As trucks grow scarce, the family firms that move America's goods rebuild the desk work around AI
A briefing on US trucking, moving, freight brokerage, warehousing, and family-owned car dealer groups for anyone about to meet the people who run them.
Truckload prices passed their 2022 peak in September 2026 after a two-year slide because trucks are scarcer and fuel costs more: enforcement of English-language rules is taking about 2,700 drivers off the road each month, and diesel is above $6 a gallon. Eight leaders on our list, from a family less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier to a two-store Ford dealer, are answering by building their own AI, handing desk work to AI agents, and redesigning the jobs of drivers, planners, and warehouse crews.
The short version
Five businesses earn money in five ways. Carriers own trucks, brokers sell the spread, movers charge by weight, warehouses charge by the pallet, and dealers earn on cars, financing, and service. More
Prices are up because trucks left the market while freight stayed flat. Truckload prices passed their 2022 peak in September 2026. Warehouse jobs have more than doubled since 2015. More
Five changes mark the innovators: building their own AI, putting AI agents on the freight desk, redesigning frontline jobs, selling to consolidators, and planning for fewer drivers. More
Eight leaders on our list are already doing this, and two more outside it are making similar moves. Each profile ends with a question to ask. More
Brokers, load boards, lead sellers, and listing sites take a cut. Since May 2026, brokers can be sued over the carriers they hire. More
Questions about which work they've rebuilt get further than questions about AI replacing people. Calling a broker a carrier, or the freight recession over, marks an outsider. More
How the business works
Five businesses move the same goods and earn money in five different ways
Trucks moved 72.7% of US freight by weight in 2024, according to the American Trucking Associations (ATA). ATA Around them sit four businesses that outsiders often lump in with trucking: household movers, freight brokers and forwarders, third-party warehouses, and car dealers, who sell what the trucks deliver and run some of the largest family-owned companies in the country.
The leaders on our list run all five. Each earns money differently, so the same question about margin or growth means something different in each one.
Business
How it earns
Typical margin
Largest players
Our leaders
Truckload, LTL, and tank carriers
Owns trucks. Truckload is priced per mile; less-than-truckload (LTL) per hundred pounds through a network of terminals; tank per load, with hazardous-materials premiums
Truckload under 1% operating margin in 2025; tank about 1%; the best LTL carrier, Old Dominion, keeps about 30 cents of each dollar ATRI SEC
Earns gross profit on new and used cars, finance and insurance (F&I) commissions, and service and parts
New-car gross profit is falling at public groups; dealer earnings down 10-20% in 2026 Kerrigan Advisors
Lithia, Penske, and AutoNation; 90.4% of dealer owners run five stores or fewer NADA
Alex Perdikis (Koons Motors), Jeremy Beaver (Del Grande Dealer Group)
Margins are the latest each source publishes; sub-sectors report profit in different ways.
Brokers sell hauls on trucks they don't own
An asset-based carrier owns trucks and employs drivers, so it pays for every mile. In 2025 the average truck cost a record $2.336 a mile to run, and drivers' pay and benefits passed $1 a mile for the first time, according to the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI). ATRI A broker owns no trucks. It sells a shipper a price, then buys the haul from a carrier for less. Many firms, including Circle Logistics, do both.
Family owners are cashing out at record prices
Trucking is crowded with small fleets. LTL is concentrated after the 2023 shutdown of Yellow, whose terminals went mostly to other national LTL carriers. Logistics Management Car dealing is still mostly local: 90.4% of dealer owners run five or fewer stores. NADA Owners are cashing out. Dealers closed a record 462 buy-sells in the year to June 2026, Kerrigan Advisors and Dart Transit, a truckload carrier founded in 1934, sold to a private equity firm effective January 2026. FreightWaves
The economics in 2026
Fewer trucks and $6 diesel push prices up while freight stays flat
72.7%of US freight tonnage moved by truck in 2024source
42straight months of falling freight shipments before August 2026source
$323.4Bgross revenue of US third-party logistics firms in 2025source
16,990franchised new-car dealerships, with $1.3 trillion in 2025 salessource
Notable change
Enforcement and diesel lift freight prices before demand returns
Freight shipments rose 1.9% from a year earlier in September 2026, the second gain after 42 months of decline, on the Cass Freight Index. FreightWaves Truck tonnage still fell 1.6% in August, and the ATA's chief economist says the firmer market is "due to reduced capacity, not robust demand." ATA
Federal enforcement of English-language rules has put more than 26,000 drivers out of service, FreightWaves and a rule limiting licenses for drivers from abroad took effect on March 16, 2026. FreightWaves Diesel passed $6 a gallon after the conflict with Iran disrupted the Strait of Hormuz. PBS
So what: Rates are up for carriers, but so are their costs, and brokers are squeezed in between. Ask a leader whether the firm is moving more freight or earning more per load.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks what trucking companies charge. The first chart compares the two main kinds of long-haul trucking, and the second shows where the industry's jobs went.
