The news: Adam Poore stepped into the leadership of the U.S. Xpress Customer Experience team in early 2023 after more than six years with the company. Before this role, he served as senior director of Dedicated Operations, where he oversaw major accounts and key relationships. Prior to joining the U.S. Xpress Dedicated group, he spent three years as director of fleet and team fleet operations.

Why it matters: The Customer Experience team acts in partnership with the businesses that rely on U.S. Xpress. Our customers’ experiences — from the time they sign with us all the way through renewal — is the CX team’s only focus. Adam’s expertise in a variety of roles, from driver-facing operations to building up a successful expedited Dedicated fleet, give him an appreciation for what great experiences are made of.

In leading the U.S. Xpress Customer Experience group, Adam Poore has found that going straight to the source is a great way to build on his decade of industry knowledge.

“Our group stays close with a tremendous number of very large companies, and we learn a lot from them about how the broader environment operates,” Adam said. “We have the privilege of talking to so many customers in so many industries, and that teaches us a lot about the larger economic environment, and helps us connect the dots  for how we can help and serve them better on a daily basis.”

Adam stepped into the leadership of Customer Experience in early 2023 after more than six years with U.S. Xpress. Before this role, he served as senior director of Dedicated Operations, where he oversaw major accounts and key relationships. Prior to joining the U.S. Xpress Dedicated group, he spent three years as director of fleet and team fleet operations.

Adam’s experience in a variety of roles, from driver-facing operations to building up a successful expedited Dedicated fleet, give him an appreciation of what great experiences are made of. The close customer connections U.S. Xpress teams build are the key ingredient in those great experiences, he said.

“Both our executive team and our front line reps are very accessible to our customers, and our reps are always empowered to do what it takes to build those relationships,” he said. “We all consider ourselves partners to our customers, and their experience, from the time they sign with us all the way through renewal, is our only focus.”

In addition to the expertise of the Customer Experience reps who make things happen behind the scenes, the flexibility U.S. Xpress offers between its asset-based and brokerage services gives those reps more ways to ensure great experiences.

“Our goal is to deliver the right solution to move our customers’ freight using our different service offerings, which include our own assets as well as third-party assets,” Adam said.

Adam came to U.S. Xpress in 2016 from the trucking company where he first learned the business as a fleet manager juggling a demanding, fast-paced role supporting drivers. When he first took that job, it took a few months to get the hang of it — he wondered a few weeks in if he’d make it — but after nine months he was promoted to operations manager and started digging into the data to find the factors behind a successful operation.    

“I’m super-competitive, I love scoreboards and financials and data,” Adam said. “Once you start picking up on all of that and it clicks, you really begin to see how you can help drive those results.”

Before he jumped to the trucking industry, Adam worked as a youth probation officer for four years. That experience taught him a new level of empathy and gave him an up-close look at how difficult life can be, particularly for young people.

“I would not trade that public service and what I learned through that for anything,” he said. “I learned so much about the hardest lives, I delivered the worst news. The world would be a better place if everyone did some public service.”

When a mentor he knew from college persuaded him to come try his hand at trucking, Adam said he never could have predicted how much he would enjoy the challenges and rewards of moving freight.

“I’ve had incredible mentors and built great relationships in this industry,” Adam said. “Having the opportunity to keep building those connections is gratifying.”

You can read more here about members of the Customer Experience team who keep the supply chain moving for U.S. Xpress customers.

What’s happening: We’re a year into the slowdown in the freight markets, and it will be the end of the quarter at the earliest before inventories are burned off and some equilibrium returns to the industry.

Why it matters: Shippers are bargain-hunting hard, using mini-bids to seek more competitive rates, while carriers are investing in relationships and service to weather this persistently muted market.

The bottom line: The only thing you can count on in the freight market is change, and both carriers and shippers are working to forecast the year and prepare for a shift despite the lack of a roadmap for a demand lull lasting this long.

We may be talking about freight, but physics rule the day when it comes to market challenges. “Every action has an equal opposite reaction,” said Lee Thigpen, vice president of revenue management for U.S. Xpress, who has spent 19 years tracking trends and wrangling the financial realities of the industry. In other words, in terms of excess capacity and muted demand for moving goods, we’re seeing the flipside of the frantic freight market of 2021, when the pressure on capacity reached historic highs, largely in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Several forces launched during that wild ride have whiplashed, including the entry of lots of small trucking outfits during the freight goldrush, and the bloating of inventories as shippers tried to keep pace with consumer demand. Now we’re riding out an equally dramatic opposite reaction.

