RATES what is going on

[loaders]

Slow times in transportation acts just like a fire in the woods….it thins out the forest. The last couple of years have been pretty good for many carriers and brokers alike. Lots of freight, great rates, no wonder we have seen so many new entrants into this wacky industry. It all seems so easy! Well, the chickens have come home to roost and things are now in a downward trend. Usually that means only the well funded, efficient, organized and experienced operations will survive. The Johnny-come-latelys who feasted on the recent high rates thinking that was the norm, are in for a rude awakening.

 

[NotForHire]

The low rates are coming directly from the customers mouth.

The best load thats been offered to me in a long time is 5600km for 14,500 cad 1 pick 9 drops dry van only -- DROP TRAILER FOR 1 WEEK TOO

 

[chica123]

There is only one solution to resolve all of this, and that is to regulate the trucking industry once again.
NOT THE GOVERNMENT OR THE PROVINCES TRUCKING ASSOCIATIONS, an educated group that would establish standard rates,for every corridor,along with the Domestic and US/Canada weekly fuel charts that would apply, and then customers and freight brokers, can choose the carriers that provide the service, and the ones that have been surviving by butchering the rates, and customers settling with poor service for cheap trucking, will be slowly dissolved in an industry they should have never been in to start.

This industry controls the economy,and it is shooting itself in the foot.
Hope is the only word, and depending on our millennials,who sure as hell dont want to spend 3 weeks of the month in a truck on the road, to make a living...we will need the governing body to recruit and keep transportation on its feet....or we will be right back to where we are,with the butchers and service failures running the roads.

I actually do not support regulating the rates for trucking at all. What is going to separate the people who really give this job their 100% all from those who do not? Any company can have a truck and a driver and run a lane. It is the companies that put their heart and soul into it, that will succeed. Regulating, in my humble opinion would be like allowing companies to get paid the same amount for doing a crumby job. If someone's rate is slightly higher than someone else's, but they do an outstanding job, what is wrong with that? As a broker, or a shipper looking for high quality service and long term relationships, they might very well pay a little extra to know their freight is well cared for.

 

[Michael Ludwig]

Well now we know whoever has the working force is the ones who control any industry and the pricing! I think the OTA should lobby for a level playing field so only a certain amount of new canadians ( depending where you come from) should be allowed in any business model.

To a certain extent you are 1,000% correct. Whoever has the driver force, drives the market. TFI has by far the largest driver force. They get the cream of the customer base. I would postulate that Driver Inc. has the second largest driver force. Their problem is that they have no business sense, and the rates at which they work for reflect that notion as they leaves hundreds if not thousands on the table, all while driving down the rate base for everyone else.
As for your New Canadian comment, I can't say that I am on board with that. "Mario" doesn't sound like a "Canadian" name. How would you feel if you were told you could not participate in this industry because you come from somewhere else? No, our immigrants simply need information and education.

 

[Eye-on-U]

Regulation should have came back 15 years ago...not the pandemic that made this any different, it only showed the true colours of what goes on inside our industry,and this is on all sides,carriers to brokers.
There are many knowledged veteran people, from truck drivers to dispatchers to freight brokers to customer service, that have been around all avenues of the game,that would create an on hands system that would straighten out this direction it is going. There is no perfect solution,as it shows in all of the forms of transportation services,but taking the steps to try and impliment a system that does not play against itself,is the only saviour...
There are alot of factors that would need to be ironed out especially with O/O ...but smart heads always prevail. It needs to done!

 

[Eye-on-U]

I actually do not support regulating the rates for trucking at all. What is going to separate the people who really give this job their 100% all from those who do not? Any company can have a truck and a driver and run a lane. It is the companies that put their heart and soul into it, that will succeed. Regulating, in my humble opinion would be like allowing companies to get paid the same amount for doing a crumby job. If someone's rate is slightly higher than someone else's, but they do an outstanding job, what is wrong with that? As a broker, or a shipper looking for high quality service and long term relationships, they might very well pay a little extra to know their freight is well cared for.

You proved my point....the companies that do a "crumby job" wont be around as the carriers with the good servcie will stay a float. Rates are same clients take the good dedicated carriers that provide what we are selling... service!

 

[loaders]

The days of any kind of industry wide regulation are long, long past. Transport companies don’t want it, as an independent freight brokerage business owner I don’t want it and shippers certainly don’t want it. Rates go up, and rates go down, get used to it and learn how to survive. There is no council of “learned men“ to make everyones job easier. Bad carriers, bad brokers, bad shippers and bad rates have always been around and always will, best thing is to learn who they are and avoid them. Sorry, there is no magic wand to wave that can make everything easy!

 

[Igor Galanter]

This industry regulated in every visible side, EXEPT rates.. Rates are the only moving force for all who know how to manage. You may take a chance with no profit runs only for a very short period of time..
Those who are at least street smart can hanging for a while, but in the long run, I doubt that..
Education is a must, listen to @Michael Ludwig ,eh...

