Hire Truckers Podcast

00:00 - 00:09
Ginger Craddock: Welcome to the Hire Truckers podcast, the show for fleet executives, HR leaders, and recruiting professionals. I'm your host, Ginger Craddock.

00:09 - 00:26
Aaron Craddock: And I'm your host, Aaron Craddock. Each week, we share actionable insights, market trends, and proven strategies to help you grow and thrive. Welcome to the Hire Truckers podcast. I'm your host, Aaron Craddock. And today, I'm super excited to have my friend and peer in the industry, Brad Hackett, on.

00:26 - 00:42
Aaron Craddock: So Brad is the recruiting and safety director at Jet Express, And he's generally kinda known in the industry just for his positive mindset, growth mindset, and he's just really a leader in our industry. And so I really appreciate Brad jumping on today. Thank you, Brad.

00:42 - 00:44
Brad Hackett: Thanks for having me. I'm looking forward to our conversation.

00:45 - 01:21
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. So as Brad and I were talking about today, what we could dive into, we thought about a topic both of us enjoy talking about a lot and, like, what that we think a lot about, and that's AI and particularly, like, the human element of how things should go this year around AI. And so so my first question, Brad, is should we automate everything? Because there's all these kind of pickups we should have we could have in recruiting. If we just automate, cut out recruiters, things like that, like, also for retention.

01:21 - 01:27
Aaron Craddock: Like, do you think that's a net benefit adding this all in just automating things through AI?

01:28 - 02:04
Brad Hackett: Yeah. Great question. I believe personally that we're pretty close to the breaking point, at least from my perspective, as far as the over technology and over automation aspect when it comes to recruiting and opportunities out there. There's great benefits to it but I think we as we were talking prior, that human element at the end of the day, we're humans recruiting humans. We wanna build that human rapport from that first conversation all the way through to that jump starts the retention conversation with that candidate of hopefully staying with your organization for a very long time.

02:04 - 02:12
Brad Hackett: So how that AI technology can support that and not replace it, think is a key element that a lot of carriers are missing out on.

02:13 - 02:20
Aaron Craddock: So how are you exploring that? Like how are you operationalizing that concept?

02:21 - 03:04
Brad Hackett: For us here at Jet Express, we have a couple different AI technologies during our recruiting process that I feel like are huge benefit add. I personally have a lot of different hats that I wear in the organization all the way from the marketing strategy to the recruiting process to the safety and compliance, making sure that those drivers meet the insurance guidelines all the way through that onboarding and then maintaining that driver safety and driver operational relationship with existing hires. So the way I've approached that is we have that AI technology. I've got a virtual assistant in my applicant tracking system that we use, Double Nickel, that it does that immediate call with the driver. So I'm a human.

03:04 - 03:14
Brad Hackett: I've got a family. I've got three young boys I try to keep up with best I can. Got a beautiful wife. We love to do family things. I can't be on job duty twenty four seven.

03:14 - 03:32
Brad Hackett: So that virtual assistant will answer that first call. If that driver applies at 5AM on a Saturday, hopefully, I'm getting to sleep in a little bit. But the AI is always working. It catches that driver right when they apply and it gets that initial vetting conversation that is very clear. It is a virtual assistant.

03:32 - 04:10
Brad Hackett: It's not Brad robot talking to them, but I get that not only that good surface area from that driver of the criteria that they're gonna meet for our organizational requirements, but also it can answer those front level questions for me of kind of equipment do you have? What's my pay gonna look like? What's my home time gonna look like? And then at the end of that call, it sets up a meeting on my calendar that, hey, Monday at 10AM, I'm open. Let's chat and then I get all of those perfect notes about that driver and then we can have a really high quality and educated conversation that I can see that that driver is gonna at least verbally meet my criteria.

04:10 - 04:20
Brad Hackett: And also, hey, they asked about home time and equipment. So I can really double down on the the home time benefits and what kind of equipment we have here at Jet Express to offer for them.

04:21 - 04:31
Aaron Craddock: So you're okay if it's First Touch AI, automated assistant, just outside of hours or is that the general First Touch for all drivers?

04:31 - 04:56
Brad Hackett: I've got to set up first touch on all drivers just in case I'm in a meeting or can't get to that call right away. But my criteria is making sure one, it's clearly it's AI that it's very obvious to that candidate that it's not trying to replace or pretend to be a human. And also it's gonna be in a position to equip me to level up my human to human conversation with that candidate when that time is right.

04:58 - 05:11
Aaron Craddock: So that that gives them an opportunity to go ahead and answer some of those preliminary questions. And then you guys so the second step of that process is then you're you're calling the driver? Yes. On those notes? Or or is it like a scheduled zoom meeting?

