If Economy Completely Tanks

I agree with you, Don who is also Big. I saw this going on when I drove, absolutely.

It'd usually go something like this:

1. Graduate gets a job at a trucking company. His very first truck has maybe 250,000 miles on it and was vacated by a quitter a few hours, days, or weeks before.

2. Grad stays on for a year or three, all the while flying right and keeping his nose clean. He never makes waves. He is always on time, never refuses loads, and never sinks into the funk of "problem child".

3. Grad becomes a seasoned vet and ascends to a high rung on the pay scale.

4. Company decides said driver has gotten too expensive.

5. Company begins abusing said driver so he'll leave and be replaced with a cheaper schmuck, a naive type who will accept low pay and doesn't know much about the tricks of the trade or the schemes. Also, the cheaper schmuck comes with his own government grant to boot if he is hired on.

6. Vet driver, who is a sensible guy, doesn't put up with the abuse long. He quits. His company insiders jump for joy, as his quitting helps the company in several ways. One benefit is the company won't have to keep the driver's truck sitting much anymore. Veteran (read "expensive") drivers always get their miles cut sooner or later, and sitting trucks are in turn expensive when their opportunity cost is taken into account. To solve the problem, the driver must be 'convinced' to quit, and quit soon. After some insider prodding, driver does indeed quit and liberates the truck.

7. (Loop) GOTO #1 above.

 

Yes they do. Even the ships use refridgerated containers now.

How do you think they get all that fruit & veggies from South America?

 

fresh seafood and fresh meats would be a problem for railroad or ships...stuff like fresh salmon and fresh meat cannot be kept at same temperature for more than 4-5 days...usually customers want teams for those products worrying that product might go bad during transit time

 

Well, like another said, people still have to eat. There are still plenty of rich people around whose lives aren't going to be affected much by a recession or even a depression, besides paying more for everything - so they're still going to be buying the durable goods, which means there are at least some trucks running the roads hauling that stuff. Municipalites/local governments might be getting hard up for funds via tax monies, but they are still going to be buying all kinds of stuff to keep the local governments running.
A tanqued economy doesn't really equate to no-one buying anything. It does mean there are a lot less loads of consumables being ordered by the multitudinals of various companies, which means less loads to haul - whether that translates into vets being pink slipped, or newbies or what, remains to be seen. I think good companies would try to keep their vets on board - not really helpful to have a whole slew of newbies who haven't really got a clue and at least in some cases, aren't very reliable.
Anyway, we all think of food right off the bat - but there are still hospitals that have to have all kinds of goods delivered, prisons that have to have deliveries, vehicles that need parts, airplanes and cars and trucks that need the various types of fuel - all of it is delivered in trucks. I mean, if the economy went SO bad that there isn't anything being hauled, we're in freakin' chaos, it's time to get out of here!
I guess I think that the worst-case scenario for truckers is less income. Some might get laid off. Others will be getting a lot less miles. Might be a lot of sitting around to do. Might be that companies will ask you to do things they weren't asking you to do before - like unloading trucks. Who knows?
One thing I think is becoming evident - quitting a job right now without a guarantee of another one might not be such a prudent thing to do......

 

Municipal Trash Hauler... You know. The ones that haul City "A"s garbage from a transfer station to a landfill in City "B". Yes, sign up now to get your pick of a big, nasty, open-tops, a bright orange safety vest, and a slightly used Freight-shaker FLD condo with most of the light working.

I don't see this job going away.

 

This is the worst I've seen in twenty years out here. Everyone is scalling back. That one driver is right, no trailer is better then the next. as an o/o with a flatbed it's really bad for us, with the housing market crash and so on. i'm getting close to packing it in myself, I don't know if I'll survive this wave. Here in the Northeast which is probably the most expensive part in the country to operate. Frieght rates are low, tolls and fuel are insane...

 

If the economy completely tanks... what do you mean by that? A recession like we have in the 80's? Or a full-blown Great Depression we have in the 1930's? If it's the latter, who knows what job are safe. People will be lining up for bread! It will be very, very bad indeed. All bets are off.

 

As I said in another thread some time ago:http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr.../29709-trucking-in-10-years-5.html#post348287
We will always have a need for trucks and drivers. But the industry is going to change, and we have to change along with it.

I had an opportunity the other day to get on board what appeared to be a decent O/O situation. As I've mentioned before, I am not interested due to my age. However it seems like now might not be the best time in the world to get into debt for a truck anyhow. . .