad days that you have, Carlo, is in that period.

If you wait 16 days to run that MVR, it is now not compliant until the next time he gets the medical card. And you have to have an apology note ready for an auditor for that. And so there's a really good story about, like, how can you just automate that process, which we did. So that when it's uploaded, the MVR just runs and goes in the file, and you can at least validate it.

And now you can have a conversation, but the order of operations is automated to eliminate that human error. So the idea, you know, what's AI doing? Just taking away those tasks, and now the human's in the loop, and you're going thumbs up or thumbs down versus reminders, Post-it notes, downloads, uploads, three tabs, three screens.

You know, we see people, Carlo, that in order to run a DQ file, they got more screens than NASA. And you just don't, you know, you can do it on the laptop if you got the system set up properly.

Carlo Solórzano:

Right, right. And if you got the system set up right and not too many windows open at the same time.

Scott Rea:

There's a few right now. Yeah.

Carlo Solórzano:

So, you know, I mentioned before, we've both been doing this for quite a while. I've often thought that document management was treated as an afterthought instead of risk control. Why do you think that is? Or do you disagree?

Scott Rea:

I don't disagree. I would say when we talk about an audit, there's a couple places it comes from. So you got DQ files, what we think about. You've also got hours of service in your logs, in your telematics system. And then you got your vehicle maintenance. And what happens is the vehicle maintenance is the higher frequency, 'cause that's really what's happening on the side of the road.

And what's, like, in trucking, you get an audit if you earned it, right? You did something, you'd have enough violations that they're coming at you. On the passenger side, because of that P endorsement, they're actually coming in every other year to take a look at you.

So our passenger customers are more used to having an auditor come in and see them. They know the deal, and really appreciate their stuff is on lock. Their stuff is on point, Carlo, and they know how to get it. Make sure that it's organized and they're audit ready, so when they get that letter, they can upload it that same day in the FMCSA portal, or if they come in, they know how to make sure it's cleaned and scrubbed. And because they're audit ready 24/7, it's not a deal anymore.

I would say on the trucking side, right, is when you hear stories about nuclear verdicts, which have been happening over the last couple decades, that usually it's like, oh, that's for the big carriers. That's not me. At least that, you know, kind of in that SMB, mid-market space. And they go, ah, that's for someone that is in the stock market. That's not my game over here. And we do things right, and we're not gonna get caught. And I think that's generally right, how they do things right.

The issue is that story about, you know, my five bad day examples, is you're just playing the lottery. Like, what happens if you forget to run an annual MVR for someone and you're five days late because you have a manual system? And in that five-day period, you have an accident.

And it's that driver. I mean, the stars kinda have to align, that, you know, you made a mistake and you didn't catch it in a short period of time, and an accident happened with that driver. And so I think, Carlo, they're just kind of playing the odds, and the odds are low. But why? Like, you know, if I'm running that trucking company, I don't wanna run those odds.

Carlo Solórzano:

Yeah, why leave it to chance?

Scott Rea:

Why leave it to chance?

Carlo Solórzano:

So what's the cost, right, financially or reputationally, when the documentation isn't there when it's needed?

Scott Rea:

Well, alright, so the big headlines, the nuclear verdict is, you know, business shut down if it's gross negligence and you don't have a good way to defend it. And again, I'm gonna go with, that's the headline. What happens more in the day to day that doesn't make the news, Carlo, is settlements.

And what happens is, so let's say Scott's Trucking Company, I run over Carlo here, and we were a little slow to the scene, and Carlo, your neck started hurting, and you called up Morgan and Morgan, the Hammer, whoever your local billboard attorney is. And we have a customer that called it the wall of documentation.

And his point was, I can export compliance and training files, and I can show that not only do I follow the federal regulations, that I follow my own company's standards to a T. And he said, and if he had the video that showed they were in the right, he put that all in a package, he'd be like, you really wanna fight, dude?

'Cause we got this organized. And here's what we know about Morgan and the Hammer, is they like picking fights they can win. They don't wanna lose. You know, remember I talked about the recruiters early on? They're like that, and if they smell that you got your act together, they move on.

They're looking for easy battles. And so the consequence is, if you can provide that documentation, they just go away. It's the old Heisman stiff arm, right to the lawyer. And so that's really where it's won or lost, because if you're in court and you're defending, it's too late. You already lost.

And, you know, a number that I have from insurance companies, it's $25,000 a day for an insurance company to go to court. So $25,000 a day. So you're like, okay, if this is a couple day trial, that math starts adding up, and that's where they start settling for $50,000, and in 2026, 75, a hundred.

