What really is the future of the expedited market? It seems like the expedited sector of the freight industry has peaked out. After all, it wasn't all that uncommon for a hard working B-Unit owner to net 100 thousand dollars a year in the late 80's. That was back when Roberts Express, Santana Transport, and a handful of other small companies had the expedited marked cornered. You have to remember that the expedited sector is a highly specialized sector of the transportation industry. So, keeping this fact in mind, the rates should always remain competitive. We dedicate ourselves to excellence in service and we take great pride in delivering our freight on time (or early) as well as in tip top condition. This makes our work unique and challenging. And as someone once said "Big challenges deserve even bigger rewards." We're not fat-lipped-donut-gobbling-fresh-off-the-truck-driving-school assembly line like JB Hunt drivers. We command more; simply because we dersrve more. Because we provide an invaluable service to our customer base.
All of this being said, the main problem is (newcomers to the expedited industry)! What I mean by "newcomers" is people like myself. Drivers that have never seen the kind of money that perhaps the original "roberts express" drivers did when the expediting market was in its prime. A loss of revenue will lead to a loss of quality. This means that more drivers will be willing to haul freight for cut-rate prices because we do not know any better. Now, personally, I think a fair rate for a cargo van driver in todays economy is about a buck a mile with a 20 cent fuel surcharge. Which leads us to the old cliche that expedited freight rates need to be cut in order for individual companies to remain competitive in a slow economy. And an even more ridiculous notion that the days of "Roberts Express" will never be seen again.
Well, this is what happens when one company gets greedy and wants to cover all of the freight that is available in the marketplace. They come in (I will refrain from mentioning names here) and cut the rates so that they can steal away customers from other companies. This in turn leads to a new pay standard. The customer gets used to one carrier hauling the freignt for a set amount of money and thus feels that all of the other carriers should haul their freight at the same price. This then lowers the industry standards and the rate at which we as the driver get paid for our invaluable service.
Ok, fine, let the rates continue to be slashed by cut-throat carriers. It's just going to get to the point where expedited freight pays the same rate per mile that general freight pays. This will then lead to a mass exodous of good drivers and an influx of dysfunctional drivers into the expedited industry. I've seen this happen (once again, i'm not going to name companies here) but it is becoming more commonplace. When you fail to pay the driver what he needs to make a decent living, you then begin to lose intelligent drivers (drivers that are reliable and who take their jobs very seriously) and get drivers that could care less if a critical shipment is delivered on time.
It is when we fail to maintain our status of excellence and service, cut rates, and hire less than desirable people, that we then sacrifice customer service and lose our sense of purpose. Our customer base demands quailty! They demand that our service meets or exceeds that of most of the large truckload carriers. The bottom line is that we provide "super_service" for many of the automotive companies that conduct business in the United States and we should be compensated accordingly.
Raising the rates is not going to effect business that much (as assembly lines are highly dependent upon the expedited carriers to get the critical shipment where they need to be at the exact time that they need to be there)! Thus the large expedited companies need to go to bat for the individual drivers by requiring the customers to pay higher rates in order to have their freight hauled.
Further contributing to this problem is the (contracted rat per mile). By signing a contract that requires you to work for a specific rate per mile, we limit our earning potential. If our carrier gouges the customer (which happens a lot) and generates an exorbitant amount of revenue from a load, we will not get a fair piece of that pie. This rings true because we have sold our soles for such and such amount of money per mile.
Now, lets talk about the last two major companies that are still struggling to keep the rate per mile in the expedited marketplace competitive. The first company is Fedexcc. Fedexcc will not move cheap freight, and even though their drivers have to spend more time sitting around at truck stops waiting to get loaded, they still get some miles. They still make as much, if not more than many of the drivers who work for cut-rate companies. This is because (there will always be desperate customers that will need their freight delivered and the cut-rate companies "as large as they are" will never be able to retain enough units be able to cover every load that is availavle). It is a simple law of averages. The second company is Landstar Express. Landstar Express is another company that refuses haul cheap freight.