Truckload prices are back above their 2022 peak after a 24% slide that LTL prices never had
So what: LTL carriers kept raising prices through the downturn because few networks can take their freight. Truckload carriers, movers, and brokers lived through two years of falling prices. The 2026 jump comes from trucks leaving the market and fuel above $6 a gallon while freight stays flat. Ask a leader whether this year's higher prices cover fuel and insurance, and what they'd change if prices fall again.
Truckload (one shipper fills the trailer)Less-than-truckload (LTL, many shippers share a trailer)
Producer price indexes for long-distance general freight trucking from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, monthly, December 2003 = 100, not seasonally adjusted. Both indexes share a base, so their levels can be read on one axis. Current published values; the last four months are preliminary. Hover for each month; click or tap for details.Show as a table
Warehouse jobs grew 124% from 2015 to 2025 and passed trucking jobs in 2021
So what: Warehousing added about a million jobs since 2015 while trucking and dealer jobs barely moved. Warehouse leaders such as Tim Barrett talk about robots and open books, and carriers talk about keeping the drivers they have. Ask a leader where the next hire goes: a truck, a desk, or a warehouse floor.
Trucking jobs (millions)
Warehousing jobs (millions)
New car dealers jobs (millions)
Annual averages of monthly, not seasonally adjusted employment from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: truck transportation (NAICS 484, carriers and movers), warehousing and storage (NAICS 493, which covers e-commerce fulfillment centers as well as third-party warehouses), and new car dealers (NAICS 44111). Over the same years trucking changed +2% and dealers +4%. Sources are in the table.Show as a table
Fuel eats the gains. The national dry van spot rate reached $3.01 a mile in September 2026, up 96 cents in a year, and DAT's analyst says rates "usually take three to four weeks to catch up with rising diesel prices." DAT
Brokers are caught between buy and sell prices. 43% of brokers surveyed reported lower gross margins in the first half of 2026, and 83% expect more broker failures. Truckstop
Moving and car sales are slow. Existing-home sales ran at 3.99 million a year in September 2026, which holds back household moves. NAR Dealer earnings fell 10-20% even as dealerships sold for record prices. Kerrigan Advisors
What is changing
Firms are changing how the work gets done in five ways
The biggest shift is who, or what, does the desk work. Quoting, carrier calls, check calls, trade-in follow-ups, and customs filings are the work AI agents are taking first. C.H. Robinson, the largest US freight broker, says AI agents now deliver a quote in 31 seconds that once took a person 20 minutes. Fortune
From 2023 to 2026, the firms changing most are doing one or more of five things. The first three match the three groups of leaders on our list; each cuts across trucking, brokerage, warehousing, and car dealing.
1. Building their own AI
A few operators build software on their own floor, then sell it to rivals. Del Grande Dealer Group incubated DealerCloud, an AI customer system it tested across its 15 stores and began selling with Cars Commerce in February 2026. The Auto Channel Alex Perdikis built inride's Trade Agent AI, which Ford added to its dealer co-op program on April 1, 2026. Digital Dealer Swickard Auto Group, another dealer group, has built its own AI department and data warehouse. The Dealer Playbook
On our list: Jeremy Beaver, Alex Perdikis, Ryan Petersen.