That's the new minimum wage for shelling out to make it go away. The term is "buy your peace." You know, buy peace, make it go away, even though you're right. And that is ticking off our customer base. And so if you're already in that lawyer negotiation, it's too late. So the idea is, can you prevent that from happening in the first place?

And there's a whole claims management conversation we can have. But when it comes to documentation, give those billboard attorneys the stiff arm.

Carlo Solórzano:

Good stuff, Scott. So I remember years ago hearing the statement that retention needs to start before the driver does, and that always struck me as somehow both profound and maybe a little too esoteric to be really acted upon. But I wanna hear Scott Rea's hot take on retention.

So let's pivot real quick. Everyone assumes pay is the primary retention fix. Do you agree, disagree, and what are fleets missing?

Scott Rea:

It's a violent no. Going back to how we started the conversation, of supply and demand, you are still in a market. And so you need to be in the range of what is fair and what is going on in your neighborhood. So let's start there. And, you know, we mentioned that 25% of carriers raised their pay in Q2.

Like, you gotta be on the pulse of that to understand where you are in your market. So let's start there. You can't be way below. Now, let's just say we're right down the middle. You're in the median. Going back to the good fit. When I talk with truck drivers, it's not that hard.

It really isn't. Treat them like a human being, which is why you see that in the taglines, "We treat you with respect." But that's a platitude. But when we talk with drivers about, hey, why do you like working here? There's always a story about when the carrier went above and beyond for that driver, and that driver never forgets that.

And we've heard, when we asked that question, you know, when has the carrier gone above and beyond for you? And it could be from the CEO who quietly, just out alone. Carlo, there was a story, a driver out in California, he lives in North Carolina. He was way out on the road. He found out he lost his son.

And the dispatcher stayed on the phone for eight hours driving with him on the way home. And you just hear stories like that, you can start to cry, and I, you know, get the goosebumps thinking about repeating that story. And like, there are really good pockets, and I think our customers were raised properly by their mothers, and so they don't brag.

But that's really like, they do these things very quietly, humbly. And that's actually the challenge, Carlo, is pulling out those stories from our customers on when they quietly did the right thing that made that connection, that connective tissue. And so how do you scale that? That has been a really big question over here for over a decade.

How do you scale that? One of the things we're trying out is the purple cow promise. And so the idea, Carlo, is recruiting wants something they can hang their hat on and brag on, and you wanna make it something you can actually deliver upon over and over again. And here's what you know about transportation, is it's unpredictable.

So you don't wanna make a promise that you can't keep. And so when it goes back to retention, like, why I say it's not pay, it's keeping your promises. And so you gotta be careful about the promises you make, that you can actually live up to them. But you gotta make them. You can't do nothing. You can't not commit to anything.

And so the purple cow promises are, what are things you can do? So Carlo, I've seen the company that promised we would get you home every weekend. And what they did in dispatch was they had a countdown clock about how many drivers were en route home, and they stayed there until they were there Friday night.

And when they all came in the yard, right, then it went down to zero. And it was their way of making it very public that, hey, we made that promise, and this is how we're gonna live up to it, and this is how we do it. And you get the recruiters to tell that story, to say, hey, look, we promise home every weekend, and this is how we deliver it.

Let me show you a picture, and they'll send a picture of the clock to them to say, we're serious about this. And we say, look, we don't bat a thousand, but gosh darn it, we try, and this is how we do it. And so that's a really good way about what a purple cow promise looks like.

So you kind of think about what does make you unique? What is that thing you can hang your hat on? And then how are you gonna do it? And then measure your dispatch team on that, or whoever the team is, and make that a part of their weekly, monthly, quarterly KPIs. And then that's how you make sure that sticks and is not just a marketing slogan.

Carlo Solórzano:

Yeah. Awesome. That's good stuff, Scott. Love the purple cow promise. What does good onboarding actually look like versus the orientation drivers dread or, even worse, sleep through?

Scott Rea:

Yeah, and I remember being with a customer that the CEO went like this as we walked through. He's like, don't look at orientation. I'm like, well, what are we doing? Let's fix this problem. So, Carlo, the problem is you've got someone for a short period of time, two, three days, you toss 'em the keys, never to be seen again.

And so what we think we need to do is shove everything in between their ears, you know, put the fire hose at them, and just so we can check the box and say, we covered that, knowing that there's no human can actually comprehend all that and have that digestible.

