Saia, Inc. (SAIA) Earnings Call Transcript

Good morning. My name is Gary, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Second Quarter 2026 Saia, Inc. Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Matthew Batteh, Saia's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Gary. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Saia's Second Quarter 2026 Conference Call. With me for today's call is Saia's President and Chief Executive Officer, Fritz Holzgrefe. Before we begin, you should know that during this call, we may make some forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements and all other statements that might be made on this call that are not historical facts are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially. We refer you to our press release and our SEC filings for more information on the exact risk factors that could cause actual results to differ. I will now turn the call over to Fritz for some opening comments.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us to discuss Saia's second quarter results. We're pleased to report a strong quarter that reflects the dedication of our team, the consistency of our service offering and the continued progress we're making on our long-term strategy. Our results demonstrate the benefits of our disciplined execution, ongoing investments in our network and people and our commitment to delivering high-quality service for our customers. Our second quarter revenue of $956 million surpassed last year's second quarter by 17.1% and is a record for any quarter in our company's history. Shipments per workday, which were a record for a second quarter, increased by 4.4%, and pricing and mix management efforts drove an increase in revenue per shipment, excluding fuel surcharge of 1.5% compared to prior year. Our mix management efforts as well as improving freight backdrop contributed to a 3.9% year-over-year increase in weight per shipment. Notably, weight per shipment improved 4.9% sequentially from the first quarter of 2026 and improved for the seventh consecutive month exiting the second quarter. Importantly, our mix management efforts and pricing actions are taking hold. And as revenue per shipment excluding fuel surcharge improved throughout the quarter, with June improving 4% from April and about 4% compared to June of last year. Operating income increased 26% year-over-year to $125 million. Operating ratio for the quarter was 86.9%, an improvement from 87.8% in the second quarter of 2025, and a 480 basis point improvement sequentially from the first quarter, far outpacing historical seasonality of 250 to 300 basis points of improvement. Service levels continue to improve across key performance indicators during the quarter, reflecting our ongoing focus on putting the customer first in our daily operations. Despite lower head count and increased shipments compared to prior year, we achieved a record cargo claims ratio of 0.3%, demonstrating our ability to deliver high-quality service across our now national footprint. We also continue to see the benefits of decentralizing our customer service operation. One year after that transition, an average customer inquiry handling time has improved by 50%, strengthening customer relations improving responsiveness and enhancing the overall customer experience across our expanded network. Even as we have expanded our footprint, equipment base and team, we continue to see the benefits of our investments in our driver training and safety programs, miles between preventable accidents improved by more than 45% compared to the second quarter of 2025 and hours between lost time injuries improved by 17% year-over-year. With our value proposition increasingly clear, we continue to see strong customer recognition of the service and reliability we provide. Contractual renewals were 10.7% for both June and for the quarter, reflecting our continued focus on pricing discipline and the value we deliver to customers. In addition, our GRI of 7.1% was implemented in early July, it's consistent with the quality of service we deliver and our expectation that pricing appropriately reflects that value. Customers expect high-quality service and our record level of investment over the last few years reflects our dedication to providing unique solutions in every market. While customers always have options for managing their freight needs, our value proposition is becoming more apparent than ever as demonstrated by continued investments in the customer experience. More than ever before, customers are choosing Saia and our expanded footprint is providing more opportunities with both new and existing customers. We recently announced the launch of Saia REV, a company-wide initiative. REV or rapid, expanded and visible reflects our commitment to the customer. The customer will see our faster transit times, expanded logistics capabilities and enhanced shipment visibility for them. This initiative demonstrates the value of our national network and continued commitment to improving the customer experience. As part of Saia REV, we were able to offer our customers faster and more consistent transit times, including more than 2,000 transit time improvements across our network. The initiative will also automate our guaranteed 10:00 a.m. delivery service, the earliest guarantee delivery of any nationwide LTL carrier. In addition, the initiative will provide customers with dynamic real-time shipment tracking, updated ETAs and predictive insights to help anticipate special service needs. The announcement of Saia REV is yet another example of our best-in-class technology. We'll continue to drive improvements in our operation and enhance the customer experience. I'll now turn the call over to Matt for more details from our second quarter results.

