Freight capacity sorts shippers into favorites and afterthoughts. When the driver shortage leaves more loads than trucks, carriers decide who moves first, and those decisions follow a pattern: shippers who make the carrier’s operation predictable get the equipment. Being a customer of choice means the carrier wants your freight even when it has ten other offers, and that status is earned with pricing, paperwork, and treatment of drivers. The lumber and building products sector learned this during the 2018 capacity crunch, when sawmills, dealers, and distributors across the Pacific Northwest competed for the same limited fleet. The relationship work that wins freight mirrors the thinking behind creating a customer journey road map for home builders: understand what the other party needs at each step, then remove friction.
Why the Trucking Capacity Crunch Hit Construction
The American Trucking Associations estimated the driver shortage at roughly 60,000 in 2018 and projected it would climb past 100,000 by the mid-2020s. Turnover at large fleets ran above 90 percent per year, which meant carriers spent as much energy recruiting as dispatching. Construction materials move in a market that shares those drivers with retail, agriculture, and manufacturing, and lumber is one of the heaviest, bulkiest commodities in the mix. A load of framing lumber ties up a trailer for a full day of loading, and every hour a truck waits at a mill is an hour it cannot run revenue miles.
Pavement programs pull from the same pool. Projects ranging from aggregate hauling to cold-in-place recycling on environmentally sensitive road projects need the same tractor-trailers that deliver lumber, so when capacity tightens, every sector feels it at once. Shippers who plan for the crunch rather than reacting to it are the ones carriers call first, and the planning starts with the four rules below.
Why Shippers Lose the Capacity Race
- Last-minute booking with no volume commitment.
- Slow loading that burns driver hours.
- Disputes over detention, tarping, and fuel.
- Payment terms that stretch past 45 days.
- No communication when loads change.
Rule One: Lock In a Fair Rate Schedule
The wood industry runs on negotiations and handshakes, with the theory that every deal is a new deal. Carriers prefer the opposite: an agreed rate schedule negotiated annually, whether priced per mile or at a flat rate. A carrier cannot negotiate with its fuel company, its tire provider, or its drivers, so it cannot discount rates indefinitely and stay solvent. A fair, predictable schedule elevates a customer’s position because it lets the carrier plan capacity instead of gambling on spot loads. The annual review also gives both sides a chance to adjust before problems compound.
Per-Mile Versus Flat-Rate Pricing
Per-mile pricing pays the carrier for distance, which suits long hauls where the miles are predictable. Flat-rate pricing pays per trip, which suits short runs with fixed origin and destination pairs, such as a mill delivering to a nearby truss plant. Mixed books work too: a per-mile rate for linehaul and a flat rate for local shuttles. The rate schedule should state which applies, when it renews, and what happens when a load falls outside the normal pattern.
What a Fair Rate Schedule Includes
- Base rate with a clear effective date and renewal cycle.
- Fuel surcharge formula tied to published diesel prices.
- Accessorial rates for tarping, stops, and detention.
- Payment terms the carrier can plan around, ideally 30 days or less.
- Minimum volume or lane commitments if you want priority treatment.
Every craft has non-negotiables. Masons follow the eight must-follow rules for good bonding in brickwork, and freight relationships have their own short list, with predictable pricing at the top. A shipper that honors the schedule through the busy season keeps the carrier’s attention when the market turns.
Rule Two: Share Fuel Price Risk With a Surcharge Program
Base rates stay fixed, but a fuel surcharge adjusts weekly, typically tied to U.S. Department of Energy diesel price reporting. When fuel jumps, the carrier recovers the increase without renegotiating the rate; when fuel falls, the customer pays less. Removing the yo-yo of fuel prices from the carrier’s back turns a customer into a preferred partner, because the carrier can quote and plan without guessing what diesel will cost next month.
How the DOE-Based Formula Works
A common formula takes the national average diesel price, subtracts a base price agreed in the contract, divides the difference by the fleet’s average miles per gallon, and multiplies by the miles run. With a base of $3.00 per gallon, a fleet averaging 6 miles per gallon, and a national average of $3.60, the surcharge comes to 10 cents per mile. Most programs publish the calculation weekly so both sides can audit it, and many add a floor and a cap so the surcharge cannot swing wildly in either direction.
Running a surcharge program is a small project in itself, with a weekly data feed, a published schedule, and invoices that match the calculation. The golden rules of project management that every construction engineer follows apply directly: define the scope, set a schedule, communicate changes, verify the numbers, and close out disputes fast. A surcharge dispute that drags on for months costs more than the surcharge itself.
Rule Three: Pay Fair Accessorial Charges
Accessorial charges cover work beyond the basic move. Lumber mills are generally receptive to tarping fees, paying the carrier to protect the load from weather so it arrives in the same condition it was loaded. Multiple stops, where portions of the load drop at different sites, and detention, when a driver waits at a facility through no fault of their own, are the other common examples. Paying them without a fight signals respect for the driver’s time, and drivers talk: a fleet that knows a shipper pays detention fairly will route trucks toward that shipper.
Common Accessorial Charges in Lumber Freight
| Charge | What it covers | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Tarping | Protecting the load from rain, snow, and sun | Open trailers on exposed hauls |
| Multiple stops | Extra time for partial drops | Split deliveries across sites |
| Detention | Driver waiting time | Loading or unloading beyond free time |
| Layover | Driver rest and equipment hold | Overnight waits between loads |
| Empty miles | Repositioning a truck | Return trips without revenue freight |
Consideration runs both directions. The same yardwork etiquette rules every homeowner should follow for a peaceful neighborhood have a freight equivalent: pay for the waiting, communicate the delays, and treat the person doing the work like a neighbor, not a vendor. A written accessorial policy removes the guesswork, so the driver knows the free time, the rate, and the process before the truck backs into the dock.
Rule Four: Cover Empty Miles and Build Backhauls
Empty miles are the silent tax on trucking. A truck that delivers lumber from southern Oregon into California and must return to Salem or Portland without a load earns nothing for hundreds of miles. Shippers that help fill that return leg, or that pay a premium to offset the repositioning, move to the front of the line when capacity is scarce. In a solid alliance, a sawmill might add money to the normal rate to cover the empty miles a truck must travel to reach it, and that payment buys the mill a place in the carrier’s schedule.
What Wins the Front of the Line
Backhauls work when both sides share the data. The carrier knows which lanes run empty on which days; the shipper knows which loads are flexible. A shared lane board, even a simple spreadsheet, lets the carrier fill the return trip and lets the shipper negotiate a lower rate for the flexibility. A backhaul program can start in five steps:
- List the lanes your shipments run most often.
- Ask each carrier which of those lanes return empty.
- Publish a lane board with the loads that can flex on timing.
- Agree on a rate split or a repositioning fee for the return miles.
- Review the board monthly and adjust the rates as volumes change.
The discipline that keeps these programs working is the same discipline that keeps crews safe: the power tool safety rules every construction worker and DIYer should follow exist because shortcuts cause injuries, and backhaul agreements, loading schedules, and detention tracking fail the same way when people skip the paperwork.
The Follow-Up Habit
None of this requires a formal contract overhaul. It starts with how the dock treats a driver and how accounting treats an invoice. The customer service lessons from a shed sales lot, where calls, shows, and follow-up separate the dealers who sell from those who wait, apply to freight: shippers who follow up, pay on time, and communicate load changes earn the front of the line when the trucks run short. The rate schedule, the surcharge, and the accessorial policy are the structure; the follow-up is what makes the structure hold.