Can You Find Me a Truck?

I can still vividly recall two questions I heard almost every day when I first started at Bartlett Grain nearly 20 years ago. The first was: "Jared, what's the rate from [Town A] to [Town B]?" And the second, often tinged with urgency, was: "Can you find me a truck?"

If you've been in the industry for any length of time, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Those questions sound simple enough, but the truth is, they’re just the start of a much more complex conversation.

Let’s start with the first one—rates. It’s not as simple as plugging numbers into a formula. Rates depend on a whole bunch of factors: shipping dates, quantities, facility hours, and load/unload times all play a role. For instance, coordinating 100 loads over 30 days from one facility takes serious planning. You have to make sure the facilities can handle the volume without getting bottlenecked by other shippers’ trucks, and that loading/unloading times fit into the trucker's schedule. If you don’t get those details right, your well-negotiated rate can vanish into thin air.

Now, let’s tackle the second question, “Can you find me a truck?” The answer, of course, is always "Yes!" But it's a bit like when someone asks if your house or car is for sale—sure, anything’s for sale… for the right price. There's always a truck out there, but the real question is how much you're willing to pay and how fast you need it. If you need something moved immediately—within hours, or even on the same day—you might end up paying for a truck to bounce miles empty just to get to your load. That urgency typically comes with a price tag, just like selling your house quickly would.

The key point here is that managing shipments and calculating rates isn't a quick-and-dirty calculation. It’s more like peeling an onion—each layer reveals another question. What’s the quantity? When does it need to be moved? Will the facilities be able to keep up? What happens if there’s a delay? What if the truck breaks down halfway through? What if the weather goes south? These are just some of the variables that can change the game.

And even when you’ve booked everything, sometimes the freight world has other plans. Delays, breakdowns, and bad weather can force adjustments to the rate after the fact. Flexibility is key, and communication is king, but having the right contacts on speed dial doesn’t hurt either.

So, next time you ask or hear, “Can you find me a truck?”—just know, we can and we will, but let’s make sure we’re asking the right questions so the whole process goes smoothly. Because, as we all know in this industry, there’s always more to the story.

God Bless,

Jared