Paul Bowman, the senior vice president of sales for U.S. Xpress, has been working the freight markets and collaborating on customer needs for 30 years. Seasons and cycles have always driven the market, but relationships have long been the enduring factor, no matter the trends. “A lot of loyalty and strong service are built during tough times for both sides of the market,” Paul said.

Here are four things Lee and Paul see ahead for the second quarter:

A bid season without borders: Bid season has traditionally had an approximate beginning and end, but in today’s market, shippers are eager to keep the negotiations going. Every carrier is on the hunt for freight, and that has shippers shopping for lower rates, and sometimes for shorter-term contracts on the chance that historically low rates may slip even further. Those so-called mini-bids were also happening a year ago, but that was because shippers were desperately seeking capacity. Now their purpose has flipped. Expect mini-bids to come fast and furious, sometimes with horizons as short as six weeks. Bids are also creeping into the dedicated market on contracts that once renewed without them. Across the board, shippers are bargain-hunting.

Relationships still matter, but…: The advantages of incumbency can be big when business goes out to bid, but service levels have to be on point, too – especially in a market like this one. Look for incumbent carriers to get creative and competitive to keep their relationships rolling. When the markets swing wildly, both shippers and carriers tend to feel loyal to the relationships that have seen them through. But competition is always fierce, and while an existing relationship may offer an edge, it won’t be enough to win the day as shippers go shopping for lower rates and better service.  

Capacity falls out of the market: Small to mid-sized carriers rode the shipping boom of 2021 long enough to build up a buffer to get them through the lean times. But this high-capacity market has lasted longer than most typical swings in demand, and many smaller carriers that have entered the industry in the last few years are running out of road as costs stay high and demand remains low. We’re one year into the falloff in freight demand, and that drop happened suddenly, over just a month or so last spring. So, there wasn’t much time to prepare, and the 12 months since then have tested even the most seasoned carriers. As carriers call it quits and capacity falls out of the market, that tightening will become just one factor in the only thing you can count on when it comes to trucking: Things change.

Prepping for the turnaround: The usual 4Q freight surge didn’t materialize, and the spring rush looks like more of a slow-drip market thaw, but physics is still out there doing its thing. As the fallout from two extremely divergent markets settles, the pendulum will swing back. To prepare, shippers are working extra hard on forecasting, trying to evaluate how things will look once excess inventory is burned off at the end of 2Q. They’re working to lock in rates with carriers whose service they know they can count on once demand starts to tick back up. Carriers, meanwhile, are investing in relationships and service now to help keeps things moving when the balance shifts. And while shippers will hold carriers accountable for rates and service, carriers will look for freight volume commitments to be fulfilled.

What’s happening: It’s almost time for LINK: The Retail Supply Chain Conference, where thousands of supply chain decision-makers, freight-movers, and logistics pros get together to unpack the massive challenges of moving goods in a fast-changing market.  

Why it matters: Let’s do the math: 75+ shippers, 40 carriers, 40 3PLs, five railroads, 10 port authorities, and 25+ technology companies serving transportation and logistics, warehousing, and equipment OEMs. This is where the industry goes to talk shop.

The bottom line: We’ve got five tips for making the most of this event from a U.S. Xpress leader who’s been working this conference for more than a decade. Dig in to get the most from your time at LINK. We’ll see you there!

Moving retail freight is a massive business, but the drive to get it done every day doesn’t always come with chances to connect, compare, and problem-solve across the industry. That’s where LINK: The Retail Supply Chain Conference comes in. 

“This is the number one opportunity to connect with the largest shipper partners all at one location,” said John Edwards, head of Dedicated Sales for U.S. Xpress. “There are more than 2,000 supply chain leaders in one place, from the top 75 shippers and top 40 carriers to the top 40 3PLs, from 10 port authorities and five railroads – you name it, they’ll be there.”

The broad scope of the event — scheduled this year for Feb. 19-23 in Orlando, Florida — means that it takes a ton of planning to make the most of the time. The top priority is always connecting with customers in person, having direct and productive conversations about what’s working and what needs work when it comes to making their goods move better.

“These are invaluable conversations with massive retailers that rely on us to get their goods to store shelves every day,” John said. “We spend months planning to work this event nonstop, making sure our team is connecting with the businesses we serve and looking for opportunities to adapt to serve their needs as the market shifts.”

