The 'Amazon effect' and rate opportunities for small fleets, owner-ops

The first in what will ultimately be two podcasts sharing portions of a trucking-insights panel held at Truckstop.com’s third Connected user conference, held earlier this week in Dallas. Insights on rates growth post-ELD mandate, economic conditions and just when we might look out for a downturn, automation in trucking and brokerage and much more were on offer from Tucker Company Worldwide broker Jeff Tucker, Truckstop.com Chief Economist Noel Perry, and Stifel’s John Larkin. This edition features some occasionally diverging thoughts on opportunities and dilemmas for brokers and small carriers when it comes to the “Amazon effect” we’ve written about from time to time, in food and retail in particular, with tightened delivery windows and lead times on loads offering opportunities to truly differentiate onself from a service perspective.