2. Putting AI agents on the freight desk
AI voice and email agents now take carrier calls, check calls, and order intake. Circle Logistics passed 100,000 AI-driven calls in August 2024. FreightCaviar Hirschbach Motor Lines, a refrigerated carrier, has an AI agent reaching drivers on more than 85% of its brokered loads. FreightWaves PITT OHIO moved dispatch and driver workflow onto an AI-enabled platform in 2023. FleetOwner
On our list: Eric Fortmeyer, Charles Hammel III.
3. Redesigning the frontline job
Some leaders are changing what a driver, planner, or warehouse worker does all day, and how they're paid. Groendyke split load planning from dispatch. Bulk Transporter JK Moving trains crews in a house built inside its warehouse. Northern Virginia Magazine Nussbaum Transportation is selling a second stake to its employees. FreightWaves ODW Logistics expects robots to lift pick rates by 42%. Zebra
On our list: Chuck Kuhn, Greg Hodgen, Tim Barrett.
4. Selling to consolidators
C.H. Robinson, the largest US freight broker, agreed to buy its rival RXO in a $5.8 billion deal. C.H. Robinson Public dealer groups paid record prices for family stores in 2026. Kerrigan Advisors
5. Planning for fewer drivers
Enforcement takes about 2,700 drivers out of service a month, and the new license rule could affect up to 194,000 drivers over time, FreightWaves reports. FreightWaves Carriers that kept their drivers through the downturn now hold scarce capacity.
The innovators
Eight leaders on our list are rebuilding how their firms move freight and sell cars
Eight leaders in these businesses are among The Originals. Each has made a dated, costly change to how the work is done. The highest scorers are Chuck Kuhn of JK Moving Services (5.8), Alex Perdikis of Koons Motors (5.5), and Greg Hodgen of Groendyke Transport (5.4).
13 of these 14 dated moves came in 2023 or later
So what: Most of these leaders made their costliest changes during the freight recession, when cutting cost per load mattered most. Asking what has paid off now that prices are rising, and what they'd keep if prices fell again, is a natural way to open a conversation.
Building their own AIPutting AI agents on the freight deskRedesigning the frontline job
Each dot is one costly change to how the work is done. Click a dot for a short summary and a link to the story.Show as a table
Year
Leader
Move
Source
2021
Chuck Kuhn
Guarantees experienced long-haul drivers at least $100,000 a year
Founder and CEO, Flexport · San Francisco; venture-backed freight forwarder and customs broker that says more than 13,000 companies use it
Ryan fired his successor, the former Amazon executive Dave Clark, in late 2023 and took back the CEO job. Since then he has tried AI agents on Flexport's own work first: an agent that audits customs entries cut the firm's error rate on US filings to 0.2%, Flexport says. Its internal agents handle 21 million tasks a year and route every exception to a person.
“We first piloted the agent on our own entries,” source
Ask aboutWhich jobs at Flexport changed most once agents took the routine tasks, and what customs specialists spend their time on now.
Owner and CEO, Koons Motors / inride · Washington, DC area; owns two Ford, Lincoln, and Mazda stores in Maryland and founded inride, which sells AI agents to other dealers
Alex runs three AI systems at Koons Motors in place of a large business development center (BDC), the team that usually works the phones, and his sales managers talk to customers directly. He then built inride's Trade Agent AI, launched in August 2025, which texts trade-in values to owners in a dealer's database and books appointments; Ford made it eligible for its dealer co-op funds in April 2026.
CEO, Del Grande Dealer Group · San Jose, California; family-owned group of 15 Bay Area dealerships with more than 1,000 employees
Jeremy led a three-year build of an in-house Microsoft Azure data lake that pulls sales, service, and marketing data into one system. The group then incubated DealerCloud, its own AI customer system on Salesforce, and in February 2026 began selling it to other dealers with Cars Commerce; the partners say tests across its stores cut the sales cycle by 30-40%.
“At DGDG, we've always been known in the industry for driving modernization through technology,” source
Ask aboutWhether Del Grande Dealer Group (DGDG) is now a dealer group that sells software or a software company that owns dealerships, and how store staff see that.
