🎣 FC Hits The Road

ICYMI: FreightCaviar is travelling across the U.S. Here's what the first three weeks have looked like: Sponsor meetups, subscriber photo shoots, premieres, truck stops, Elk Grove to Phoenix, and more. FOMO starts now.

🎣 FC Hits The Road

Happy Thursday.

For the last three weeks, CEO Paul & Videographer Darek traded their office desks for a truck stop in Birmingham, a bar in Chattanooga, and a conference hall in Phoenix, all in service of Issue No. 3 and the next FreightCaviar film.

Here's what the team has been cookin' up at FreightCaviar.


Today's Newsletter is Brought to You By OTR Solutions.

πŸ“ Chicago/Elk Grove Village – Quick Start

The trip started in Chicagoland, including a stop in Elk Grove Village, one of the most freight-dense zip codes in the country and home to more dispatchers, brokers, and carrier ops teams than most people realize.

Paul sat down with Pavel Botev, CEO of Sunbelt Drayage, to discuss what's really driving freight fraud. You can catch the podcast from that conversation here.

πŸ“ Chattanooga – Freight Alley Launch Party

Paul got to Chattanooga on April 9. The next night, FreightCaviar Print Issue No. 2 dropped at Home Bar on Market Street, alongside the exclusive premiere of the Freight Alley film.

We got to meet a lot of our sponsors and people who've been reading the newsletter since day one.

Highway posted it best: "FreightCaviar brought the industry together."

πŸ“ The Road – April 11-14

Chattanooga β†’ Birmingham β†’ Dallas β†’ Midland β†’ El Paso


Presented By OTR Solutions

Introducing: OTR Select

"Post and Pray" shouldn't be the only way to find new capacity - now with OTR Select it's never been easier to find reliable capacity and market insights. 

  • Real Capacity: Built on millions of invoice-backed loads from continuously vetted carriers, not self-reported or scraped data.
  • Real Rates: View legitimate rates based on what carriers are actually accepting, helping you quote faster and protect margin.
  • The Most Secure Network: Every carrier in the OTR Network is vetted on entry and monitored 24/7/365.

OTR Select is a capacity and rate intelligence platform available to a select group of brokers.


πŸ“ Phoenix/TIA β€” April 15–18

The Transportation Intermediaries Association Capital Ideas Conference. The energy in the room was different this year: brokers who spent the last two years grinding through the worst market in recent memory were finally coming up for air.

Rates tightening. Rejections climbing. The slump isn't over, but the mood has shifted.

πŸ“ Chicago + Kansas City – April 18-23

Back in Chicago for the final stretch. The team is still filming extensively and conducting interviews, but did squeeze in another event on the 22nd, sponsored by getdrivers.ai.

🎣 UP-NS Merger Hits Wall
Plus: FMCSA broker pay rule takes effect, USA Truck returns to private ownership global trade slows; costs stay high

Next stop is Kansas City, a city that doesn't get talked about enough. We'll be exploring the rail history, CPKC rail presence, and getting the real talk on the proposed $85 billion merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern.


Presented By Levity

Levity automates high-volume email and phone tasks like quoting, load building, and track & trace, without black-box agents or risky AI experiments.
Designed for teams that need control, transparency, and results they can trust.

  • Built for high-reliability, high-volume workflows
  • Seamlessly integrates with inboxes, TMSs, and rate tools
  • Works quietly in the background with human-in-the-loop and clear fallback paths

πŸ“¬ Subscribers in the Wild

If you've got a copy of FreightCaviar Print and want to be in the next roundup, be sure to tag FreightCaviar on your social media posts.

That's three weeks.

Eight stops. Dozens of conversations. More material than we have pages for β€” which is exactly the right problem to have.

Issue No. 3 is coming. The next film is coming.

β€” The FC Team


🎣 The FreightCaviar Corner

Issue 002 of FreightCaviar Print is almost here.

80 pages on the history of Freight Alley.

Print magazine + Caviar Circle access.

From $17/month.

30-day money-back guarantee. If it's not for you, we'll refund you right away, and you still keep both Winter and Spring editions.

Subscribe β†’ here.

🎧
The FreightCaviar Podcast: Listen to this week's episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or watch the interview on YouTube.

Our Freight Alley Film drops today, April 23rd, at 12 PM CT. Get notified, so you don't miss it!


Freight Humor

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