What’s next in trucking?

You'll lose the extra revenue gained from the fuel savings on paying for the overpriced repairs/maintenance and labor rates.

 

You try owning a fleet and paying the drivers, you as a fleet owner have the burden of everything, you have the investment, you have the responsibility and you can lose everything so why do drivers think they can just hold the steering wheel and get paid a lot more than everyone else?

in many cases drivers are way overpaid, some are lazy, some drive like crap, some don’t care or some are all of a combination of those three.

as I said, many drivers are horrible, making the lives of others miserable, especially when they don’t get their way.

so, just try dispatching, you can listen to the crying and a driver to have their hand held while they have an issue like traffic or a customer who is swamped with traffic on the docks.

you want to be treated better?

work for it.

become the best driver ever.

take initiative.

learn what makes good customer service and don’t expect them —->>> the customer<— to accommodate you.

when you see something, you say something.

My business plan is simple, I let the driver make decisions, what load to take and when, what they think is acceptable for their pockets if it meets our minimum needs, and so on.

this is the driver you want to be, you make the money and you don’t get your hand held and if you screw up, well it depends on how much.

The system is setup the way it is because drivers forced themselves into being a commodity, I can’t change it, it won’t be changed by anyone but the drivers themselves when they start working on getting rid of the crap, and being professional.

but don’t ever expect the fmcsa or dol to change a thing, like holding the customer responsible for wait times or overtime, those two items will force a lot of fleets to get rid of drivers in masse, and they will not hire.

 

Drove most of my career in cabovers. did a lot of urban driving; NYC, Philadelphia, Boston, Montreal, Chicago, even an occasional run to LA or SF. Good like finding ANY class 8 cabover in the US today! Scania seems to be considering joining the US market, and in Australia you can get Scania, Volvo, Mercedes and even Peterbilt C/O's with BIG horsepower (up to 700 hp!), but in the US, even Freightliner dropped their one C/O model.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea was in 2014. The SECOND invasion was 2022, which also coincided with pipeline issues, if I remember correctly.

OK, Boomer. Yeah, I also remember $0.59/ gallon gas, good $400 used cars, and decent $250/month apartments. My mom thought my dad was "going overboard" when he bought us a suburban house to live in for $33k in 1971; had 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and 2200 square feet! My first job paid $2.65/hour. When it raised to $3.15, I was able to afford a cheap Beetle and pay for insurance and registration!

 

On the other hand no one is forcing you to own a fleet of trucks. Yes you’re taking on more risk, but when things are good, they are really good. So let’s not get too carried away here. Yes there are some bad drivers, but without them, you have no one to make you money.

 

####, housing jumped. My parents bought a house (new construction) in suburbia (Bloomington, Mn) in 67 (I was 10) for 20k (2250sqft). Your mom was right!

 

It seams most of the younger folks around here are developing the same opinion.

That has led to a bit of a resurgence of dang near homesteading out this way.

Folks are buying semi remote properties. Then slapping on an off grid mobile. And slowly add things over time, like well, septic system, and a generator/battery storage container. Hard part for buyers is saving up the money to purchase the property cause most banks will not finance raw property.

I lucked out and found 6 acres with a throw away mobile on it and an 1800 SQ ft shop. Power was still hooked up. Had the existing well. Existing septic system was functional. Because the mobile was so old and funky no banks would loan against it. Logging company bought it, clear cut it, and then carried a note on it for more profit.

Moved onto the property with a Craigslist 5th wheel and pickup purchased as a discounted combo. Then started cleaning up/redoing the shop that I currently live in. New 1500 sq ft house should be getting wrapped up in about a year.