Before we know it, summer will be here. We’ll be sipping lemonade by the pool, watching fireworks in the night sky while swatting away mosquitos and nursing our sunburns from long weekends at the cabin. But before we can get there, we have to work through the messy transition of quarter two. The snow begins to melt, and there are mud puddles everywhere. But then rain turns everything green and the smell of lilac blooms fills the air.

It’s fairly safe to say that no one in the trucking industry is enjoying the uncertainty we’re facing with market conditions as we move from 2022 to 2023. Customers, transportation providers, shippers and drivers alike are frustrated by the current market and what is potentially shaping up to be a recession in the new year.

It’s hard to believe we’re already approaching the last quarter of the year. College students have been dropped off at their dorms, children’s backpacks are stuffed with fresh #2 pencils and Crayola crayons and everyone is back in the office after a summer of beach vacations and trips to the cabin. As we navigate the start of fall and the fourth quarter of 2022, it’s important to reflect on where we’ve been thus far. It’s been a rollercoaster year for truck drivers. While the market looked good at the start of the year, predictions were on the nose and in Q3 we saw a slide in spot rates. Fuel hit record-breaking highs in June and drivers became obsessed with fuel efficiency and finding the best fuel prices across the country.