What Are You Really Learning From Your Freight Feed?

Freight has become an around-the-clock information business. Market updates, regulatory developments, fraud warnings, technology announcements, rate predictions, acquisitions, social media debates, podcasts, newsletters, and breaking news can all hit within the same day.

Having access to that much information can be incredibly valuable, especially in an industry where conditions change quickly. It also puts more responsibility on the person consuming it. Freight professionals have to decide which sources deserve their attention, which perspectives are relevant to their business, and which information provides enough context to influence a decision.

Thomas Wasson, known around the industry as the "Gandalf of Freight," has worked across several corners of transportation, including fleet operations, freight brokerage, trucking technology, analytics, and freight media. His advice for navigating today's information environment comes down to one question: Are you learning something?

More Voices Mean More Perspectives

The way transportation professionals get their information has changed significantly. Industry publications remain part of the mix, while drivers, brokers, carriers, analysts, technology leaders, and other freight professionals now have platforms to share their own experiences directly.

That gives the industry access to perspectives that were much harder to find in the past. A driver can explain how a policy affects life behind the wheel. A broker can discuss what is happening with customers and capacity. Carrier leaders can share what they're seeing in their operations, while analysts can add market data and broader context.

Wasson sees that expansion as a positive development.

“If there ever was a time to be a driver and get your voice heard or even in the supply chain industry, this is really the time,” he said.

The growing number of voices also means freight professionals have more information to evaluate. Understanding who is speaking, what experience they bring to the conversation, and what evidence supports their argument can provide valuable context before accepting a claim or sharing it with others.

Know What You're Consuming

Freight content competes for attention just like everything else online. Strong opinions, outrage, controversy, and predictions can generate engagement quickly, especially when markets are difficult or the industry is debating a major issue.

Wasson recommends looking more closely at the value behind that content. He suggested asking yourself, “Is this there to outrage me? Am I being used for eyeballs or am I learning something?”

Those are useful questions for anyone making business decisions based on industry information. A strong argument should give you something to evaluate, whether that's data, firsthand experience, documentation, historical context, or a clearly explained perspective.

Sources that consistently provide that context become easier to evaluate over time. Their track record gives readers a better understanding of where their expertise lies and how much weight to give their analysis.

Context Changes the Conversation

One of the advantages of having people from different backgrounds contributing to freight conversations is the amount of context they can bring with them.

Someone who has worked in fleet operations may notice something different in a market report than someone who has spent a career in brokerage. A driver may recognize operational consequences that aren't obvious from a corporate office. Someone with experience in freight technology may approach an AI announcement differently from someone focused primarily on carrier operations.

Wasson's own career has taken him through multiple areas of transportation, and he credits that variety with shaping how he approaches the industry today. His philosophy has been to keep learning new parts of the business and allow those experiences to build on one another.

That same approach can benefit freight leaders. Seeking perspectives from different parts of transportation creates a broader view of an issue and can expose considerations that would otherwise be easy to miss.

Receipts Still Matter

The speed of social media makes it easy for an opinion to travel through the industry before anyone stops to examine where it came from. That makes evidence increasingly important.

Wasson points to what he calls having “the receipts,” meaning there is information behind the argument that people can evaluate for themselves.

For freight professionals, that could mean checking the underlying data behind a market claim, reading proposed legislation instead of relying on a post about it, looking at multiple sources after breaking news, or understanding the experience behind someone's interpretation of an industry issue.

Firsthand experiences also have value when they're presented with enough context. A carrier explaining what happened with a customer or a driver describing what occurred at a facility can contribute something useful to a larger conversation. Knowing where information comes from makes it easier to understand what it can tell you.

Stay in Learning Mode

Freight changes too quickly for anyone to have complete expertise across every part of the industry. Technology alone is creating new areas of specialization, while regulations, fraud, market conditions, equipment, insurance, and customer expectations continue evolving alongside it.

That makes curiosity a valuable professional skill. Wasson's career reflects that mindset, moving from dispatch and fleet management into network design, brokerage, trucking technology, analytics, and writing. Each role added another perspective to what he already understood about transportation.

The same principle applies regardless of someone's role. Brokers can learn from drivers. Carriers can learn from technology providers. Executives can learn from frontline employees. Industry veterans can learn from people approaching an old problem in a new way.

A willingness to ask questions also helps people recognize the boundaries of their own expertise. Knowing when another perspective is needed can be just as useful as knowing the answer yourself.

Build a Better Information Diet

With so many voices competing for attention, relying heavily on any single perspective can create blind spots. Reading across different sources and listening to people who occupy different parts of the industry gives freight professionals more information to work with.

Wasson compares that approach to an information diet. “You don't want to just buy a bunch of potato chips,” he said. “Think of your information diet and make sure you curate it so that way you're getting positive outcomes.”

For brokers and carriers, that could mean following market analysts alongside working operators, reading industry reporting while staying connected with customers and drivers, and seeking out knowledgeable people whose experiences differ from their own.

The goal is a clearer picture of what's happening across freight. In an industry as interconnected as transportation, understanding more than your own corner of the business can help you make better decisions within it.

Keep the Conversation Going at BCS Dallas

An exchange of perspectives is a big part of what the Broker-Carrier Summit is built around. Brokers, carriers, drivers, technology providers, and other transportation leaders bring different experiences into the same room, creating opportunities to learn directly from people who see the industry from another seat.

As Wasson put it, “You want to continue to source it.”

The same thinking applies to the relationships and conversations that shape how people understand freight.

Join us at the Broker-Carrier Summit in Dallas on October 27-28 to hear more perspectives, ask better questions, build new relationships, and take home ideas you can put to work in your own business.