Thanks, Fritz. Second quarter revenue was a record for any quarter in the company's history, increasing to $956.5 million, which is a 17.1% improvement over the prior year, while shipments per workday increased 4.4% and tonnage per workday increased 8.4%. Fuel surcharge represented 22.3% of total revenue for the quarter compared to 14.6% in the prior year. Revenue per shipment, excluding fuel surcharge, increased 1.5% to $303.12 compared to $298.71 in the second quarter of 2025, reflecting continued execution on pricing and mix management initiatives. While our mix headwinds eased throughout the quarter, our Los Angeles region business, which is generally our highest revenue per shipment, was still down about 2.5% in shipments per workday year-over-year. Despite those mix headwinds, our pricing actions continue to take hold throughout the quarter, and June revenue per shipment, excluding fuel surcharge, increased about 4% from June 2025. Revenue per shipment, including fuel surcharge, increased 12% compared to the second quarter of 2025. Yield, excluding fuel surcharge, decreased by 2.2%, primarily reflecting a 3.9% increase in weight per shipment during the quarter, while yield including fuel surcharge increased by 7.9%. Adjusting for the impact of the 3.9% increase in weight per shipment and the 0.6% decrease in length of haul as well as delivering headwinds from declining shipments relative to the total in the Los Angeles region, all of which have negative impacts to yield, core yield, excluding fuel surcharge, was up about 3% compared to prior year. We continue to see traction in our recently opened terminals. Our terminals opened in 2023 and 2024 operated in the low 90s and improved nearly 300 basis points compared to the second quarter last year. We successfully opened 5 new terminals in the second quarter, and we are excited about the opportunity to provide solutions for customers in these new markets. Length of haul decreased 0.6% to 888 miles compared to 893 miles in the second quarter of 2025. Shifting to the expense side for a few key items to note in the quarter. Salaries, wages and benefits increased [ $43.4 million ] or 11.1% compared to the second quarter of 2025. This increase was primarily driven by higher employee hours in response to increased volumes and higher compensation levels associated with improved company performance in addition to a company-wide wage increase in October 2025. Group insurance costs increased $7 million and workers' compensation costs increased $2.2 million, reflecting inflationary claims costs. These increases were partially offset by a 1% decrease in head count at quarter end versus the prior year. Excluding linehaul drivers, head count decreased 1.7% compared to the second quarter of 2025, reflecting our continued focus on cost management and maximizing workforce efficiency. Purchased transportation expense, which includes both non-asset truckload volume and LTL purchased transportation miles, increased by 47.3% year-over-year and represented 8.9% of total revenue compared to 7.1% in the second quarter of 2025. This increase was primarily driven by higher volumes, our disciplined approach to head count and significantly higher diesel fuel costs embedded in purchase transportation rates. Purchased transportation includes fuel and higher diesel prices contributed to the year-over-year increase. Truck and rail PT miles represented 15.4% of total linehaul miles in the quarter, up from 12% in the prior year. The year-over-year increase in miles was largely driven by greater rail utilization as we continue to optimize our national network. Fuel expense for the quarter increased by 49.6% compared to the prior year, while company linehaul miles increased 3.2%. The increase in fuel expense was primarily the result of a 50.3% increase in national average diesel prices on a year-over-year basis. Claims and insurance expense increased by 6.9% year-over-year, primarily driven by the development of open cases and increased claim activity. Depreciation expense of $64.2 million in the quarter was 2.6% higher year-over-year, primarily due to ongoing investments in revenue equipment, our terminal network and technology. Compared to the second quarter of 2025, cost per shipment increased 10.9%, primarily due to higher fuel costs in the quarter. Salaries, wages and employee benefits also increased on a per shipment basis, reflecting higher compensation costs associated with improved operating performance as well as the 3% company-wide wage increase implemented in October 2025. Purchased transportation cost on a per shipment basis were also higher, driven by increased usage compared to the prior year and higher fuel costs. Total operating expenses increased by 15.8% in the quarter compared to Q2 '25, and with the year-over-year revenue increase of 17.1%, our operating ratio improved to 86.9% compared to 87.8% a year ago. Our tax rate for the second quarter was 24.9% compared to 25.3% in the second quarter last year, and our diluted earnings per share were $3.51, which is a 31.5% increase compared to the second quarter a year ago. Turning to the balance sheet. We ended the quarter with $84 million of cash on hand. After paying down our revolver balance during the quarter, total debt outstanding at period end was $100 million, further strengthening our financial flexibility. I will now turn the call back over to Fritz for some closing comments.

