Looking at the CHALLENGES of 2024

Addressing the challenges of 2024 will require planning and an investment in technology and retaining good employees. The towing industry will always face the ever-changing landscape of regulatory change and will have to use technology to improve efficiency and safety. Let’s look at some of these challenges.

Employees - I was at a party at a tow company in Dallas. While there,

I ran into one of my dispatchers that worked for me over 20 years ago. She was still dispatching at the company that was throwing the party. I asked, “Kathy, how old are you?” She was proud of her age and job. Without any hesitation told me she was 73. I was surprised. She was still working as the lead dispatcher at that company. In my mind, I thought what happens when she retires. Who will take her place? Who takes the place of the drivers that are in their sixties and have health issues and are struggling to perform their job.

When these types of employees leave, they take a bunch of knowledge with them. They are key employees that make the company run. They know all the customers and how each employee is supposed to function. One thing our industry has done is not prepare for the future. Not too long ago, I attended a driver training class. There were about 70 students in the

2-day class, and the instructor was without a doubt the best the industry ever had. As I watched the class, I noticed a bunch of attendees with blank looks on their faces. I talked to some of them during the 2-day class, and they admitted that there was a large portion of the training they did not understand. That instructor has been training for years. I’m sure a lot of the material has not changed. When you roll over a big rig there are only so many ways you can do it. Two things stood out to me.

1. The attendees in the class have a different D and A and a different make up of drivers than 20 years ago. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but it requires a different kind of training.

2. The second thing was the instructor. He probably forgot more about towing than most of the attendees know. The instructor was a good friend, and it stood out that he was getting old. There will be no other like him. Who will train the drivers of the future?

Since drivers are the biggest part of any tow company, let’s figure out how to attract the driver of the future.