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American Truck Group NEWS: Resolving a Crisis Within a Crisis In Trucking

As the laws of supply and demand take over, this shortage is causing trucking companies to give preference to the most lucrative hauls. In other words, he who pays the most gets the first ride. There's just not enough drivers to go around.

That leaves many shippers to choose between the lesser of two evils. Either accept shipping delays or pay higher freight costs. According to Louis Normand, owner of the American Truck Group, "in some cases it's like a bidding war to make your load priority over others in line."

Some experts attribute the need for more drivers to a growing population and an explosion in online shopping. As the population grows, so does the demand for staple goods. And when it comes to online shopping, more consumers are foregoing the typical shopping trips to brick and mortar retailers and letting their mouse do the driving. That means truck rides are replacing car trips - the goods still have to get to your door.

But, when we asked Normand, to comment on the enormity of the driver shortage, he said, "rising freight demand is just a small part of the problem. The real problem is a shrinking supply of drivers." He attributes this in large part, to the fact that major trucking companies are finding it more cost-effective to contract with owner-operators than hire their own drivers. He then added, ". . . but owner operators are a dying breed."

Therein lies the problem. In an era of tight money and stringent lending regulations, and with a new over-the-road truck costing $125,000 or more, it is almost impossible for a would-be owner operator to get financing.

It was twelve years ago that Normand, then owner of one of Mississippi's larger big truck dealerships, recognized this declining trend of owner operators. Hence, the birth of a brilliantly simple solution to a growing problem. He said, "it just didn't make any sense . . . all this freight to haul and no one to haul it. So, I decided if a driver couldn't buy a truck I would rent him one."

Now, ATG has become the largest rent-to-own fleet of big trucks in the country. With numbers now approaching 500 trucks, expansion plans are well underway. New service facilities and an expanding network of affiliated service centers, equips the fleet to grow to its new infrastructure capacity of 1200 trucks.

Normand is clear in his objectives, "you can't outsource a truck drivers job," he says. "With the current driver shortage as large as it is, there's really no limit to the size the fleet can grow to." That said, Normand sees the rent-to-own model for big trucks playing a major role in solving the driver shortage crisis and in turn easing some of the headwinds against economic recovery.

"With Out Truckers - America Stops"

American Truck Group, LLC.
Louie Normand, CEO, 985-966-3763
louie@americantruckgroup.com
www.AmericanTruckGroup.com