[ericmoss37]

How much is the lack of auto sales effecting the business? 45% lower sales over last year in the auto industry. I am lost for words when my drivers call and ask about whats going on. I am getting a bit worried about getting decent loads in these poor economic times. It's bad enough that the trucks are not moving, but even worse I could have drivers walk away for higher paying jobs at home.

[fastrod]

Might want to try getting your own authority. That way you can find freight from various different companies and brokers. It will be a little more work for you but your trucks will be moving and your drivers will be happy.

[OntarioVanMan]

Originally Posted by ericmoss37

How much is the lack of auto sales effecting the business? 45% lower sales over last year in the auto industry. I am lost for words when my drivers call and ask about whats going on. I am getting a bit worried about getting decent loads in these poor economic times. It's bad enough that the trucks are not moving, but even worse I could have drivers walk away for higher paying jobs at home.

Eric..thats why we call it thinning the herd...sorry but you might lose a couple head....but it also maybe time to park 1 or 2 vans during this time....they'll prolly not make enough to even pay for repairs anyhow....just having a driver in the seat doesn't always pay....park them and make more from the tax write-offs...it's business

[hondaking38]

make sure they can go to canada, had 4 offers to go there yesterday, but i only live 120 miles from the border...so there one way trips

[OntarioVanMan]

120 miles DH isn't such a bad investment..I mean for 20 bucks to make 400?

[Turtle]

I don't understand why they're one-way trips.

[OntarioVanMan]

because some carriers don'y or won't try to get loads back out....and some like with your carrier just automatically get out and not wait....thier mistake....cuzz we know better....

did you get my pm about chicoppee Ma...$6.27/qt

[ATeam]

Originally Posted by ericmoss37

How much is the lack of auto sales effecting the business? 45% lower sales over last year in the auto industry. I am lost for words when my drivers call and ask about whats going on. I am getting a bit worried about getting decent loads in these poor economic times. It's bad enough that the trucks are not moving, but even worse I could have drivers walk away for higher paying jobs at home.

You can tell your drivers what they probably already know. The financial crisis and economic slowdown (recession) is reducing the amount of freight that is available to haul. You can't haul what they don't offer. If the freight isn't there, it isn't there. You would not be giving good news to your drivers but you would be telling them the truth. They may very well be better off finding higher paying jobs at home.

It is not just in the automotive sector that freight has slowed. It is in most if not all sectors. I know of fleet owners that are leaving the business today, not because they had to or because they failed, but because they see what is coming and have the option of avoiding it. They have had a good run in the business but have concluded that this is a good time to call it a career. I admire their choice. Why push a rock uphill if you don't have to?

Diane and I are choosing to stay but are looking ahead to slower freight and longer waits between loads. These are the slow times that people warned us about when we were researching the industry. We took those warnings to heart and are prepared.

If you are not prepared, I don't know what to say that will make things better. The recession is squeezing a number of people out of the business and presenting new challenges to those who stay.

Speculators take risks with their money, but only to a point. If the markets move against them, the smart ones cut their losses and stand aside. Parking your trucks for a year in a slow-freight market may cost you less money than running them. Selling them at a loss and standing aside may be the better decision still.

Doing something different, like getting your own authority, may be a good choice. But I expect there will be a bunch of folks doing that, which will make things less lucrative and more competitive for everyone in the business.

In the long run, getting your own-authority may turn out to be a worse choice than parking your trucks or getting out. Running successfully under your own authority requires a different focus and skill set than running under a carrier's authority. While it is an option, getting your own authority may only prolong the inevitable and increase your losses along the way.

Getting your own authority because you are intellectually and emotionally drawn to that kind of business, and you have customers you can develop and a plan for success can be a very good thing. But getting your own authority because you are being squeezed out someplace else is different. It seems to me that the own-authority play is best made when you are on the offense, not the defense, and when you know what to do with the ball.

[OntarioVanMan]

Gee Phil...you can get long in the tooth at times.....but your also quite right!

[x06col]

It might also be, that if a couple weeks are that large an issue for you or, your drivers, then this may well be the time to "pull the plug". Or, take a looong hard look at where you may be better off doing things you/they don't wanna.

[Lawrence]

Also...tell them to thank all the Toyota and Honda drivers for buying foreign vehicles.

See it does make a difference if you buy a Ford, Chrysler or GM product.

[x06col]

I'll agree Lawrence. It's way too bad it has come to the point that we thank folks for using equipment from manufacturers you mentioned. However, myself, like the folks that bought from them, I actually enjoyed delivering their needed items, and avoided the UAW broken companys like the plague the last few years. Just how ya look at it.

[OntarioVanMan]

Actually expedite loads are a killer of the auto industry...somewhere some how someone messed up...It adds directly to the cost of that car/truck.
Right now with the slow down, suppliers are able to keep up for the most part barring any unexpected breakdown of machinery...
Goes to show by the expedite freight of Ford and GM just how bad thier supply chain was and unorganized.
Thats why counting on auto expedite is a very bad habit....I mean look at Timken....almost 12 loads a day average outta Bucyrus plant alone and now what 2? Since they reworked thier computer system...no company can survive that for long.
Any carrier too focused on the auto business is going to suffer..and especially YOU the owner/driver.
If your carrier does 50% or more your in real dodo..thats half the fleet sitting around...

[Jack_Berry]

ken,

the last ofc gig i had was in transportation.
we were supposed to be saving money with the new computerized trans program but the constant expedites outside the system changed nothing. after 6 months the big boss was telling our supervisors we were the problem.


i was told by the onsite product planners in fargo and grand island it was less expensive to bring in items expedite direct to the factory rather than pay a frt chg, in fee , storage fee, out fee and transport across town, from the storage space.

[cheri1122]

Originally Posted by Lawrence

Also...tell them to thank all the Toyota and Honda drivers for buying foreign vehicles.

See it does make a difference if you buy a Ford, Chrysler or GM product.

A: I deliver freight to Honda and Toyota, more than to the (former) Big 3.
B: Honda and Toyota are providing good jobs for our working folks - they don't pay ludicrous salaries, but they are pretty good jobs, in an economy with a serious - no, make that a crippling, shortage of them.
C: If the American mfrs can't compete, (which seems likely, given their inability to change their wrongheaded practices and procedures), then they deserve to fail. That's how capitalism works, no?
As true as the bumpersticker "Without trucks, America stops" is, it's just as true for decent jobs - we cannot survive as a healthy society without jobs that provide an opportunity to get ahead, instead of behind. I wish the American mfrs were providing them, but they are not, are they?