As we’ve written before, a company is only as good as your weakest link. The same is true in any functional area. And, unfortunately for many companies, their supply chain link is weakening because an easily overlooked link – good drivers.

It’s easy to overlook the driver issue because the only time driver issues present themselves at the senior executive level is when there is a major, acute problem. The driver issue, too often, falls under the banner, “no news is good news.” However, despite the economy, employment trends are not sustaining the pool of good, qualified drivers.

A driver’s job is not an easy one.

You’re away from home a lot, you’re easily overlooked and not appreciated by both your employer and your client, and you rarely see the value created by what you do. You can easily feel like you spend your life in traffic and under the gun, ensuring that everything is delivered on time.

After 30 years of deregulation and cost cutting, the downstream impact is carried by the driver. New regulations put even more pressure on drivers. Capitalism is great, and it’s a brutal force. It has weeded out the weak. It has also shrunk the qualified driver pool, and keeping good drivers is tougher than ever.

Here’s the rub, when trucking companies experience driver shortages it is not at all unusual that they utilize dispatchers, maintenance technicians or even management personnel to fill in. For the shipper, this means service problems, inconsistency and lots of cost consequences to your supply chain.

When working with trucking companies you want to make sure that they’ve got an effective driver recruiting and retention program that is regularly updated and monitored. Ask them how they’re navigating the shortage of drivers, and what they’re doing to ensure that you business isn’t affected by any of this. At Dupre’ Logistics, we take a tremendous amount of pride that we are regularly selected as The Ideal Place To Work. This designation is proof that our approach works, and our ability to recruit and retain great drivers helps us keep costs down for our customers – a true win-win.