[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In all economic sectors, the intangible rule of supply and demand is applied relentlessly. The road transport sector, of course, is no exception to this. For a few months now, a new phenomenon has strongly marked the entire profession and its clients in France: the lack of drivers causes a shortage of resources.
The different surveys by professional federations, MEDEF or by “large” shippers such as L'Oréal, show that the profession lacks 250,000, 300,000 or even 400,000 drivers. Actually, the exact number is of little importance, since, as a whole in the French regions, all entrepreneurs or agency directors of transport groups check it daily and suffer from this shortage of drivers. The official data for the second quarter already showed an increase in demand and transport prices and everything indicates that the trend will be consolidated in the third quarter.
Substitute solutions are attempted to respond to customer demands: interim employment, learning contracts, collaborations, return to 50% overtime, groupings of employers, etc. are used. But, since June 2017, the needs of contractors, increasing due to the economic recovery, have intensified while new sources tend to dry up. In fact, agencies face the same dilemma: the lack of motivated candidates to be drivers.
While recent tenders until a few months ago have lowered transport prices – often in an unsustainable and somewhat irresponsible way – certain clients, from July to September, had to pay up to five times more than normal for transport services. We are clearly witnessing a recurring imbalance in the market: a sharply rising demand for media and a low availability of additional media, inherent to the lack of drivers.
To repeat a well-known metaphor, the Chinese ideogram representing the word CRISIS has two meanings: a danger and an opportunity. The danger, paradoxically, is to change nothing (while the environment has already changed) and satisfy customers at any cost, without taking into account additional costs and profitability.
The opportunity is to return the letters of nobility to a profession in which all the actors demonstrate their work force, professionalism, rigor and flexibility. The opportunity is to add support, truly talk to each of the transportation customers and revalue transportation prices. The opportunity is also to give meaning to the win-win relationship (a formula often misused) by imposing on customers a quantitative and qualitative commitment (prices that cover the drivers' compensation supplement).
Some French companies, more than twenty years ago, understood and applied a price differentiation strategy well. Higher for clients who want committed and guaranteed resources, and on the other hand the resort to subcontracting with all its problems and risks, for those who want more trivialized services.
Confusing both answers can lead to collapsing margins and bankruptcy. The real relationship of force between supply and demand is, whether you like it or not, the fundamental element of any negotiation. That is why it is in the process of being reversed and intensified.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