In addition to a valuable forum for conversations with customers, the LINK event gives large shippers and leading carriers the chance to connect and learn from each other, as well.

“It’s a big, competitive business, but it’s also a tight network of professionals who share a lot of the same challenges and experiences,” said John, who has been working the LINK conference for a decade. “There’s a lot of value in talking shop with your peers, whether you’re a retailer or a shipper.”

Here are John’s top five tips for making the most of the LINK conference:

1. Plan ahead. Way, way ahead. Register early! Ideally, you register at one conference for the following year so you can start planning for your team to get there and get to work.
2. Get business meetings on the books. Lock in meetings early and often. Start a few months before the event and get as many set up as possible. This is the best event to get in front of as many partners, peers, and prospects as you can in a short period.
3. Meal time is prime time. Business breakfast, lunch, and dinner on all days is a must. Bring your partners to the table to celebrate the prior year, lay a foundation for the upcoming year, talk growth, diversification, and new opportunities to move goods better.
4. Play booth sides. Time in your company’s booth on the conference floor is also important. Chat up your peers and prospects, make new friends, explore opportunities, and interact with everyone who stops by.
5. Class is in session. Work in as many relevant breakout sessions and keynote speakers as possible. There is a wealth of information and engagement to be had within the event with a ton of industry leaders, shipper partners, and peer competitors.

We’re counting down the days until this event, and can’t wait to see everyone at LINK. Got tips of your own for making the most of our time together? Share them here, or get in touch at RILA@usxpress.com.

What’s happening: Rates have slipped, demand for capacity is down, and costs remain high. It may be a tough time to be a carrier, but that also makes it a good time for shippers and receivers to simplify their relationships and maximize service in the new year.

Why it matters: As consumer habits changed over the last two years, many shippers had to shop hard for capacity, expand their networks, and pull in partners from all over the industry to get goods moved. The result was a lot of complexity and, in some cases, inconsistent service.

The bottom line: As the market takes a breather, shippers are in a good position to strike a balance between a favorable rate and good service, and to lock in contract rates to ensure they’re covered when the pendulum swings again.

As 2023 dawns, demand for capacity is down, rates have slipped, and the usual year-end freight-hauling peak didn’t materialize in the fourth quarter of 2022. In many ways, it’s a tough time to be a carrier, but the outlook isn’t entirely bleak — particularly for shippers and receivers looking for the chance to simplify their relationships and maximize service in the new year.

Paul Bowman, Senior Vice President of Sales and Lee Thigpen, Vice President of Revenue Management

The experts at U.S. Xpress have seen just about every trucking market you can imagine, from the buck-wild freight boom of barely a year ago (seems longer, doesn’t it?) to the lulls that reliably come along now and again in a market that has always been driven by cycles and seasons.

Paul Bowman, the senior vice president of sales for U.S. Xpress, has been working the freight markets and collaborating on customer needs for 30 years. Lee Thigpen, vice president of revenue management for U.S. Xpress, has spent 19 years tracking trends and wrangling the financial realities of the industry. They’ve both seen a little bit of everything, and they have four predictions and recommendations for anyone with freight to move in 2023.

1. Expect a slow, wide turn

The first two months of the quarter are typically a slow season, with demand for moving freight staying low in January and February, and gradually ramping up in March as spring fever drives consumer spending. But any run-up in demand this March may be cooler than usual. Instead, the optimists are calling for demand to start increasing near the end of the second quarter of 2023. There are some key indicators that give us reason to expect demand to grow sooner than later, including good job growth reports, and the fact that this dramatic slowdown is really more like a return to normalcy after an exceptionally wild ride. No one is counting on a rapid rebound anytime soon, but the picture isn’t as grim as the headlines might have you believe.

2. Shippers are on clean-up duty

During this slower market, we’re seeing many customers take the opportunity to reset their budgets and reallocate their carrier base. The last two years — which brought a seismic, pandemic-fueled shift in consumer habits — had many shippers scrambling, shopping hard for capacity, expanding their networks, and pulling in partners from all over the industry to get goods moved. At the height of the boom, some of them resorted to overbooking loads, moving significantly more inventory than they strictly needed to because it was a reliable way to get the attention of carriers inundated with opportunities to move freight. Now inventories are bloated, and all that outreach created complexity and inconsistency in both service levels and relationships.