05:12 - 05:29
Brad Hackett: They can they can either leave it open and then I just reach back out with those notes or they can actually grab a time. I've got time blocks set on each day that I'm open for recruiting calls and then the AI assistant bounces off of that availability schedule and the driver can select a time that works best for them.

05:31 - 05:37
Aaron Craddock: That's awesome. And so where do you think other peers in the industry might be going wrong where they're over automating?

05:38 - 06:06
Brad Hackett: Some of the things I've heard is that they're replacing recruiters. So some teams have different recruiting structures. The larger the team you have, the more options you have with recruiter types, your campaigns that you're doing, things of that nature. I've heard sadly some recruiters being let go and being replaced by AI. A lot of the say the night coverage, the weekend coverage that some of these larger teams have or just they replace I've seen the whole recruiting departments essentially.

06:06 - 06:30
Brad Hackett: They're gonna have the AI do all the recruiting aspects And then once it comes to the compliance portion, that's when that human element. And I feel like you're really losing a lot of your culture and your brand in that sense that a robot's just not gonna be able to express what your team's like with all those tangibles and intangibles that your actual team members are going to be able to portray on that phone call.

06:31 - 06:43
Aaron Craddock: Expounding on that a little bit, like how do you think that particular decision to like fully automate, remove the recruiting team? Like how do you think that'll impact retention? Like as it plays out?

06:44 - 07:14
Brad Hackett: I personally think it's gonna have a negative impact on the long term retention. Certainly, it's gonna have its benefits that the AI doesn't go to sleep. It's 24x7. You can have it a language model. It can continue to get smarter and smarter, but at the end of the day, it's a robot and it's not gonna have that ultimate human to human connection and be able to build that reputation of what they're gonna actually experience of the people that they're gonna work with at your organization at the end of the day.

07:14 - 07:28
Brad Hackett: So I feel like those that are overleveraging the AI technologies, especially in the recruiting part of their business, the more you lean that angle, I feel like it's gonna impact sadly retention in the wrong direction in the long term longevity of that driver.

07:29 - 07:41
Aaron Craddock: Do you have any use cases right now where y'all are using AI on the retention side, like to do follow ups or keep drivers engaged? Yeah. Any thoughts on kind of the retention side of of AI implementation?

07:42 - 08:04
Brad Hackett: Not on the conversational piece. We are using it for a reminder setups and scheduling and some data points that I think it has huge impact on. Again, finding ways that we can emphasize and increase the quality of those human engagements. One area that's really cool is tying in to like the pay performance of the drivers. So obviously, the drivers are coming in with their expectations.

08:05 - 08:41
Brad Hackett: You want to set those expectations of where you're gonna run, what are you gonna make, what kind of equipment you're gonna be driving in. That's setting the bar for that driver. That's they want what they're told and that's what is important on are you actually delivering that and are you delivering it consistently? I've found a lot over the years. Retention, everybody has the great idea and they have the best heart in the world to go after retention, but often the efforts that are around retention are either short lived or they're not consistent enough that it's actually proactive where you can act on those measurables.

08:41 - 09:15
Brad Hackett: So one cool thing that I've seen is pay thresholds. So pay is the easiest and you could get all fancy with your pay packages, you could do all that, but the drivers want to make what they want to make. So you could set those thresholds of if the driver is underneath that threshold for a certain time frame, you can have that set up to give you the data right in front of you that, hey, Aaron is behind on his pay expectations and we're approaching day 90. I really need to get involved to get more hands on with operations, see what's going on. Has Aaron called in two or three days?

09:15 - 09:37
Brad Hackett: Has there been a sickness? Have we had load cancellations? And by doing that ahead of time before you know they're gonna be upset that they're under that deliverable, you could actually get ahead of it and either make that adjustments or just eat the frog and have that conversation. Hey, we're not meeting what you said and we want to connect with you and see what we can do to meet your goals or exceed them.

09:38 - 09:54
Aaron Craddock: That's awesome. So one of the things I heard on a recent podcast or YouTube show you were on is like the four main things drivers want right now. And so you just touched on one of them. It's pay, I believe is one of them. And can you touch on those four main things drivers want?

09:54 - 10:19
Brad Hackett: Yeah. Drivers want to be an equipment that they rely on. They want to get home when they're expected to be home. They want to get the pay that they're expecting, whether that's a livable wage or above that rate, and they want to be respected. So if you can nail those four on a consistent basis, then you have a recipe that you're going to be able to hopefully retain most of your high quality drivers to a good percentage point there.

