What is it going to take

H

hunter

Member
Feb 4, 2010
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What is this industry coming to?

Cost of equipment up, fuel up, repairs up, insurance up - rates down, wages down, profits down (if any) and laws always changing. Fighting for months to get paid when I am sure whomever I am hauling for does not wait 90 to 120 days for payment.

With the On Board Recording Devices becoming mandatory I was hoping that would change the industry and create some sort of consistency with the way things are done and how rates may improve. And maybe wages starting to go where they should be (hopeful thinking). I have heard a lot of moaning from drivers - they are thinking they should be looking for another line of employment as they truly believe that there is no way to make a decent living driving anymore.

Some of the drivers that I have (148 drivers - 110 power units) have been driving for years. They made more money to create a better living for their families (even though they were on the road up to weeks at a time) back in the 80's than what is happening now. With the good drivers retiring and no one wanting to get into the industry when they are away from home for min wage or less - what will become of the transportation industry?

I have been in the industry with many roles for the last 30 years and do not know where it is going.

WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE?
 
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Without a doubt you will see drivers earning 90 to 120,000 dollars and home every weekend within the next 10 years it will be the only way to attract new people to the industry. The major carriers in the US have started announcing pay raises and everyone will follow suit and it will continue from there.
 
In the good old days ...we were all asset based trucking companies with our own fleet of trucks, we kept the rates up, and our trucking partners had the integrity not to low ball the rates. The trucking industry was strong.
We allowed logistic companies without any trucks and their offices consisted of a phone/computer/fax to start to quote and book freight. Now they are skimming the profit right off the top for themselves, and give the trucking company the left overs. Too many one man shows out there that will run for fuel money or cash flow alone.
Driver pay will never be what it should be, there is not enough respect for our drivers these days.
 
Someone with more chops than me needs to forward this topic to King David of Bradley. The sooner the government and the general public realize that the only "shortage" in this industry is money the better chance we have of righting the ship.
 
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Carriers need to raise our rates, say no to the cheap freight and sit your trucks, only run freight that pays for a couple weeks and see what happens to the industry. The problem is we all want to have 100 trucks and support them all with good paying freight. From Toronto at least there is still too many carriers running for nothing only to then complain about the rates. Nobody is holding a gun to your head to take freight at less than $2 a mile, but we all take it at some point. That is the choice we all need to make, keep outbidding ourselves or stop moving the freight so damn cheap. Hunter I know for a fact I have gone up against you on 1 account from Texas and your rate was $600 less than mine, so tell me why will the broker give it to me for $600 more, or give it to you for $600 bucks less and keep the money themselves. I find we are our own worst enemy in this business sometimes, brokers/3PL's have gotten away with crappy rates because we let them (mostly because some of the people we deal with at 3PL's couldn't tell you the difference between a flatbed and a reefer but think they can make a lot of money "selling" freight, I do more quotes these days than move actual freight because of this, and then wait 3 months to get paid (some of you brokers are on here that pay at the after 90 day mark. Thank goodness for the brokers that actual care about building and keeping relationships and work with us day in and day out and paying rates that are fair and in 30 days, something to think about for all the brokers that call 10 carriers for the cheapest rate only to get screwed and complain on here about it) we don't have to run for nothing, we chose too. Don't get me wrong, I am fed up with this business that I used to love, and honestly don't see myself doing this for the rest of my life like I once did. How about we park/sell half of the 110 hunter trucks and only haul "fair paying freight", that might get the rates up for all of us carriers. We have cut back about 10% of our fleet in the last year, what's the point in running an extra 5-10 trucks to lose money?! Lets give our head a shake people and start saying no to cheap freight as a group, that is the ONLY way this will change; David Bradley cant tell you to run at $2 a mile if you wont... think about it people, have to create our own change....and as much as carriers complain, NOTHING will change if we wont....
 
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GS - I hate to tell you but it ain't never gonna happen. As long as this industry keeps whining that it needs more drivers - and goes overseas to find them - things will not change. We don't haul cheap freight. So? It isn't changing anything. There are a lot of 'new' companies and 'new' drivers that are more than willing to haul for cheap. And, you say you can't see yourself doing this for the rest of your life? What are you going to do? Every industry has the same problem. I hate to open a can of worms but it might not be a bad idea to stop the influx of foreign workers.
 
Do rates need to come up to attract drivers to the industry? For sure. Will this happen universally? I don't think so. The only way is to defragment the industry where more 'alike' people are running the shows. If the economy allows it, it will drive the rates up. The only skepticism I have is that sometimes the price of transportation is so integral to the supply chain of supplying products, it could cause big ripples ... it could change the decision on where to make things, what we pay for them etc. Where you have imbalances of inbound/outbound freight, it's the lower transporation rates that sometimes facilitate trade. I know many of you don't want to hear that but it's the truth.

Having background from both ops and sales, asset and non, I can tell you that anyone that thinks it's the brokers or carriers setting the rates is not thinking straight. The market finds its own equilibrium, and this is a moving target.
 
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The biggest change this industry has seen in the last 20 years, is the effect of global trade. The vast majority of products, both finished and raw, come from overseas, not produced here in North America as in the past. There just isn't the same amount of freight and what is available usually, but nor always, goes to the lowest bidder. Deregulation, the creation of more 3PL's, a looming or present driver shortage, have all made the fight over what available freight is left more intense with no easing in sight. In spite of this gloomy forecast, there still exists opportunities for professional, efficient companies to operate at a profit. Don't necessarily work harder and be bitter about the situation, work smarter and try to be pro-active.
 
Nice post, loaders.

The trick is to always innovate and look for the differentiating factors. The fact that everyone is looking for the best value (which is the best quotient of service/price, but not purely price in most cases) is never going to change and it's not unique to our industry. I'm sure every one of us follows this mantra to some degree when running our households ... and this ultimately is the driving force behind everything.
 
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