There are only two ways to grow your fleet with qualified drivers:

1. Fighting over a small pool of unqualified drivers via job boards, recruitment agencies and multi-carrier leads.
2. The easy way of going after a massive (but overlooked) pool of better drivers using new tech like AI.

Most trucking companies fall in the first category.

Posting on every single job site?
Spending thousands on advertising agencies for "leads"?
Can't seem to get your existing drivers to refer enough drivers?

Join the 100s of trucking companies across America seating their trucks with better drivers who stick around the long-term.

Want to know how? 
→  See case studies: https://gettruckdrivers.com/text

Mark Stulzer

6,400 carrier authorities were revoked in December alone.

That's not attrition. That's a flush.

Most were small fleets — outfits running 5 to 50 trucks — squeezed out by costs they couldn't outrun.

Non-fuel operating costs hit $1.779 per mile, the highest ATRI has ever recorded.

When capacity exits this fast, rates follow it up. Analysts are already calling for a structural squeeze in 2026.

The carriers who survive this window will be running into tighter capacity and better rates. 

But you have to still be standing when it turns.

The fleets going under aren't always the worst-run ones. Sometimes they just didn't see the wall coming.

Know your cost per mile on every truck. Not roughly. Not last quarter's number. This week's number.

If you're running a small fleet right now, what's the single cost that's hit you hardest over the last six months?

Mark Frederik Stulzer

President, GetTruckDrivers.com 🏁 · Seating trucks & growing fleets with qualified drivers

FMCSA proposed removing over 550 CDL training schools from its approved list in a single five-day sweep.

Unqualified instructors. Wrong vehicles. Basic federal requirements not met.

Those schools were producing CDL candidates. That pipeline just got thinner overnight.

You're already working a driver pool where the Clearinghouse has permanently removed 150,000-plus. 

Hair follicle testing could pull hundreds of thousands more if the current administration moves on it.

Less supply, same freight demand — driver wages climb, and your cost per mile follows.

But here's what most fleet owners miss in all of this.

The best CDL-A drivers were never coming out of training schools. They're not on Indeed. They're not refreshing job boards.

They're already employed, already qualified, and they make up roughly 92% of the available driver pool. 

They're scrolling social media on their 34-hour reset — not submitting applications.

If your entire recruiting strategy depends on drivers coming to you, you're fighting over a shrinking 8% while the largest pool of proven drivers doesn't even know you exist.

The fleets filling seats right now have built systems that reach employed drivers where they actually spend time — then screen, qualify, and warm them up before a recruiter ever picks up the phone.

Every pipeline contraction like this one makes the gap wider between fleets who wait for drivers and fleets who go find them.

Crude at $110 means your fuel surcharge table is probably lying to you right now.

When oil spikes fast, brokers and shippers don't reprice immediately. 

You absorb the difference. That gap runs 10 to 21 days on average.

If you're running spot freight, that's real margin walking out the door on every load.

One or two cents per mile uncaptured across a five-truck fleet adds up to hundreds by end of month. 

Most owners don't catch it until they're staring at a bad P&L.

Pull your surcharge table today. If it's tied to the DOE weekly average, verify that update is actually flowing through to what you're billing. 

Don't assume the math is working. Check it manually.

The 82,000 open driver seats should mean tighter capacity and better rates. 

But better rates don't matter if fuel eats the difference before you invoice.

200,000 drivers flagged in the FMCSA Clearinghouse and most small fleets aren't checking.

Everyone in the industry is watching the non-domiciled CDL crackdown right now.

That story matters. 

But there's a second 200,000-driver problem sitting in the same Clearinghouse data that almost nobody is talking about.

We don't know how many of those drivers are currently running loads for fleets.

That's exactly the problem.

If you're not running regular queries on your active drivers, you could have someone behind the wheel today who is legally prohibited from being there.

A compliance violation tied to your DOT number doesn't disappear after an audit. It follows you.

Log into https://lnkd.in/evgtjdbT this week and run a query on every active driver. Less than an hour. Costs almost nothing.

Don't let a roadside inspection be how you find out.

CEO of GetTruckDrivers.com | Truck Driver Recruitment Expert

What do you get when you work with us to hire better truck drivers? 🚚

Follow for more tips to hire qualified drivers for your trucking company!

FTR's Trucking Conditions Index hit 9.3 in January — the highest reading since February 2022.

Rates are up. Volume is up. Utilization is up. 

January was genuinely the strongest freight environment in nearly three years.

And diesel is quietly eating every dollar of it.

Military operations in the Middle East are pushing fuel costs higher, and that hits margin directly — especially if your lanes aren't priced with surcharge protection baked in.

Spot rates are strong enough right now to absorb the hit. But that window is narrow, and it closes fast if diesel keeps climbing.

Pull up your active lanes this week. Find the ones running without fuel surcharge coverage. Those are where the bleeding is happening, whether you can see it yet or not.

One conversation with a shipper this week could protect your margin for the next 60 days. 

Waiting until the numbers look bad means the money is already gone.

Diesel is averaging above $5 a gallon right now — up $1.50 in a single month.

Rates are up too. Dry van is running 24% above last year. 

Reefer is up 27-28%. 

On paper that looks like a good market.

But most small fleets built their fuel surcharge matrix when diesel was $3.50 and never touched it again.

If that's you, you're already underwater on every load you're running this week.

Pull your surcharge table today. Run your breakeven at $5.10. Then call your top customers before another week passes.

The cost structure you set last fall is not the cost structure March 2026 requires.

One more thing — the non-domiciled CDL rule just took effect and nine more FMCSA rulemakings are coming before year end. 

Driver availability is tightening, which supports rates. 

But that only helps you if your trucks are seated and your margins aren't already gone.

Writer | Marketer | Former Contributor at Forbes

Hi, I’m Dan! 👋

I typically spend my days buried in a booth at a local coffee shop. Ideas flow best with a cup of coffee in one hand and a bagel in the other.

I've spent the last nine years helping brands like Forbes, Entrepreneur, Foundr, Google, Capital One, and SAP connect with audiences through meaningful, memorable content. I've also served as a marketing mentor for programs like the UCCS Scale to $1M Bootcamp, RMMFI, and MicroMentor. 

I now lead content marketing at Bryant Park Consulting, helping clients ditch the chaos and build businesses that run smoother with smarter strategy and tech.

Off the clock, I'm either spending time with my wife, chasing two little kids, or finding new ways to shank a golf ball.

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