Current rates are now below fleet operating costs! It's official!

Oh, thanks.

 

When I got my authority in 2017, there were around 35,000 other new motor carriers issued authority that same year. The number of new carriers each year has exploded since then. 2018 and 2019 saw around 45,000 each year, 2020 had almost 60,000, and 2021 had around 105,000 new authorities issued. The numbers for 2022 aren't out yet for some reason, but I can only assume that they were even higher than 2021. Unless older carriers were dropping out at close to the same rate, that means you have a bunch of new carriers all competing for fewer available loads. On top of that you have AB5 in California that kicked leased drivers out of the state and into markets for the rest of the US, and the west coast ports running around 30% below last year, and 50% below 2-3 years ago. My guess is that a lot of people figured out a way to take some of that free stimulus money that was being given away during the pandemic and start new carriers. Seeing how bad rates are now, and how high operating costs are, I imagine that most of those who got into the business over the last 3 years are going broke fast.

 

when I first started, I thought I was no where near ready to be an o/o

Now a good handful of talking to one for a few minutes and I don’t understand how some of these guys are able to get out of bed in the morning, let alone run a “business”

 

Well said. You look at their job history and it makes you shudder. I had a woman in here the other day who told me "I've had problems with every male supervisor every place I've worked." She'd had seven jobs in three years.
It's really hard to be polite to people like that.

 

I knew if some of the people I seen doing could somewhat make it I would be just fine starting out with no experience. I was never really worried about if I could do the business part of it. Always figured driving would be the easiest part of the job and that is still correct in my eyes.

 

Well now we would not want to push so hard on a person with a history. Ha Ha #### people are something else.

 

Trucking is heavily regulated. I wish they would deregulate the industry and privatize the roads. At least the company would have to cater to their customers, instead of trying to put them out of service for nonsense. They’d have to economize nor innovate as well. Instead they use old road construction techniques in order to maintain or go over budget in order to get the same or more money for the next FY.

 

You are of course correct.
The "deregulation" that occurred in 1980 was only on the rate side of things.
The other regulation side has gone completely bonkers.

I should have used the more accurate term "financial deregulation".

 

And yet people continually ask for more regulations, and then turn around and complain about other regulations.