Joel Rice has been with our team here at King Solutions for more than 18 years. He currently works on the Truck Load side as a Transportation Manager, focusing on developing relationships with TL carriers, helping the King sales staff with TL opportunities, and working with Brokerage to secure enough TL capacity.
Learn more about Joel and hear what he has to say about working with King.
1. Introduce yourself to our readers.
I am always trying to make people laugh. Whether it’s a joke or some type of prank, I really enjoy getting people to laugh. My friends know that I’m always up to something and will blame me for everything (99% of the time they’re right, too).
2. What is your background that led you to working at King?
I am friends with Meyer Bolnick’s son Dave. King was starting to grow and they needed help on the dock. I worked on the dock for a few months, moved into Shipment Management for a year or so, then I went onsite at a customer called Banta Catalog (now RR Donnelley) and did their load planning. After that I moved back to King and was the main load planner for about 12 years. The past 3 years I have been the Transportation Manager.
3. What does an average day look like for you?
A typical day for me is to constantly look for more cost effective options on the lanes we are moving. I speak with as many carrier sales reps as I can to learn as much as I can about their needs and how that fits into King’s network of freight. I always make sure I have a backup plan in case a carrier needs to drop off a lane due to capacity or poor performance. I also audit all TL invoices that come in and don’t match what we have in the system.
4. What do you love about working at King?
The people. King has a great staff of employees that are good to work with. We care about what we do and it really shows in our culture.
5. What are your hobbies outside of work?
I am very busy with my 3 kids and all their activities. But when I have free time I enjoy golfing, live music, and watching movies with my wife. Just around the corner is my favorite time of year, ICE FISHING!
6. What special talents do you have?
Making people laugh and being a good listener. The old saying “you have 2 ears and 1 mouth” proves to be a good talent over and over again. Many people also have known me to catch the biggest walleye year after year while ice fishing.
7. Where do you see the logistics industry as a whole in 5 years? 10 years?
I believe the industry a few challenges ahead. Driver shortages and driver pay are both major issues. Drivers won’t be attracted into the transportation industry if they aren’t being paid enough to be away from home, hence your driver shortage.
On the positive side, in the 5-10 year outlook I believe we will start seeing autonomous trucks on the road to some degree. You will still need a driver in a truck to perform several functions, but trucks will be able to drive w/o a person behind the wheel. Many people think this is 20 years down the road, but I believe it will be sooner than that. We will also start to see truck platooning – where multiple trucks communicate with each other electronically and connect up to build a platoon of trucks. Platooning will allow each truck to get better MPG and will be better for air quality.
Connect with Joel
Want to connect with Joel and learn more about how he can help your business succeed? Connect with him on LinkedIn.