And so if I was rethinking orientation, what I would do is think about all the stuff that you have to talk about. How do you get paid? What are the rules, the policies? What are these things that can be good self-directed? And we have customers, Carlo, that, you know, created short little videos. Have 'em go through it upfront before they come, but more importantly, make it accessible afterwards.

And something that's really cool that we're seeing out there is not only the videos that kind of get the hit there, but also an agent. You know, you create your knowledge base of all your stuff that people can go ask when they need it. And I equate it to, it's just-in-time learning. You know, the other day, back in our old house, you know, I had to fix the toilet gasket, Carlo.

I don't need to know that before or since. But when I did, I needed it, and I went to YouTube, and I had the guy up and, you know, side by side. And, you know, I don't need to know about my pay stub on day one. I need it on day seven, the day that I get my first pay stub. And so that's when you drip that one out to the person, versus come out in orientation, show it to them, and hope they remember.

So that's kinda like the general flow and the general deal. And what do you do with that? What would be better use of time? Let's go back to those promises and relationships. You've heard the line, people don't quit the company, they quit the boss.

Carlo Solórzano:

Right.

Scott Rea:

Well, in trucking, it's the dispatcher-driver partnership that makes or breaks that driver, if they're gonna stick or leave.

And so the more time in orientation that's spent with the dispatcher, the better. And have them sit there and let the drivers see what's going on and how, I mean, dispatchers are juggling so much all at once. Help that driver build some empathy. Help that driver build some trust. That's, can we get 'em out to lunch?

What can we do that can build a stronger bond versus signing paperwork, versus watching some video from 1984, from the same boring presentation that everyone's sleeping through? Build those trust bonds and prioritize that time, 'cause you're only gonna have two or three days. Worry about the other stuff to be dripped in videos later, or on demand with agents when you have a question.

But you just gotta rethink orientation. Carlo, I'm glad you asked the question, 'cause this is, typically speaking, nine times outta 10, a horrendous waste of time.

Carlo Solórzano:

Yeah, and it really gets your relationship off with the driver on the wrong foot.

Scott Rea:

If the honeymoon's bad, how can the wedding be good? You know, how can the marriage be good?

Carlo Solórzano:

And if you're not bringing them any value, right, during the orientation phase, it feels like a waste of their time, which can feel disrespectful. So starting out feeling like you don't respect their time is not the best foot forward.

What's one change a carrier could make this quarter that would move the retention needle for them?

Scott Rea:

Well, you set me up nicely. So now the question, is it orientation or the purple cow promises? I would start with the purple cow promises. That's gonna be in order, and that's gonna take about 90 days to get that going, because you're gonna need to think about what makes you unique.

And Carlo, I get a lot of blank stares when I ask that question, or when I get answers, they're not purple cow answers. They're black-and-white cow answers. And so thinking about what can you promise that you can deliver on every time? And then to think about how are you gonna make that a KPI in the dispatch room?

And if you really want to go crazy and really wanna see results, start tying a portion of dispatch's bonus or their variable pay to retention. Now dispatch will start to bring a lot of ideas. But we've seen a lot of people get religion real quick when you tie their variable pay to retention.

Carlo Solórzano:

You gotta get 'em bought in, right? Invested.

Scott Rea:

Yeah. Start with the why with dispatch. Hey, man, they're gonna be safer. They're gonna be more on time. You're gonna have a better relationship. It's gonna be smoother. It's no different than playing sports.

When you ball with someone, you know where they're gonna be on the court. When you work with someone, you know how they're gonna operate. Like, you want to keep your people, and so that's the why, and we're gonna even compensate you for it if you do a good job with it.

Carlo Solórzano:

Yeah. All right, Scott. So for our last topic of the day, let's focus on the driver, right? The people without whom we'd all be unemployed, or at the very least, making a living in some other way.

Scott Rea:

Way.

Carlo Solórzano:

Beyond a clean record, what tells you a driver's actually gonna work out long term?

Scott Rea:

Yeah. So let's go back to fit. There's a lot of jobs out there. You think about it, we got customers in flatbed hauling, fuel, general dry, and reefer teams. So they're driving a truck and they've got a CDL, but there's a lot of nuance to each of those positions and jobs.

And so the answer of, like, what makes it a good fit, Carlo, is start with the people that love working for you. And we've created voice of the driver interview questions to really understand their motivations, their values, their personality. And like, to answer that question, you gotta figure out with your fleet and your long-term people, understand those things.

And then you can start to paint the picture of, okay, this is what our ideal driver profile looks like. And then you can use that to go find other people. That will drive what your advertising looks like. It'll drive some of your interview questions.