In a world where the pendulum has swung and shippers have more options, they generally like to deal with just a few carriers. The key now is to focus on service, to take advantage of this relatively calm window to establish and expand partnerships with the right providers that can consistently supply capacity, get the right strategic fit for their networks over the long term, and secure a commitment to service levels.

3. More carriers bow out

One reason the freight markets feel loose at the moment is that so many new entrants jumped into the industry and rode the wave during the pandemic freight boom. Many of them are still out there hustling, but it’s getting harder every day — particularly for smaller trucking outfits that are new to the cycles and demands of the industry. Equipment and fuel costs remain high, even as demand falls off, and spot rates have slipped precipitously. Smaller carriers also don’t have sales teams, so they rely on brokers and load boards to keep moving, but those environments are slowing down as shippers regroup and reset. We saw some carriers go under at the end of 2022, and we’ll see more in the first quarter of 2023.

4. The rate stuff

Rates make big news in this environment, and shippers are on the hunt for a good balance between a favorable rate, reliable service levels, and performance consistency. There’s a threshold beyond which a lower rate isn’t going to deliver the results shippers need, but in a market where there’s plenty of capacity to go around, there’s always the temptation to price shop. Rates may not come down much more than they already have, however, given the realities of funding trucking operations. The spot market in particular is putting a real squeeze on carriers that rely on it for profitable one-off runs — those rates have come down to a level where they often don’t support operational costs for carriers. If you’re a carrier with a heavy dose of spot, you’re hurting. Shippers are in a good position to strike a balance between a favorable rate and good service, and to lock in contract rates to ensure they’re covered when the market shifts. And the market will shift. It always shifts. It’s just a question of when.

What’s happening: Across U.S. Xpress, about 13% of over-the-road drivers and about 9% of dedicated drivers are owner/operators who drive U.S. Xpress trucks they purchase from the company.  

Why it matters: That option creates a broader pool of professional drivers to count on when it comes to moving goods, and access to entrepreneurs who work strategically to build their own businesses and maximize the freight they haul.

The bottom line: Working independently but still having the backing of a company that has a deep customer base and can help identify freight opportunities opens up new potential for professional drivers in building their careers and businesses.

Professional drivers at U.S. Xpress can choose from several different routes to success, and one of them is the road to entrepreneurship as an owner/operator of their own trucks.

“It’s all about knowing what you want and working hard to achieve it,” said Peter Knowles, who has lease-purchased five U.S. Xpress tractors in under three years. “You first need a vision and then create a business plan to achieve your objective.”

It also helps, Knowles added, to hire great people and treat them with respect. The first driver he ever hired was a fellow student from the Georgia Driving Academy in Conyers, Georgia, whom he stayed in touch with after graduation. The second team member he hired was his instructor from that school, a 26-year driver/instructor veteran.

“I felt truly honored to have him join the team,” Knowles said.

Across U.S. Xpress, about 13% of over-the-road drivers and about 9% of dedicated drivers are owner/operators who drive U.S. Xpress trucks they purchase from the company. That structure means they can function as business owners, but still have the backing of a major asset-based carrier.

That flexibility creates a broader pool of drivers to count on when it comes to moving goods, and access to entrepreneurs who work strategically to build their own businesses and maximize the freight they haul.

“I love being an owner/operator,” said Mike Carter, who has three tractors and four drivers on his team. “When we go out on our own we still can run into problems, but you have a company that stands behind you – I know they’re behind me if I need them.”

Working independently but still having the backing of a company that has a deep customer base and can help identify freight opportunities opens up new potential for drivers, Peter said.

“With a lot of hard work and planning, a driver can achieve great things if he chooses to do so, and can go from company driver to fleet owner,” Knowles said.  “Because it’s a U.S. Xpress truck, we’re dispatched by U.S. Xpress, and if we have any issues, we know our account supervisors are always ready to assist.”

Owner/operator Bill Ball has been driving for nearly 40 years, and is on his second lease purchase truck from U.S. Xpress. He retired the first one after putting more than 600,000 miles on it, and is settling into his new rig, which he’s had for just a few months. Rather than hiring other professional drivers, Ball takes a solo approach to his owner/operator business.

“I like to run a lot and do everything I can and I’m kind of in control of that,” he said. “I’m my own boss, and I like it that way.”

For Knowles, who is a native of England, a small part of the pleasure of building his trucking business is the chance to personalize his trucks with his Knowles International Transport brand alongside the U.S. Xpress logo.