OK, let me now clarify a few things here. I'm not trying to bash anyones carrier or to create a revolution within the industry. All i'm trying to do here is get everyone to participate in a civil debate about the future of the expediting industry. I'm also asking that you keep an open mind when you read this post and that you respond in a meaningful and civilized manner. Please, let me know what you think about the rate per mile vs percentage of the load and what you think about the two last major expedited companies that continue to fight for higher rates.
All of this being said, the main problem is (newcomers to the expedited industry)! What I mean by "newcomers" is people like myself. Drivers that have never seen the kind of money that perhaps the original "roberts express" drivers did when the expediting market was in its prime. A loss of revenue will lead to a loss of quality. This means that more drivers will be willing to haul freight for cut-rate prices because we do not know any better. Now, personally, I think a fair rate for a cargo van driver in todays economy is about a buck a mile with a 20 cent fuel surcharge. Which leads us to the old cliche that expedited freight rates need to be cut in order for individual companies to remain competitive in a slow economy. And an even more ridiculous notion that the days of "Roberts Express" will never be seen again.
Well, this is what happens when one company gets greedy and wants to cover all of the freight that is available in the marketplace. They come in (I will refrain from mentioning names here) and cut the rates so that they can steal away customers from other companies. This in turn leads to a new pay standard. The customer gets used to one carrier hauling the freignt for a set amount of money and thus feels that all of the other carriers should haul their freight at the same price. This then lowers the industry standards and the rate at which we as the driver get paid for our invaluable service.
Ok, fine, let the rates continue to be slashed by cut-throat carriers. It's just going to get to the point where expedited freight pays the same rate per mile that general freight pays. This will then lead to a mass exodous of good drivers and an influx of dysfunctional drivers into the expedited industry. I've seen this happen (once again, i'm not going to name companies here) but it is becoming more commonplace. When you fail to pay the driver what he needs to make a decent living, you then begin to lose intelligent drivers (drivers that are reliable and who take their jobs very seriously) and get drivers that could care less if a critical shipment is delivered on time.
It is when we fail to maintain our status of excellence and service, cut rates, and hire less than desirable people, that we then sacrifice customer service and lose our sense of purpose. Our customer base demands quailty! They demand that our service meets or exceeds that of most of the large truckload carriers. The bottom line is that we provide "super_service" for many of the automotive companies that conduct business in the United States and we should be compensated accordingly.
Raising the rates is not going to effect business that much (as assembly lines are highly dependent upon the expedited carriers to get the critical shipment where they need to be at the exact time that they need to be there)! Thus the large expedited companies need to go to bat for the individual drivers by requiring the customers to pay higher rates in order to have their freight hauled.
Further contributing to this problem is the (contracted rat per mile). By signing a contract that requires you to work for a specific rate per mile, we limit our earning potential. If our carrier gouges the customer (which happens a lot) and generates an exorbitant amount of revenue from a load, we will not get a fair piece of that pie. This rings true because we have sold our soles for such and such amount of money per mile.
Now, lets talk about the last two major companies that are still struggling to keep the rate per mile in the expedited marketplace competitive. The first company is Fedexcc. Fedexcc will not move cheap freight, and even though their drivers have to spend more time sitting around at truck stops waiting to get loaded, they still get some miles. They still make as much, if not more than many of the drivers who work for cut-rate companies. This is because (there will always be desperate customers that will need their freight delivered and the cut-rate companies "as large as they are" will never be able to retain enough units be able to cover every load that is availavle). It is a simple law of averages. The second company is Landstar Express. Landstar Express is another company that refuses haul cheap freight.
OK, let me now clarify a few things here. I'm not trying to bash anyones carrier or to create a revolution within the industry. All i'm trying to do here is get everyone to participate in a civil debate about the future of the expediting industry. I'm also asking that you keep an open mind when you read this post and that you respond in a meaningful and civilized manner. Please, let me know what you think about the rate per mile vs percentage of the load and what you think about the two last major expedited companies that continue to fight for higher rates.
