Gen Z’s Great Opt-Out, Crude Calculations, & XPO Taps AI
Welcome to The Workday Dash—where supply chains move fast and hot takes move faster.
Today’s dispatch is powered by AI, air conditioning, and Gen Z’s refusal to play the corporate game:
🧠 Gen Z said “nah” to degrees and desk jobs, and yes to mental health, flexible work, and maybe a trade school side quest.
🛢️ OPEC+ is cranking the taps, bumping production by 400K barrels/day—not for drama, just to keep AC units humming and pilgrims moving.
🤖 And XPO? They’ve handed the wheel to AI, using machine learning to optimize every mile, move, and trailer across their LTL network.
It's a wild world out there—stay sharp, stay efficient, and maybe start treating your TMS like it’s your top hire.
“Work like hell. I mean, you just have to put in 80- to 100-hour weeks every week. [This] improves the odds of success. If other people are putting in 40-hour workweeks and you’re putting in 100-hour workweeks, then even if you’re doing the same thing, you know that you will achieve in four months what it takes them a year to achieve.”
Gen Z’s Great Opt-Out: Rethinking Work, Wealth, and Well-Being
Degrees? Nah. 9-to-5? Pass. A growing number of Gen Zers are saying “no thanks” to the traditional hustle path and choosing mental health, flexibility, and trades over burnout and toxic work cultures.
📉 In 2023, 1 in 5 young people globally were NEETs—not in employment, education, or training. In the UK alone, nearly 3 million Gen Zers are now considered economically inactive. And while some are picking up tools and heading into trades (respect), many are stepping away from the workforce entirely.
Why This Matters:
This isn’t just a labor issue—it’s a culture check. Our industry already faces staffing shortages. If we don’t evolve to meet new expectations around balance, respect, and purpose? We’ll be stuck hauling freight with nobody left to drive.
🔥 Hot Take:
Gen Z doesn’t hate work—they hate working for nothing. If your company still runs like it’s Y2K, don’t expect this generation to clock in.
OPEC+ Says It's Seasonal... But Your Fuel Bill Might Disagree
OPEC+ just bumped up oil production by 400K barrels/day for May and June 2025. Officially? It’s to handle the summer spike in Middle East demand—think AC units and pilgrimage season.
But let’s be honest: with a plan to add 2.1M barrels/day by the end of 2026, analysts are warning that this pace could lead to oversupply and push Brent crude below $60/barrel by mid-2025. Meanwhile, U.S. shale may need to step aside and make room for this volume surge.
Why This Matters:
Fuel is one of your biggest line items. OPEC+ flipping the switch—even for “seasonal” reasons—can shake up diesel pricing, profit margins, and freight forecasts faster than you can say “rate re-negotiation.”
🔥 Hot Take:
It’s not a price war, huh? Cool. But if it drills like one and wrecks your margins like one… it sure doesn’t feel like a summer breeze.
XPO’s Playing Chess While Everyone Else Plays Freight Tetris
XPO is putting artificial intelligence to work in a big way—using AI-powered XPO is going full throttle with AI—rolling out machine learning models to optimize linehaul freight across its LTL network. We're talking 2.6 million miles a day, and now they’re cutting down touches, tightening delivery windows, and packing trailers like pros (with a little AI help, of course).
No more guesswork—XPO’s proprietary tech looks at volume, capacity, and appointments to decide how to load, when to move, and where to send freight. They're even beta testing shipment-level trailer assignments. Meanwhile, C.H. Robinson and Wabash are also leaning into AI to stay sharp.
Why This Matters:
In transportation and logistics, margins are tight, expectations are high, and inefficiency is expensive. AI isn’t the future—it’s your competitor’s current strategy.
🔥 Hot Take:
If your freight ops still rely on spreadsheets and gut instinct, congrats—you’re the analog player in a digital race. AI’s not just coming for your job... it’s already rerouting it.
The Workday Dash is an aggregation of articles regarding the transportation logistics, trucking, and supply chain industries for June 26, 2025, from iLevel Logistics Inc.