“I have a half Union Jack and half American flag on each truck as a tag and decals that make us stand out wherever we park,” he said.

In addition, he provides his drivers with collared shirts that show both the U.S. Xpress and Knowles logos.

“I wear one every single day,” Peter said. “It makes me feel like I’m representing something special. We’re representing a company and ourselves.” 

What’s happening: Hurricane Ian is the latest example, and one of the most dramatic, of how U.S. Xpress prepares for and responds to disaster.

Why it matters: Through our extensive logistics and trucking network, U.S. Xpress has deep resources to commit to recovery efforts.

The bottom line: There’s no higher use of our resources than helping our customers, employees, and friends during an emergency.

When weather emergencies or other crises threaten to damage property and tangle the supply chain, U.S. Xpress teams coordinate closely to support customers and communities and come to the aid of team members who live in impacted areas.

“First and foremost during any disaster, we need to protect our people and our assets,” said Chris Morris, director of public safety and security for U.S. Xpress. “Then, as quickly as we safely can, we get our drivers moving to carry the freight that supports recovery.”

Among the steps U.S. Xpress takes to support storm and disaster recovery:

• Assessing the impact to our employees and our equipment, and deploying resources to support both driver and mechanical needs.
• Aligning with our customers who have emergency response materials they can distribute through our network.
• Positioning equipment where it can aid in response and recovery.
• Coordinating with partners and resources across our industry to maximize the impact we can have in collectively responding to needs before and after the major weather event.
• Deploying our Xpress Cares funds to help team members who have been impacted by this storm. This long-standing U.S. Xpress program provides employee-to-employee giving for those experiencing financial hardships.

Our plans for storm response were in motion even as Hurricane Ian was forming, and U.S. Xpress logistics and trucking experts met multiple times a day to report on impacts and mobilize people and materials.

One of the deadliest and most devastating storms in the history of Florida, Hurricane Ian made landfall near Ft. Myers as a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 155 mph. U.S. Xpress stayed in close contact with customers in the area while navigating the challenges of safely moving drivers and equipment into locations where they could respond once the storm cleared.

“Service interruptions and equipment issues created significant challenges we have worked around the clock to address, particularly in Florida,” Morris said. “But there’s no higher use of our resources than helping our customers, employees, and friends during an emergency.”

The recovery from Hurricane Ian will be a massive effort that will snarl supply chains and industries from agriculture to manufacturing in the region and beyond. The storm unleashed an estimated $60 billion to $100 billion in damage, and U.S. Xpress will be engaged in supporting recovery over the long term.

“Through our extensive logistics and trucking network, we have deep resources to commit to this effort,” Morris said. “We will stay close with our customers and team members to offer solutions as we all work together to recover from this destructive storm.”

From rewarding work anniversaries and safe miles to serving free weekly lunches at our service centers, celebrating the great work of professional drivers is an everyday focus of team members across U.S. Xpress. That gratitude shifts into high gear during Driver Appreciation Week, when our vendors and partners get in on the act, donating everything from gift cards and iPads to offering up their grilling skills to serve something delicious for drivers.

“We always pull out all the stops for Driver Appreciation Week, but the generous support of our vendors puts it over the top,” said Lynn Quintero, vice president of driver services for U.S. Xpress. “They show up in so many ways – through donations of every kind, but also by literally showing up and working to show professional drivers how much we appreciate all they do every day.”

U.S. Xpress vendors including Webb Wheel Products, Premier Truck Group, Delta Dental, ATDMS, DClimate, and Allstate gave drivers gift cards to Target, Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Amazon, as well as useful everyday items for drivers such as cordless hand vacuums, flashlights, and tire pressure gauges.

At the Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, service center, local Kenworth reps brought out the Kenworth grill and cooked up an amazing lunch for drivers. In Tunnel Hill, Georgia, Five Star Foods donated and served up a cookout feast. And at service centers and dedicated sites across the country, our partners rolled up hauling goodies to give away, including a wagonload of big-screen TVs and cooler full of tools.

“It takes a lot of people working together to keep a trucking company moving,” Quintero said. “Our partners are a big part of our success in creating great driver experiences, and they share our passion for showing drivers how much they matter.”

Throughout Driver Appreciation Week from Sept. 11-17, U.S. Xpress gave gifts to every professional driver in our fleet, hosted celebrations at our service centers and dedicated facilities across the country, and gave away prizes that ran the gamut from iPads and gift cards to cash. Every company driver received a premium duffel bag and toiletry bag, and five drivers won a $1,500 cash prize.