President and owner, PITT OHIO · Pittsburgh; family-owned LTL and logistics carrier he co-founded in 1979, with more than 3,400 employees and $970 million in revenue last year
Charles, known as Chuck, sponsored the April 2023 move of PITT OHIO's dispatch, driver workflow, linehaul, and telematics onto Maven's AI-enabled platform across more than 1,700 trucks and 25 service centers. In 2026 the company won a CIO 100 award for its technology work.
“Our standards are extremely high, and Maven provides best-in-class technology for LTL, allowing us to run a safer, more profitable fleet.” source
Ask aboutWhat dispatchers and drivers do differently since 2023, and what he'd tell a carrier about to make the same switch.
Co-founder, President, and CEO, Circle Logistics · Fort Wayne, Indiana; privately held freight broker and carrier he co-founded in 2011, moving about 33,000 loads a month
Eric put AI on Circle's freight desk early: a chief technology officer hired in October 2023 to lead it, and AI voice agents from HappyRobot that had handled more than 100,000 carrier calls by August 2024. The firm's senior vice president said the agents cut the calls a person handles by 80-100% in every use case.
“He firmly believes that technology should not only add value but also improve the lives of workers, carriers, and customers alike.” source
Ask aboutWhat Circle's brokers do with the time the voice agents freed, and which calls he still wants a person to make.
Founder and CEO, JK Moving Services · Sterling, Virginia; North America's largest independently owned moving company, with 1,370 employees
Chuck trains moving crews in a house built inside the company's warehouse, so they practice before they enter a customer's home, which he says isn't how the industry trains. In June 2021 he raised guaranteed pay for experienced long-haul drivers to at least $100,000 a year, about twice the national average for the job.
“We actually have a house built inside of our warehouse, and our people will train in our training house long before they'll ever be put in your house, and our industry doesn't typically train that way.” source
Ask aboutWhat the training house changed in damage claims and crew turnover, and whether salaried drivers still pay off in a slow moving market.
CEO, Groendyke Transport · Enid, Oklahoma; family-owned tank truck carrier founded in 1932, with more than 1,000 employees in 16 states
Greg moved load planning out of the terminals and into central planning centers, so planners spend their day matching loads to drivers' hours while dispatchers look after the drivers. After early resistance, the refined fuels center in Fort Worth had finished the switch by 2023, and the chemicals center in Enid was halfway there.
“Because we manage for the long term, we actually see better short-term results, which may surprise people, but we do well month-to-month and quarter-to-quarter, and we're very consistent,” source
Ask aboutWhat the planners do differently from the dispatchers they replaced, and what the early resistance was about.
CEO and owner, Barrett Distribution Centers · Franklin, Massachusetts; third-generation family-owned warehousing and fulfillment company with nearly 2,000 employees
Tim has run Barrett on open-book management for 20 years, sharing the financial results with every employee and paying out on them. In October 2026 he expanded a partnership with UNIT AI to connect inventory and fulfillment across Barrett's warehouses from 2027, after opening a second Dallas center with drones and autonomous mobile robots in 2024.
“The continued growth of eCommerce requires a structural realignment across supply chains,” source
Ask aboutWhat warehouse employees see on the scoreboard each week, and how the robots change the numbers they're paid on.
Two leaders outside the list are making similar moves
Each of these two leaders has made a change worth asking about.
Brent Nussbaum
CEO, Nussbaum Transportation · Hudson, Illinois; family-owned truckload carrier, 45% sold to its employees in 2018
Brent started an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) in 2018 and plans a second sale of shares to employees in the first quarter of 2027. Drivers attend the company's quarterly financial meetings, and turnover runs about 35%, far below the truckload norm, FreightWaves reports.
“If I leave my career someday and all of our employees have done well, I get to walk away proud of what we've done for them.” source
Ask aboutWhat drivers ask in the quarterly financial meetings, and what the second ESOP sale changes for them.
Brad Pinchuk
Executive Chairman, Hirschbach Motor Lines · Dubuque, Iowa; refrigerated truckload carrier that he and his leadership team bought in 2019
Brad's carrier gave an AI agent, Augment's "Augie," a defined share of the work in 2026: it handles all outbound driver outreach on brokered loads, about 40% of track-and-trace contacts, and reaches drivers on more than 85% of those loads. The next step is an assistant for driver leaders, who each look after 50 to 60 drivers. FreightWaves
Ask aboutWhich part of the work the agent now owns end to end, and what driver leaders do with the time it gives back.
