What is with rates???

I can assume you are not flatbed, or are working in some type of untouched fraction of trucking. If all of my local competitors went out of business because of how bad trucking was in 2012 and are now working for other companies and talking about how it is even worse than last year, then I do not think I am hallucinating. Just be glad you are doing ok. I sure wish we were. And also tell us your secret. All of us "crying" would love some insider tips (and I mean that with all sincerity).

 

Boardhauler: I have been dispatching flatbeds, stepdecks, and hotshots for somewhere around 7 years. Freight was always been up and down but profitable. 2011 was all up. We boomed nonstop and I had drivers earning more money than they had ever dreamed of. At the end of 2011 it started going down and has really been downhill ever since. Spring of 2012 was decent (better than May has been 2013). But that was the only exception and even it was not as good as springs past. January of this year was even more dead that January usually is. And with this trend of a dead spring, us flatbeds really do not have a shot. That is our boom time. That is when we get our savings going for the year to cover all of our truck and trailer payments. Spring should be day in day out $2.50 and up including deadhead. And then we can survive the rest of the year when it is hard to get above $1.25 (which we do get above but we have to call call and fight fight to get it). I am usually loading trucks pretty continuously out of the Northeast, Midwest, and South. And those are the general stats I have noticed. Oh to add a stat. Texas died so bad last year to the point that I stopped taking Texas drivers even though I always got most of my o/o out of TX. I have always heard TX was bad but we always did ok out of East TX until last year. Now we are going back and I have even gotten a driver ok pay out of Laredo on one occasion. I was terrified to the whole way there because we had to send that truck by the house so a long haul to TX was in order. Now it is the Northeast that just died. I had 2 trucks drop in MA and normally we get our trucks out of MA ok. That was not the case this week. We are not going back to New England or the rest of the Northeast until it changes. The cheapos can have their northeast freight all the way to the point of the engine blows and they do not have the money to cover it because they have been taking cheap freight this whole time.

 

We used to get $1.90 for hot shots all day out of Houston area and usually with some deadhead included in the 1.90. All of that said, when I used to get that rate and above $2 out of Houston it was not from call ins. I feel that the brokers who call are either trying to move crap or trying to move rush load, and usually it is the crap. A load that is not crap will move by simply posting it anywhere unless it is at night or on weekend, or an area where there are no trucks. East TX is always full of trucks. I do still post trucks but always in a reluctant manner. I will post them after truck has sat for 3 hours or so, because I know that when the calls start coming in they will be crap.

 

Travelinman: Where do you get that it will start picking up next year? I do not think that anyone on this earth knows that. People lie and then after the fact they talk about what we all know just happened, and they try to coin it like they were the all knowing ones who predicted it. Last year starting spring everyone was saying great freight opportunities. So many listened, bought trucks, and went out of business. This year they were yelling the same thing but nobody listened. My company doubled in size in 2011. Then it split in half in 2012, and now it is split in half again in 2013. I will believe that the economy is picking up after it has happened. And I think eliminating all cheap paying brokers would be the first place to start and the most fair place to start. And starting with TQL would be BEAUTIFUL!!! I do not think there is a driver one as greedy as these brokers. And the drivers/carriers actually have more of a reason to be greedy as they front all of the costs. Maybe that is me being small minded. I am not usually, but we all have our moments. But it sounds pretty good to me. If I knew that 50 small carriers would join with me I would stop dealing with them. Hey all we would need would be for 1/10 of the trucks in the Northeast to refuse TQL just while in the Northeast. That is where TQL makes most of their money. But either no one will do that or no one can afford to do it. Or at least not enough. Maybe we should pick the top 10 worst paying brokers by doing a poll or finding a way to get some accurate statistic. And then start a campaign. OOIDA's "say no to cheap freight" method of getting the drivers to change things is obviously not working. Yeah if freight pay was up there might be less loads, but also their might be at least some happy drivers. I think that is better in this scenario than a bunch of unhappy drivers. Now I am sure one person will respond to this with "I am happy". But I know a lot of truck drivers and a few carriers small and large. Not one of them is happy right now.