Driver layoffs coming

Good thing I'm hauling food. Left Salt Lake City this afternoon headed for Oregon. Just found the LAST parking space in a rest area. I'll drop tomorrow afternoon and hope I'm not waiting for the next load. Well see.

 

Reefer here out of Texas, we are dead slow! I run about a 5 to 600 mile load then I sit for about 24 hours and then I get another. Last week I had to deadhead 692 miles to pick up my next load. that’s a record! We never read head over 200 miles. I asked dispatcher why, and he said everything on the board was below $1.60 a mile and he said we don’t drive for that. It’s principal. He was like I could’ve assigned you a load for $1.40 a mile running over to the other pick up, but we won’t don’t that. Lol

now if you all did that, we’d see rates come up a bit here!

 

That's all fine and dandy.
But the other guy needs that 1.40 mile to the
Next load.
He's got wife and kids at home.
And a truck payment.

 

Hey, I’m getting 44 cents a mile, lol company driver: I don’t know what they get per mile for their loads. I know they’re hurting though. Lots of small mid sized carriers and a few Mega’s as well gonna go under before this storm is over.

 

#### I deadhead a couple hundred miles a day and still make good money

 

I don't care what people say.
Deadhead is STILL $0.00/mi.
So I don't know how people justify that.

Now, if I had to go 200 miles to pick up a $2/mi 400 mi load and a 150 mi $1.20/mi load going that way would make me miss my pickup window, then yeah dead head or look for something that beats both. But my dispatcher & broker are managing for now.

 

With drivers sitting so much, those of us with negotiating skills and such should be aloud to scan, secure and find loads even as company drivers. I mean why not? Dispatchers are so #### busy all the time, they don’t have that much time to look. They’re used to just cherry picking and taking a few minutes reviewing a board. A driver, sitting for 20 to 24 hours bored at a truck stop waiting for that dispatcher to get him a load could be finding something much better in his area.