Celebrating drivers is also part of the U.S. Xpress culture all year long, including our popular Wednesday lunches, when office employees serve drivers at our terminals, our annual Million Miler celebrations for our safest drivers, and even recognition for drivers of the month across our businesses and brands. Driver birthdays and service anniversaries are cause for celebration, too, and every driver is awarded points they can use to buy gifts or gift cards for those milestones. 

“Drivers are the backbone of our industry,” Quintero said. “Showing them that we see and value their hard work is one of the best investments we can make in serving our customers.”

What’s happening: With apples largely coming from the North and West, and wood pellets often originating in the South, they demand capacity across the map.

Why it matters: These high-priority seasonal goods are just two examples of the year-round surges that create geographical hot spots for shippers and carriers.

The bottom line: Preparing for shipping surges takes planning and partnership with a carrier that serves diverse industries and offers a range of solutions.

As summer winds down and fall fires up, two products that herald the arrival of autumn are on the move. Apples and wood pellets may not seem to have much in common at first glance, but their simultaneous peak seasons make them partners in a quirky surge that’s just the latest in a year-round cycle of demand.

“In the spring it’s patio furniture, during the holidays it’s Christmas trees, in the summer it’s beverages,” said Paul Bowman, senior vice president of enterprise sales for U.S. Xpress. “There’s always a surge happening somewhere, and while apples and wood pellets may not be as obvious as pumpkins at Halloween, we know every year to prepare for that demand.”

The most popular fruit in the U.S. has its peak season in September and October, rolling into far-flung markets from top apple-producing states including Washington, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and California. In 2021, The U.S. apple harvest added up to almost 10 billion pounds of apples, and favorable growing condition in 2022 may mean an even bigger crop. 

Meanwhile, wood pellets, which heat homes, barns, and businesses in cold climates all winter long, are typically produced in the South. These small-but-mighty fire-feeders are made from wood waste such as sawdust and scraps, and they’re on the move in big numbers every year beginning in September. About 58% of North America’s wood pellet capacity sits in the South, and the region’s production capacity has increased more than fivefold since 2009.

“You have apples largely coming from the North and West, and wood pellets often originating in the South, so there are unique capacity challenges in these markets during this time,” Bowman said. “U.S. Xpress hauls goods for a wide variety of industries – including the folks who have unique supply chain needs as fall rolls in.”

With the experience and the resources to anticipate demand and work through surges, U.S. Xpress is always ready for capacity shifts, he said. And in addition to asset-based resources, U.S. Xpress can tap into its brokerage solutions to balance the load, Bowman added.

“Our history of success serving clients in this space and our ability to anticipate demand, while simultaneously applying the right resources to keep goods moving, means we can take seasonal surges in stride,” he said.  

What’s happening: After a two-year hiatus, U.S. Xpress is preparing to host PartnerShip 2022, our premier partner summit, planned for Aug. 15-17 in our scenic and vibrant hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Why it matters: The event is a great showcase for some of the sharpest industry experts, but connecting the folks who put the “Ship” in PartnerShip is another huge benefit of getting together to talk about the wild world of hauling freight.

The bottom line: Confirm your attendance today for PartnerShip 2022 or contact sales@usxpress.com with any questions. Accommodations, meals, and outings are all provided by U.S. Xpress. Registration closes Aug. 1.

The challenges of moving goods aren’t for the faint of heart, even in the best of times. Toss in a global pandemic, economic upheaval unlike any we’ve seen in our lifetimes, and boom-and-bust demand cycles that defy prediction, and you have, well, the world we’re all working in today.

When things get weird (and they have gotten very weird since March 2020), there’s a lot we can learn from each other about how to survive and thrive through even the toughest tests. 

After a two-year hiatus, U.S. Xpress is preparing to host PartnerShip 2022, our premier partner summit, planned for Aug. 15-17 in beautiful Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Yes, it’s a great showcase for some of the sharpest industry experts to address everything from autonomous trucking and economic trends to the firsthand views of drivers on the front lines. But connecting the folks who put the “Ship” in PartnerShip is another huge benefit of getting together to talk about the wild world of hauling freight.

After our 2019 event, U.S. Xpress customers let us know that connecting with each other was a major upside of getting together to talk trucking. That’s because we haul freight for just about every industry you can imagine — across verticals, across geographies, and through three distinct offerings that touch every shipping need, from OTR to brokerage to dedicated routes.