10:19 - 10:40
Aaron Craddock: And so you have AI impacting the pay kind of component, like raising a flag and scheduling that follow-up. What about any of those others? Like, there are there reminders to help them feel respected by, like, encouragement or or any of those other things or equipment, you know, reminders,

10:40 - 11:01
Brad Hackett: I things like do. Yeah. I do want to dive in more this year on the recognition aspect of things. We utilize Samsara for our ELD system. I know there's other great mechanisms out there, but they have a really cool recognition tool that's built in that it'll pull that data behind the scenes utilizing their AI technology of the good records.

11:01 - 11:23
Brad Hackett: So are they having good speeding records that they're maintaining under the speed limit? Are they hours of service compliant? Things of that nature that we could recognize those drivers for those positive behaviors and reinforce that. One area I'm excited to explore this year is the the maintenance aspect of things. As we know, this this economy is incredibly tough on rates for trucking companies.

11:24 - 11:58
Brad Hackett: And the biggest thing that's been a shock to me the last couple years is how high the cost factors have increased across the business. Everywhere you look, it's substantially higher than what it was just a couple years ago and maintenance is by far an area that can be impacted not only on money saved on repairs, but also of course, you want to get ahead of those avoidable maintenance things of that nature that I feel like technology and there's some cool things in motion that I'm excited to explore to try to position us to save in that regard and keep that equipment at its best working order for our drivers.

11:59 - 12:18
Aaron Craddock: That's cool. Yeah. Imagine all the pickups, like if you can improve the human to human recognition and then improve, yeah, that maintenance cost. What about are there any implementations of either technology or processes that are helping on, like, insurance rates? Because I know that's a cost that's gone up for most fleets significantly.

12:18 - 12:45
Brad Hackett: Yeah, we're a smaller fleet, so we don't get those massive benefits that some of the crazy high volume fleets and that can benefit long term. That is one area we have seen with some of our partners on the insurance side is with having this proactive technology, the forward facing cameras that we've got, the event driven coaching, they are starting to give more benefit rates and reductions on your premiums for for that kind of proactive behavior, which is great to see.

12:46 - 12:56
Aaron Craddock: I saw something that may end up translating to trucking where it was the first insurance company, I think it was lemonade that gave a discount this I

12:56 - 12:58
Brad Hackett: just switched to them last week.

12:59 - 13:01
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. For full self driving on Tesla.

13:02 - 13:04
Brad Hackett: Yep. Yeah. Big benefit there.

13:04 - 13:05
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. Explain what that is.

13:06 - 13:39
Brad Hackett: Yeah. They partnered with with Tesla where if you have your full self driving, which has been proven that's much safer out on the road, then they actually give a significant reduction in your insurance premiums. So I was able to save like 40% on my monthly insurance premiums with the same coverage areas in the other areas for all of our vehicles just by them understanding and doubling down on that technology is doing what it says it's going to do and save them on the insurance premiums and pass some of those benefits onto the customer.

13:40 - 14:00
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. When I saw that, because everything I think about, it's so fascinating that you switched. This isn't they don't sponsor the show or anything like that. When I saw that, was so first, I'll I'll go back, like, ten years ago. I was kinda skeptical that autonomous driving would take off because we're such a litigious society.

14:00 - 14:36
Aaron Craddock: Like, I didn't think I thought people would just sue these companies like crazy. Right. And there was fear around these robot cars crashing into people. And it actually I think because we're where my mind is now, because we're a litigious society and that's increasing and rates are going up on insurance, I think it's actually going to drive more autonomy. I think what we're seeing with autonomous in cars and there's a couple autonomous companies that are having a lot of success in Texas moving freight and running different trials.

14:36 - 15:01
Aaron Craddock: I honestly think it's going to happen faster. So I've kind of reversed on that thought. I thought that we weren't going to have as much autonomy in trucking because you have, like, a 90,000 pound sometimes, like, piece of equipment going down the interstate and just thinking of how litigious and how so many people go after these big just any trucking company. But I I don't know. What are your thoughts on that?

15:01 - 15:04
Aaron Craddock: Like, you think that's eventually gonna creep into trucking?

15:05 - 15:54
Brad Hackett: I get a little creep into certain areas. I I kinda take the same approach and being honest with the that AI technology as as I do with the recruiting that it's there and it's supporting my driving to and from work. It saved me a couple of times where I'm in the full self driving mode and some idiot just completely cuts you off. And before you even have time to react, the car's already engaging the brakes and slowing down for you where, yeah, I I maybe could have hit the brakes in time, but that one time I couldn't may have been a collision. So it's essentially enhancing my human driving capabilities with the assistance of the technology where I I just don't see one area of caution there for the industry is the charging aspect of things, the charging network for that support.

