Better Trucks

Host Dan Ptak kicked off the conversation by asking Andy and Steve about the impacts their organizations have had on the parcel industry, then moving on to whether they viewed their companies as tech companies that happen to handle parcel delivery.

From there, Dan asked the speakers what it really takes to be a tech-forward company. They discussed dynamic (algorithmic) pricing, where both companies are at with it, and the impact that technology will have on the industry as a whole.

Andy and Steve also discussed the partnership with Better Trucks and Global Logistics Systems and the impact it will have on both companies’ customers and on the parcel shipping industry, plus how their partnership will help them offer better service and lower rates to customers.

Dan brought up preparations for peak season and how it was going at both Better Trucks and Global Logistics Systems. The chat ended with Andy and Steve telling listeners what they’re most excited about in the industry.

Dan asked Andy and Steve what some of the biggest impacts they think their organizations have had on parcel as a whole through the evolution of both the industry and their companies.

“I think that our organizations have really come to an industry that was largely commoditized in a lot of ways. Very boring, very bland, and we were able to bring something different to market and it really came through a combination of things, but the savvier shippers out there realized there were better ways, more efficient ways to get their shipping done, and they also wanted to leverage technology, which is probably the backbone of everything that we're doing. And being able to use that technology in a way to be more predictive, to track packages better. Those were all things that the commoditized duopoly really didn't do and still don't do very well today, and you don't really see a lot of interest from them in doing it. So that's really what gave rise to the regional carriers and this multi-carrier strategy that a lot of folks have today,” replied Steve.

Andy had this to say: “They need to partner with carriers that are just as forward-looking and just as technology-first in order to service their customers. And like Steve said, a lot of the big duopoly has just been sitting kind of fat and happy, not innovating and kind of ignoring these changes in the industry and we're happy to take advantage of that.”

When Dan asked Steve if GLS considers itself a technology company that does parcel delivery, he had this to say:

“It's all about digitization, how we're leapfrogging the other folks in what we do, what we can bring to market. So that's the core of our focus when we sit down and look at our strategy is where are we going from a technology perspective.”

Steve continued on the subject, saying, “From my career coming up as a regional player, we always wanted something that was different and that could bring extra value to the customer than just moving a box. So could we tell them where the box is? Could we tell them who the driver is? Could we give them an ETA that's more accurate? All those things. Can we attach an RFID tag?”

Dan went on to ask Andy and Steve what it really takes to put technology first and how the mindset at their companies reflects their dedication to leading-edge tech.

Andy noted that capital investments were a solid reflection of a tech-first culture, saying, “Yeah, I mean it comes from where you're really putting your capital inside your organization. So what are you investing in? And that's one of our largest line items is the technology budget.”

“Building all of our software in-house gives us much more control over quality and also allows us to do things much more nimbly and to make partnerships and build relationships faster with customers and also with other carriers like Steven and GLS. If we both depended on third-party outside systems, it would've been a disaster to try to relay through something else, but our technology teams kind of worked hand-in-hand to build a seamless integration to allow our customers to both co-chair on each network, which has been very valuable,” Andy went on to say.

When Dan asked Steven and Andy about dynamic or algorithmic pricing, Andy and Dan both had great insights to offer, with the focus on the efficacy of dynamic pricing falling on the willingness and capabilities of the shippers to embrace an algorithmic pricing model to gain access to better rates and service.

“Dynamic pricing is really an inevitability and again, driven by the technology that your systems have in the background or us as carriers, our systems, have in the background. And that's definitely something we're working towards. Today, we already have analysis that goes in and takes a look at where customers need capacity, where their utilization is. And for folks that can take advantage of underutilized capacity within our network, we're all already able to give more pinpoint custom pricing in those areas that offers better discounts to the shipper,” said Steven.

Andy had this to offer: “So we've rolled out dynamic pricing with a number of customers. The more sophisticated ones, they can hit us every time from a rate shop perspective, they get back a different price and it is truly a dynamic situation based on our capacity in real-time.”