Thanks, Matt. While 2026 has included periods of volatility, volumes appear to be stabilizing and several external economic indicators suggest the operating environment is improving. Fuel costs remain elevated from pre-March levels and continue to fluctuate meaningfully on a day-to-day basis. Demand improved into the second quarter as is typical, and I was pleased with our team's ability to handle the increased volume while achieving a record cargo claims ratio. While external metrics continue to point to an improving demand environment, the macro landscape continues to be dynamic. Importantly, we remain focused on driving returns on the investments we have made over the past several years, and it is clear that shippers are choosing Saia more than ever before. At Saia, we have positioned the company to support customers to the next phase of market recovery by expanding our terminal footprint, [indiscernible] our growing fleet and maintaining a disciplined focus on driver training and development. Since 2022, we've deployed approximately $1 billion in real estate investments, adding 33 terminals to our operations and relocating or expanding more than 25 others. This network investment has increased our operational door count by approximately 25% since 2022. In addition, since 2022, we've deployed $1 billion in expanding and enhancing our fleet, resulting in a 20% increase in tractor and trailer counts. While we have carefully managed head count to align with current volumes, we ended the second quarter of 2026 with 26% more linehaul drivers than we had at the end of the second quarter of 2022. In LTL, capacity is created through more than just physical footprint, our investments in our network fleet and most importantly, our people set us up for a continuing improvement in the freight backdrop. As we have highlighted over the last several years, we've been very intentional about making investments that support our value proposition. Q2 results were gratifying in the sense that we began to see the returns for the substantial investments that we've made in our company as evidenced from the free cash flow returns. Our customers benefited from our ability to scale, meet and exceed their expectations quickly and efficiently. Our strong execution has allowed us to be the organic growth story in the industry and a strong steward of shareholder capital. At the same time, we're also acutely aware that we are in the very early innings of reaching our company's full potential. As we look forward, we continue to see opportunities to invest in our maturing network, and we'll be able to support these investments with continuing operating cash flow improvement. With that said, we're now ready to open the line for questions, operator.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question today comes from Jonathan Chappell with Evercore ISI.

Let's start with the obvious one. Matt, to the extent you can give July shipments and tonnage, how that looks relative to seasonality. It sounds like your exit rate in June on certain metrics was much improved from April. So just that July trend and what that portends for potential seasonality in the OR in the current quarter?