15:54 - 16:23
Brad Hackett: And then also just we just got a foot of snow here in Indianapolis last week how that technology can navigate because it's only as good as like what the cameras can see and there's the the whole benefit of what it can and can't see. It's great when it works, but we have those adverse conditions that are gonna have its challenges. So I think it's gonna it's gonna continue to creep in and have amazing applications, but I don't see it replacing everything in the the short term for any any spec.

16:24 - 16:30
Aaron Craddock: So there'll there'll still be a driver in the truck, like, even as all these autonomous things are happening. It's kinda your theory.

16:30 - 16:32
Brad Hackett: I I believe so. Yep. That's my theory.

16:33 - 16:47
Aaron Craddock: Mhmm. Yeah. I I've been amazed, honestly. Like, I I literally did not think it would happen in cars, like like, where and, you know, being in Austin, like, where we're based out of, we have Waymo's everywhere. We have for a long time.

16:47 - 17:02
Aaron Craddock: I mean, there's a 100 of them downtown at at least. I mean, you just see them everywhere. And then now we have the Tesla Cybercabs, and they just I think it was last week they did their first one without without somebody in it or sometime recently in in Austin. And so

17:03 - 17:14
Brad Hackett: It's scary to you. It continues to get smarter and smarter. I've never had a car before that gets smarter on every software update. It gets faster on acceleration. It gets better on charging.

17:14 - 17:27
Brad Hackett: It gets better on the full self driving that it can pull you in particular parking spots or you can adjust your settings that wasn't there before that update. So it's scary, but really cool to see in some areas as well.

17:28 - 17:53
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. And then I was listening to a podcast this morning around AI, just improve it, technology improvements. And it it's something like AI's like, what we have today will be a 100 times better by the year end in terms of just AI. So that could be how it's applied to self driving. It could be our instances of Croc or ChabGPT, whatever your

17:53 - 17:54
Brad Hackett: Yeah.

17:54 - 18:13
Aaron Craddock: Your platform is that you use for daily kind of tasks and things like that. And that that that that's just mind blowing. Like, I don't even know. Like, I don't even have a way to comprehend it. And they're saying that it'll replace a big the biggest proponents of it are saying it's going to replace a lot of I haven't heard on drivers specifically.

18:13 - 18:22
Aaron Craddock: But, yeah, it's just interesting to think about. If it's 100 times better than today, does it start to change some of that human element? I don't know.

18:22 - 18:44
Brad Hackett: Yeah, it'll be interesting to see. I mean, you and I are advocates for self development, to hone in your skills and if I read a book and I understand a new new area and unlock something, if a computer does that, they can hit a button and all the network of computers know it instantly that it just scales so much faster than any of us can comprehend.

18:45 - 18:55
Aaron Craddock: So anything else anything else you wanted to touch on like before we move to the next section on AI AI and trucking, recruiting, retention, anything else jumps out?

18:56 - 19:18
Brad Hackett: Yeah. I just got final thoughts. Again, just reiterating that try to find areas if you're implementing that technology or have it today and focus on that human element because that's the most important piece in my my idea with that candidate is that that human to human rapport. So try to find areas that how that technology can support your existing team to elevate those human to human interactions.

19:19 - 19:34
Aaron Craddock: Love it. So next thing I wanted to talk to you about is just some context. I'm always so encouraged by when we talk. I'm encouraged by your posts on social media. Yeah, just being grateful and spreading positivity in the industry.

19:35 - 19:50
Aaron Craddock: And one of the things I've seen you do, I think the last couple years I noticed it, but it was like a gratitude January, where you did posts on social media of things you're thankful for. So being even more in that mindset in January, like how did that impact how your year started?

19:50 - 20:52
Brad Hackett: Yep. For me, is that a couple years ago, I've been really diving deep on self self awareness journey as far as trying to realize that my thoughts impact my actions and how I show up to work, how I show up for my family, how I show up for myself as a member of all the different communities that I'm involved in, and having that focus where it may seem self centered, but how you can see that that starts and that has an impact everywhere else. So one thing I noticed, I was I was pretty down in the dumpsite. Call it seasonal depression or call it whatever, but maybe I shouldn't live in Indianapolis, Indiana where it's negative 30 windshields in January right now, but I found that time of year just I I would just naturally get negative path time paths and get down these negative thought patterns and I'm a Christian man. I'm really deep into my Bible and it just you continue to see that start with gratitude and there's endless verses of the benefits of gratitude.

