Driver Surcharge - Could this be the future?

Would you pay a "driver surcharge" attached to the invoice from your carrier?

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I know I've said this before, but trucking is actually capitalism at its very root. Like it or not, it's a commodity. When supply is tight, rates go up, when slack it goes down. The only thing that changes is the reason and this time it's because there aren't enough active drivers or people willing to come into the profession based on what is the normal working conditions in it.

So yes ... money fixes it. And this fix may be fairly big, because we're coming off of a time where things were quite bad in the industry and far too many exited as as result.
 
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this link seems to explain a bunch about EOBRs; http://eobr.com/eobr-facts/

EOBRs will (should) help cut down the number of shippers/brokers who force carriers to run illegal and hopefully this will make the rates go up.

as for A/T, seems to just make sense to have them not shifting on top of all the other stuff they have to look out for.

as for the prices changing for no reason just look at melon season, usually we have coverage all year round from FL-GA-SC-NC, then those darn things hit the market and those trucks just disappear and our rates go crazy!!!

then you have customers who run lumber and want to pay $1/mile...
 
That's actually because the rates aren't really high enough in the market to be profitable all year. When capacity is slack, those lanes usually run at a loss for many carriers, especially if they're repositioning from Florida (which is not so unusual). That's how they make sure they can survive. It's totally frustrating, I know ... and I've tried to inflate rates to customers so that we take margin during the slack time and give back during melon season. But it very rarely flies since most shippers are using RFPs to define their route guides at least to some degree.

As an asset based carrier, I wouldn't even run Florida if we're not getting enough money to reposition from there ... sort of like running Alberta. But it's usually the reefer guys who foul up this plan.
 
Easy there buddy ... I'm a reefer guy!!!! ... LOL
And truth be known ... we don't run Florida, Texas, Arizona, or California either for that very reason ... no year 'round cost plus margin ... no trucks :)
 
"Back in the day...", and as loaders and all you other old buggers like me can attest to, it used to be "cool" to have a Florida run. A lot of us used to use them as a driver rewards program ... Work your butt off for 10 months, then go to Florida in January & February, and take your wife with you. It was a pretty good gig for a driver. A paid vacation so-to-speak. That sort of stuff just doesn't happen anymore. Drivers spouses work too these days, so a Florida trip now is just 5 more days away from home capped off with a receiver in Florida that takes all day to unload you and a receiver in Toronto that doesn't really want your melons, or tomatoes, or whatever, when you get there.
 
You're right with that Michael. The other "cool" run for drivers was the California trip over the Christmas holidays for those without extended families. Deliver a day or two before the holiday, relax with your wife or girlfriend for a few days and don't re-load until the New Year. Can't imagine any carrier allowing valuable, scarce assets like a truck and driver being out of the system for that long these days! I guess back then, we treated our "commodities" (drivers) a little bit different........more like human beings! Fortunately, there are companies that still reward their people, albeit in other ways. My take from this long and twisty thread is, good drivers will become harder to find and more difficult to keep, so if you can't increase their pay right now, at least find another way to reward them for their efforts, even if it is merely public recognition for a job well done.
 
Not to mention Laredo ... but that was not really a family deal. Guys would go across the border into 'Boystown' and get themselves in all sorts of trouble. Oh the joy ... calls in the middle of the night begging for us to find a bail bondsman to get them out of the klinker!

And yes ... it's a different game than 20 some odd years ago when I started in this business.
 
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