Hopper, Dump O/O's & Drivers

Your in the wet spot of the state there brianv31,the merchant i haul some for at Perdue in Winchester said they have had over 11 inches during July. If you want to hop over to Danville,i'll buy you a cup of coffee and take you to the farmers i haul for and show you some really pretty,green,tall.......fodder

 

Thanks to all for the advice. I live out by Clinton lake and the wife said (since I'm not home enough to see) we got a tenth from that little cell three days ago I guess. I got five acres of corn next to the house but it's not going to make it. We don't owe for much, I do still do my own mechanics except for a major overhaul and the kids are raised. What I'm saying is I can survive on a much smaller income that when we were younger and paying for all the wants.
I inquired with Mathias out of Assumption about leasing a truck on with him but he didn't have enough work. Then I went to Baker over by Deland, he wasn't interested either so that leaves me to figure it out for myself. Seems like tractors are fairly priced but trailers look expensive. Sorry for all this dribble, trying to make some executive desicions

 

Wow, wouldn't have thought it was that spotty, but I guess I should have known better.

Quick trip this time - I'll have to take a rain check on that coffee!

 

Just unloaded here in Wichita, didn't know until I loaded this wheat that DeBruce had been sold. Headed downtown for bean meal, hope they are still in business.

 

Was told today that Gavilon, Wichita hasn't shipped ANYTHING this week, all of their owner/operators were told that there is nothing to do !

 

Heard that J.B Hunt bought a fleet of hoppers to get in on all the fun and mountains of cash you guys roll in. I told the guy that they'd have as much luck with it as they did with their flatbed operation.

 

kajidono, hope that story isn't true. If it is, how much lower can they drive down these hopper rates ? I'm already considering getting a degree at "McDonalds State University" ! No doubt about qualifying for stuntent loans, just show 'em my p&l statement thru Q2.

 

Well, for context, they tried this with flatbeds a while back and they pretty much got their throats cut by everyone. They could not compete at all. They ended up giving up after a short while and selling off all of their flatbed trailers. I talked to one O/O and asked him about his JB hunt mudflaps, as that was an odd thing. He filled me in on the story and told me he'd gotten the trailer from them for $13k. They had bought it new and it had sat in one of their lots for 3 years before they sold it to him. It had never been used, never had a load put on it, not a thing wrong with it.

They supposedly have 2 or 3 big contracts that they weaseled into but having followed this thread and a few other rumor mills for a few years, hoppers seem even more cut throat than flatbeds. I figure if the kings of rate cutting got their butts handed to them in the flatbed side of things, they'll get owned even harder in hoppers. So I don't see them getting into the market as bad news. I see it as a bunch of nice or even new hoppers hitting the used sales market in a year or two when they realize they've been had and bail out. Should be able to pick up one or two (or a dozen if you really are rolling in money) and use them for yourself or turn a nice profit with them.