Considering I never said what I run for that's a pretty uninformed statement.Sounds like you're leaving a bunch of $$ on the table UncleBob ......
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Low prices are killing this month!ppl bending over like crazy!
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In my short time in this business I've always seen Jan & Feb. as being slow. Swore I would come home this time and stay till end of Feb. Kinda did except I signed on with local company. It was always slow this time of year in my last occupation, painting contractor. A lot of business's slow down this time of year, only stands to reason that supply, thus trucking also slows down. The main teet that everyone wants a part of (automotive) shuts down and comes back slow. While making record profits the last couple of years, they've also tightened the belt. ST loads have lessened due to producing more and putting on TT's or shipping LTL. They really only have a need for smaller trucks if someone screws up and they get behind. We all want a scapegoat to blame so why not the middle man? A dispatcher did once show me the same load on a couple different boards, $200.00 difference. Pretty common, and yes that's the american way! I am in frequent contact with friends at two other companies, the same for all of us. Lots of used rental trucks showing up in the business. Met a kid last year at Ford , been on the road for eight days, sleeping on the bench seat of an old pensky. I look at free load boards along with waiting for my dispatchers, nothing but cheap loads. Reduce your overhead when you're working, hang onto you're jewels when your not. Good luck!
You're the only immediate expedite option. It might not really have to go out for a day or two. They can call other carriers to see if and when they could come pick it up. They could run it LTL.
That's what I'm saying. Often it all depends on how critical it is, and/or how convenient it is. If it's really critical, then they'll pay whatever it takes to get it there, because at that point it's not about how much it costs to get it there, it's about how much it costs if it's not there.
andrew sterling
Rookie Expediter
I guess you can say now. lol. Rates are hardly a secret any more.
Some of it is brokers cheating. I know you guys are on the up and up. But some brokers put straight truck loads on Penske trucks, charge the shipper a straight truck rate, then pocket the difference. I had that one load where I bid 2.20 cents per mile for a 1600 mile straight truck load. The broker was whining that he could have gotten it covered for 2000 dollars. But he waited too long to award it to the Penske truck, and the other guy accepted a different load. I think we charged 3600 dollars or something like that. So that one broker was going to pocket an extra 2100 dollars off the load by sending in a Penske truck with ramps on it to make it dock high. That was for a dock high true team load. Our drivers got the load there early. The other guy was just a solo driver and was going to drive 30 hours straight. There is a lot of that type of nonsense going on that cuts the rates down for everyone, even the bigger companies.
They just posted fake vin numbers. The carriers figured out how to cheat that system on day one lol.
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The market is simple supply and demand. People becoming "carriers" with a couple thousand dollars and van drivers running as multis have done nothing but hurt the industry. All that was created was virtual capacity. What do these carriers sell?? Service? Nationwide sales team? 24/7 service? No they sell on price and price only. They do it with little to no capital investment and their owner operators buying their own insurance and waiting to be paid when the carrier is paid are simply enabling the down fall of the industry. It's great those individuals that won't run for less...but you are far a few. I don't view it from the windshield level. I see what most on here don't have a view of. Honestly many are their own worst enemy.
whoa now buddy....lets get off the soapbox a little..you making your own definition of what an Expedite carrier should be now?....This isn't truckload or LTL division..no one asked you to get bigger and have all them other expenses and costs...if YOU can not compete with what the current market is and the way expedite is morphing into...maybe its YOU that should change your business model and go back to truckload....just saying....
BTW..John....when the crap hit the fan in 2008 you weren't even really a player yet in all this ....its your bigger buddies that pushed people away into getting their own authority and running rogue and smaller carrier types with less fixed costs than the bigger carriers have and that is the advantage right there and now its killing the big carriers because their cost to operate is much higher...with their arbitrary rules and regulations and outlandish back charges and fees....thats what percipitated all this...That and very greedy brokers with no morals...