Sure, Jon. I'll go ahead and give the full quarter for Q2 details. For April, shipments per day were up 5.6%, tonnage per day up 6.9%. May shipments per day up 3.7%, tonnage per day, up 8.4%. June, shipments up 3.9%, tonnage up 9.9% And July month to date, obviously, we still got a couple of days left, but shipments are tracking up about 1%, tonnage, up about 7.5% on a per day basis. Keep in mind, we, as Fritz talked about in the commentary, we put a GRI in at the beginning of the month of 7.1%. Anytime you do that, and we've seen this in history, there's always some shipment volatility embedded in there. That continues for a period of time. So that's included in the results, but that's where we're tracking right now on a shipment to tonnage basis with a couple of days left. From an OR standpoint, if you look at history and when we talk about history, we removed the COVID years and some of those ones that have one-off items to try to give a more realistic view. Typically, what you see is about a 150 to 200 basis point degradation in Q2 to Q3, there's a range in there. Where we are now and assuming kind of fuel hanging in around where it is now, our quarterly shipments getting a seasonal typical performance, we think we can be around 100 basis points of sequential degradation. So ahead of the typical 150 to 200.

The next question is from Jordan Alliger with Goldman Sachs.

Just sort of curious if you could give a little more color around your demand comment. I mean weight per shipment has been pretty positive. I know you're doing a bunch of stuff with mix. But would some portion of that be ascribed perhaps to sort of better economic or volume-related prospects?

Thanks, Jordan. Good question. We pride ourselves and stay pretty close to the customer. So we typically are communicating with customers on a daily basis. We actually survey customers. And if you look at their sort of sentiment right now, if you go back to April, people were expecting in the second half or through the second quarter and the balance of the year improvements. What I think is exciting to see right now is as we survey again, people are -- continue to confirm that, meaning that they are. They see the trends are for their respective businesses that they are positive about the back half of the year. Matt and I and the team, we are, at the same time, we're cautious because we're kind of a show us sort of thing. And the results so far have been -- we've been pleased with what we've seen. So I think that it's a positive trend. I like the sentiment that's out there. Now we got to keep executing and deliver the results.

The next question is from Tom Wadewitz with UBS.

Yes. Nice to see momentum in the business. You provided some color, I think, on June revenue per shipment year-over-year, I think you said like 4% ex fuel. How do you think that progresses? I mean it sounds like your contractual renewals 10%. GRI, I think you said 7%. So that's a bit stronger. Do you think that if you look out a quarter or 2 or I don't know if it's longer, you would see that growth in base revenue per shipment move up from that 4% in June? Would you expect that to move higher and kind of converge with some of the headline pricing numbers that you're talking about? Yes, that would be the first question.

Yes. Thanks, Tom. If you -- one of the things that we've been talking about pretty consistently over the past year was just some of the mixed nuances that are different in our business than maybe some others. The L.A. region that we've been talking about consistently, that was down double digits last year, it shrunk, still down about 2.5% year-over-year. But what we talked about is as we started to get past those and lap those, especially with our continued efforts on the pricing front and mix, and we'd expect to get back towards what we're typically seeing from ourselves in that revenue per shipment. So we were pleased with the progress year-over-year throughout the quarter. Revenue per shipment from April to June, this is ex fuel, was up about 4%. So that's good traction, good progress for us inside the quarter, which we really like. But we've got to keep pressing the gas pedal on that. The growth from Q1 to Q2 continued to come in these 1- and 2-day lanes. Again, we've got a national footprint. We're able to solve more problems for customers. Typically, those that aren't going as far the pricing is a little bit different. But even with that, we improved revenue per shipment pretty substantially within the quarter. So a lot depends on what the world looks like, right? But our good view and what we've been working on is that continued improvement. Like we said, once we started to get past this mix headwind and mix abating a bit late through the quarter where we're seeing numbers that are more consistent with what we're accustomed to on our side.

Yes, Tom, I would just add that you only get to do that when service execution is at a high level, and it has been. And I think that as we see that sort of that mix impact normalize a bit here, we feel very confident that we'll continue to drive the results and drive the appropriate returns for the significant capital we've deployed there. Our result, I think, speaks to that. And we highlighted in both the revenue per shipment and yield improvements once you reflect some of the headwinds on yield, that's certainly -- that looked pretty good for us.

