Unregistered Carriers on 12/29/2009 - 1306
Unregistered Carriers on 12/30/2009 - 1302
Illinois - 93.96%
Maine - 93.35%
If you read yesterday's post, you know that I talked a lot about our work with carriers who obtained USDOT numbers during 2009. Well, it turns out that when Kathy and I were comparing notes on these carriers yesterday afternoon, we discovered a glitch in our contact procedures that resulted in 80 of our 489 unregistered "new guys" never having been contacted about UCR. So, of course, we remedied that immediately. But it points to the fact that no matter how diligent we are, we must continue to look for improvements and "cracks".
On another note, I recently identified timelines for "getting to zero" assuming certain rates of "clearance" of our unregistered carriers. Following up on that theme, we are only averaging a "clear rate" of about 8 carriers per day, which technically has us "getting to zero" sometime in August. Not cool. Hopefully, that daily "clear rate" will improve as we "dry up the lake".
Finally, we are approaching the "rare air" of 94% registration. With any luck, we'll hit it tomorrow, but anything can happen. We started December at 93.02% and trailed Maine by .27%, so I'm really happy with the month we've had. I'll recap December tomorrow.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
The Unregistered List - Another Piece of the Puzzle.
Unregistered Carriers on 12/28/2009 - 1326
Unregistered Carriers on 12/29/2009 - 1306
Illinois - 93.94%
Maine - 93.38%
As you can see, we took 20 carriers off the list yesterday ... not a bad start on the next phase of the "getting to zero" effort.
Here's an interesting fact: of the 1306 remaining unregistered carriers, 489 of them have a USDOT number issued in 2009. That seems like a lot of carriers - and I might feel bad about that fact - except that we have registered nearly 88% (87.64%, to be exact) of our new USDOT carriers! No other state is even close to us in that department - Maine is next at 78.77%, and then the percentages fall into the low 60's.
The good news is this: we can be fairly certain that those carriers are really active and that their demographics are reasonably accurate, etc. In other words, they are probably not phantom MCMIS records and we can probably reach them and register them ... eventually.
Unregistered Carriers on 12/29/2009 - 1306
Illinois - 93.94%
Maine - 93.38%
As you can see, we took 20 carriers off the list yesterday ... not a bad start on the next phase of the "getting to zero" effort.
Here's an interesting fact: of the 1306 remaining unregistered carriers, 489 of them have a USDOT number issued in 2009. That seems like a lot of carriers - and I might feel bad about that fact - except that we have registered nearly 88% (87.64%, to be exact) of our new USDOT carriers! No other state is even close to us in that department - Maine is next at 78.77%, and then the percentages fall into the low 60's.
The good news is this: we can be fairly certain that those carriers are really active and that their demographics are reasonably accurate, etc. In other words, they are probably not phantom MCMIS records and we can probably reach them and register them ... eventually.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Getting To Zero - I Haven't Forgotten!
Unregistered Carriers on 12/24/2009 - 1333
Unregistered Carriers on 12/28/2009 - 1326
Illinois - 93.84%
Maine - 93.34%
It's tempting to look at all we've accomplished in 2009 and declare victory. But that's not what this blog - or the UCR5000 project - is all about. Let's recap.
In March of 2009, I said in a UCR Board Meeting that I was going to try to "get to zero" unregistered carriers in Illinois - in other words, I was going to try to register every carrier in our Illinois "UCR Universe".
At the time, we had 5,123 carriers left on our unregistered list - having already registered well over 10,000 IL carriers.
As you can see, we now have 1,326 unregistered carriers. What will it take to get to zero from here? Here are a few thoughts:
1) Until we have 2010 fees, we will actively continue to pursue 2009 unregistered carriers. When we get fees for 2010, we will probably get "distracted" as we only have a small staff and I'm sure they will be quite busy!
2) After 12/31/09, we will no longer be adding "new 2009 USDOT numbers" - which means our 2009 UCR Universe can only grow by "sideways additions". End result: quicker (hopefully) reduction of the list.
3) The Daily Reduction Table (DRT). The DRT shows how many work days (and months) we would need to get ourselves to zero based on reducing the list by a certain net number of carriers per work day.
Reduce List By Work Days / Months
-------------- ------------------
10 133 / 6
20 67 / 3
30 44 / 2
I have to think about what this means for our effort in the new year, but it's intriguing to think that reducing that list by 30 carriers per work day gets us to zero by the end of February. Impossible? No. Improbable? Yes. But I keep thinking about that moment in "Dumb and Dumber" when Loren Holly tells Jim Carrey that his odds of winning her affection are not one-in-a-hundred but "one-in-a-million" and he says, "So you're saying there's a chance!!" I like the enthusiasm!
Hey, what do we have to lose???
Unregistered Carriers on 12/28/2009 - 1326
Illinois - 93.84%
Maine - 93.34%
It's tempting to look at all we've accomplished in 2009 and declare victory. But that's not what this blog - or the UCR5000 project - is all about. Let's recap.
In March of 2009, I said in a UCR Board Meeting that I was going to try to "get to zero" unregistered carriers in Illinois - in other words, I was going to try to register every carrier in our Illinois "UCR Universe".
At the time, we had 5,123 carriers left on our unregistered list - having already registered well over 10,000 IL carriers.
As you can see, we now have 1,326 unregistered carriers. What will it take to get to zero from here? Here are a few thoughts:
1) Until we have 2010 fees, we will actively continue to pursue 2009 unregistered carriers. When we get fees for 2010, we will probably get "distracted" as we only have a small staff and I'm sure they will be quite busy!
