What does SlipSeat do?
Our mission is to solve the US truck driver shortage. The national shortage is comprised of numerous local area shortages spread all across the country. Our goal is to solve the smaller shortages enroute to solving the national one. We solve these smaller shortages using economics, math, and a patent pending platform, which does the heavy lifting.
Our platform is optimized by density, so we actively use it to solve shortages at ports (they’re high density) while letting the system passively solve shortages elsewhere, with its actions being determined by supply and demand.
How can SlipSeat solve an 80,000 FTE shortage without minting drivers?
The shortage isn’t caused by a lack of drivers. It’s caused by the fact that virtually every single Interstate driver/carrier transaction conducted over the last 80 or so years has been macroeconomically corrupt to some degree. This has thrown the truck driver labor market out of balance and the market is now using the shortage as a tool to self correct (it’s just how macroeconomics works).
As such, the solution to the shortage isn’t to mint drivers or even to pay drivers more. Instead, the real solution is to fix the bad data by creating good replacement data. The cool thing is that this requires a lot less drivers.
Because of turnover and the fact that the root problem would still exist, solving the shortage by minting drivers would take roughly 150,000 drivers to offset the 80,000 FTE shortage.
Our approach to fix the macroeconomic root cause only requires maybe 25,000 experienced drivers. And that’s on the high end. Even if the shortage were to balloon to 250,000 FTE, we’d still only need about 25,000 drivers conducting transactions.
How does our solution work?
Conceptually, we’re like a virtual B2B “farmer’s market” where drivers are booth vendors selling capacity and driving services to motor carriers.
The root cause of the shortage is in the economics of the truck driver industry. Macroeconomically speaking, things have gotten out of whack, but the issue can be solved by having some drivers think, act, and be treated as if they were businesses in a macroeconomically restorative environment.
The environment didn’t exist. The framework for B2B driver/carrier transactions didn’t exist either. So, we created both with our “farmer’s market.” Because our design, drivers can fix the underlying macroeconomic root cause simply by acting like booth vendor businesses.
When enough transactions are made in an area, the economics of our local “farmer’s market” will retrain the economics of the local driver market, thus solving the root cause for the area.
As far as supply goes, every year, the industry leeches enough driver supply to offset the shortage several times over. This plays out at the local level. Removing the impetus for the local shortage will free up previously lost/hidden driver supply, which can now be tapped and used to offset the local shortage.
In the end, the local trucking market gets flooded with driver supply.
Who can sell on SlipSeat?
Although our marketplace was initially geared for drivers, anyone selling to motor carriers, brokers, and/or shippers is welcome to join (signup link). We accept both product and service vendors.
Who may purchase products and services on SlipSeat?
Motor carriers, brokers, and shippers. We are designed to integrate with both for-hire and private carriers, as well as with both asset based and non asset-based carriers.
Carriers et al may buy whatever they want from whomever they wish. The following week, they’ll receive an invoice for all the products and services purchased from all vendors. Carriers may pay by credit card, ACH, and wire transfer with net terms out to 120 days with approval (carrier signup).
I’m a driver, do I work for SlipSeat?
No, you are a vendor making sales on our marketplace. You work for yourself, doing work for carriers, while being paid by SlipSeat for sales you make since you are a vendor conducting transactions on our 3rd party marketplace.
We provide you with the environment where you can be successful and with the tools you need. You set your own rates and schedules and maintain your own clients. We bill your clients when the work is complete. (Funds are generally available to you a few days after processing clears.)
Why is SlipSeat better for drivers?
Because our success is tied to your success, not the carrier’s. The way we make money is by withholding a small percentage of each transaction. The more money you make, the more money we make. As a result, our goals are aligned and you can be assured that we will always have your best financial interests at heart.
Virtually every other organization within the sphere of trucking that a truck driver can call home is either a carrier or an agent of the carrier. Either way, their success is tied to the carrier’s success and as a result, they may or may not have your best interests at heart.
Plus, if we get anywhere close to solving the shortage, we will also make “being a truck driver” better.
Why is SlipSeat better for carriers?
Because you end up with faster/better/cheaper drivers. Possibly with less operational liability, depending on you operate. Possibly with better cash flow too.
The evil of the shortage is that it affects everyone without being “owned” by anyone and, as a result, the trucking industry has been like a frog in a proverbial pot of warming water. As it heats up, the shortage will make it very expensive for carriers to maintain a driver force. Not only in up front driver cost, but also in replacement cost. To complicate things, the shortage will also increase the amount of time it takes to hire drivers which means it also increases a carrier’s resource cost especially if a carrier needs to increase staff to offset the new hiring lag.
With SlipSeat, carriers may pay slightly more for a driver on a per mile or per hour basis, but there’s no acquisition cost, ancillary cost, or replacement cost and as a result the carrier’s overall cost of moving a load falls. And because SlipSeaters can be onsite in hours vs days or weeks with a replacement hire, a carrier’s lost opportunity cost is minimized too.