My October road trip started before dawn, as I left Chicago on the first flight of the morning to Oakland. Flying west across time zones is like being in a time warp. I can leave Chicago first thing in the morning, and arrive on the west coast when it is […]
In 1944, the heads of seventeen independent truck leasing companies from all over the US met in Chicago and formed the National Truck Leasing System, which became NationaLease. Although the overarching goal was to promote the truck leasing industry, members soon realized that each of them was also benefitting from […]
To be sure, 2018 was a great year for NationaLease and the industry in general, and we certainly hope that growth continues. However, certain problems and issues persist. There still is an alarming shortage of drivers and technicians and that is likely to continue. The ELD mandate and HOS regulation […]
I recently wrote two IdeaXchange blogs on disaster recovery: one on company preparedness and one on setting up a crisis management team. But what is the actual cost in dollars? 2018 has been horrifying in the number and intensity of natural disasters. And costs are still being assessed. The numbers […]
It’s always a good idea to plan a trip to Minnesota before the first snowfall. The last time I visited members there, a blizzard blocked the roads, my flight home was cancelled, and I spent the morning digging my rental car out of the hotel parking lot. This time, I […]
The truck driver shortage issue doesn’t seem to get better, and driver health problems just make it worse. Here’s a sobering statistic: A 2015 study from the CDC found that absenteeism cost employers just under $226 billion annually in productivity. With an aging workforce, that number is expected to only […]
You can’t control the weather, but you can control how you prepare for it by making sure that every vehicle in your fleet is in the best condition possible. Breakdowns can happen no matter how well prepared you are, but mitigating the likelihood is actually easier than you might think. […]
My August trip was a quick one—a direct flight from Chicago to Denver. For anyone who has never been there, Denver is The West. It’s not just in the western part of the United States. It is The West—cowboy hats, belt buckles, buckin’ broncs’, wide open spaces West. It may […]