Here are a few comments from our customers who participated in our 2019 summit:

I appreciated the variety of speakers, the different backgrounds of the industries, the opportunity to interact across multiple levels of U.S. Xpress and with other shippers.

The best part was the ability to network with other customers and carriers to find out what we each do best and how to help each other grow in areas we are weak.

There were lots of high-end shippers to network with.

Appreciate the ability to directly engage other customers and various levels within U.S. Xpress.

As we plan PartnerShip 2022, we’ve got a great lineup of speakers and sessions, as well as some very appealing plans for our downtime and socializing. Our theme this year, Moving Forward, reflects the focus we all share on meeting the challenges of the future from a position of strength. In addition to U.S. Xpress leadership, speakers will include:

• Dr. Chris Caplice, executive director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Transportation & Logistics, which is a world leader in supply chain management education and research.
• Dr. Sterling Anderson, co-founder of Aurora and the chief product officer of the autonomous trucking company since its formation in 2017. Prior to Aurora’s founding, he led the design, development, and launch of the award-winning Tesla Model X, and led the team that delivered Tesla Autopilot.
• Erica Orange, executive vice president and chief operating officer of The Future Hunters, one of the world’s leading futurist consulting firms. She analyzes emerging sociocultural, technological, economic, geopolitical and environmental trends, and identifies the strategic implications of those trends for Fortune 500 companies, trade associations, and public sector clients.

PartnerShip 2022 will be hosted at the historic Read House, an elegantly refurbished 150-year-old hotel in the heart of downtown Chattanooga. Among the social events we’ll enjoy will be dinner and cocktails at the Hunter Museum of American Art, which boasts stunning blufftop views of the Tennessee River. We’ll also take a group golf excursion and participate in a charity event featuring Warrior Freedom Service Dogs, an organization that pairs service dogs with military veterans suffering from brain injuries.

If the pandemic taught us anything, it was to appreciate the power of connection. Confirm your attendance today for PartnerShip 2022 or contact sales@usxpress.com with any questions.

We’re looking forward to Moving Forward together.

What’s happening: The pandemic broke up a lot of asset-based truck driving teams (it’s tough to social distance in a cab). That shift delivered disruptions for shippers who counted on those team drivers to move their freight quickly.

How we solved it: Adding a customized, power-only brokerage solution for a longtime U.S. Xpress customer ensured they didn’t miss a beat when many of the asset-based team drivers they had always counted on had to split up.

The bottom line: When things change fast, carriers and shippers have to react even faster. Tapping into new solutions, collaborating creatively, and reimagining longstanding processes are all ways to keep goods moving better.

Shippers who relied on team drivers to move their freight fast had to scramble for new solutions when the pandemic threw a wrench into that tried-and-true system. It’s tough to social distance in a cab, and many asset-based teams that weren’t made up of family members split up when COVID-19 hit.

For one longtime U.S. Xpress customer shipping high-value beauty products and apparel, asset-based team drivers had always been their goods-moving mainstay. When those resources grew scarce, a customized solution that began as a stopgap turned into a winning everyday play.

U.S. Xpress tapped its Xpress Technologies brokerage group to send third-party trucks and their team drivers to haul loads for this shipper, but also arranged for U.S. Xpress trailers to be dropped on-site for loading at any time that was convenient for them. This power-only brokerage solution tapped smaller carriers whose teams tend to be family members, and quickly closed the gap that the pandemic created in the asset-based team driver model. In fact, the solution worked so well that the customer decided to stay with that approach for the long term.

“We understand their network, what they need, and how they operate,” said James Rockwell, enterprise sales VP for U.S. Xpress. “Because of this, we were able to present a solution that provided the missing pieces and knew it would be valuable.”

A long-term history of great asset-based service gave the customer confidence that the creative solution could solve this challenge, despite the fact that they were new to the brokerage side of the business.

“We mobilized to provide that solution quickly and showed the customer that they can do it, the commitment is there, the service is there, the capacity is there,” James said. “There has to be a lot of trust and understanding on both sides for something like this to work – that is a key ingredient.”

By providing the resources of an asset-based carrier that also has a brokerage arm, U.S. Xpress is in a good position to quickly pivot when conditions change. That ability, and the willingness of the shipper to go along for the ride, meant their business didn’t miss a beat, even at the height of the pandemic disruption.