I do agree that the bigger carriers do create some of their own competition. I was almost going to start another carrier just because no one would take a 2004 cargo van I was going to buy. That was however before my chronic leg pain kicked up a notch and put me into a reality check. Also, what if driving was all that a guy like me could do because I can't stand up for long periods of time anymore, and because I am not educated enough to get cushy office job? What if all I could do was a couple of loads a month just to pay my bills and stay off the disability roles? Is there a company out there who would be willing to help a driver with these kinds of limitations? Also being on pain medication can present a problem, even though I can be on my pain meds and still drive safely because of a thing called tolerance. Everyone gets used to the medication they take after being on it for long periods of time. So, technically I would have to create my own company just to get back in the game. I could then bid the loads I need to make my living and then take time off when needed to see doctors and rest. I would make twice as much money as I could on disability, and I would still be a productive member of society. I still might do this if my pain ever gets under control.
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I also agree that easy barriers to entry have created too much capacity. Like in dairy farming. When there are very little barriers to entry, so little in fact the government had to fix the price per gallon of milk in order to prevent undercutting. When you have an industry that has such a low barrier to entry such as the cargo van driver/carrier/broker sector of the expedite side of the motor carrier business, prices will go down. All you need is a van, a drivers license, and insurance. I'm not suggesting any sort of price fixing like in the dairy industry, but maybe the brokers can get together and set minimum rates and then allow a carriers reputation to dictate who is awarded the load. It should be price to a point! The rest should be up to a carriers reputation and level of service. It sucks for people like John who are continually fighting to keep rates high when everyone else is whoring themselves out for such cheap rates. There were good points made about the fuel prices going down while other expenses have double and tripled over the past ten years. Just because fuel is cheap, it doesn't mean that the cost to operate is cheaper. I think a dollar a mile to the truck should be the standard for everyone. Then only use carriers with well maintained equipment, proper insurance, and great on time service. I hate how carriers and load boards/shippers are requiring newer vehicles and trailers/straight truck boxes no older than ten years old, but they are wanting to pay cheap rates. You can't require new vehicles, proper insurance, and new trailers while you're not paying the drivers enough to carry these kinds of expenses.
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well for a couple hundred bucks you could get into the Amway business and compete against the big boys as well....your own home business minus all the fixed costs and liabilities....or you could get your own authority and be your own boss.....IMO we don't need big carriers or their customers..their customers would find their way to 3PLS aka Bounce and Expeditors and brokers aka CH Robinson and logistics specialists like Penske and Ryder and now we have 4PLS....can handle whatever comes their way....most of the Eastern Europeans I've talked with don't like to run below a $1.00 a mile....so are we seeing a smoke screen here?....is the real villain the big carriers?...hmmmm makes one think...
the history of trucking it has always been a dirty game....its cut throat for that extra penny per mile...and things aren't changing because we whine and cry about how unfair things seem to be....
ajakapari
Expert Expediter
Yes it is the BiG carriers that dictate the market ... Monopoly!
I am Eastern European and I hate driving for cheap!
Say no ! To cheap freight !!!!!
I am Eastern European and I hate driving for cheap!
Say no ! To cheap freight !!!!!
ajakapari
Expert Expediter
It's not that easy to start tho... U need all the proper authority good drivers under your Insurance or else it's double brokering also if u want to work with the big boys u need WORK Compensation for each driver under you.... It gets pricey....
Say no ! To cheap freight !!!!!
Say no ! To cheap freight !!!!!
There is also a point where you can no longer hold out and have to bid lower to get your drivers loaded. If the entire market is shifting, it becomes harder to maintain higher rates. This should not be happening. Carriers should be getting together and using their collective bargaining skills to keep rates higher. There needs to be more unity in this industry as a whole. There needs to be more education about cost per mile. There is no reason why we should spend so much time away from home, driving in inclimate weather, and maintaining proper equipment for such low rates. You guys risk your lives every time you get in the drivers seat. You deserve higher pay. Maybe everyone needs to demand a certain price per mile and then park your trucks until you get it. It's not that hard to do. You would have the shippers and brokers on their knees within days. The drivers hold all of the power in this game!
Many friends I left in Canada I worked with..many Romanians and Czeks....
very good people and they don't want to run cheap either....
that will never happen....they all have bills due, mouths to feed and wives edging them on to bring home the bacon.....