Rates are crashing and fuel to the moon!

Y’all know I am an optimist… but I have to make decisions on reality. I believe we are about to see some big carriers fall by next June. If you can last that long, - will be fine. But, this winter will be brutal. Some of y’all know I bought a second reefer a couple months ago. Should have not. Some big mega carriers are going to crash. Equipment is about to get cheap! High cpm pay and contract freight is falling faster that brokered freight. If you don’t believe it… try to renew your contract..,
The company drivers being needy are about to get a dose of..

small brokerages are going to rock as the big ones with the fancy real estate are about to feel the burn.

the ones that will survive, have savings.., those without, and can do math will throw in the towel asap.

 

Hope springs eternal.

 

Anybody having trouble making money in van or reefer I highly recommended getting yourself some type of open deck unit!!! So many loads on ITS today paying $1.50-$2.00 it's like eating at your favorite buffet!!! If you got 8 foot tarps, it's big money!!! Like $2.25!!!

 

Not sure how much crap you guys will take. I booked a load Wednesday that loads Thurs through landstars San Antonio office, with a fella name Vas Henders. If he's actually in the Ukraine office I wouldn't be surprised.

Anyhow, I inform him I'm delivering at 0900 Thursday 30 miles from his customer that is a FCFS shipper from 0800 to 1600 and my ETA would be before lunch ( noon ish) more than likely as I only have 1 piece I'm delivering to this job site. He sends me this Landstar tracking app which is very similar to truck tools. First time for me using it. I typically avoid Landstar.

Thursday 0803 as I'm rolling into my delivery, which is a huge jobsite in Southern Louisiana he calls... I tell this fella, I'm very busy at a job site I'll call you back soon...

Delivered my load in 45 minutes, get back in the truck and I have 7 missed phone calls, two text, and 2 emails from this idiot wanting my ETA?

The two emails are CC'ed to a couple people in my company's office, which both responded telling this idiot I'm on my delivery and to be patient...

So now I'm on fire... Didn't call him because after 5 seconds 100% I get hung up on, so Sent him an email and CCed it as well to my company honchos, and let him know how disrespectful he was and I don't do business with people like you so, cancel me off your load.

He replies to all 3 of us and says " You'll need to learn how to be Professionals"

Unbelievable.


The hilarious part is I'm picking up a load of Ingots for him which is melted down scrap aluminum. So that means both the shipper and receiver have stacks of them as far as your eyes can see. They ain't bothering him for my ETA... Guarantee.


Has anyone dealt with a broker that's more of a nut job than him? I hope not.

 

Every now and then I’ll get an idiot broker call me asking some dumb questions like eta etc. Now granted I have an office “my wife” that handles everything from booking, dispatching etc We even have our own dispatch software that notifies brokers of check calls.
So absolute no need to contact me the driver, yet they still feel the need to micromanage someone.
I absolutely refuse to answer the phone or text, if they need something they can call my office. If they don’t like it they can skip rocks.

 

Today I met my old friend. He is from Russia, but he moved a looong time ago and is actually more an American. Great guy, really. And he told me that now from Russia, and ten times more from Ukraine, people are coming here using "cbp1" application on their phones, crossing the border without any!!! documents (even passports, they use scans to keep passport just in case), all it takes 1-2 days and here you are, American dream. 9 out of 10 people pass through the border without a single question. And Ukrainians get a work permit from day one. He said that absolutely all Facebook groups are full of questions about how to get a CDL asap. He also said that a lot of people who are still sitting in Ukraine are asking how to get cdl quickly because they are planning to come in days/weeks/months. Our country has become a gateway, anyone, absolutely anyone can get into the United States. I don't know where we're going. But its definitely not gonna help us.
And I don't think these people are fleeing the war. They can run away from it not only to the other side of the Earth. They come to earn money.
I understand that its unpopular position, but I think we should help ourselves first.

 

Probably some new kid , that wears his freight superman cape while driving his desk

 

Been saying it for the past 2 years with open borders our industry is done. Going to get worse.
Those that claim it's cyclical are gonna be in for a surprise. Lol.

Take off the shades.

 

You know I had to make that decision here.

With my wife health on the decline and finding myself on the road calling ambulance for her or asking family to drop everything and rush to our house when she got sick it became super stressful. When she gets sick she can hardly move and I have to give her an injection or she can literally just crash and not come out of it.

I could make enough money to stay afloat doing some local stuff but it was running clock out everyday and it wasn’t the type of driving I was enjoying. I let everything sit for awhile or ran a load or two to pay the insurance but after dealing with her doctors long enough to know that this wasn’t going away and I needed to be here I took to training dogs for a living and sold my truck and trailer. DFW is just flooded with a lot of trucks willing to do about anything for any amount.

So I sold my truck for what I paid for it. I sold my 53” flat for $4k more than I paid for it and it took a lot for me to pull the trigger on deciding to sell it. I still miss hitting the road but so far things are going well. I renewed my medical last month to keep my CDL active and I just took a part time local job paying $33 an hour running metal approx 4.8 miles here in the metroplex. It might get boring but it will keep me active in driving and I will work 2-4 shifts a week.

I decided not to let it sit because an older sitting truck seems to start having issues. Plus it was costing me approx $2k to let sit. I tried to get just enough insurance to keep the authority active however Great West was still going to charge a chunk of change for the minimum and honestly as long as my wife is living I won’t be going over the road again. If something happens to her I have animals here I just won’t up and leave either so training dogs and the part time local job suits me.

Training dogs I charge $3k for a board and train which is 3-4 weeks

I also board a few dogs at my house. I have 4 dogs booked next month, 3 for a week and 1 for 2 weeks which will bring in $1200 just to feed and let then out
To exercise and potty.

Now, I love training my own dogs, I have many friends who train dog professionally that don’t love it anymore, so if it starts to suck staying active with the part time CDL work makes it easier to get me a full time local job. If someone leaves where I’m at they will come to me first to see if I want to go full time. It seems to be one of those local jobs that doesn’t grind you down like a lot of others.

Everything in life can have its stresses, but my wife and family are so important to me there was nothing like worrying about her while I was gone once she started having problems. So even though I miss the open road I had to make that decision for her and us.

I don’t feel like I failed in trucking because I didn’t lose a dime and supported the family well and honestly had some road trips of a lifetime while I did it. I got in before prices went so high and I probably could have made more if I had sold a few months earlier than I did but I started watching marketplace and auctions and literally woke up one day looked over everything and made the decision.

Could not thank @blairandgretchen enough for all his help as well as everyone on the board.

it hurts to see so many people suffering right now.

 

You are the Man. I am very proud that we still have strong people like you!