20:52 - 21:32
Brad Hackett: So started studying, starting to get more in-depth in that, some secular, some biblical studies around that and that focus just is a really good start for me on utilizing that January where I know my negative thought patterns are naturally gonna come up and forcefully putting that gratitude as some of the first things that I do in my journaling and my social media posts that if you could start your day and you could find ways in your life that you're grateful for two, three, four, five things, how much better of a start to that day is it that you can start on that positive and be thankful for those areas than a potential negative or a doomscroll start to your day?

21:34 - 21:42
Aaron Craddock: Yeah, you mentioned you mentioned journaling in addition to the posting. So is this a practice you do year long? Or kind of how is it how is it built into what you do now?

21:43 - 21:48
Brad Hackett: I do sporadically year round, but I particular focus in January for sure I've done the last several years.

21:51 - 22:05
Aaron Craddock: I love it. The yeah. That's that's one thing that helps me a lot. Like, every every single morning, I've been doing it about five years now, is just writing down, like physically writing five things I'm thankful for. A lot of times, it's the same things.

22:05 - 22:37
Aaron Craddock: It's like Lauren, our boys, but just framing yeah. Starting in gratitude just makes it a lot harder to have the day go poorly. You talked about some of that depression or whether you call it seasoned depression or just kind of a hard, like, being in a rut. I find that any given week, I have two or three days where I kind of start in a rut, and I don't really want to do anything, or I don't want to do the things. And then there's other days out of the week where I'm like, I can run through a wall.

22:37 - 23:02
Aaron Craddock: Like, let's go. And I never know when it's going to hit. However, I have found by getting in the Word, getting in the Bible, and then praying and then doing those gratitude tasks each day. Like, not that it's a 100% turnaround and I get to the end of it and I'm like, let's go, like some days. But it just helps.

23:02 - 23:16
Aaron Craddock: It at least softens the whether it's apathy or just having an off day, whatever that is, getting in gratitude. So I love it. And I and and I enjoy your post. So I appreciate you doing that and putting that out there. I think it adds a lot of value to the industry.

23:16 - 23:21
Aaron Craddock: And I think it's infectious. I think I think other people catch it. I think they catch gratitude.

23:22 - 23:48
Brad Hackett: Yeah, it's certainly impactful in your interactions, whether that's on social media or definitely as you're say you're talking to a driver, just if you open that conversation with something that you're grateful for, like, it's somebody wants to input that back. If you wanna be double down negative after somebody tells you what they're grateful for, then I'm sorry you're having a really bad day. But it really does. It kind of builds upon itself in more areas than you can count.

23:49 - 23:59
Aaron Craddock: So you mentioned just then like incorporating it in the driver conversation. I hadn't really thought about that. So how how are some ways you could incorporate that like into those recruiting or driver conversations?

24:00 - 24:19
Brad Hackett: Yeah, one area it sticks out. So we have we do a slip seat operation here at Jet Express that has insane benefits as far as equipment utilization. It also has some challenges. So we have one area is that you have two humans in that truck. It has extra maintenance involved that there's more opportunity for things to break.

24:19 - 24:53
Brad Hackett: There's also more opportunity for somebody to leave their their bucket of chicken that they brought that they forgot to throw it away and then that next driver gets in the truck and then they have to clean up about it. And you could just go down that path and you could see how that builds frustration and all that. Where one driver brought that concern to me and I don't want to ignore it. It's a it's a thing we want to address and drivers have so much they have to worry about throughout their day. But when you find areas of I I had a driver that's he cleaned out one truck and then I saw him going over and he was helping another driver clean out the interior of another truck.

24:53 - 25:22
Brad Hackett: Finding like, man, I'm super grateful for you Kevin that you're willing to not only help out somebody else but to stress the importance of that and help out your teammate. By just taking that thirty seconds and having that conversation and showing that you're grateful for that kind of behavior, you could tell like it made his day, it emphasized that behavior. And I bet you he's gonna tell other drivers or his family about that interaction that he was seen, he was heard and he was recognized.

25:23 - 25:33
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. And that just boosts retention, boost morale, boosts yeah, just I mean, it can make people's week, like you probably made that drivers week by that thirty seconds.

25:34 - 25:37
Brad Hackett: You never know. Never know what your positive impact on somebody's life could be.

25:38 - 26:01
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. Because a lot of people aren't even seen, much less appreciated. Like, we walk like, maybe we order our coffee, but we don't see the barista or, you know, somebody on our team does something. We don't we don't see them because we're focused on what we're doing and in self. And so so that's cool hearing that you're recognizing those things and speaking into people.

