Rates are crashing and fuel to the moon!

It's true. Debt just keeps slaves stuck on the modern day plantation. Gambling on a failing system isnt very wise either.

 

I’ve got a Roth through my bank plus a standard Ira and a margin account though Schwab, I also have an indexed life which I don’t do add a lot to as they only give me about 5.5% and the company keeps the rest BUT it won’t go down. My accountant also suggested I set up a SEP account which I will also do this year

Only toy I have is a mustang, (have had a few throughout the years), while savings are important, there’s a fine line between saving and living for the short time we are here, because if Amazon hits me head on tonight on my way to the barn, all the money in the bank for retirement isn’t really going to do jack for me

 

Hot take, I think blitz week should be every week after seeing what it did to the rates. I don't like getting inspected but I can pass a level 1. We all would make a lot more money and in theory have "safer" roads. I'm not sure how many accidents are from poorly maintained equipment. I believe rather it is poor drivers but often both of those things come together.

 

Quite normal for things to liven up a little during a blitz. I'm very interested in seeing how this English enforcement unfolds. It has potential.

 

yea I can’t even imagine the amount of puppies and nuns that NY trooper saved writing up that chrome license plate frame I had on my trailer….

 

I care less about the rates and more about enforcing vehicle regulations.

I went through CDL school in 2010 and all the instructors talked incessantly about "things are changing, you can't do what we used - run legal or pay the price". First couple of years running OTR, it was the same message. While I was never inspected at the rate I expected, the scales were at least open and running people through. By 2019 it was rare for me to see an open scale, even rarer to get pulled in. After covid it seems like the only time trucks get inspected is during the blitz.

I'd love DOT to set up outside a Walmart DC and do 60 second checks on every truck pulling out - anything seems amiss they take the license and direct the driver to a safe place for a level 1.

 

Don't you think there is a correlation between rates and safety, and your compensation?

To not care about rates indicates that you do not care about the level of service that your employer provides.

Maybe in the Mega world it doesn't matter, but there are quite a few folks on this forum that prosper as independents solely because of the level of expertise that they possess and the service they provide, and they are among the safest on the road, because it is their livelihood and assets at stake.

 

I could have phrased it better:

"We should do XXX because it will make rates go up".

"No, we should do XXX because it's the right thing to do - regardless of if it makes the rates/profits go up or down."

Yes, it will have all sorts of knock on effects - most good, some bad. If we chase all the bad actors out, rates will go up because capacity will go down. The increased rates will draw in new capacity, which will drop the rates back down. But in order to pay for the increased enforcement, taxes/fees will have to increase, which will cut profits. Ebb and flow of the market, but hopefully with better drivers and equipment on the road.

There are a lot of guys on here who think the language requirement crack down is going to make things better. I don't because drivers aren't being inspected at the rate they should be, and from what I can tell drivers who were cited for language skill deficiency were generally also put out of service for vehicle defects.

And no, I do not think my compensation is directly related to rates and safety. My compensation is directly related capacity - both how many drivers are entering the industry/looking for different jobs and how many trucks are on the road.

 

Never knew you bought a big truck? We like pictures...

Always assumed you were a company driver trainer for Schneider???

 

Regardless of my position in the industry or what it does to the rates, I think we should be doing more vehicle inspections and more on site company audits. That's all I was saying.

Arguing for government intervention because it will temporarily drive up rates is not something most TTR members would support. Unless it helps their pocket book, then philosophy becomes more malleable.