2025 Locations & More..

[OkieSprint]

My plan to come out and scoop up some last minute freight out of California before the tariffs hit Monday was a bust. I got something headed to Utah that will pay my gas the rest of the way home, but I have to say I'm surprised. I thought people would be trying to skirt under the deadline and be more active.

 

[RoadTime]

I happened to get a load close to home last week and with my Dog having a vet appointment on Friday I just went home for some more time off. I've been staying out a lot the last 7 months trying to survive, so I think I earned it I did a shorty on Monday, back around ann arbor area chilling in the rain. Yuck.

----Another perk bites the dust at Load One. For years we have been able to plug into electric outlets. There is like about 5 electric post enough for 4 cords on each. Well that ended this week as the power has been turned off, will supposedly come back on in the winter. Of course that's what they said when they took the porta-potty away saying it wasn't being used enough. Really? So Load 1 literally doesn't have a pot to piss in lol. Gee, I don't know why there is a increase of piss bottles in the yard. Hmmmmm.

Sadly, so many perks that made Load 1 special have been taken away, that soon they will be like any other carrier. I still think they are the best carrier, but the bar has been lowered greatly over the years.

 

[Ragman]

----Another perk bites the dust at Load One. For years we have been able to plug into electric outlets. There is like about 5 electric post enough for 4 cords on each. Well that ended this week as the power has been turned off, will supposedly come back on in the winter. Of course that's what they said when they took the porta-potty away saying it wasn't being used enough. Really? So Load 1 literally doesn't have a pot to piss in lol. Gee, I don't know why there is a increase of piss bottles in the yard. Hmmmmm.

Sadly, so many perks that made Load 1 special have been taken away, that soon they will be like any other carrier. I still think they are the best carrier, but the bar has been lowered greatly over the years.

Well now, that doesn't sound good. Has anybody spoken to John about it. He always seemed to be a reasonable man.

I hope things turn around for you.

 

[RoadTime]

Well now, that doesn't sound good. Has anybody spoken to John about it. He always seemed to be a reasonable man.

I hope things turn around for you.

He's back to running daily operations again. I'm sure he is aware. Cost cutting at work. So many companies going under, save where you can. Although, I did think canceling a birthday card was...Well, I'll leave it at that.

 

[Ragman]

He's back to running daily operations again...

It shows you how much I'm out of the loop I am. I wasn't aware he wasn't running things.

Retirement will do that. Plus, the abandonment of EO hasn't helped. Without all the blabber mouths, I don't hear things.

 

[brokcanadian]

You getting $300 for that short run you best keep that on the down low. Ain't many of those around. Brokers taking more than the driver.

$840 in 10 hours, less than 300 miles total. No shortage. It's more about you randomly being the closest than competition in locals

 

[brokcanadian]

Oh yeah, it's a little competitive over there right now, I hope we have all learned our lessons and have paid for equipment

 

[RoadTime]

It shows you how much I'm out of the loop I am. I wasn't aware he wasn't running things.

Retirement will do that. Plus, the abandonment of EO hasn't helped. Without all the blabber mouths, I don't hear things.

Yeah, over the last few years he has slowly been taking steps back. Kind of a retirement but still a part of L1. We had a New CEO for the last year when John moved to Executive Chairman, The New CEO suddenly retired? and John came back. As Forest Gump would say, That's all I have to say about that haha.
In 2022 HIG capital became a undisclosed amount of ownership in Load 1. I would say that's about the time things started to change.

 

[RoadTime]

Slow start to the week with a nice weekend run to finish. Will be heading down to South Carolina from Ohio for a Monday delivery. Ticks are out in full force making me a nervous wreck trying to keep them off my dog.

 

[brokcanadian]

I've been wondering whether to put this here, cause there's a lot going on already. But it might save somebody the trouble of starting out and not considering the consequences (cause nobody does any research before jumping in as we all know)

https://finance.yahoo.com/video/aurora-ceo-talks-future-autonomous-215000101.html

I've said it before, but because there was a "safety driver" nobody paid any attention. It's here, in 2025

DHL recently laid off 20,000 people with excuses, but also released their plans, despite being 63% automated they are pushing for 100%

Hyundai has a 21 billion dollar plant investment going into Georgia - which would normally be cause for celebration at the new jobs. Already far enough along to be producing in 2025. Since they bought Boston Dynamics in 2021, the new employees will cost about $48,000 one time only, not take breaks and not need raises - or pay for that matter - and need to recharge every 8 hours.

