Layoffs across the freight and logistics industry continue “with companies in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan and Texas announcing job reductions and facility closures over the past two weeks.” One example is that of Warren, Michigian-based Universal Logistics, which is permanently closing two of its subsidiaries and laying off a total of 677 employees, according to notices recently filed with the state. Read more…
The advent of self-driving trucks could have an enormous impact on America’s supply chain, exponentially cutting the time it takes to transport goods from place to place and unfettering the trucking industry from the costs and physical limitations of the human workforce. The technology’s advancements have “sparked concerns about highway safety, job loss, a lack of federal regulation and a patchwork of state laws regarding where and how autonomous trucks can operate.” Read more…
While truck driving may be one of the most hazardous professions in America, especially in terms of fatalities, no occupation in the United States can compare to the hazards of the logging industry, especially when controlling for the number of hours worked. Read more…
Tucker Door & Trim will invest $10 million to create its first logistics facility in Virginia. The company’s brand new manufacturing and assembly operation for fiberboard and fiberglass doors and windows will open THEIR doors in Henrico County by April 1, 2024: “The expansion, which will create 50 new jobs, will increase capacity and provide the company the ability to serve the northeastern market.” Read more…
With amassing student debt, Americans are looking for lucrative alternatives to a four-year college degree and trucking is proving to be a light at the end of the tunnel for many. A 24-year-old social media star, who goes by “Alex the Trucking Guy” on TikTok, has built an enormous following extolling his life on the road as a trucker. Since the start of the pandemic, Alex has garnered over a million and a half followers across all of social media, allowing viewers to ride along with him as he documents the job of a truck driver traveling cross-country. Read more…
Supermarket Morrisons is planning to restructure its supply chain and logistics operations, with warehouse manager roles at all seven distribution sites set to be truncated with a five-over-seven working week reinstated from last April. Documents seen by The Grocer show how Morrisons plans “to consolidate the number of warehouse manager roles at each site to a single operations manager role. It will also remove team manager roles in its ambient supply chain, reduce roles in its chilled chamber and reduce the number of managers and coordinators working within canteen teams.” Read more…
Deaf truck driver Richard Boehrer, one of the Truckload Carriers Association’s (TCA) five 2023 Drivers of the Year, had always dreamed of someday becoming a truck driver. His path was not without pushback, as “even Boehrer’s uncle, who was a professional driver, couldn’t offer encouragement to the aspiring driver.” He went on to tell his nephew that it would be “impossible” with his impairment to ever drive a big rig, especially with past regulations requiring that all drivers be able to hear. Read more…
Dramatist David Proctor’s new one-person play, “Grabbing the Hammer Lane: a Trucker narrative,” is Proctor’s newest stage drama about a truck driver’s life on the road. The Orlando Performer, a website devoted to theater in Central Florida, exults: “Patrons of this show should be prepared to feel a wide range of emotions. In the beginning, there is gentle humor and subtle light jokes scattered throughout. [Later], emotions soar between anger and sadness. It is genuinely moving. This show deals with addiction, forgiveness and loss and has a moral of ‘Tell the ones you are close to, that you love them.’” Read more…
A third-party logistics firm headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee announced they are planning to shutter its facility on the west side of Indianapolis. In a WARN notice recently filed with the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, “Kenco Logistic Services LLC said the closure will result in the layoffs of 110 employees.” The company gave no reason for the closure, but “the affected workers have been notified of the move, and the layoffs are scheduled to occur on March 19.” Read more…
After a half-a-billion-dollar loss quarter for Ford, the company is questioning whether transitioning to electric vehicles was the right move, and whether drastic measures such as offshoring will need to be taken in regard to truck jobs in the future. Ford CEO Jim Farley recently made “what some might consider threatening comments about the future of his company’s U.S.-based, United Auto Workers-represented manufacturing workforce.” Read more…
