Where is everyone #5

Posted volume was up a little today, but even lower rates. Seems like any little spark fizzles in a day and takes another 3 weeks to build again. Seasonal retail that normally give a nice bump is just about non-existent as inventory builds and production is at a standstill.

I've been spoiled the last couple years with a fairly regular outbound. Found another direct customer and worked consistently with a few brokers on the loop. Sometimes it was unbalanced, but usually I could find a fill-in to make it work smoothly. It all vanished. Not underbid or brokered out cheaper, it's just gone and people are laid off. One of the fill-in loads I did in a pinch still moves occasionally, but seeing it at 30% of what I was hauling them for doesn't give me much motivation to try and revive that lane.

 

YAS !!!

 

Loaded these last evening in Ft Lewis, WA. Gotta love these views out west. Couer d'Alene and 4th of July Pass. Headed for Camp Atterbury

 

#####! @AModelCat it's not all welders n tire irons? Dee's guys talking diodes n resistors thing amabobs.

 

@Big Road Skateboard
Yep, like this…

 

I beat the 15day average on DAT board 95% of the time, sometimes by a lot, for 3 months straight. Now it’s just terrible. I have seen many loads for under $1.50 a mile with tarps or multi stops. This week though it’s just terrible. I have a customer that pays good going to Wyoming but I’m so tired of going here every week. It’s an absolute dead zone and best I can usually get is pipe to North Dakota which is also a dead zone. I swear I’m done with WY and ND and yet keep going back like an idiot. So… loaded heading to ND

I also think the level of service has dropped from trucking companies as well. I did a multi stop skid steer load and the broker has called me every single day asking if I was available to do another one. Apparently picking up, verify vins, and deliver on time is a rarity.

 

That's my kinda road. Two lanes and no cars. Where is that?

 

I passed you on the 202 the other day hauling the blue truck. Good looking 389. I know I'm way behind but y'all keep this thread moving it's hard to catch up. I was in the flat top 386 hauling concrete pipe headed south.

 

I'm happy the shipper we've pulled for since 2019 is keeping us busy. It's one of those runs a lot of people don't like doing. Once you've done it a few times and get the hang of it it's not bad.

 

People keep talking about downturns - '08, dot com, the 80's, even the great depression. Speaking of "weathering the storm", because eventually it will get better. But this is different. We've never experienced the collapse of the dollar and the internal destruction of a nation before.

In the meantime, I'll still polish my wheels, shine my stainless, and clean the bugs off the windshield to maintain a symbol of normalcy, but I'm not so sure there's going to be a rebound this time.