Freight Slowing?

I would go to say that this is just another up and down, nothing can just keep going up and nothing can just keep being down as well. As far as rates go, that is with fuel costs, though interestingly enough DAT blog post compared this year's rates and last year's and found that there has been a $0.03 increase this year.

 

Sounds like the same wrong, worthless information as their rate/lane data. Contrary to broker propaganda fuel costs have very little (IMO nothing) to do with rates on the spot. It's all about oversupply or undersupply of trucks out here to move whatever freight is available.

 

But you know they'll use anything they can to pad their bottom line.

 

you'll soon see cut rate co's moving in, cutting rates so far you won't believe it . happens to who ever I have been leased to every once in a while. b.t. express cut a lot of freight out of our area. so is allmetals, but I'm here to stay. I can afford to stay home for 6 months. if it ain't worth it, I aint going. we have enough kiss butt drivers who will drive just to pay for fuel.

 

This whole year has been slow, I took most of the summer off in hopes things would pick up in the fall but it looks like that's not gonna happen. $1.00-1.50 seems to be the new norm on the load boards, and that #### paying freight is being moved with ease. I only wonder who is cashing in on this, the shippers or the brokers?

 

It would have to count to a certain degree. If oil trades for $50 a barrel and $150 a barrel there would be a difference. While there would be some brokers pushing out loads at very low costs regardless because there are trucks there would be some that increase.

 

What I'm noticing: Fuel is costing ~20cpm less than it was last year, but rates are down ~50cpm & the freight is staying on the trailer longer (what I call mobile warehousing)

A lot of the smaller brokers are going out of business -- they pretty much get a percentage, so low rates hurt them too. If a broker tries to maintain a higher rate from the shipper for too long, they'll lose the account to another broker...

The big brokers are coming in and churning through recent college grads -- just like the big carriers do with drivers. Pretty soon they will be throwing "broker appreciation" days and asking the government for subsidies to hire replacements due to the broker shortage.

 

Keep telling yourself that. You're wrong. Explain to me how I can book a load paying a $1,000 two years ago when fuel was close to $4 a gallon and can, when the need is urgent, book that very same load for $1,000 or more when fuel is now closer to $2 a gallon. Now do you see why fuel cost is meaningless with spot freight? You either have too many trucks and not enough freight or vice versa. A load either needs to move urgently or it doesn't. Those two factors alone determine price. Fuel is just a cost of doing business.

 

It is feeling slow here man! And I just started