Okay. Yes, great. And then I guess, for the follow-up. Question, just on labor productivity, I mean, I think you've had some good optimism on the ability to drive labor productivity when you see growth. But I think there's also inflation in that line. So maybe if you could just give some thoughts about how should we think about the kind of growth in your comp and benefits line? Just, I guess the 2 pieces kind of productivity versus just the inflation impact?

Yes. Tom, we don't take a break on cost. We manage that pretty closely. I think we put together in the quarter or this quarter, we actually, first of the month, had a wage increase company-wide. That's reflected in our guide for the quarter. Yes, I think we'll do a good job of offsetting a fair amount of that with continued productivity improvements. The technology we deploy in this business allows us to not only to improve transit times, but also the implications of that, if you can run your network more efficiently, you share that benefit by offering a transit time to a customer that we couldn't before, but that's also the read-through for that on the cost side that, that's a more efficient way for us to run a network. So it's a win-win. That helps us drive productivity improvements on one side. On the flip side, most importantly, customers got an incremental service out of that. And so we're excited about that kind of rollout.

The next question is from Ken Hoexter with Bank of America.

Maybe can you walk us through the fuel contribution to results in second quarter? And then maybe thoughts on impact to the operating ratio and what's built into expectations? So Matt, you noted kind of seasonal outperformance 2Q to 3Q. Maybe talk about what is fuel, what's pure pricing?

Well, we don't break out the impact of fuel. But keep in mind, in LTL, fuel surcharge as a percentage of the base rates. And if I look at our base rates, it's cheaper than everybody else out there, and that's our pricing opportunity. But when we think about pricing, we think about everything that goes into the work that we do for our customer, but we're focused on core pricing increase. Obviously, fuel can move around a little bit. But we have investments in the fleet and fuel tanks and everything that we do to provide service to our customers. So when I look at the results for Q2, even if I normalize, we still would have outperformed what's normal sequential Q1 to Q2 from a seasonality standpoint. And that's been our commentary all along. We've made these investments in order to outperform. So fuel is going to move around a little bit. What's embedded into our guide is fuel hanging on and national average around what it is right now. Your guess is as good as ours as to what that probably looks like. We track that relatively closely. But we're focused on driving core price, again, to reiterate that when you get more on the base revenue per [ billion, ] you get more on fuel because that's just a component of the base rate ex fuel.

Yes. So Matt, I guess the stock is down 8%. I guess we've seen this a couple of times on earnings days, but maybe it's just an AI transport trade today. But maybe delve into should we be seeing more in rate from you? If you're catching up? I mean, the rev per shipment down 2.2%. I know that's tied to weight per shipment and then your revenue per shipment up 1.5%. How do you think you're tracking versus peers in kind of catching up given you're now nationwide coverage and trying to grow into that? Or is it more a focus on still maybe filling the network into some of the new service centers?

Well, I'll start, and then Fritz will come on the top of this. But I think you had said 10 revenue per shipment down 2%. Revenue per shipment is up in the quarter. You may have meant the yield. But if I normalize for all the things that we talked about. So if I just look at April to June, revenue per shipment ex fuel is up about 4%. And if I normalize for the -- actually, this is all in. Revenue per shipment up about 4%, yield up 2%, and that's on weight per shipment that increased throughout the quarter. So typically, a heavier-weighted shipment is going to have a lower yield. We've talked about how we track it on a revenue per shipment basis. But one of the things that we've talked about is the mix headwinds for us of expanded network, more things than a 1- and 2-day land that are typically shorter, our Los Angeles region business is a big chunk of our business. We've got a good business model out there. That's been down consistently. It's starting to become more even, which hopefully, we see a little bit of a bounce back. But importantly, our June progress showed where we expect to be, and we're pushing even harder on that. The reality is as a national player, we're able to command a higher price point. We're able to say yes to more things. Customers have more opportunities to use us for all of their services, that's going to help us drive more and more price.