26:02 - 26:03
Aaron Craddock: That's awesome.

26:04 - 26:04
Brad Hackett: Appreciate it.

26:04 - 26:09
Aaron Craddock: Is that something your culture does as a whole at Jet Express? Like, do you think you guys do that well?

26:10 - 26:21
Brad Hackett: I feel like we do it pretty well. That's an area that I really want to invest in and show off a lot more and encourage and celebrate more. But I do feel like it's an area that we excel at.

26:21 - 26:43
Aaron Craddock: That's awesome. So the next thing I wanted to go into is, are you optimistic about 2026? It's no we're not going to surprise anybody listening that we've been in a freight recession for three years, and and it's been hard and hard on everybody. Yeah. Are you optimistic going into 2026?

26:44 - 27:32
Brad Hackett: I am. I I would consider it a more cautious optimism than some years past. One area, again you just mentioned the barista example there, great example there Aaron, is we only know what's in our brain and what's in front of us and our situation, but we also get opportunities to network with our peers and see and hear and have these data sets and what's showing out there. I feel like from my network and our situation here at Jet is everybody kind of entered 2025 with extreme optimism that the market was gonna start to turn, there was gonna be some growth opportunities, maybe some back into expansion mode for a lot of these fleets. And unfortunately, lot of the feedback I'm seeing and hearing and we certainly felt it is a lot of those opportunities just didn't see it through And the growth opportunities just weren't there.

27:32 - 28:33
Brad Hackett: The customers didn't expand as as quickly or in the areas that they had planned to get those lane growth. Whereas in 2026, some of that stuff is actually starting to materialize that the rates are slowly starting to maybe turn back in the carrier's favor. And some of those opportunities are gonna be of sadly the downfall of others that some of these carriers that are over leveraged on debt that have really been hanging on by a thread or are maybe not gonna make it, but the ones that are doing the right things, that are treating drivers with respect, that have the right culture, that maintain their equipment, that refresh, etcetera, are gonna be handed some of those opportunities I feel like on a on a silver platter. So we have to be ready for that and be have your team positioned for it, but that's where some of my optimism comes is not only the the factors of the market turning back, but sadly some of those opportunities that are going to present themselves hopefully being pointed our direction.

28:34 - 29:08
Aaron Craddock: Yeah, almost every conversation I'm having with peers and then some of them are fleet size similar to Jet Express, and then some of them are 500,010 truck fleets. And and that's that's a recurring theme. Cautiously optimistic, seeing some good signs like like tender rejection rates going up, things like that, and in in multiple different freight types. And then same thing, like everybody says that same thing like, hey. We think more carriers are gonna go out of business, and we think that's gonna provide opportunity.

29:08 - 29:32
Aaron Craddock: And then they say, I'm hesitant to be optimistic because the last three years have been so hard. And then cash is king. Like, don't get over leveraged, which I think you literally hit on all those all those things. So do you see opportunities so is it mainly in your little niche, or do you think it's industry wide kinda talking to your peers? Like, were there where some stuff might open up in 2026?

29:34 - 30:06
Brad Hackett: I do think it should be industry wide where wherever whatever sector you may be in. In our particular niche, I do see not only regulatory support in more and more areas of certain freight types and certain things are gonna require more security, are gonna require more insurance. And we've done I believe a great job proactively positioning ourselves with getting TAPA certified. We're one of the only level one TAPA certified for pharmaceutical and high value freight carriers in our area. And we have the security, the infrastructure.

30:06 - 30:35
Brad Hackett: We're positioned for that growth. We're GDP certified. We are heavily invested with our core customer base. We're not over leveraged in all of our chickens in one basket or whatever that analogy is that you've seen sadly the downfall of sizable carriers as well that are way too deep in one or two major customers that finding the right ways, doing the right things, that I feel like we're in we're in a good position and those out there doing the same should be in the same.

30:36 - 30:52
Aaron Craddock: That's awesome. The and I think I can't even remember what when we when we did this show last year or a year or so ago, like, was one of our top top six shows. So thank you for that. In the first two years, one of the top six shows, the last one you were on. Nice.

30:52 - 31:01
Aaron Craddock: You said you had used some phrase. It was like, I think it wasn't cautious optimism. Maybe it was. It was something around that. And I think that was going into 2025.

31:01 - 31:09
Aaron Craddock: So it's it's like now there are at least some data signs. Like like, is it in is it different entering 2026 with optimism versus entering 2025?

