Buying A Truck....

I never got hassled driving the strip. One time was for fun. the other I was delivering to a convention center or something so only went about half way. traffic is a mess though. just plan on going straight in one lane from one end all the way t the other end

 

Hate to sound like a #$% here, but, we are drivers, we provide our customers with a service, correct?

When was the last time you walked into burger king and told them you were only going to pay them 1.00 for a Whopper? What if every company that provided a product, or service in this country was ran like the trucking industry? When did customers start telling their service providers how much they were going to get paid? Isn't it OUR responsibility to charge what we think is a fair rate? Could i walk into a store and demand to purchase a 35.00 item for 20 bucks? I'd get laughed out of the place. Perhaps that's how we should treat these low-balling brokers/shippers.

I blame brokers for alot of this. I think they are scum, ofcourse that's just my opinion. Just a freakin' middle man, sitting there with his thumb up his #%% collecting checks while the real men do the work. I hate them. Unfortunately i hope to purchase a truck or two of my own one day, and i will eventually have to deal with them. Unless i can just get my own contracts, which isn't really something to bank on anymore, but i sure as hell am going to try everything in my power to become a completely independant entity without the need for brokers and low-balling shippers.

I think the trucking industry and the rest of this country needs to wake up from our submissive ways. Haven't you all noticed the extended wait times at wal-mart or other various stores because during busy times they will have 1-2 lanes open, at most? And then the new "self serve" garbage that i never use, because it's TAKING JOBS. Yeah, and guess what? WE PUT UP WITH THIS CRAP. What happened to customer service? It went away, because these companies figured out they could save a few million dollars a year by making their paying customers wait in line for longer.. and we let them get away with it because we're too submissive to care. Why is that? It's called Marketing, which is believe it or not a form of brainwashing, how do you think that these high end retail stores are still alive with this new internet trend that's been going on for the past 10 or so years? You can buy nearly EVERYTHING cheaper on the internet these days, so how is it that these expensive retailers are still alive? Because they are freakin' pretty, that's how. People are attracted to them, they don't think before they go there and buy things, because of the image they are brainwashed into thinking that they are getting a good deal, or they like the atmosphere. These companies spend millions of dollars a year on stupid research about how the color blue will generate sales, and look at wal-mart's new bright yellow "sun" logo.. Oh, it's pretty, how much do you think they paid for their new corporate identity? Image is important, and there is a lesson to be learned here too, you have to market yourself. Think outside of the box GO GET CUSTOMERS, don't sit around and wait on freight to increase, get out there and start networking, talking to people, make some friends that are in shipping and recieving, do whatever you can to stay alive, get your own freight. Make a new logo to put on your door, wash your truck in the driveway to save some cash and have it looking shiny and pretty, get a website, make business cards, etc.

It's not just trucking guys, everything is screwed up. But it wont get any better until we stop dealing with it. (not proposing a strike here) but like i said in another post, i cringe every time i see a werner driver drive down the road next to me, because i know what he's making a mile and it isn't worth a #%##. As long as there are fools willing to work for that little bit we're freakin' doomed. LOL

Just my 2 cents. And sorry, i sort of ended up rambling there about the whole wal-mart thing, but i had an incident there earlier that really pi$$ed me off, LOL!

 

I've had the same crap at WalMart. Every time they refuse to open more lines while 5 of them sit there gabbing I just go back and load up a whole buggy full of meat, lettuce, and other perishables and walk up and leave it in the self checkout .. Don't know what it costs them to put it up, but I get a good laugh out of it.

 

...and WHO do you think it really costs?

 

lol, i just re-read that post, guess i was slightly more tipsy than i thought i was last night.. but now that i'm sobur...

The point i was trying to make is that image, professionalism, and service are STILL IMPORTANT. There IS good freight to be had out there, you just have to go out there and find it.. Analyze your competition, figure out what they have that you don't have, and go for it. My Dads union car hauling company nearly lost all of their chrysler contracts this year to non union companies that came in and undercut them by 40%.. fortunately for them, Chrysler liked the service that this company provided for over 40 years to them and they still maintained most of the freight.. Good thing, too, because alot of drivers would've been out of jobs...

It #### sure wasnt because they were charging less, it was becuase they had a working relationship together for many years, the company provided quality service, and chrysler wanted to keep that. There would've been a learning curve, and undoubtebly tons of operations issues if 3 new companies came in there at once to take the place of one company that's been doing it for that long. I dont know, im starting to ramble again. Just remember, there are still companies out there that are willing to pay the price for good, reliable, friendly service.. it's up to you as drivers to give it to them.

 

Who cares? In the long run if more would not tolerate inferior service it would benefit everyone. The Walton family needs to remember what got them where they are today. And it was not only good prices.

 

I love the idea,at the worst life is still good

 

....and you think that when they have to assign someone to put away an abandoned cartfull of groceries, they are thinking "Gee, we really should get our cashiers busier." The cashiers that often quit due to low pay?

Corporate thinking is bottom line, but not usually logical. They see an expenditure and think how they are going to pay for it (you are) long before they see the solutions. I've known people who worked for Wallyworld, and none were ever happy with it. Bark at them and they just leave. Now you have to break in a noob.

 

Yeah I think they get the message quite well. Alice Walton, who happens to be richest lady in TX, lives out near me. Lady friend at church told her about poor service and it got better in a hurry. Any one who doesn't like the place can quit any time. They didn't get to be #1 by having people stand in line. They specialize in getting your money as fast as possible to make room for the next person. The manager of the store makes the difference just like fast food or any other chain operation. If he cuts corners and runs people off it hurts their bottom line and they don't go for that. I installed Energy Management Systems in their stores for a long time. they took us to their data system center in AR. They were remodeling it because at that time it could only handle 2500 charges or checks a minute. And that was 12 years ago. They are pioneers in getting you in and out fast. 1st to use satellite instead of dedicated ph lines. 1st to computerize everything from sales to energy usage reporting every day, etc.