Rates are crashing and fuel to the moon!

H

Not really, he will learn quickly, or be gone quickly.

 

Yeah, a bit ridiculous. I call shipper and receiver as soon as i get a rate con, IDGAF what the broker says. If they can't provide #'s for both, they're wasting my time.

99% of the time you're gonna find a problem before it finds you. Good shippers, receivers, and brokers aprreciate it.

 

I've avoided very costly mistakes many times by doing this. So many times I've been hired to move something that was actually a permit load when I didn't agree to moving a permit load.

The last one was a piece of machinery that was too high. Customer told me the dimensions and that they wanted a step deck. The dimensions were indeed better suited for a step. On a flat, it would have been over 13.5 high.

I never even called the broker to cancel. I'm sure they figured it out eventually.

 

Good points. It’s all a wave, just depends on what side of it you want to be on. In January of 2019 when I bought a truck again this site was similar to what it is now, doom and gloom, don’t buy a truck. But I got screwed over in Hawaii and needed to buy myself a job. Got my foot in the door doing something specialized and we never slowed down at all at the start of Covid. The rates were pretty decent but we got passed up once the spot market started taking off.

Then with the HOS exemptions I saw an opportunity to use that to my advantage hauling feed. I’d say my rates were similar but a little bit below what was going on on the spot market. I met the financial goals I had when I bought a hopper to run exempt and was tired of 1000 mile days so about a year ago I sold the trailer.

That’s when I signed on here. And now I’m doing better than the spot market again. I didn’t have the tall crest of the wave like the spot market, but I didn’t have the big break of the wave either. Honestly, last year it kinda sucked reading on here what people were running for because I knew what I was running for. Especially when I signed on here and had to read about what others were doing with a dry van in that market. But it’s a year later and I’m still doing the same things hauling for the same customers for the same rate. How long will it last? Who knows. But I’m also not one to sit around waiting to get kicked in the teeth. I already have a PTO and Thermoflow pump sitting in my garage in case things go really south here, or I left the pneumatic company on good terms with an open door to go back.

 

One of the biggest problems now is the recievers or people who would deal with the freight that you woild build that relationship don't have a say anymore of who they can get for moving the freight.it's the ean counters and suits upstairs who find out you can always get it down cheaper amd they don't care tye guy who is gonna do it cheaper Is an ####### or could be a day late he is making my profit margin bigger and that's all that matters.

People want to to talk about inflation being a problem, it's corporate greed that's the problem. Despite the inflation numbers businesses are setting record profits.

So how is it mathematically possible for inflation to rise the way it has, people lotterally buying less because they can't afford it and or having to chose between food on table or say a cell phone bill amd yet every were record profits being reported.

That is of course unless your a trucking business well then your a major break down from bankruptcy

 

Personally, I think the average for the year is what matters. The market is cyclical. No matter what you pull or how you move it there will always be ups/downs. Spot versus contract says it all. Either one can lead the same number at the end of the year.

 

Never happen.

It took 13 years of QE and repressed interest rates to get us to the beginning of what's about to happen. There is no way this unwinds in less than a few years.

This isn't a garden variety recession we have entered.

 

I didn't even know what a lane was when I started. And as I type this, look what rolled up. I bet this guy doesn't haul cheap freight.

Edit: okay, they've got 4,600 trucks. But you get the idea.

 

Also, I only know my experience and how it is for me. I don’t have the expense of being a motor carrier and maintaining authority or maintaining a trailer. In a down market that is a benefit to my bottom line. When the spot market is hot I do have moments of feeling dumb for sitting on the sideline, so to speak.

For fun I looked back at one of our regular short hops. 7-19-21 it was $1375 plus 174.60 fsc. 5-3-22 it was $1375 plus 315.18 fsc. Maybe a better analogy in my other post would’ve been swimming versus surfing.