One big topic of conversation in this fireside chat was the newly formed partnership between GLS and Better Trucks.

“I just want to say we're honored to partner with GLS, obviously a very reputable organization. Huge coverage area on the West Coast, a long legacy of quality, a big international organization as well. So we're super honored to be a part of that. And we think for our customers it unlocks a lot of territory that we will not get to anytime soon,” said Andy on the partnership.

“Our customers that are on the West Coast can get a lower rate by going through GLS because they can leverage the scale that GLS has, bringing things eastbound into our network with the same visibility whether they're shipping on GLS with a GLS label or a Better Trucks label, and it gives them just incredible (scale). We just have a different scale now than we would've kind of alone,” he continued.

Steve had this to say about the Better Trucks and GLS partnership: “Working with Better Trucks, they were on the same page as us, very technology-forward, very customer-centric. And really strategically for us, it's about being able to go in and take a bigger piece of the pie. Those who've worked with the duopoly know that the pricing structure is always a volume-based discount and there's certain tiers and thresholds, and at the end of the day, to be really competitive, you got to bite off a little bigger piece of the pie. So by partnering together, we've been able to do that. We can do a team approach. We've been able to bring different folks to market for each other and access other regions.”

Steve also commented on a specific case where a customer has been able to benefit from the partnership between GLS and Better Trucks.

“One use case recently was we had a customer that really needed help in Ohio. Just what they were doing there wasn't working and they were a big customer of ours. So we were able to go to the Better Trucks team and say, "Hey, here's the deal, here's how it works. They're already integrated, we're already integrated. Let's just make this the flip of the switch. And that's what we did. We were able to onboard it in a matter of weeks, like a week and a half. So in that use case, it was incredible and they're getting incredible service today. It's gone very, very well,” he remarked.

Dan noted that in order to compete with national carriers’ service offerings, smaller regional carriers like GLS and Better Trucks would have to focus on keeping their footprint and therefore overhead small. He then asked if the partnership is helping them do that.

Steve broke down the benefits of working on a smaller footprint and utilizing strong partnerships to offer customers expanded service offerings into a few parts.

“From an overhead perspective, it definitely helps. The term I like to use is local heroes. It's having people locally that are really invested in what's going on, not just kind of a corporate center that's in, I don't know, Tennessee, and where they just don't touch the rest of the country and they don't really know what's going on. With Andy, with myself and with all the others, we're all the local guys. We understand what's going on and so we can be more nimble. The second part that keeps us more efficient is our sole focus on really ground parcel services. So we're not out there trying to be all things to all people all the time. We're very focused. We've got a ground service that can offer a larger time in transit window at a better price. And those are the things that, for us, can keep us hyper-efficient and meet our customer needs,” Steve said.

Andy had similar ideas about how the partnership benefits customers while helping keep overhead small, saying, “It's much better to partner with somebody that's been operating there for many years and has that local knowledge. So I love that idea of local heroes and it does unlock better service for our customers on both ends. And then connecting them together is a big component of that. We're happy to do that for many of them.”

Andy brought up peak season and how each of the companies are planning for it and getting things locked in ahead of the peak shipping season.

“I mean, it's always the run-up, but we're getting the forecast, getting everything prepared. We've had some good test days through the holidays this summer and in the spring to get us warmed up so we're feeling ready,” said Steve, following that with, “The sooner you get in, the better. And so if you're a shipper and you're thinking about it, yeah, don't wait. Start the process now. Start getting pricing. We can start working things out.”

Andy noted that contingency planning kicked into high gear early this year with the strike threats from national carriers, saying, “I think the other thing I'll add is we all had a little bit of a false start with the preparation for the UPS strike here so we've been doing a lot of contingency planning thus far this year, so thank goodness that didn't actually have to come to bear. But this business is really peak and then preparation for peak, there's only kind of two seasons.”

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