Why Cheap Freight Costs More: Mike Pettrey on Trust & Expedited Trucking

On this episode of On Air with AirFreight.com, host Kevin Carpenter sits down with Mike Pettrey, CEO of C&M Transport out of Painesville, Ohio — one of AirFreight.com's most trusted carrier partners and one of the oldest expedite companies in the country, now in its 35th year.

Mike shares how his father founded C&M around fair treatment of drivers and owner-operators, why straight trucks and sprinter vans became the backbone of the expedite industry, and how dedicated capacity mitigates cargo risk that traditional LTL can't. The conversation covers freight rate compression since 1991, the industry's price-driven race to the bottom, why regulatory crackdowns are (in their view) good for carriers who play it straight, and how technology — real-time tracking, proactive delay alerts — is raising the bar for customer transparency without replacing the human judgment calls that keep freight moving safely.