Yes. And I think that the most important thing is I kind of think about how the customer -- what customers think about that, and customers think Saia is doing a great job. They see the service. They see the national reach. We see that in our shipments and tonnage numbers. That is the most emphatic endorsement that we're doing a good job for the customers when you get more business. So that's kind of the simple measurement there. And then I look behind that. I look at the specific service claims ratios are record low. I look at all the on-time performance. They have pickup completion, every metric that we have, we see strong performance there, and that's reflective in supportive of what you're seeing in the top line result. I look at the kind of underlying performance in a still challenging operating environment. And I look at from Q1 to Q2, we outperformed historic OR performance in that period significantly. So I can't speak to, and I don't spend a lot of time focusing on daily trading activity, but I do focus on what value we're creating, both for Saia shareholders and for our customers. And when you create value for the customer, there's an opportunity for us to create value for Saia shareholders. And I like what we're doing there.

Fritz, can I just squeeze in one more thought here. I guess if you're targeting 100 basis points deterioration in OR, does that mean you're looking at a worse OR year-over-year? Or am I misreading the performance from last year?

Keep in mind, Ken, we have two wage increases embedded in that number. So we did our wage increase last year in October, and we did one early July, the 1st of July this year. So that comp has two wage increases in it, the timing difference.

Next question is from Brian Ossenbeck with JPMorgan.

So maybe just to help understand a little bit more of the incremental margins and the operating leverage with tonnage starting to inflect pretty significantly and maybe putting some of the mix headwinds behind you. Adjusting the yield for all those mixed things you talk about now, you're still tracking fairly behind where the renewals are just looking at the leverage in the quarter. Just was there additional costs that are still not fully absorbed in sort of the new network? Do you have new areas you're trying to still fill in from a density perspective? So I just want to see how to interpret all that for this quarter in particular.

Costs embedded in which part, Brian? Can you just make sure -- I want to make sure I understand it.

Yes, just the new terminals. So like are they still ramping up? Are there still areas in pocket of density you still need to fill in? Are you shifting the mix? Like I guess, why are we seeing better incrementals on this sort of tonnage as you expand here?

Yes. I mean the 2023 and 2024 openings improved about 300 basis points. They're operating in the low 90s. That's great progress. We're pleased with that, but they've got room to go. And one of the things that we track very closely is that some of these get up to speed a lot faster, some take a little bit more time. Our sales team is hitting the street, talking with customers. And we're getting more [ advanced ] with customers and not just the new markets but in our legacy markets as well because we can solve more problems, easier to do business with, that gets us price. So yes, there's certainly opportunity that we see to continue to push those forward. Pleased with the progress. But by no means do we think those are at maturity.

Yes. Brian, I'd just add on. I mean I think that's early innings on the whole network value here, right? So as we take advantage of all the 33 new openings in the last number of years, all the relocations and all the enhancements that we've made, the opportunity to generate additional returns out of that, that's still there. We made a little bit of progress in the second quarter. Is there more to go? Absolutely. And I think we're well on our way and just got to keep focused on taking care of the customer, and that will get it done.

All right. Just sort of a follow-up, just thinking about labor availability in this new network of expanded terminals, some of -- you're still adding a few more here and there. How do you think about visibility into the pockets that might be a little bit tighter or you might have to manage a little bit closer now that you're covering a bigger and broader network? Are you managing that through different sort of tools? Like do you feel confident that, that's not going to be a problem. Maybe you can just walk through managing the network, assuming we get a better upturn here, given it's going to be quite a bit larger, and I would assume a bit more complicated than what you've done in prior up cycles.

