greg334
Veteran Expediter
Piper,
You got a few things right.
The first thing is unless you get a C unit cheap, then buying one now makes no sense at all. FedEx is the only carrier I can find that can actually use one - reefer or not. They epitomized the C unit into something that was needed for one or two special purposes or plan but I think that at this time their customer and more or less most of the small truck work has dried up for a bit.
The second thing is that what makes it hard for me, and people like me is the competition with box trucks, some "claim" to haul more than 4000lbs while others will run near nothing with some carriers. The vans take some of the work away, buy it is that over 2500lb load that seems to be going on those box trucks that are under 10k.
The C unit isn't dead yet, or I hope it isn't. The Van has taken a lot of freight from us little trucks and it is alright for now. The rates that most of you run at contractually makes a difference for you now, but may not last if the customers keep expecting declining rates in the shadow of a bad economy. If fuel prices go up, if the economy goes south, and so on, then there will be another change to the landscape.
All of this great news should not mean to jump in, the water is still very cold.
You got a few things right.
The first thing is unless you get a C unit cheap, then buying one now makes no sense at all. FedEx is the only carrier I can find that can actually use one - reefer or not. They epitomized the C unit into something that was needed for one or two special purposes or plan but I think that at this time their customer and more or less most of the small truck work has dried up for a bit.
The second thing is that what makes it hard for me, and people like me is the competition with box trucks, some "claim" to haul more than 4000lbs while others will run near nothing with some carriers. The vans take some of the work away, buy it is that over 2500lb load that seems to be going on those box trucks that are under 10k.
The C unit isn't dead yet, or I hope it isn't. The Van has taken a lot of freight from us little trucks and it is alright for now. The rates that most of you run at contractually makes a difference for you now, but may not last if the customers keep expecting declining rates in the shadow of a bad economy. If fuel prices go up, if the economy goes south, and so on, then there will be another change to the landscape.
All of this great news should not mean to jump in, the water is still very cold.
