Claim OwnershipBehind The Freight
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Description
The freight industry is more than rate trends and equipment. It’s about the people and stories behind the loads. Hosted by John Howland and Scott Feather, Behind the Freight is Truckstop’s podcast for carriers, small fleet managers and freight professionals who want to go beyond headlines and rate chatter. Each episode covers what actually matters: fraud prevention, compliance, day-to-day operations, and what the market is really doing, straight from operators who are out there running freight right now.
If you want honest advice, tools that work in the real world, and a community that actually gets what it's like to run freight for a living, you're in the right place.
If you want honest advice, tools that work in the real world, and a community that actually gets what it's like to run freight for a living, you're in the right place.
94 Episodes
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Starting a trucking business is easy to explain online. Many do it. Running one sustainably is much harder.
In this episode of Behind the Freight, Telly Arnold, Founder of TLA Group LLC and StraightConnect, joins John and Scott to break down the reality behind new authority restrictions, startup costs, broker relationships, driver reliability and the numbers every carrier needs to know before accepting freight.
She also explains why she created StraightConnect to give carriers access to verified people, practical education and industry information they can actually use.
Once the business is no longer about you, running a fleet gets much more complicated.
Jamie Hagen, Owner and President of Hell Bent Xpress, joins John and Scott to share what he has learned building a 12-truck operation while staying close to the drivers doing the work. Tune in to hear about driver retention, equipment decisions, diversification, learning to say no and why Jamie has no interest in growing simply because he can.
The episode also features the monthly freight market update with FTR’s Avery Vise, including what August rates and diesel prices could tell carriers about the month ahead.
Learn expert logistics strategy and freight brokerage tips for your 3PL services and supply chain management. Xander Hassan is the founder of Hassan Transportation & Logistics, and he believes that freight should be a competitive advantage rather than a headache. He joins John and Scott to discuss his journey from hospitality and sales into the world of high-stakes logistics projects and explains how anticipating customer needs can lead to long-term partnerships. You will hear about his experience building SoFi Stadium. He also explains how he uses AI tools like Claude to find “micro-savings” that add up to a lot for e-commerce brands.
Driver retention, carrier recruiting, and fleet operations are failing because of a few common mistakes. Many companies use sign-on bonuses to solve churn. But funnily enough, these incentives often drive professional drivers away instead of keeping them. Charles Gracey explains why you must address your operational issues before spending more money on marketing. You will learn about the gap between corporate stories and the bank account reality drivers face every day. It is time to stop bailing water and start fixing the hole in your boat.
Carriers often fail at technology because they prioritize software over people. Nate shares his framework of standardizing workflows before trying to automate them to avoid "dirty data". You will learn why most fleets are actually less efficient today than they were twenty years ago despite having more tools. Nate also covers the branding problem in trucking and why the industry needs a real intervention to attract younger talent and keep trucks moving.
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