31:10 - 31:29
Brad Hackett: I think it's the same with a little bit more data points. I I'm interested to see personally how some of the the English proficiency, the non dominant domiciled CDL stuff, how that will actually go through to the end line as to even further emphasize some of those points, I think we'll I guess we'll see.

31:30 - 31:46
Aaron Craddock: How do you think speaking of nondomicile and the English language proficiency rulings or decisions, How do you think that's going to affect the industry? Is that going to be something that happens quickly? Is it going to help? Is it going to hurt? What are your thoughts?

31:46 - 32:45
Brad Hackett: I hope it'll help. I think it's a position in the right direction. My only worry is if we're so focused on the driver and that driver has gone through links to make that decision, not follow the rules, and if there are carriers out there that are going to accept that kind of behavior, if we don't take the accountability down on the carrier level, then all that driver's gonna do is shut down and then bounce to another carrier that's gonna accept that. So I feel like we really should be more focused on the carrier behavior and holding the carriers responsible for those areas that they're trying to impact where the driver is gonna be able to have less of an impact than if we get some of these bad apples that are cutting corners, that are doing the wrong things, that are shifting trucks from one DOT to another after getting shut down. If we can focus more on accountability in that area, I think that's gonna have a much greater impact on the industry of where they're trying to go.

32:45 - 32:57
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33:20 - 33:20
Aaron Craddock: the

33:22 - 33:33
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33:33 - 33:45
Aaron Craddock: So I until we had this conversation, this is probably just I'm just naive to it. So drivers can get pulled out, like, for ESL or non domicile and then they can just go sign with another carrier?

33:46 - 34:06
Brad Hackett: Yeah. They could get shut down. They they may have a couple non domiciled CDLs. I unfortunately have a personal experience with this that the driver got into a an incident at our facility and he was fumbling through eight non domiciled New York CDLs. So if one goes down, he's got seven more he can cycle through and and go to another carrier.

34:07 - 34:20
Brad Hackett: But if they're put out of service and another carrier just accepts it and moves on, then they're gonna continue to go until they're stopped and notice they're out of service or just be under another one of those non domiciled CDLs.

34:21 - 34:31
Aaron Craddock: Do you think like as far as speed, like do you think is it something you're seeing really enforced that's having a big impact on the driver population? Or is it just a media headline?

34:32 - 34:44
Brad Hackett: In my opinion, immediate headline. I don't see it firsthand because all of our drivers are doing the right things. They are have legal CDLs. We do all the background checks. They all speak, read, and write English.

34:44 - 34:49
Brad Hackett: So I I don't see it firsthand, unfortunately. I I feel like it's a lot of headlines.

34:50 - 34:55
Aaron Craddock: Is that just from talking to your peers if you're not seeing that directly or like what makes you kind of think that?

34:56 - 35:35
Brad Hackett: Really just educating some of those previous talking points is that that's something that I really don't even think about because I don't have that sort of mindset. But some of these examples of the you have a major fatality accident and you're stapled all over the news and then there are some people out there that are much smarter than I that do all that research and they can legitimately show that that individual just moved those 37 trucks to another DOT and they changed the logo on their building and they're they're still rocking. So it's that kind of behavior is allowed and not the accountability is not held to the carrier level, then that behavior is going to continue in my opinion.

35:37 - 35:55
Aaron Craddock: Some good points. So as we kind of wrap up the show, one of the things I enjoy talking about, especially with growth oriented people is, yeah, what are you reading? Whether for fun or business related and or podcasts you're listening to? Yeah. What is Brad Hackett consuming right now?

35:57 - 36:48
Brad Hackett: I just finished going back through Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. So it was a very interesting read for me to be in the mindset of a journal of a leader of the entire world essentially of thousands of years ago that really just his personal thoughts and the relationship of how those thoughts are so applicable to even me as a management and a small trucking company in Indianapolis, Indiana in 2026 that so much of the the types of humans that you're gonna be interacting with to the kind of mindset that you can bring to a day, that personal accountability to getting better and to being the best human, best man you can be. Just so many relatable things that I had no idea would be relatable in in that.

36:49 - 36:50
Aaron Craddock: Is that the first time you read that?

36:52 - 36:59
Brad Hackett: I had read some snippets. I follow a couple things that you get like a daily reading on certain things, but start to finish, that was my first time. Yes.

37:01 - 37:26
Aaron Craddock: And so I read that book for the first time recently too. It was actually Jeremy Raymer was here in Austin. I spoke at a local event, and then we went to a bookstore in town. And then he recommended that book specifically because I said I'd never read it. And the theme that stuck out to me was death being imminent.