Yes. Sure, Brian. Listen, labor, the driver population nationally we all know is tightening up, and it's certainly competitive. And the average driver is a bit older and continues to age over time. What we find, we, like most in the LTL business, have the opportunity to get drivers home every day, right? So you have a competitive advantage versus other sort of modes in the transport sector around recruiting jobs, so we know that's there. Now I think what's specific to Saia, and I think this is important is that where we differentiate. We're very pleased with our driver academy program. We've done a great job of seeding drivers to that, and I think that continues to scale. As we build out that national network, it gives us an opportunity to continue to build out our driver academy program. Adding additional locations for training and training our drivers. And that's a great opportunity as part of recruiting new employees to the company and say, "Look, we can provide a career track in a company that's growing." And I think you get that, that second part is a Saia unique story. Look, this is a business that's growing. It's a growth story in the industry. You have an opportunity to come work for us to be part of something that's pretty successful. We're very proud of the culture that we've developed, and I think that sort of culture leads to employee engagement. And those are all -- I get it, those are, in many ways, soft, but those are how you recruit and retain drivers. And that's kind of our mission. We feel pretty good about it. We always have markets in which you got to be challenged, and you're going to be challenged as you double down on recruiting. That's just the nature of it. But we feel like our recruiting machine is pretty good. Our driver academy is really good. And that culture is excellent to be able to pull that all together.

Next question is from Stephanie Moore with Jefferies.

So maybe to continue on the compensation around labor, I wanted to touch a bit about where your capacity specifically in your labor stands as volumes were to continue to improve throughout the year. So any incremental hiring activity we would need to see? And then I have a follow up.

Stephanie, I'm going to repeat your question because you're echoing a bit. It sounds like you want to know how much capacity we have on our labor line.

I'm sorry. Yes, I'm sorry. This is probably better. Yes, maybe just yes, incremental capacity on the labor side, particularly if we continue to see volumes improve from here. So any incremental hiring activity we would need to see.

I think we feel pretty good right now where we are from a recruiting perspective. There are some markets certainly where we'll have to add people. We do -- we're pretty diligent about matching sort of our labor, yes, the available hours, both drivers and dock workers to the current freight environment. As the network develops, and we pointed it out in the notes at the beginning, we'll probably add linehaul drivers as we look for -- as the network scales and we have the opportunity to build some efficiencies around that. So what you would see there is you'd see a trade between our PT line and salary wages and benefits. So I would recommend studying those lines to some extent together simply because that -- it's a trade one way or the other. But I think that we feel pretty good about the head count. I think it probably has got a little bit of flex in there still around additional utilization, maybe a few overtime hours. But we're also mindful that the business, you don't want to add the head such that you -- as it becomes seasonal into the fourth quarter, you're in a position where you maybe over hired. But we feel pretty good where we are. There are going to be a handful here and there that we add, but I don't think it's going to be a meaningful change.

And then just one follow-up to the pricing commentary earlier. So very good GRI and contract renewals that we can obviously see here. But maybe just talk a bit about your customer acceptance. Are they starting to maybe realize your size and the service benefits that you've made as of late? And is it starting to kind of come through on the pricing side? Or do you think these pricing numbers are more so a reflection of the tightening market?

I look around, Stephanie, and it's like, I know our customers have options, and we've been very, very focused on making sure we get the right pricing in place. As you look at our -- the realization numbers that Matt highlighted for us in the second quarter, sort of the improvement, 4% revenue per shipment improvement from June versus April just in the quarter. And I think what you're seeing there is that, yes, certainly, the market is tightening up. But customers also, knowing they have choices, they're going to go somewhere that although we're pushing rates, they're going to go somewhere, they're going to get great service. And actually, I'm excited about here. I think we'll see the realization. I think, yes, there's some structural change out there. But at the same time, I think customers are also intently focused on if they're going to operate the national carrier, they expect consistency, and that's something we can deliver. So the opportunity for us to continue to see realization of both the contractual renewals and the GRI, I feel pretty good about. The early indications on the GRI from July is that we see pretty good acceptance there. Now sometimes, you'll lose a little bit of business in there, but your total mix of revenue and profitability is better. So you don't necessarily see -- keep all that volume, but you keep the volume you want.

The next question is from Scott Group with Wolfe Research.