NEW FREEDOM, Pa., Feb. 28, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Nexterus, a world-class supply chain management and third-party logistics (3PL) services provider is saddened to announce the death of its former CEO, Jay Polakoff. Mr. Polakoff was the second-generation owner of Nexterus, America’s oldest privately held non-asset based third party logistics company. He died from injuries sustained in an automobile accident on February 25, 2025, one day before his 89th birthday.
In 1967, 31-year-old Jay Polakoff inherited the transportation consulting firm his father founded twenty-one years earlier in downtown Baltimore. The boutique firm was called Transportation Bureau of Baltimore and helped small and mid-sized companies audit freight bills and settle disputes with freight companies, namely less-than-truckload (LTL) and truckload with some railroad activity. The firm was small and eked out a modest living for its diminutive staff.
Jay wanted to build the company his father created. He created a subscription-based service to become the Logistics (then called Traffic) department for small companies. Jay worked up a business model, formulated a basic contract, and began hiring customer service staff and people with expertise in transportation rates and regulation. For amounts as low as $100 per month, the company, often referred to as TBB, provided freight routing, pre-and-post audit of trucking invoices, expediting, and filing and follow-up of claims for loss and damage. The company began to grow as hundreds of customers embraced the value proposition of the country’s first “outsourced” traffic department service. Today, varying resources place the revenue of the third-party logistics industry to be between $200-$300 billion.
In 1980, Congress began deregulating the trucking industry. With help from transportation attorneys at Grove, Jaskiewicz and Cobert in Washington, DC, Jay began an LTL brokerage by aggregating the volume of TBB’s clients and negotiating with carriers. Older LTL carriers recall how TBB was their first brokerage customer. The list includes Estes Express, Ward Transport and Logistics, Overnite Transportation (sold to UPS and is now T-Force), Roadway Express and many others. With these relationships, TBB grew to be the largest LTL broker in America during the 1990s.
As deregulation progressed, competitive pressures forced dozens of LTL carriers out of business. The rates charged by these bankrupt entities were not properly filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC). The estates of the carriers went back to shippers to reclaim the discounted amounts which, at that time, were routinely in the 50% range. A $4 billion national undercharge crisis ensued that took two acts of Congress and a Supreme Court decision to resolve. Jay, using his knowledge as a licensed ICC practitioner, his business degree, vast business experience, and his relationship with Ron Cobert from the DC law firm, developed ironclad LTL contracts that insulated TBB clients from paying a dime to the bankrupt motor carrier estates.
“My father was a true industry pioneer. He had the business acumen and the courage to create a national powerhouse with LTL brokerage, the country’s first privately held freight payment plan and its first Transportation Management System (TMS).” – Nexterus Chairman, Sam Polakoff
A few years later, large banks controlling all the nation’s freight payment services, decided rather abruptly to exit the business due to declining opportunities to make money on “float.” Recognizing an opportunity, Jay commissioned his team to evaluate the viability of offering the country’s first privately held freight payment plan. That service launched in 1987 and continues to this day.
In the mid-1980’s, with the LTL brokerage growing like wildfire, TBB maintained three shifts of typists to create freight invoices, for amounts as little as $35. The typing pool simply couldn’t keep up with the volume, so Jay engaged a general computer programming firm to work with his team to develop what is believed to be America’s first Transportation Management System (TMS). That system went live in the late 1980’s.
Jay Polakoff successfully led the company from 1967 till his retirement in 2000. He was an early member in today’s influential industry organizations such as the Council of Supply Chain Professionals (CSCMP) then known as the National Council for Physical Distribution Management and Transportation Intermediaries Association then known as Transportation Brokers Conference of America and NASSTRAC. Mr. Polakoff held a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Baltimore, served as an adjunct professor at his alma mater and was a frequent guest columnist for prominent industry publications such as Inbound Logistics and Traffic World, now part of the Journal of Commerce. He built long-term customer relationships with many companies at their earliest stages including Lands End, QVC Network, Polk Audio and School Specialty.
Jay Polakoff was born in Brooklyn, New York on February 26, 1936. He was raised in Baltimore and lived the remainder of his years in the greater Baltimore area. He is survived by Ann Polakoff, his wife of 51 years, sons, Ed (Liz) Polakoff, Phil (Lori) Polakoff, Sam (Denise) Polakoff and nine grandchildren including current Nexterus 4th generation CEO, Ryan (Rischelle) Polakoff.
To learn more about Nexterus, please visit Nexterus.com
About Nexterus
Nexterus solves urgent and complex supply chain issues, applying expertise and technology to manage and optimize global supply chains. As America’s oldest private, non-asset-based, third-party logistics (3PL) company, Nexterus helps small and medium-sized companies better compete through the power of their supply chains. With best-in-class strategies and services, Nexterus gives clients the freedom to build their businesses without being distracted by complex supply chain challenges and tedious tasks, allowing these companies to improve productivity, efficiencies, and customer service. Please find us at nexterus.com (https://www.nexterus.com).
For More Information, contact:
Mary Schmidt
Nexterus
Cell: (717)-817-5763
Mschmidt@nexterus.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8237d1b4-fd3d-43bc-b671-c8635f94263d