And so the interview questions, Carlo, if we can get those beyond, like, we don't need 'em to be screening questions like that. Let that automation take over. How many years experience do you have? Do you have a license, et cetera? But now we're talking about interview questions to the job. That's really important to us. That's really how you start to build that out. Go and start with the end in mind and work backwards up to the quality driver.

And then last, new school thing, what we've played around with some customers is we ask them what makes a good driver? And there's a balance. There's a teeter-totter here of safe and productive. Those two things don't always mean the same thing.

And so, you know, dispatch may love a driver because they run hard, and safety, you know, doesn't like that. So how can you find that balance? And so what we've done with customers, telematics data and the dispatch data, we can combine revenue to their safety behaviors in the cab. And you can see, well, where did they come from? You know, by combining with our recruiting data, and you put that little pie together, and you start to have some insights and some trends on what does good look like?

And that's some good qualitative stuff, fun stuff you can do with AI. And don't lose the old school human nature of just talking to your drivers, asking some questions about their values, motivation, personality, our voice of the driver questions, and they'll start to tease out why they like working here.

Carlo Solórzano:

Love it. Scott, how should recruiting and safety teams be talking to each other that they currently aren't?

Scott Rea:

I giggle because we've been on meetings where we've introduced, and these are larger companies, but we've introduced safety and HR together. And it's like they haven't, like, wow, this is a problem, if we're gonna have to bridge this marriage that doesn't exist today.

But in the SMB mid-market space, where they're used to collaborating with each other, I think the real thing is going back to defining what good looks like, going back to that ideal driver. And if you define that ahead of time and you can make that clear and objective of what a good fit looks like, and recognizing that there are some demographics, there's some minimum requirements here, but there's also some psychographics, you know, a marketing term for what's going on in between the ears.

What do they want, what makes it fit? And if we define that ahead of time, it takes the subjectivity out of it. 'Cause the fights I see between recruiting and compliance, like, safety's saying, Carlo, what do you mean you're taking a look at this guy? Can you not see this on his record?

Like, this is crazy. You're just trying to get your monthly bonus. And recruiting is saying, come on, you're the no fun department. You know, like, we can't bring anyone on. If we followed your standards, we'd have no trucks. And then the truth is in the middle, right? But I think that conflict comes 'cause of the lack of definition of what good looks like.

Carlo Solórzano:

No, I think you're spot on with that. One last question before I let you go. If you could get every fleet exec to change one belief they hold about hiring drivers, what would it be?

Scott Rea:

Just one?

Carlo Solórzano:

I know, that's the hard part, right?

Scott Rea:

Just one. I've heard executives say, hey, look, they're just drivers. We're gonna find more. I'm not gonna talk to that person because that person, I just, I don't got time for. And I do respect the person that understands how hard it is to find drivers.

The point is, what we just talked about on the retention side, those changes only happen if it's a company culture change. And so the fleet exec that understands how hard it is to find and keep people, make it a priority to do the things that we described on defining what does a good driver look like, keeping up your purple cow promises, and then within those purple cow promises, making sure that they actually happen.

Tying those to the dispatch KPIs and tying the compensation package to those KPIs. And so really, you know, I said this one thing, it's like making it a super duper priority in the dispatch team. That's the change.

And I gave you some ideas on how to do it, but it can't just be a company-wide meeting and then you go away. If it's the flavor of the day, you gotta show that you mean it, and that's why you gotta drive it all the way down to the activity KPIs.

Carlo Solórzano:

Yeah, that's great stuff, Scott. Hey, Scott, thank you so much for your time today. Take care, and let's talk again soon.

Scott Rea:

Yes, sir. Thank you for having me, Carlo.

Carlo Solórzano:

When a fleet calls this a driver shortage, it's usually a way of avoiding a harder question. What Scott makes clear is that freight always finds a way to move. What actually breaks down is retention. Through weak fit up front, or promises that don't get kept. Or through a compliance process nobody owns until it's too late.

The carriers getting this right tend to share a few habits. They define what a good fit looks like before they post a job instead of hoping minimum standards sort it out, and they treat documentation as a daily habit rather than something to scramble for when an auditor calls, because a clean file is what makes a lawsuit go away before it starts. They also put real weight behind the dispatcher relationship, because that bond decides whether a driver stays or leaves long before pay enters the conversation.

Thank you, Scott, for laying all of this out so plainly. And for the reminder that retention is a leadership decision long before it's ever a recruiting problem.

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