2) After 12/31/09, we will no longer be adding "new 2009 USDOT numbers" - which means our 2009 UCR Universe can only grow by "sideways additions". End result: quicker (hopefully) reduction of the list.
3) The Daily Reduction Table (DRT). The DRT shows how many work days (and months) we would need to get ourselves to zero based on reducing the list by a certain net number of carriers per work day.
Reduce List By Work Days / Months
-------------- ------------------
10 133 / 6
20 67 / 3
30 44 / 2
I have to think about what this means for our effort in the new year, but it's intriguing to think that reducing that list by 30 carriers per work day gets us to zero by the end of February. Impossible? No. Improbable? Yes. But I keep thinking about that moment in "Dumb and Dumber" when Loren Holly tells Jim Carrey that his odds of winning her affection are not one-in-a-hundred but "one-in-a-million" and he says, "So you're saying there's a chance!!" I like the enthusiasm!
Hey, what do we have to lose???
Thursday, December 24, 2009
UCR Best Practice Review
Unregistered Carriers on 12/23/2009 - 1342
Unregistered Carriers on 12/24/2009 - 1333
Illinois - 93.81%
Maine - 93.34%
So far we've talked about four UCR best practices:
1) Know who's on your UCR Unregistered List
2) Routinely Solicit Your Unregistered Carriers
3) Know Your Statistics
4) Work Smarter, Not Harder
Best Practice #5 is really important to me, but you may find it ridiculous: Set A Challenge For Yourself and Your Staff
I've been as forthright as possible about the challenges I've set here in Illinois:
Register more of our state's carriers than anybody else.
Register a higher percentage of our carriers than anybody else.
Get to Zero.
I have to be honest - I think these kinds of challenges cause us to operate at a higher level. The thinking goes something like this, "I know we probably won't be able to do this ... but if we were going to try, what would that look like?"
Asking that one question, "... what would that look like?", has helped us to develop tools and processes that would not have happened otherwise. As corny as it sounds, it's the "stuff" from which innovation emanates.
So ... setting a challenge really just "puts a specific number target" on improving the operation.
And, I can tell you from first-hand experience that overcoming a challenge that didn't really look possible at the outset raises the expectations of everybody involved about what's possible. It has rewards that go way beyond UCR.
I Wish You A Merry Christmas And A Very Happy And Prosperous New Year!
Unregistered Carriers on 12/24/2009 - 1333
Illinois - 93.81%
Maine - 93.34%
So far we've talked about four UCR best practices:
1) Know who's on your UCR Unregistered List
2) Routinely Solicit Your Unregistered Carriers
3) Know Your Statistics
4) Work Smarter, Not Harder
Best Practice #5 is really important to me, but you may find it ridiculous: Set A Challenge For Yourself and Your Staff
I've been as forthright as possible about the challenges I've set here in Illinois:
Register more of our state's carriers than anybody else.
Register a higher percentage of our carriers than anybody else.
Get to Zero.
I have to be honest - I think these kinds of challenges cause us to operate at a higher level. The thinking goes something like this, "I know we probably won't be able to do this ... but if we were going to try, what would that look like?"
Asking that one question, "... what would that look like?", has helped us to develop tools and processes that would not have happened otherwise. As corny as it sounds, it's the "stuff" from which innovation emanates.
So ... setting a challenge really just "puts a specific number target" on improving the operation.
And, I can tell you from first-hand experience that overcoming a challenge that didn't really look possible at the outset raises the expectations of everybody involved about what's possible. It has rewards that go way beyond UCR.
I Wish You A Merry Christmas And A Very Happy And Prosperous New Year!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Best Practice #4 - Working Smarter, Not Harder
Unregistered Carriers on 12/22/2009 - 1357
Unregistered Carriers on 12/23/2009 - 1342
Illinois - 93.76%
Maine - 93.22%
We have a saying around here, "We need to work smarter, not harder."
Essentially, it means, "let's figure out how to improve our performance of a task in a way that results in expending LESS staff effort than we are expending now."
Tall, order, right? If you think it smacks of "doing more with less", you are correct. Is that possible? Yes!
A great example is our experience with carrier email addresses.
When we first learned of their availability, Kathy would dutifully grab dozens of email addresses every day, plug them into an email and then send out the email. This led to us asking Iteris to build an emailer, which not only removed the need for Kathy to do the labor-intensive email activity she had been doing, but basically put the whole thing on auto-pilot, complete with the capability to conduct multiple emails campaigns, send emails to everybody who is unregistered every 15 days, etc. In other words, we are now doing "abundantly more" in this area --- with less effort.
Interestingly, working smarter for a lot of states would be as simple as subscribing to UCR-Link.
When all is said and done, however, a lot more is said than done. (Sorry, I couldn't resist that one.)
When all is said and done, however, setting the bar at working smarter - doing more with less effort" - results in a different train of thought than just trying to do a task or an activity more efficiently.
Unregistered Carriers on 12/23/2009 - 1342
Illinois - 93.76%
Maine - 93.22%
We have a saying around here, "We need to work smarter, not harder."
Essentially, it means, "let's figure out how to improve our performance of a task in a way that results in expending LESS staff effort than we are expending now."
Tall, order, right? If you think it smacks of "doing more with less", you are correct. Is that possible? Yes!
