The Logistics of Logistics

Curtis Garrett and Joe Lynch discuss LTL in a Post-Yellow world. Curtis is the Senior VP of LTL at FreightPlus, a managed transportation provider. Curtis is also the Founder of Understand LTL, an LTL training firm. Curtis is hosting the industry’s first live LTL Mastermind Event, November 9^th and 10^th in High Point, North Carolina.

About Curtis Garrett

Curtis Garrett is the Senior VP of LTL at FreightPlus, a managed transportation provider. Curtis is also the Founder of Understand LTL, an LTL training firm. Curtis is on a career-long mission to advance LTL via technology, process and relationships while simplifying and demolishing the silos that have existed for decades. He is a huge believer of working in public. Curtis documents and shares challenges, progress, and goals in a collaborative and community driven way. Curtis has spent 16 years in the LTL industry - 8 of those with Old Dominion Freight Line, and the last 8 with Reconex, FreightPlus, and Understand LTL - which he recently launched as an LTL focused education firm. Curtis' career has taken him through LTL operations - both driver and dock, Weights and Research, pricing, yield management, strategy, sales, and technology. Curtis is a massive proponent and student of LTL technology and believes that as an industry, LTL is still in the very early stages of information sharing, connectivity, and decision making. Curtis is very much looking forward to seeing what the LTL community has to bring to the table as it evolves.

About Understand LTL

The Understand LTL education brand is a new initiative that is focused on simplifying the LTL industry and helping people to build the mental models in their mind to think about LTL clearly. Their flagship course, Understand LTL: Building an LTL Brain, was released in November 2022 and is designed to make LTL less frustrating and intimidating. The course is unique in that it uses humor, visual appreciation, deep thinking, and lightbulb moments to help students learn about LTL. It also includes 35+ lessons and quizzes, each with 500 words or more, as well as visuals that are designed to help students understand and remember LTL principles. The overall goal of the LTL Education brand is to make LTL more accessible and understandable to everyone. By simplifying the industry and helping people to build mental models for thinking about LTL, they are making it easier for people to learn and master this complex topic.

About FreightPlus

Founded in 1988 by trucking industry veteran, Russ Aborn, FreightPlus (formerly Aborn and Co.) began its family business as a negotiation consultancy in response to the deregulation of the transportation industry. The company provided an innovative approach to utilizing data and revolutionary technology for its growing clients to streamline logistics and implement cost-effective, efficient transportation programs. Through a customized approach, and a data-first mindset toward long term partnerships, the current business model matches the complex, always evolving needs of today’s transportation environment. FreightPlus includes operators and technology experts at all touchpoints as well as innovative technology that is fully customized and integrated for each client. Servicing companies such as Cumberland Packing, Chex Finer Foods, Zendex, Norco, Vitalmed Inc. and Sheehan Family Companies, FreightPlus is a one-stop shop and trusted partner for growing-to-mid-market suppliers looking to gain cost control over their transportation programs, eliminating the brokers and delivering the best solution for each client’s business from order to invoice.

Key Takeaways: LTL in a Post-Yellow World

Yellow Corporation was an American transportation holding company headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Its subsidiaries included national less than truckload (LTL) carrier YRC Freight; regional LTL carriers New Penn, Holland, and Reddaway; and freight brokerage HNRY Logistics.
The closure of Yellow Transportation is a significant event for the LTL industry. It is likely to lead to higher rates, less capacity, and more reliance on other carriers for shippers. For carriers, it presents an opportunity to expand their market share and increase their profitability.
Here is a summary of the key points of the Understand LTL training:
Focus on simplification: The Understand LTL training is focused on making the LTL industry less complex and more accessible to everyone.
Mental models: The brand's flagship course, Understand LTL: Building an LTL Brain, is designed to help students build mental models for thinking about LTL clearly.
Unique approach: The course uses humor, visual appreciation, deep thinking, and lightbulb moments to help students learn about LTL.
Comprehensive content: The course includes 35+ lessons and quizzes, each with 500 words or more, as well as visuals that are designed to help students understand and remember LTL principles.
Overall goal: The overall goal of the LTL Education brand is to make LTL more accessible and understandable to everyone.