The wider field
Public brokers and AI vendors set the pace the family firms react to
A few of the largest firms and fast-growing vendors shape what the leaders above can do. They set the going price for freight, acquisitions, and software.
Large firms and buyers
C.H. Robinson The largest US freight broker; says AI agents lifted productivity 45% and is buying RXO for $5.8 billion.
Old Dominion Freight Line The LTL benchmark; ran a 70.1% operating ratio in the second quarter of 2026 while tonnage fell.
HappyRobot AI voice agents for brokers and carriers; Circle Logistics is its best-known customer.
Maven Machines AI-enabled dispatch and planning software for LTL carriers, including PITT OHIO.
UNIT AI Networked warehouse automation sold as a service; Barrett is rolling it out from 2027.
Salesforce Agentforce Automotive The platform under DealerCloud, the customer system Del Grande Dealer Group built and now sells.
How customers find the firms
Brokers, load boards, lead sellers, and listing sites stand between these firms and their customers
Notable change
Freight brokers can now be sued over the carriers they hire
On May 14, 2026, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II that federal law doesn't shield brokers from state lawsuits claiming they negligently hired a dangerous carrier. SCOTUSblog
The ruling lands as brokers consolidate: C.H. Robinson agreed to buy RXO for $5.8 billion. C.H. Robinson Brokers now have more reason to vet carriers, and to favor carriers with clean safety records.
So what: Brokers may court carriers with strong safety records. Ask a carrier leader whether brokers are treating them differently since May, and ask a broker how its carrier checks have changed.
Each business pays a different middleman. Carriers give brokers a share of the freight bill and pay load boards by the seat. Movers buy leads and pay relocation companies. Dealers pay listing sites every month. Some channels cost the firm nothing: a shipper's own bid, or a military move assigned by the Department of Defense.
13.1%of revenue C.H. Robinson's North American unit kept as gross profit in mid-2026, down from 14.8% a year earliersource
$8,134a quarter that the average paying US dealer spends on CarGurussource
78%of car buyers used third-party sites such as CarGurus and Autotradersource
$1,989average broker invoice per shipment in the second quarter of 2026, up 19.6%source
These firms pay six of the eight channels that bring them customers
So what: Carriers pay brokers through the spread and load boards by the seat, movers pay for leads and corporate placements, and dealers pay listing sites every month. Only a shipper's own bid and the military's moving program cost nothing. Ask a leader what share of the business comes through channels they pay, and what they've built to win customers directly.
The firm pays the channelThe firm pays no fee
CustomerA shipper, a family moving house, an employer relocating staff, the military, or a car buyer
→
Freight brokersFirm pays
C.H. Robinson, TQL, RXO, Uber Freight
The broker sells the shipper a price, then buys the haul from a carrier for less and keeps the difference.
The spread; C.H. Robinson's North American unit kept 13.1% of revenue as gross profit in mid-2026. C.H. Robinson
Load boardsFirm pays
DAT, Truckstop
Brokers post loads and carriers search them; both sides pay to use the board and its rate data.
Shoppers search listings and send leads; dealers pay a subscription to list their cars.
About $8,134 a quarter per US dealer on CarGurus; $2,472 a month per dealer on Cars.com. CarGurus filing
→
FirmThe carrier, mover, broker, warehouse, or dealer group that does the work
Fee levels come from company filings, government pages, and vendors' published prices; several channels don't publish their fees. Each links to its source.Show as a table
Channel
Examples
Does the firm pay?
What it costs the firm
Source
Freight brokers
C.H. Robinson, TQL, RXO, Uber Freight
Yes
The spread; C.H. Robinson's North American unit kept 13.1% of revenue as gross profit in mid-2026
C.H. Robinson and RXO Two of the largest US freight brokers, combining in a $5.8 billion deal.
DAT The largest truckload load board, owned by Roper Technologies.
Cartus A large relocation manager that places corporate moves; now owned by Compass, which bought its parent in January 2026.
TrueCar A car-buying site taken private in January 2026 by its founder's new company.