A great example is our experience with carrier email addresses.
When we first learned of their availability, Kathy would dutifully grab dozens of email addresses every day, plug them into an email and then send out the email. This led to us asking Iteris to build an emailer, which not only removed the need for Kathy to do the labor-intensive email activity she had been doing, but basically put the whole thing on auto-pilot, complete with the capability to conduct multiple emails campaigns, send emails to everybody who is unregistered every 15 days, etc. In other words, we are now doing "abundantly more" in this area --- with less effort.
Interestingly, working smarter for a lot of states would be as simple as subscribing to UCR-Link.
When all is said and done, however, a lot more is said than done. (Sorry, I couldn't resist that one.)
When all is said and done, however, setting the bar at working smarter - doing more with less effort" - results in a different train of thought than just trying to do a task or an activity more efficiently.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Best Practice Number Four - Work Smarter, Not Harder (The Parable)
Unregistered Carriers on 12/21/2009 - 1382
Unregistered Carriers on 12/22/2009 - 1357
Illinois - 93.69%
Maine - 93.22%
Once upon a time, in an obscure agency somewhere in the Midwest, toiled a lady named Kayleen. Kayleen worked for a kind and benevolent manager named Dane. Dane was known to be a patient man, for he put up with frequent bouts of whining and sniveling from Kayleen (primarily because other help was hard to find). One day, Kayleen, in her aforementioned sniveling tone, complained to the benevolent Dane that her work was slowly overwhelming her. To her total surprise, Dane did not retort, "Perhaps if you stopped talking on your cell phone and worked a little harder, your workload might become more manageable!" (although he would undoubtedly have been justified in doing so). Instead, Dane demonstrated his vast wisdom by simply saying, "We must learn to work smarter." "Work smarter?" asked Kayleen. "I only know how to work harder." "Yes", replied Dane. "That is why I am the boss!"
What secret knowledge did the wise Dane possess that completely eluded the fair - but somewhat "challenged" - Lady Kayleen?
Tune in tomorrow for an analysis of this great and important parable ....
Unregistered Carriers on 12/22/2009 - 1357
Illinois - 93.69%
Maine - 93.22%
Once upon a time, in an obscure agency somewhere in the Midwest, toiled a lady named Kayleen. Kayleen worked for a kind and benevolent manager named Dane. Dane was known to be a patient man, for he put up with frequent bouts of whining and sniveling from Kayleen (primarily because other help was hard to find). One day, Kayleen, in her aforementioned sniveling tone, complained to the benevolent Dane that her work was slowly overwhelming her. To her total surprise, Dane did not retort, "Perhaps if you stopped talking on your cell phone and worked a little harder, your workload might become more manageable!" (although he would undoubtedly have been justified in doing so). Instead, Dane demonstrated his vast wisdom by simply saying, "We must learn to work smarter." "Work smarter?" asked Kayleen. "I only know how to work harder." "Yes", replied Dane. "That is why I am the boss!"
What secret knowledge did the wise Dane possess that completely eluded the fair - but somewhat "challenged" - Lady Kayleen?
Tune in tomorrow for an analysis of this great and important parable ....
Monday, December 21, 2009
The Third Best UCR Best Practice
Unregistered Carriers on 12/18/2009 - 1378
Unregistered Carriers on 12/21/2009 - 1382
Illinois - 93.58%
Maine - 93.18%
As threatened, I'd like to talk a little about another UCR Best Practice - statistics.
How important are statistics? I think they're really important for several reasons. Statistics tell you:
1) Where you are
2) Where you've been
3) Where you're going
An old business adage suggests that "if you can't measure it, you can't manage it." For the most part, I'm inclined to agree - at least as far as UCR goes. Unfortunately, you CAN supervise it - which, I believe, is causing some states - and the rest of us - a lot of problems.
What's the difference between management and supervision? Here's my ten-second, oversimplified version: a supervisor makes sure that you are doing today exactly what you did yesterday - maybe a little more efficiently. A manager makes sure you're doing important stuff.
If you are driving a car towards a cliff, a supervisor (no clue about the cliff) makes sure your steering technique is good and that you are maximizing your gas mileage ... while a manager tells you to make the necessary changes to get the car rolling in a more productive direction....away from the cliff. Big difference. Many times, supervisors are not even aware that things are going awry ("that's not my job"), let alone what to do to fix it.
Why do I bring this up? Because managers manage - often, to numbers - while supervisors supervise.
Managers know that the numbers paint a picture. Managers know that numbers create a perception. Managers know that if you point to a certain number and say, "This is where we are ... and this is where we want to be", a good staff (which I'm fortunate to have) can intuit a certain amount of what needs to be done and maybe even provide ideas on how to get there.
Let's face it ... even if you don't use numbers, other people are looking at your numbers and forming perceptions about what kind of job you're doing.
Try using the numbers ... you won't go back.
Unregistered Carriers on 12/21/2009 - 1382
Illinois - 93.58%
Maine - 93.18%
As threatened, I'd like to talk a little about another UCR Best Practice - statistics.
How important are statistics? I think they're really important for several reasons. Statistics tell you:
1) Where you are
2) Where you've been
3) Where you're going
An old business adage suggests that "if you can't measure it, you can't manage it." For the most part, I'm inclined to agree - at least as far as UCR goes. Unfortunately, you CAN supervise it - which, I believe, is causing some states - and the rest of us - a lot of problems.