Ya, probably faster than I thought, just because I didn't expect government to change laws that quickly....

 

[RoadTime]

I've said it before, but because there was a "safety driver" nobody paid any attention. It's here, in 2025

It is happening pretty fast. I heard about the dallas to houston runs. I'll assume they do hub to hub trips only. But still, I think that's pretty impressive. I don't think we have to be worried about being put out of business in our lifetime, but definitely will continue making a impact going forward. I think setting up the infrastructure will take the longest part. The Trucks are ready to roll.

 

[brokcanadian]

It is happening pretty fast. I heard about the dallas to houston runs. I'll assume they do hub to hub trips only. But still, I think that's pretty impressive. I don't think we have to be worried about being put out of business in our lifetime, but definitely will continue making a impact going forward. I think setting up the infrastructure will take the longest part. The Trucks are ready to roll.

Yeah I personally thought the laws were going to be the holdup.

These units can be installed in any truck, any brand, any fuel. As a corporation, if your competition has access to a unit that can do 168 hours a week legally (meaning each one truck can replace 2 driver's entire salary functioning like a team. They don't need 10 hours off daily, breaks, or a 34 hour reset) as a corporation you have no choice but to do the same to compete

The only limit I see is how quickly these units can be produced and installed. A surprise was FMCSA / Texas state DOT allowing Level 4 instead of Level 5 on the roads

A smaller holdup will be individual jurisdictions and state laws, but the pressure from billion dollar companies will be immense

If they end up being safer than human drivers, the billion dollar insurance companies will weigh in by discounting the robot truck insurance while simultaneously increasing on the human drivers left...

Anyway I agree, it will stay in hub to hub deliveries for now. But that represents a LOT of drivers

 

[veroni787]

Yeah, the shift toward automation is real, and it’s coming quicker than most folks expected.

 

[RoadTime]

Been down in South Carolina since I unloaded Monday Morning. Pretty much another feast or famine week as I have nothing on the books yet...except my expenses. I pretty much screwed myself by declining a low paying offer that dropped me to the bottom of the list. Debating where to go at this point with a lot of sitting units around. In hindsight, yeah I probably should of accepted the load, (not guaranteed we would get it anyways), to get out of here.
Good thing I had a good week last week, looks like I will be splitting that pay with this week.

 

[OkieSprint]

I had no idea there ever were power outlets at the yard in Taylor, but I wondered where the port-a-john went. I figured someone trashed it and ruined it for the rest of us, so they took it away. I only used it once at night when it was freezing (and frozen) but it saved me a long walk in the snow so I appreciated it.

I had also forgot about the birthday cards until you mentioned it (which included scratch off tickets hah) and figured whoever was doing that had just retired. Or maybe someone won and they were able to quit lol

That seems to be the story of the world now, something taken away because of irresponsible people taking advantage...

 

[Ragman]

Today's Location game.....

Where is OVM?

 

[RoadTime]

I had no idea there ever were power outlets at the yard in Taylor, but I wondered where the port-a-john went. I figured someone trashed it and ruined it for the rest of us, so they took it away. I only used it once at night when it was freezing (and frozen) but it saved me a long walk in the snow so I appreciated it.

I had also forgot about the birthday cards until you mentioned it (which included scratch off tickets hah) and figured whoever was doing that had just retired. Or maybe someone won and they were able to quit lol

That seems to be the story of the world now, something taken away because of irresponsible people taking advantage...

John said the Porta Potty was taken away because it wasn't being used, (I beg to differ), and may come back in the winter. Obviously, that didn't happen. I forgot about the scratch offs with the birthday card haha.

 

[RoadTime]

Today's Location game.....

Where is OVM?

Somewhere in Canada, or was it Texas? Can we tag someone on here? @ovm doesn't seem to do anything on my end.

 

[RoadTime]

I did manage to get a load out of North Carolina going to Ohio, delivering on Monday. The deadhead killed the rate but I'm out of there, with some pocket change to spare haha.

 

[Ragman]

Somewhere in Canada, or was it Texas? Can we tag someone on here? @ovm doesn't seem to do anything on my end.

Last I heard from him, he was in Winnipeg.