TRUCKING:
ELDs & Hours of Service
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requirement for electronic logging devices (ELDs) to replace paper logbooks went into effect in December, though a 90-day waiver was granted for drivers of agricultural loads.
Many await the impact ELDs will have on hours of service and travel time. Previous short hauls—400 to 500 miles in one day—will likely turn into two-day trips due to delays and required layovers.
“We’ll all have to change how we do loadings,” explains Debra Sanford, vice president of controlled logistics sales at Wheels Clipper in Woodridge, IL, near Chicago. Both “shippers and receivers will have to change their ways and practices.”
The same is true with four-day runs turning into five days, says Kenny Lund, vice president for operations at Allen Lund Company, headquartered in La Canada, CA near Los Angeles.
For highly perishable commodities like raspberries or strawberries, an extra day can have a major impact—reducing retail shelf life from four to three days, slashing selling time by 25 percent.
Additionally, Lund believes the traditional first-come, first-served method of handling transfers cannot be sustained in the new environment. Loading and unloading delays will significantly impact hours of service.
To help streamline the process, the Allen Lund Company created its own dock scheduling program, which it sells to interested shippers.
Western Growers and its transportation partner C.H. Robinson, meanwhile, are looking into the creation of service centers or strategically located forward distribution hubs. This would allow long-haul truckers to deliver to a central point then coordinate the last miles with local short-run truckers, which will help keep produce moving while complying with hours of service rules
RETAIL:
Engagement, Size & Online Sales
On the sales and marketing side, one of the themes going into 2018 is ‘retail engagement.’
“There’s a much higher level of partnership, and really transparent partnership, between supplier and customer,” says Family Tree’s Goforth. “You’re doing more business with fewer customers, and you’re talking to your customers pretty bluntly about pricing and quality. Anything you do has to fit the needs of both.”