What's the difference between management and supervision? Here's my ten-second, oversimplified version: a supervisor makes sure that you are doing today exactly what you did yesterday - maybe a little more efficiently. A manager makes sure you're doing important stuff.
If you are driving a car towards a cliff, a supervisor (no clue about the cliff) makes sure your steering technique is good and that you are maximizing your gas mileage ... while a manager tells you to make the necessary changes to get the car rolling in a more productive direction....away from the cliff. Big difference. Many times, supervisors are not even aware that things are going awry ("that's not my job"), let alone what to do to fix it.
Why do I bring this up? Because managers manage - often, to numbers - while supervisors supervise.
Managers know that the numbers paint a picture. Managers know that numbers create a perception. Managers know that if you point to a certain number and say, "This is where we are ... and this is where we want to be", a good staff (which I'm fortunate to have) can intuit a certain amount of what needs to be done and maybe even provide ideas on how to get there.
Let's face it ... even if you don't use numbers, other people are looking at your numbers and forming perceptions about what kind of job you're doing.
Try using the numbers ... you won't go back.
Friday, December 18, 2009
The Second Best "Best Practice" - Routine Solicitation
Unregistered Carriers on 12/17/2009 - 1379
Unregistered Carriers on 12/18/2009 - 1378
Illinois - 93.59%
Maine - 93.24%
I think one of the best things we've done is to "routinize" solicitation of UCR unregistered carriers.
Whether it's daily email solicitation or sending stuff to the "sideways adds" or phoning carriers on the unregistered list, we have activity going on daily. To me, this approach is far more effective than sending a mass mailing once or twice a year.
Do we end up sending as many pieces of mail out? Sure ... maybe more. Does it pay off? You already know that I think so.
Daily activity allows our folks to get into a UCR "rhythm". It's also led us to conceive some really great UCR solicitation tools that have been incorporated into UCR-Link. I predict more next year.
Next time, if I remember, I'm going to write about Best Practice #3 - Statistics.
Unregistered Carriers on 12/18/2009 - 1378
Illinois - 93.59%
Maine - 93.24%
I think one of the best things we've done is to "routinize" solicitation of UCR unregistered carriers.
Whether it's daily email solicitation or sending stuff to the "sideways adds" or phoning carriers on the unregistered list, we have activity going on daily. To me, this approach is far more effective than sending a mass mailing once or twice a year.
Do we end up sending as many pieces of mail out? Sure ... maybe more. Does it pay off? You already know that I think so.
Daily activity allows our folks to get into a UCR "rhythm". It's also led us to conceive some really great UCR solicitation tools that have been incorporated into UCR-Link. I predict more next year.
Next time, if I remember, I'm going to write about Best Practice #3 - Statistics.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
What Should The Minimum UCR State Effort Be?
Unregistered Carriers on 12/16/2009 - 1382
Unregistered Carriers on 12/17/2009 - 1379
Illinois - 93.58%
Maine - 93.27%
Every once in a while, I like to torture myself by thinking about UCR State Participation Agreements. Specifically, who's keeping their promise and who's not?
One important "rear view mirror" point of clarification is that we didn't REALLY know what we were getting into when we signed up - kind of like getting married ... or working for me. And we naively thought that we were all in this together, if you follow my drift. And who was hammering the table insisting on "performance"? Nobody!
There were no performance measures except for - and I'm paraphrasing here - we had to use an amount of money equal to the revenue we collected for motor carrier safety purposes.
Our actual results have been all over the board. And how do we distinguish a state that has, in fact, dutifully fulfilled its obligation from one that hasn't? Beats me. Maybe it's the old, "I can't spell it out for you, but I'll recognize it when I see it." Heck, even that description is fraught with peril.
I've pretty much come to the conclusion that if you don't commit to anything, it's hard to let people down. It's not that those people won't feel let down, it's just that you never really agreed to all that baggage they hauled in later on.
Think about poor Tiger. A lot of people think he owes the public an apology. For what?? He didn't promise US he would never cheat on his wife. And she never promised him that she wouldn't wrap a golf club around his head if she found out. No specific promise - no foul!
And, just for good measure, let us never forget what basketball great Charles Barkley said when somebody "reminded" him that his behavior was not in keeping with the behavior of a role model, "I'm not a role model! Just because I dunk a basketball doesn't mean I should raise your kids!" I love that one!
So it appears to be with State Participation Agreements - States actually COMMITTED to doing very little ... and they've been faithful to their commitment. If we're disappointed, it might be more our own problem than theirs.
Mea culpa, everyone! (Bill, that's Latin for "Merry Christmas" ...)
Unregistered Carriers on 12/17/2009 - 1379
Illinois - 93.58%
Maine - 93.27%
Every once in a while, I like to torture myself by thinking about UCR State Participation Agreements. Specifically, who's keeping their promise and who's not?
One important "rear view mirror" point of clarification is that we didn't REALLY know what we were getting into when we signed up - kind of like getting married ... or working for me. And we naively thought that we were all in this together, if you follow my drift. And who was hammering the table insisting on "performance"? Nobody!
There were no performance measures except for - and I'm paraphrasing here - we had to use an amount of money equal to the revenue we collected for motor carrier safety purposes.
Our actual results have been all over the board. And how do we distinguish a state that has, in fact, dutifully fulfilled its obligation from one that hasn't? Beats me. Maybe it's the old, "I can't spell it out for you, but I'll recognize it when I see it." Heck, even that description is fraught with peril.
