Does freight really slow down?

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by 1278PA, Jan 9, 2016.

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  1. Steel Dragon

    Steel Dragon Road Train Member

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    I just dont understand these millionaire company owners.
    They have all the money,they ever could spend,but refuse to share it,by honestly creating jobs and employing people.
    If everyone was working,paying taxes,and had disposable income to spend,everyone would benefit.
     
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  3. truckthatpassesyouby

    truckthatpassesyouby Road Train Member

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    making the rich share their money won't benefit the poor. inequality forces a person to want to work and to strive to earn like the rich. if you want more American spending money then you need more Americans getting paid more for their labor. but since Communist China has labor that is so much cheaper than American labor this won't happen now. what you need is new industry, a solely American industry
     
    Last edited: Jan 10, 2016
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  4. Steel Dragon

    Steel Dragon Road Train Member

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    Ive been in the workforce,over 30 years,and had one boss,in that 30 years,treat me like family.
    If work fell through,he would pay you in cash for the day,full wages,and tell you to go have some fun.
    $500 Christmas bonus,even bailed me out of jail,a few times.
    Needless to say,I never missed a day of work.
    Owner retired,gave nephew the company,who quickly,ran it into the ground.
     
  5. G/MAN

    G/MAN Road Train Member

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    If someone is successful in business they are usually creating jobs. I am not sure what you mean by sharing their wealth. They have no obligation to pay more money to a worker than the worker is producing or the position is worth. Our economy would benefit more if we had politicians who would start reducing the size of our government. We need to cut the size and scope of our government which would reduce regulations, lower taxes and create more private sector jobs.

    As far as 2008, freight was good and rates were up until October when the bottom fell out. Fuel was as high as $5/gallon, but we did well until October when rates dropped to half of what they were only a week before the crash. One of my customers whom we hauled at least 2 loads per week only had 3 loads for the 4th quarter that we could haul. The first quarter was even worse. We could not buy a load from our home base during the first quarter of 2009. Thousands of carriers and tens of thousands of owner operators went bankrupt or out of business. It was the worst economy that I have seen during my lifetime. The economy has not fully recovered from that time. We have a government that is out of control with spending and continues to add useless, costly regulations and ever higher taxes. We are paying more taxes today than we did prior to 2008. Unemployment numbers are also much higher than is being reported.

    Trucking is the first to see a downturn in the economy and first to benefit from a recovery. Fuel is down. Rates are low and freight is slower than usual. We are in a slower time of year for freight, but this year it seems that rates and the availability of freight was down most of 2015. The economy has been propped up by the federal government for the last few years. By expending unemployment benefits and pushing more government handouts, the real state of our economy has been kept hidden. /More than 40 million people are currently receiving government benefits, the highest in history. The government has also been encouraging and even paying illegals to come to this country. A number of hospitals have closed in the border states due to the impact of illegals coming into the country.

    While I hate to be the pessimist, I think this will be a challenging year. The economy does tend to be a little off during presidential elections, but there is much uncertainty in the global economy that can impact not only the United States, but other industrialized nations. Some of us have been sitting more than running. We see no sense running just to keep the wheels turning unless you can make a profit. I think we could very well see as bad or worse economy than we did during 2008. There are a couple of reasons that I think things could be difficult. Our government is spending much more than they are collecting in taxes. At some point there will come a breaking point. We are just barely paying the interest on our debt. We are increasing spending rather than paying down our debt and cutting government spending. We are also not alone in our debt. Europe, China, Russia and others are also having a troubled economy. Our balance of trade has been out of kilter for a number of years. Purchasing power has declined and politicians seem hellbent on destroying our economy with doubling of the minimum wage, increased regulations and higher taxes. It is a downward spiral that is bound to hit us sooner rather than later.
     
  6. Starboyjim

    Starboyjim Road Train Member

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    GMan, some of your facts are accurate. But, the bottom did NOT fall out of the economy. GW Bush, Hank Paulson, and Alan Greenspan removed mortgage industry regulations which than allowed stealth mortgages, shark mortgages, heck, a Mexican immigrant with no ID and a McDonald's job could buy a home over his signature. About $1 Trillion dollars was racked up in profit and income for the brokers, contractors, inspectors, everybody had a hand in the pie - "a good time was had by all." It was all phony, unqualified debt which was turned into real money when the regulations went away thanks to Bush and his money friends. I still hate hearing about "the bad economy" when what really happened was the worst ripoff of American working families in recent history. I lost a lot, myself, worked all my life and lost about 40-50% of my equity value and retirement accounts. Hate isn't good for people, but I hear so many complain about Obama when Bush was the Great Ripoff. Hate!
     
  7. satmantoo

    satmantoo Light Load Member

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    I was driving in 2008 and although the company I worked for complained that freight was slow, bla bla bla, I didn't notice any change to the amount of work they were giving me. They did use it as an excuse to lower their starting wages to new drivers. I don't think that as long as the American people have money to buy clothes, food, toilet paper, etc, that we as truckers are going to have anything to worry about.
     
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  8. Bob Dobalina

    Bob Dobalina Road Train Member

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    Not exactly. Like I said: people will always need to eat (and wipe), but they don't need to buy cars during a recession. And they put off construction plans. And appliance purchases. And so on. It affects us big time. The key is if "Americans have money to spend".
     
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  9. truckthatpassesyouby

    truckthatpassesyouby Road Train Member

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    True. Blaming immigrants for ppolitically motivated capitalist corruption that brought down American is a joke.
     
  10. RomanSGI

    RomanSGI Light Load Member

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    Believe it or not, reefer freight is slow right now as well.
     
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  11. againstthewind

    againstthewind Road Train Member

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    its simple really, the more debt you have the more you will notice freight slow down, depends on what kind of lifestyle is worth it to you. i often wonder if the Amish ever notice when the economy slows down or if they just go about their simple lives.
     
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