Economy

Good question. I wonder how trucking will change in the future as a result of the economy. Are trains the option, will alt. fuels (hybrid, elect., CNG, etc) change anything. Just things I have been thinking about as of late.

 

I pull flats and freight has been slow. Some of the reason is rates are cheap. My miles have dropped to about 2200 to 2500 a week, making paying the bills a lot more difficult. But we keep trying.

 

So far for us it is the same as usual, when the out side temps start to get colder, we will see a drop in work. We were told at the begining of the yr, that construction will drop of over the next two yrs, this was before the economy even started to tank...

 

I know last week was slow, I don't get paid by the mile so I run as little of miles as possible for the most money. I got 3 loads off and less than 900 miles.

 

So far doesnt seem like it has taken that big of a hit, I still average about 2600 to 3000 miles a week. But I pull dry van and usually van and refers keep busy, granted its getting to be winter time and everything slows down this time of year. But I think in the future the trains are gonna play a huge part in freight, and the drivers will be stuck with taking it from the railyard to the drop only getting 300 to 400 mile trips. Kinda sucks but its so #### cheap to run em on the trains, I think I heard a train gets like 50 to a 100 miles a gallon or something like that, versus my truck I average 7-9 m.p.g. Oh well guess we'll have to keep on trucking and moving the freight no matter what the economies doing because we need stuff to buy at the stores.

 

you either heard wrong or someone lied to ya, there is NO WAY a 69 litre (4,210 c.i.d.) engine can get 50 to 100 miles/gallon...unless it is shutoff and falling from space
Fuel Consumption ' L/hr (gal/hr)
Idle (600 rpm) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.6 (2.0)
Full Load (1800 rpm) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406 (107.3)

 

Still going out and getting it done.
A little secret: the more you make, the more you'll spend.

 

? for most it goes..... The more you make the more the WIFE spends....

 

Yup......