37:27 - 37:52
Aaron Craddock: You got to hold with me for a little while. So audience. That ends up like for me, that I'm gonna die, rather than just living like I'm gonna be here forever and just accepting that gives me a zest for life. Wants me to grow more, wants me to be more grateful, wants me to be more in the moment. And so that that was my my biggest takeaway.

37:52 - 37:56
Aaron Craddock: Like, what was your biggest takeaway in terms of theme from reading meditations?

37:57 - 38:20
Brad Hackett: That's a big one. That's it's it's a perspective thing. I mean, yeah, you read that and it really just puts things in perspective, but I just thought about one this morning. It's again, I'm kinda whining here, but it's negative 30 wind chill in Indianapolis. And one of the things he said is, am I meant to wake up and stay cozy under the covers or am I meant to go out and make an impact?

38:20 - 38:39
Brad Hackett: So if you're starting your morning in one of the emperors of one of the biggest that we've ever seen at the Roman Empire there has that sort of mindset, then if we could all bring that mindset and be the best us and bring that to the table, then how much better is that gonna portray to our teams, our family members, etc.

38:39 - 38:47
Aaron Craddock: That's cool. I love it. Well, anything else that I should have asked that we didn't talk about today?

38:48 - 38:55
Brad Hackett: No, I'm curious that from from your perspective, what what's your what's your thing of gratitude that you're most grateful for this week, Aaron?

38:56 - 39:07
Aaron Craddock: Oh, good question. Mine is it's it's like a it's almost this like, my my boys. Like, so I have three young boys. That's the same you guys have three?

39:08 - 39:09
Brad Hackett: Yep. Three boys.

39:09 - 39:23
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. So we have three boys. And so being home over, you know, seventy two hours iced in, not complaining, but it was a challenge. And it was a challenge. Yeah.

39:23 - 39:41
Aaron Craddock: I'm just thankful for the tiny humans and just seeing life through their eyes. It's made me more creative. It's made me have more of a zest for life. Just my kids. So if I had to pick if I had to pick one thing, it's I'll say just our little family unit.

39:41 - 40:00
Aaron Craddock: Because we were all locked in a house for seventy two. I think Lauren didn't leave the house for five days. Yeah, just thankful. And we've all grown a lot. So there's past seasons where I would have been arguing the whole time and biting her head off and stuff.

40:01 - 40:15
Aaron Craddock: And we have any real arguments. And if we started to get on each other's nerves, we just kind of laughed at it. So I'm thankful for personal growth too. That'd be number two. Just in our family, how we've all kind of grown together and then that family time.

40:15 - 40:17
Aaron Craddock: What about you? What about you right now?

40:18 - 40:41
Brad Hackett: It's really cool. I'm really enjoying it similarly as a dad. I'm super enjoying this season of of growth and watching each of my boys. I've got seven, five, and two and just how their dynamic is growing and how they're individualizing and growing in their own areas. And this is gonna sound silly, but my oldest two have gone so deep into Pokemon lately.

40:41 - 40:56
Brad Hackett: And that's something that I really loved as a kid and so did my wife. And being able to kind of see them get into a hobby that we can relive kind of the nostalgia and also like see them kind of build their own and go in it has been really fun.

40:57 - 41:01
Aaron Craddock: That's awesome. Is that like cards? Like collecting the cards or is it games?

41:01 - 41:03
Brad Hackett: Cards and games and toys basically. Yeah.

41:04 - 41:05
Aaron Craddock: That's cool.

41:05 - 41:06
Brad Hackett: Yeah. It's fun.

41:08 - 41:24
Aaron Craddock: Cool. Well, I don't think there's a better way to end the show than with gratitude. So thank you for that. Thank you for posing that final question and for sharing what you're grateful for. So I'll kind of end the show with, yeah, just posing to the audience.

41:24 - 41:31
Aaron Craddock: Like, what are you grateful for? Just think about that. Comment on the show. Follow Brad. Follow me on social media.

41:31 - 41:37
Aaron Craddock: And that's it. Thanks, everyone, for joining us. Again, was Erin Kratock with the Hired Truckers podcast. And thank you, Brad Hackett.

41:38 - 41:39
Brad Hackett: Thank you.

41:39 - 41:47
Ginger Craddock: Thank you for listening to the Hired Truckers podcast, the show for fleet executives, HR leaders, and recruiting professionals. I'm your host, Ginger Kratock.

41:47 - 42:00
Aaron Craddock: And I'm your host, Erin Kratock. Each week, we share insights, trends, and strategies to help you grow and thrive. If you found value today, please share the show and leave a review. Until next time, keep building top performing teams.