fleet owner who owns half of vans in service

BXDIVER

Expert Expediter
Driver
Why would a company want or allow one fleet owner to own half of the vans in service. It seems this allows the fleet owner to have an advantage over the other owner operators.
 

DollarSign

Fleet Owner
Owner/Operator
To me its not good. My guess they were needing more vans and that person was the only one willing to put more on. You must drive for TriState?
 

jjoerger

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
US Army
Why would a company want or allow one fleet owner to own half of the vans in service. It seems this allows the fleet owner to have an advantage over the other owner operators.

It requires less work on the carriers part. Insurance, payroll, etc. It also eliminates having to deal with 50 owners when they can deal with just one and the owner has to deal with all the drivers. But it can also put the carrier in a bind if the fleet owner decides to pull all of his vehicles and move to a different carrier.
(I also know BXDIVER. He started his career in expedite as my co driver when we were at FedEx CC. And he does not run for Tri State)
 

mjmsprt40

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
It could be that it just sorta worked out that way. Or it could be that the owner of the fleet of vans is related to the owner of the company. Don't know, based on the lack of information so far.
 

OntarioVanMan

Retired Expediter
Owner/Operator
IF I were the carrier I'd have it in the contract that the owner could only pull so many vans at a time within a specified time period...
 

BXDIVER

Expert Expediter
Driver
I think that allowing one owner to own a large amount of units in a company tips the scales to his or her advantage. My weekly miles have dropped since the recent additional units have been put into service. When I spoke to our GM about this issue, I was told its slow all over. Coincidence or cover up?
 

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
I think that allowing one owner to own a large amount of units in a company tips the scales to his or her advantage. My weekly miles have dropped since the recent additional units have been put into service. When I spoke to our GM about this issue, I was told its slow all over. Coincidence or cover up?
Coincidence. The carrier has zero incentive to harm you by their wrongdoings (which is implied by cover up). For one, it is slow all over for cargo vans, and two, when it's slow for cargo vans, and it always is, increased competition for loads makes it even slower for individual cargo van drivers, whether that competition is from inside or outside your own carrier.

Smart carriers will only have as many vans in their fleet as they can consistently keep loaded.
 

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
I agree "smart" carriers shouldn't add on units during slow periods.
One thing that must be understood in that context is, very few carriers are "smart," and will add more vans than they have loads, in the hopes they'll get loads for them. But they rarely do.
 
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