I've pretty much come to the conclusion that if you don't commit to anything, it's hard to let people down. It's not that those people won't feel let down, it's just that you never really agreed to all that baggage they hauled in later on.
Think about poor Tiger. A lot of people think he owes the public an apology. For what?? He didn't promise US he would never cheat on his wife. And she never promised him that she wouldn't wrap a golf club around his head if she found out. No specific promise - no foul!
And, just for good measure, let us never forget what basketball great Charles Barkley said when somebody "reminded" him that his behavior was not in keeping with the behavior of a role model, "I'm not a role model! Just because I dunk a basketball doesn't mean I should raise your kids!" I love that one!
So it appears to be with State Participation Agreements - States actually COMMITTED to doing very little ... and they've been faithful to their commitment. If we're disappointed, it might be more our own problem than theirs.
Mea culpa, everyone! (Bill, that's Latin for "Merry Christmas" ...)
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
What's The BEST UCR Best Practice?
Unregistered Carriers on 12/15/2009 - 1382
Unregistered Carriers on 12/16/2009 - 1382
Illinois - 93.56%
Maine - 93.27%
I've been thinking about the question, "If I could only implement one best practice, what would it be?" (This assumes, of course, that one is motivated to implement any best practices at all.)
For me, the answer is simple: find out who is on your Unregistered List.
Knowing who's unregistered can stimulate you to think about ways that you can reach those particular people and get them registered. NOT knowing who's unregistered can't stimulate you to do a darned thing. In fact, I think it promotes a false complacency that you are "doing what you can".
I know that some people will say, "we can't afford to buy UCR-Link" or "we don't have access to that data" or something else to that effect.
My approach is this: if a state wants their information, I'll find a way to get it to them. To date, I've had very few requests, which signals to me that States 1) don't recognize the value, or they 2) don't care to do more, or they 3) don't get it.
All of these trouble me in one way or another .... but that's a discussion for another day.
Unregistered Carriers on 12/16/2009 - 1382
Illinois - 93.56%
Maine - 93.27%
I've been thinking about the question, "If I could only implement one best practice, what would it be?" (This assumes, of course, that one is motivated to implement any best practices at all.)
For me, the answer is simple: find out who is on your Unregistered List.
Knowing who's unregistered can stimulate you to think about ways that you can reach those particular people and get them registered. NOT knowing who's unregistered can't stimulate you to do a darned thing. In fact, I think it promotes a false complacency that you are "doing what you can".
I know that some people will say, "we can't afford to buy UCR-Link" or "we don't have access to that data" or something else to that effect.
My approach is this: if a state wants their information, I'll find a way to get it to them. To date, I've had very few requests, which signals to me that States 1) don't recognize the value, or they 2) don't care to do more, or they 3) don't get it.
All of these trouble me in one way or another .... but that's a discussion for another day.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
A Little UCR Numbers Weirdness
Unregistered Carriers on 12/14/2009 - 1380
Unregistered Carriers on 12/15/2009 - 1382
Illinois - 93.56%
Maine - 93.27%
Well, half-way through December, my prediction about Maine not moving much off of 93.29% is looking pretty good. Just to recap, I said that if their entire UCR effort was having a new guy get a DOT number and then registering that guy, it wasn't going to affect their percentage much. Sooner or later, they have to remove some additional guys from their unregistered list - and I don't think they avail themselves of their unregistered list.
Meanwhile, you may have noticed that they fell from 93.33% to 93.27%. This happened because they added two guys to their unregistered list but didn't register any.
We, on the other hand, registered 34 guys, re-sent a couple records, and deactived a couple carriers yesterday, but our percentage didn't budge because we added 41 carriers to our unregistered list. 41 carriers! And most of them were new DOT numbers! Chalk them up to enforcement.
Such is the nature of UCR registration percentage math ... and then, of course, there is the Federal update process, which can throw off the best of mathematical calculations and expectations.
Unregistered Carriers on 12/15/2009 - 1382
Illinois - 93.56%
Maine - 93.27%
Well, half-way through December, my prediction about Maine not moving much off of 93.29% is looking pretty good. Just to recap, I said that if their entire UCR effort was having a new guy get a DOT number and then registering that guy, it wasn't going to affect their percentage much. Sooner or later, they have to remove some additional guys from their unregistered list - and I don't think they avail themselves of their unregistered list.
Meanwhile, you may have noticed that they fell from 93.33% to 93.27%. This happened because they added two guys to their unregistered list but didn't register any.
We, on the other hand, registered 34 guys, re-sent a couple records, and deactived a couple carriers yesterday, but our percentage didn't budge because we added 41 carriers to our unregistered list. 41 carriers! And most of them were new DOT numbers! Chalk them up to enforcement.
Such is the nature of UCR registration percentage math ... and then, of course, there is the Federal update process, which can throw off the best of mathematical calculations and expectations.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Perhaps I Spoke Too Soon About Indiana!
Unregistered Carriers on 12/11/2009 - 1393
Unregistered Carriers on 12/14/2009 - 1380
Illinois - 93.56%
Maine - 93.34%
No sooner did I say that sending Indiana their unregistered list didn't make a difference than their registration percentage shot up in one day from 89.83% to 90.01%! This may have been because of a delay in Federal data processing or it may be due to an influx of registrations ... either way, congrats to Indiana for hitting the 90% mark!