 

[Upper Ech]

Slow times in transportation acts just like a fire in the woods….it thins out the forest. The last couple of years have been pretty good for many carriers and brokers alike. Lots of freight, great rates, no wonder we have seen so many new entrants into this wacky industry. It all seems so easy! Well, the chickens have come home to roost and things are now in a downward trend. Usually that means only the well funded, efficient, organized and experienced operations will survive. The Johnny-come-latelys who feasted on the recent high rates thinking that was the norm, are in for a rude awakening.

picked the worst time to make a forest fire analogy lol

 

[loaders]

picked the worst time to make a forest fire analogy lol

I realized that right after I hit ”post reply”. I have never seen anything like this. I am in Prince Edward County near Belleville and here visibility is drastically reduced. The smell of smoke is quite bitter and very strong. There will be no outside activities today for this old boy.

 

[Michael Ludwig]

You proved my point....the companies that do a "crumby job" wont be around as the carriers with the good servcie will stay a float. Rates are same clients take the good dedicated carriers that provide what we are selling... service!

In a perfect world you would be absolutely correct ... the cream does rise to the top.
However, we do not live in a perfect world, and there are manufacturers, a lot of them, that only consider the bottom line. For all manufacturers, with a very select few exceptions, cost will always trump quality.

 

[chica123]

You proved my point....the companies that do a "crumby job" wont be around as the carriers with the good servcie will stay a float. Rates are same clients take the good dedicated carriers that provide what we are selling... service!

I think that establishing set rates goes against free market philosophy, actually. You should be able to set your own rates and either sink or swim. I don't want some group of "industry leading" men (likely very few women) deciding what I am going to do with my business. And it will only cause some to do back door deals to get ahead. That is my humble opinion

 

[dad2andrew]

In a perfect world you would be absolutely correct ... the cream does rise to the top.
However, we do not live in a perfect world, and there are manufacturers, a lot of them, that only consider the bottom line. For all manufacturers, with a very select few exceptions, cost will always trump quality.

We're an exception to that. If we have to pay a bit more to get good service, communication and hopefully a long-term ongoing relationship, as long as our end customer is happy so be it. Especially true on our parts & service side of our world.

Even if it's for our production, I'm not going to look to save a couple bucks with the cheapest option out there, but then end up shutting our line down and end up costing WAY more than the couple of bucks we "saved".

Hopefully a happy customer returns and purchases again and again.

 

[loaders]

In today’s competitive marketplace, the best and most valuable thing you can offer your customers is good, even exceptional service. Regardless if you are a carrier or a broker, a happy customer is less likely to complain about rates and more likely to give you repeat business.

 

[Shakey]

Didn’t hear anyone looking for regulation last year

How about self regulation, know your cost of operations and don’t take loads under them

 

[markhamboy]

In today’s competitive marketplace, the best and most valuable thing you can offer your customers is good, even exceptional service. Regardless if you are a carrier or a broker, a happy customer is less likely to complain about rates and more likely to give you repeat business.

You nailed it. It's like HAPPY WIFE HAPPY LIFE

 

[Eye-on-U]

"Dont take loads under them"...survey the average carrier,outside of his regular tendered business,and see how they are juggling that part of the finances..makes it difficult to meet your operational costs, when the "loads under them" are the only freight that is available,because of pricing, that is undercut and below cost.
Its all about the $$$...
Regulating again has been spoken day in and out...many on board with it,just nobody standing up and organizing it to take place. Myself included. Just dont trust the industry culture now to back it up.

 

[loaders]

Regulation of the transportation industry is a long dead issue. Other than establishing safety standards and insurance requirements, no one is willing to have the decision about rates taken out of their hands, either by the government or the industry itself. This low rate environment is nothing new. Learn to operate leaner and smarter, service the hell out of your customers both direct shippers and brokers, and wait for the tide to turn. The lessons learned today will serve you well going forward.

 

[Michael Ludwig]

Managed carriers cycle through varying degrees of profit and cash flow. Basically when the economy is booming, they are in profit mode, and when the economy is in recession, they are in cash flow mode. As the economy transitions between the two endpoints the varying degrees of profit and cash flow come into play.

I would suggest that many of the established carriers here are still more in profit mode than they are in cash flow mode. By the same token, I would also suggest that many, if not all, new(er) carriers are in cash flow, or maybe even survival, mode.

FWIW, financially speaking, once you hit survival mode, you're done unless you have an angel to bail you out. In what is generally referred to as a 2% industry, there is not enough profit margin to bail yourself out otherwise.

Regulation, or rather re-regulation, is never going to happen. In a regulated marketplace, back in the days of the PCV License, the only way for a new operator to gain market space was to buy an existing PCV license, and in today's dollars, that would take millions (perhaps even billions if you wanted to acquire licenses like those that Erb and Laidlaw had) and at that you would be regulated to the geographic area you could serve.
The underhandedness that went along with the regulated environment was far worse than what we have today in an unregulated market. For a Canadian carrier to operate in the U.S. was even worse.
If you want to regulate a marketplace, you have to regulate the whole thing, not just the parts that serve you.

 

[Igor Galanter]

"Dont take loads under them"...survey the average carrier,outside of his regular tendered business,and see how they are juggling that part of the finances..makes it difficult to meet your operational costs, when the "loads under them" are the only freight that is available,because of pricing, that is undercut and below cost.
Its all about the $$$...
Regulating again has been spoken day in and out...many on board with it,just nobody standing up and organizing it to take place. Myself included. Just dont trust the industry culture now to back it up.

What is your vision of regulation? Is there a special place for you in the regulated market?
How do you plan to start, grow, compete and survive, please, teach me? Seriously, eh..