A man’s passing—
and his industry’s future
ON OCT. 15, RUSSELL GERDIN, THE FOUNDER AND LONG-time chairman and CEO of truckload carrier Heartland Express Inc.,
died at the age of 70. Ten days later, the company he started reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter revenues, attributing the
weakness in part to tight driver availability. In a press release accompanying its financial results, Heartland noted that the trucking
industry “continues to be challenged by the shrinking pool” of qualified drivers.
The intent here is not to compare a man’s passing with cold, hard
financial numbers. Yet those who’ve worked in—or
reported on—this business long enough to connect
the dots can spot the irony here. We couldn’t help
but notice that even Heartland—which has long
been considered one of the best truckers to work
for—was having a hard time finding enough good
drivers to move its loads.
Russ Gerdin was a tough, direct, hands-on executive from the old school of trucking. In Heartland’s
early days, he was known to analyze every freight
bill for profitability, and he would complain that his
salesmen were his worst enemies because they
wanted to haul customers’ freight too cheaply.
At the same time, you’d be hard-pressed to find a
greater champion of truck drivers, and of truck
driving. As the son of a truck driver, Gerdin saw first hand from boyhood the difficulties and opportunities presented by the open road,
and the value and importance of the profession.
When he founded Heartland in 1978, Gerdin made it clear he was
going to hire the best drivers, pay them top-of-the-scale wages, give
them modern, well-maintained equipment, and provide them with as
much work-life balance as a truckload driver could realistically
expect. In return, he demanded that his drivers be on time, reliable,
courteous, and, above all, safe. Those who couldn’t live up to his
expectations were quickly culled from the fleet. Long before the federal government launched the complex driver safety grading system
known as “CSA 2010,” Gerdin—no fan of government regulation—
essentially became a one-man CSA 2010 in his own right.
Like a successful football coach who understands that a great team
is built from the trenches starting with the offensive line, Gerdin
knew his drivers were the heart and soul of the company. He realized
that a good driver team would not only help Heartland win and keep
business, but also trigger a virtuous cycle that
would attract the cream of the driver crop.
It’s safe to say he’d be up in arms over recent
reports of ill treatment of drivers at the hands of
their employers and the shippers whose business
would come to a standstill without them.
Schneider National Inc., the truckload and logistics giant, conducts exit interviews with every
departing driver. When outgoing employees were
asked what compelled them to
leave, “treatment” trumped pay
in virtually every case, according to Don Osterberg,
Schneider’s senior vice president of safety and security.
“Compensation was never
higher than third on the list of
reasons,” Osterberg told DC
VELOCITY at the Council of
Supply Chain Management
Professionals’ Annual Global
Conference.
There’s no doubt Russ Gerdin
would agree with Osterberg
that the looming driver crisis is not just a truck-
ing issue, but a supply chain issue. Odds are that
Gerdin would ask a customer if it could have
product ready for shipping by mid-week rather
than on Friday, so his driver wouldn’t have to
spend the weekend away from his family. It’s
obvious that Gerdin would see his drivers as “tal-
ented assets” rather than as merely “labor.”
And we think that Gerdin would want to mod-
ify one of the American Trucking Associations’
most famous catchphrases to read: “Without
drivers, America stops.”