Unregistered Carriers on 12/14/2009 - 1380
Illinois - 93.56%
Maine - 93.34%
No sooner did I say that sending Indiana their unregistered list didn't make a difference than their registration percentage shot up in one day from 89.83% to 90.01%! This may have been because of a delay in Federal data processing or it may be due to an influx of registrations ... either way, congrats to Indiana for hitting the 90% mark!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Amazing What A Difference A Couple Carriers Can Make!
Unregistered Carriers on 12/09/2009 - 1397
Unregistered Carriers on 12/10/2009 - 1391
Illinois - 93.50%
Maine - 93.34%
You may have noticed that Maine continues to fall further behind us in registration percentage. In fact, we have exceeded their performance by .43% in the month of December. (I'm not trying to pick on Maine - it's just that they are in 2nd place.)
Despite what looks like a strong performance by us during December, however, our lead is tenuous at best! Why? Because in order to catch up with us, Maine would only have to remove a net of about 6 carriers from their unregistered list! Six carriers! The irony, of course, is that they would have to know who's on their unregistered list before they can remove them - and I don't think they have availed themselves of that list.
Even if they had their list, I'm not sure it would make any difference. A couple weeks ago, I sent Indiana their list and Indiana is still, for all practical purposes, at the same percentage they were then.
Maybe, after 16 months of 2009 registration, everybody's getting a little tired. Better eat your Wheaties, folks! We may be doing 2009 registration for a while yet!!!
Unregistered Carriers on 12/10/2009 - 1391
Illinois - 93.50%
Maine - 93.34%
You may have noticed that Maine continues to fall further behind us in registration percentage. In fact, we have exceeded their performance by .43% in the month of December. (I'm not trying to pick on Maine - it's just that they are in 2nd place.)
Despite what looks like a strong performance by us during December, however, our lead is tenuous at best! Why? Because in order to catch up with us, Maine would only have to remove a net of about 6 carriers from their unregistered list! Six carriers! The irony, of course, is that they would have to know who's on their unregistered list before they can remove them - and I don't think they have availed themselves of that list.
Even if they had their list, I'm not sure it would make any difference. A couple weeks ago, I sent Indiana their list and Indiana is still, for all practical purposes, at the same percentage they were then.
Maybe, after 16 months of 2009 registration, everybody's getting a little tired. Better eat your Wheaties, folks! We may be doing 2009 registration for a while yet!!!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
20,001 - A Race Oddity!
Unregistered Carriers on 12/08/2009 - 1404
Unregistered Carriers on 12/09/2009 - 1397
Illinois - 93.47%
Maine - 93.39%
This morning, we finally registered our 20,000th Illinois carrier for RY 2009. If somebody would have told me last year that we even HAVE 20,000 active carriers in Illinois, I would have told them that I doubt it.
What's even more amazing to me is that we still have 1,397 unregistered carriers! While I don't believe that all of those carriers are active, I think that most of them (90%?) probably are, so we still have lots of work to do.
Meanwhile, Maine surged by .1% as they registered 4 carriers, and removed 3 carriers from their unregistered list.
Yesterday, I ran a report that showed that we (Illinois) have about 17,500 carriers in our current MCMIS "UCR Universe" of carriers. This means 17,500 MCMIS records that meet all the criteria for being included in the list of likely candidates for 2010 registration. That number seems low to me, but, at this point, I'll assume "it is what it is".
And as for 2010 fees, I'm not assuming anything!
Unregistered Carriers on 12/09/2009 - 1397
Illinois - 93.47%
Maine - 93.39%
This morning, we finally registered our 20,000th Illinois carrier for RY 2009. If somebody would have told me last year that we even HAVE 20,000 active carriers in Illinois, I would have told them that I doubt it.
What's even more amazing to me is that we still have 1,397 unregistered carriers! While I don't believe that all of those carriers are active, I think that most of them (90%?) probably are, so we still have lots of work to do.
Meanwhile, Maine surged by .1% as they registered 4 carriers, and removed 3 carriers from their unregistered list.
Yesterday, I ran a report that showed that we (Illinois) have about 17,500 carriers in our current MCMIS "UCR Universe" of carriers. This means 17,500 MCMIS records that meet all the criteria for being included in the list of likely candidates for 2010 registration. That number seems low to me, but, at this point, I'll assume "it is what it is".
And as for 2010 fees, I'm not assuming anything!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
I Know Percentages Can Be Deceiving, But ...
Unregistered Carriers on 12/07/2009 - 1409
Unregistered Carriers on 12/08/2009 - 1404
Illinois - 93.43%
Maine - 93.29%
I was looking over some State registration percentages this morning and I noticed something kind of odd. "We" have now registered 66.46% of the carriers from New Jersey, a non-participating UCR state. (Bill Leonard will, of course, take most of the credit for New Jersey - whether or not it's true!)
Interestingly, that percentage puts them ahead of at least four participating UCR states - Georgia (65.15%), Michigan (65.45%), North Carolina (62.73%) and South Carolina (55.98%).
It also puts them within "spitting distance" of California (67.12%), Iowa (67.58%), Mississippi (69.49%), Montana (68%) and New Hampshire (69.99%).
Three of those states - Georgia, North Carolina and California - have over 5,000 unregistered carriers each, with California having almost 10,000.
As I said, this is not a judgment, just an observation.
One could make the argument, however, that it might be more effective to "de-participate" some states and take our chances. Ju-s-s-st kidding!
