With Truckers in Control, Money Talks and Toilets Sparkle

Once at the mercy of shippers, truckers now are turning the tables, thanks to surging freight demand and a shortage of drivers. Gone are the days when customers used reliability scorecards to reject some truckers and kept others waiting for hours with no place to take a break but portable canopies and grimy restrooms. “Carriers are now starting to score shippers and receivers, and the primary way of keeping score is money,” said Cliff Finkle, vice president of Finkle Trucking, a New Jersey-based company with 250 rigs.