Middlemen take margin from carriers, movers, and dealers
Carriers trade margin for volume. On brokered freight, the carrier gets what's left after the broker's share, so carriers with their own shipper sales keep more of each load.
Movers pay for leads whether they win the job or not. Vendors quote exclusive leads at $25-150 and shared ones at $8-45, with close rates of 8-15% and 3-6%. SmartMoving Relocation companies collect fees from the suppliers they place, so a "free" corporate move comes out of the mover's margin. WHR Global
Dealers own less of the shopper's search. 62% of buyers submit a lead online before visiting a dealer. Cox Automotive Groups that build their own data, like Del Grande, are trying to keep that customer between purchases.
Rules for the middlemen are changing
When
Who
What it does
Jan 2025
Fifth Circuit
Vacated the Federal Trade Commission's CARS Rule on car-dealer sales practices. Holland & Knight
Oct 2025
Department of Defense
Kept its Tender of Service program for military moves for at least three years after ending the HomeSafe contract. Yahoo News
Dec 2025
Colorado
Licensed Scout Motors to sell cars directly; dealers sued the state. CBT News
Jan 2026
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)
Suspends a broker's authority if its $75,000 financial security falls short and isn't restored within days. FMCSA
May 2026
Supreme Court
Opened brokers to state lawsuits over negligent carrier selection. SCOTUSblog
Aug 2026
FMCSA
Sent a revised rule giving carriers access to brokers' transaction records to the White House for review; not final. FreightWaves
In force
FMCSA
Requires movers to deliver once a customer pays 110% of a non-binding estimate, a rule aimed at movers holding goods hostage. eCFR
Four leaders run the main channels
Dave Bozeman runs the largest broker and Chris Burroughs the brokers' association. Jeff Clementz runs the main load board, and Jason Trevisan runs CarGurus, a car listing site that more than 26,000 US dealers pay.
Dave Bozeman
President and CEO, C.H. Robinson · Eden Prairie, Minnesota; the largest US freight broker; CEO since June 2023 after running Amazon Transportation Services
Dave has rebuilt C.H. Robinson's brokerage around AI agents that quote, book, and track loads, and in 2026 agreed to buy RXO for $5.8 billion. For family carriers, his firm is both a big customer and the competitor that sets the price of brokered freight.
“When I became CEO three years ago, we committed to delivering higher highs and higher lows across freight market cycles.” source
Ask aboutHow much of the productivity his agents create goes to shippers, to carriers, and to C.H. Robinson.
Chris leads the group that is pushing Congress to certify brokers and crack down on fraud, as the Supreme Court's May 2026 ruling opened brokers to lawsuits over the carriers they choose.
Ask aboutWhat a good broker now has to prove about the carriers it hires, and who pays for that checking.
Jeff Clementz
President and CEO, DAT Freight & Analytics · Runs the largest truckload load board and a rate database; owned by Roper Technologies; CEO since June 2024
Jeff reorganized DAT around customer segments in August 2026. Carriers and brokers pay DAT a monthly fee per seat to find each other, and its rate data sets many contract prices.
“Together, these releases reflect the kind of ongoing investment customers can expect to see more of under this new structure,” source
Ask aboutWhat happens to the load board when brokers' own AI agents find trucks without it.
Jason Trevisan
CEO, CarGurus · Boston; car listing site; CEO since 2021
Jason runs the site that 26,151 US dealers pay an average of $8,134 a quarter to list their cars. In 2026 CarGurus added an AI guide for shoppers.
Ask aboutIf shoppers ask an AI which car to buy, what a dealer is paying CarGurus for: a listing or a recommendation.
Trade-offs
Six trade-offs divide the leaders you'll meet
Most leaders on our list have picked a side on several of these. In our reading, asking which side they picked, and why, gets to their strategy faster than asking about trends.
1Build your own AI or buy it
Del Grande Dealer Group built its own AI customer system and now sells it to other dealers. The Auto Channel
Circle Logistics bought its voice agents from HappyRobot and passed 100,000 AI calls in 2024. FreightCaviar
AskWhich AI tool would you never rent from a vendor, because it's how you beat your rivals?