Unregistered Carriers on 12/08/2009 - 1404
Illinois - 93.43%
Maine - 93.29%
I was looking over some State registration percentages this morning and I noticed something kind of odd. "We" have now registered 66.46% of the carriers from New Jersey, a non-participating UCR state. (Bill Leonard will, of course, take most of the credit for New Jersey - whether or not it's true!)
Interestingly, that percentage puts them ahead of at least four participating UCR states - Georgia (65.15%), Michigan (65.45%), North Carolina (62.73%) and South Carolina (55.98%).
It also puts them within "spitting distance" of California (67.12%), Iowa (67.58%), Mississippi (69.49%), Montana (68%) and New Hampshire (69.99%).
Three of those states - Georgia, North Carolina and California - have over 5,000 unregistered carriers each, with California having almost 10,000.
As I said, this is not a judgment, just an observation.
One could make the argument, however, that it might be more effective to "de-participate" some states and take our chances. Ju-s-s-st kidding!
Monday, December 7, 2009
How Maine Can (Easily) Regain The Lead From Illinois
Unregistered Carriers on 12/04/2009 - 1412
Unregistered Carriers on 12/07/2009 - 1409
Illinois - 93.41%
Maine - 93.29%
As incredible as it may sound, Maine can easily regain the lead from us.
And, as unbelievable as it may seem, I'm going to tell them how to do it.
Ready? Here goes:
Take four more carriers off your unregistered list.
It's that simple. Or that difficult, depending on how you view a little extra effort.
If I was in Maine (which I'm not) and if I was reading this blog (which I probably would be), I would, of course, call carriers on my unregistered list all afternoon until I found four of them that I could either register or deactivate - just on principle.
Honey, does this post make my nature look competitive?
Unregistered Carriers on 12/07/2009 - 1409
Illinois - 93.41%
Maine - 93.29%
As incredible as it may sound, Maine can easily regain the lead from us.
And, as unbelievable as it may seem, I'm going to tell them how to do it.
Ready? Here goes:
Take four more carriers off your unregistered list.
It's that simple. Or that difficult, depending on how you view a little extra effort.
If I was in Maine (which I'm not) and if I was reading this blog (which I probably would be), I would, of course, call carriers on my unregistered list all afternoon until I found four of them that I could either register or deactivate - just on principle.
Honey, does this post make my nature look competitive?
Saturday, December 5, 2009
UCR "Wars - Saturday Edition - 12/05/09
Unregistered Carriers on 12/04/2009 - 1412
Unregistered Carriers on 12/05/2009 - 1410
Illinois - 93.40%
Maine - 93.29%
I've been speculating on whether Maine can move significantly off their current percentage without doing some kind of proactive registration / deactivation work. Here's my thinking.
Yesterday, they moved from 93.26% to 93.29% by registering a carrier. This carrier was, in effect, a carrier they added early in the week that took their percentage down from .29 to .26, so now they registered the guy and it's a wash and they have returned to .29. Their overall percentage for December has registered no significant change. So, just to review, if all they do is add a new DOT number and then register that guy every time, their percentage will first go down and then return (more or less) to where it was.
What does this mean for us?
Keep soliciting, keep registering, keep deactivating and we will emerge victorious!
"What does have to do with getting to zero?", you might wonder, perhaps even aloud.
Same formula. If we can't beat Maine, we can't get to zero.
Unregistered Carriers on 12/05/2009 - 1410
Illinois - 93.40%
Maine - 93.29%
I've been speculating on whether Maine can move significantly off their current percentage without doing some kind of proactive registration / deactivation work. Here's my thinking.
Yesterday, they moved from 93.26% to 93.29% by registering a carrier. This carrier was, in effect, a carrier they added early in the week that took their percentage down from .29 to .26, so now they registered the guy and it's a wash and they have returned to .29. Their overall percentage for December has registered no significant change. So, just to review, if all they do is add a new DOT number and then register that guy every time, their percentage will first go down and then return (more or less) to where it was.
What does this mean for us?
Keep soliciting, keep registering, keep deactivating and we will emerge victorious!
"What does have to do with getting to zero?", you might wonder, perhaps even aloud.
Same formula. If we can't beat Maine, we can't get to zero.
Friday, December 4, 2009
UCR is Creating A Stir In Illinois
Unregistered Carriers on 12/02/2009 - 1422
Unregistered Carriers on 12/04/2009 - 1412
Illinois - 93.39%
Maine - 93.26%
This morning, I went to an interesting meeting with a dozen or so agency representatives from IRP, Farm Plates, CDL, FMCSA, Illinois DOT and State Police (MCSAP). This meeting was in preparation for a meeting we're going to have next week with numerous representatives of the Illinois agricultural industry.
Several times in the meeting, people said that UCR was responsible for all the new FMCSA activity among the thousands of farmers in Illinois.
While I was flattered on behalf of the UCR program, I reminded them that we don't register farmers for UCR until we first establish the farmer's need to have a USDOT number - a requirement that's been on the books since the 1980's. I also reminded them that we are pursuing USDOT numbers for farmers at the specific direction and request of FMCSA.
I did NOT remind them, however, that FMCSA funds MCSAP - so where the heck have they been? In other words, the requirement for USDOT numbers has been on the books for 25 years and didn't change with the advent of UCR. This is really part of a much broader and deeper issue of interstate commerce.
We know the Feds want these "carriers" brought into the fold. Bill Quaid said so emphatically at the last Board meeting
So, either MCSAP hasn't been doing a critical job they've being paid to do for several decades, or UCR should be given credit for bringing a lot more carriers into the federal fold than would ever have been brought in without the UCR program.
Come on, give us a little credit! It's Christmas!
Unregistered Carriers on 12/04/2009 - 1412
Illinois - 93.39%
Maine - 93.26%
This morning, I went to an interesting meeting with a dozen or so agency representatives from IRP, Farm Plates, CDL, FMCSA, Illinois DOT and State Police (MCSAP). This meeting was in preparation for a meeting we're going to have next week with numerous representatives of the Illinois agricultural industry.
Several times in the meeting, people said that UCR was responsible for all the new FMCSA activity among the thousands of farmers in Illinois.
While I was flattered on behalf of the UCR program, I reminded them that we don't register farmers for UCR until we first establish the farmer's need to have a USDOT number - a requirement that's been on the books since the 1980's. I also reminded them that we are pursuing USDOT numbers for farmers at the specific direction and request of FMCSA.
I did NOT remind them, however, that FMCSA funds MCSAP - so where the heck have they been? In other words, the requirement for USDOT numbers has been on the books for 25 years and didn't change with the advent of UCR. This is really part of a much broader and deeper issue of interstate commerce.
We know the Feds want these "carriers" brought into the fold. Bill Quaid said so emphatically at the last Board meeting
So, either MCSAP hasn't been doing a critical job they've being paid to do for several decades, or UCR should be given credit for bringing a lot more carriers into the federal fold than would ever have been brought in without the UCR program.
Come on, give us a little credit! It's Christmas!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
The Reign In Maine is Plainly Down The Drain
Unregistered Carriers on 12/01/2009 - 1439
Unregistered Carriers on 12/02/2009 - 1422
Illinois - 93.34%
Maine - 93.23%
No, that's not a typo.
Yes, we did pass up Maine - rather handily, I might add - this morning.
Of course, we always have to acknowledge the disclaimer about the Fed update process, but .... it would appear that we have achieved (at least temporarily) one of our major goals - the highest State registration percentage.
As I've indicated before, this goal is important to me because I have maintained from the start that you don't have to be an IRP agency to do well in the UCR program. In fact, I'm convinced that many states suffer from "IRP myopia" - if we just register IRP carriers, we will have done our job.
One milestone goal left - registering 20,000 Illinois carriers. According to the Iteris numbers, we are 82 registrations shy of that goal. And, by the way, we now lead California by over 200 registrations.
Finally, for those you who THINK you have good employees .... Kathy told me this morning that she's not going to rest until we've reduced the Unregistered list to 0. She even called me a "slacker" for pausing to enjoy today's moment. Now that's dedication!
As General George Patton once said, "God, I actually pity those poor SOB's we're going up against."
Unregistered Carriers on 12/02/2009 - 1422
Illinois - 93.34%
Maine - 93.23%
No, that's not a typo.
Yes, we did pass up Maine - rather handily, I might add - this morning.
Of course, we always have to acknowledge the disclaimer about the Fed update process, but .... it would appear that we have achieved (at least temporarily) one of our major goals - the highest State registration percentage.
As I've indicated before, this goal is important to me because I have maintained from the start that you don't have to be an IRP agency to do well in the UCR program. In fact, I'm convinced that many states suffer from "IRP myopia" - if we just register IRP carriers, we will have done our job.
One milestone goal left - registering 20,000 Illinois carriers. According to the Iteris numbers, we are 82 registrations shy of that goal. And, by the way, we now lead California by over 200 registrations.
Finally, for those you who THINK you have good employees .... Kathy told me this morning that she's not going to rest until we've reduced the Unregistered list to 0. She even called me a "slacker" for pausing to enjoy today's moment. Now that's dedication!
As General George Patton once said, "God, I actually pity those poor SOB's we're going up against."
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Hey, Maine! Move over!
Unregistered Carriers on 11/30/2009 - 1481
Unregistered Carriers on 12/01/2009 - 1439
Maine - 93.26%
Illinois - 93.25%
We had a BIG day yesterday - 60 registrations! Meanwhile, Maine took a little hit, so we are literally breathing down Maine's figurative neck!
The strategy I outlined a couple weeks ago appears to be working beautifully, although, quite frankly, 60 registrations at this point has a lot more to do with "working the UCR Universe" - and the long weekend - than de-activating carriers. And, the amazing thing is that we still have 200+ carriers on the Unregistered List with MCS-150 Update dates older than 2 years, so we have "room to run" on the strategy. Meanwhile, we are still averaging about 20 added carriers a day, so that side of the equation continues to bear fruit.
Tuesdays are usually soft, so who knows? Let's see what the day brings.
Unregistered Carriers on 12/01/2009 - 1439
Maine - 93.26%
Illinois - 93.25%
We had a BIG day yesterday - 60 registrations! Meanwhile, Maine took a little hit, so we are literally breathing down Maine's figurative neck!
The strategy I outlined a couple weeks ago appears to be working beautifully, although, quite frankly, 60 registrations at this point has a lot more to do with "working the UCR Universe" - and the long weekend - than de-activating carriers. And, the amazing thing is that we still have 200+ carriers on the Unregistered List with MCS-150 Update dates older than 2 years, so we have "room to run" on the strategy. Meanwhile, we are still averaging about 20 added carriers a day, so that side of the equation continues to bear fruit.
Tuesdays are usually soft, so who knows? Let's see what the day brings.
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