2Shrink the desk or move people to new work
C.H. Robinson says AI agents lifted its productivity 45%, Fortune and its average headcount fell 11.6% in the year to mid-2026. C.H. Robinson
At Koons Motors, AI handles the follow-ups so sales managers can talk to customers directly. CBT News
AskWhen an agent takes a job's routine tasks, what does the person in that job do next?
3Pay drivers a salary or by the mile
JK Moving guaranteed experienced long-haul drivers at least $100,000 a year in 2021. Blue Ridge Leader
Most carriers pay by the mile: driver wages averaged 81.8 cents a mile in 2025. ATRI
AskWhat does a guaranteed salary buy you that a per-mile rate doesn't?
4Sell at a record price or stay family-owned
Dealer groups closed a record 462 buy-sells in the year to June 2026, at prices 78% above 2019. Kerrigan Advisors
Nussbaum Transportation is selling a second stake to its own employees instead. FreightWaves
AskIf a buyer offered a record price tomorrow, what would your family or employees have to believe to say no?
5Own the trucks or broker the freight
Circle Logistics runs its own fleet alongside a network of outside carriers. Circle Logistics
C.H. Robinson owns almost no trucks; its North American unit kept 13.1% of revenue as gross profit in mid-2026. C.H. Robinson
AskWhen rates spike, which side of your business makes the money, and which one gets squeezed?
6Chase spot rates or lock in contracts
Spot dry van rates rose 96 cents a mile in a year to September 2026. DAT
U.S. Bank's freight index showed contract loads down 27.7% from a year earlier in August, while spot linehaul rose 35.6%. The Loadstar
AskHow much of your freight is on contract now, and what would you trade to lock in more of it?
Before a first conversation
Leaders want to talk about fuel, drivers, AI, and who owns the firm next
Trucking leaders named the economy their top issue for the third year running in ATRI's 2025 survey, followed by lawsuits, insurance, and truck parking; ATRI releases its 2026 ranking at the ATA's conference on October 18. ATRI In late 2026 the conversation is about fuel above $6, drivers removed by enforcement, brokers' new legal exposure, and what AI agents can take off the desk. Dealers talk about falling profit per car and record prices for their stores.
Seven mistakes mark an outsider
Calling a broker a carrier, or a carrier a broker. Their liability and insurance differ, and since May 2026 that's a live legal question. SCOTUSblog
Saying the freight recession is over. Prices are up, but tonnage is still falling. ATA
Treating the driver shortage as settled fact. Economists dispute it; in 2026 the issue is enforcement removing drivers.
Assuming dealers are mostly salespeople. Salespeople are 18% of dealership staff; technicians and other service and parts staff are about half. NADA
Saying EVs are finished, or inevitable. Battery-electric share fell to 6.2% after the federal credit ended, but hybrids rose to 15.4%. NADA
Calling the movers' association AMSA. It became the ATA's Moving & Storage Conference in 2020. ATA
Opening with "AI will replace your dispatchers." The work they've already redesigned makes a better opening.
Eleven questions get these leaders talking about the work
Tender rejections are near 14% but volumes are flat. In your own network, is this a capacity story or a fuel story?
DAT says rates take three to four weeks to catch up with diesel. What did you change in how you pass fuel through?
Which piece of work in your company has been rebuilt end to end in the last 18 months, rather than given a new tool?
When an AI agent takes the routine calls, what does the person who used to make them do now?
How are English-proficiency and license enforcement showing up in your driver pool, or in the carriers you hire?
After the Supreme Court's broker ruling, who in your firm owns the decision about which carriers you use?
Cargo theft is down in count but up in value. Where's your exposure now?
(Dealers) Earnings are down but store prices are at records. What would make you a buyer rather than a seller?
(Dealers) Half your people work in service and parts. Where does AI help a technician, and where does it help the BDC?
(Movers and warehouses) What work did the end of duty-free small parcels or the military moving shake-up create for you?
Who in the next generation, family or not, is closest to the way the work is being rebuilt?
Where they gather
Eleven events bring these leaders together before June 2027
The ATA's conference draws trucking owners and TIA Capital Ideas draws brokers. The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Show draws dealers, and the International Warehouse Logistics Association (IWLA) convention draws family warehouse owners. Manifest and ProMat draw the people buying AI and automation.
