We should park our units

some people were of the mindset that the ELD mandate while not the core problem,would be a stepping stone for even further encroachment.

like electronic daily fatigue tests.

or the FMCSA wanting to track a drivers off duty personal travels.

and all of these have nothing to do with safety

these people now called outlaws,dangerous,"super Truckers....etc...

most of the eld+safety crowd haven't looked at the numbers.

here's some figures put together. you can find a lot of the data yourself as well. i'm sure there is some figures massaged in one direction or another in there somewhere but overall the figures are eye opening.

Despite the claims, ELD mandate isn't about safety

so while i agree with pole crusher on the usually limp argument against ELD's,it still does not make the wariness, intent or consequence of the law any different. government is good at finding great ways to intrude (encroach) in the name of something good. the "good" will often need a propoganda campaign to program people to agree. look at the environmental movement as a whole.

i personally look at the law being broken before i assign labels like outlaws. someday gun owners are going to be labelled by government as outlaws,domestic terrorists,murderers,etc,because of a some new law passed to keep us all "safe". and i again will not share the sentiment.

as far as ooida,after that lame attempt in court i think Ore-Ida could have done a better job in court on this and they make french fries....

 

That's great. You know how those jobs change from one to the next. Inevitably the repeat ones get bid down to garbage. Always. But then there's something else is just around the corner where the mad scramble is on. Loose lips sink ships. I wouldn't tell anyone what I was making.

 

OK if that's what you were told. Lansing wasn't making the offer to me, it was directly from GPSC

 

That run is open out of Lansing, two or three runs a day, RT to Roanoke. It was as of a few days ago. We will not go near it, we do not do contract freight.

 

There are 160 other outfits doing this freight, it is not a secret. But, we have a very good and strong relationship with the Big 3. We are a well established company, which is small enough to meet their needs. We cannot do it all, but just enough, and we do it well. We also get first dibs on much of the freight, which other companies do not have access to. And when things are tight, which happens, we have locked in rates. Our reputation amongst our customers is top notch, we pull up, the reception is normally very very good. Oh, we speak English, that helps too.

 

After running on elogs for a while I think the main thing they need to do is extend the 14 hour day to 16 hours, so when you drive two hours to unload and have to wait a couple hours you would actually have time to put in your 11 driving hours.

 

Reminds me of the way we were back in 2012-2014. It was heady stuff while it lasted and before the bottom fell out. Yeah we were a Tier 1 carrier. Sylectus network. All that jazzy stuff. I remember well me and a buddy of mine sniffing out work here and there that got us connected into all of that. If your company isn't run by a bunch of jet setting losers you'll be fine.

We used to find a place running those 150 mile runs to a Ford plant or Nissan, or GM, or Toyota. Run them for $1,500-$2,000 a load or whatever you could get for the whoke week back and forth as many as you could run. Sometimes longer than a week. We didn't work weekends. Sometime home nightly on the best stuff. Light loads usually the picks and drops were smooth and quick. I lost count of the times I had 1 pallet or less in that 53' dry van, boy some of those places really throw some money around right?

The work never lasted more than 2 or 3 weeks at best then it was on to the next score. There's lots of carriers with good reputations that will work that stuff cheap. It was always the same started out out good. Next thing you know the usual suspect carriers you always saw running the same freight and lanes got in on it. Gotta be a couple of hundred cheaper. Needs to come down, needs to come down.

Get it while you can every time always, we lived by those words. They all count pennies and will throw you under a bus no matter what accolades you have. There's always someone looking at that stuff and trying to save the customers money lining their pocket in the process.

 

Oh the Big 3 has burn barrels out back they keep stoked with $100 bills. It boggles the mind what they do and all of the waste. Thankfully, the outfit I am leased to is debt free, Canadian company, they have been doing this since the 80's, so not a fly by night. I found them advertising on CraigsList when they fired up this Detroit division. I knew the name and was signed on that day, and am very happy.

Again, it is a good outfit, as they have company and owner operator trucks on the Canadian side, they run conestoga multi axle trailers and vans, all automotive. Our division, we strictly run the States and do not go to Canada, dispatch is out of Windsor.

A very stable outfit with solid ownership. The shop would blow your mind, they have crate motors on the shelf if something goes wrong, few outfits can say that. Anything we need, drop a dime and a service truck is there. They rarely allow us to go to a shop, if it can be fixed in the field it is fixed. They really take care of us here and quite honestly, leave us alone. I lost a steer tire a few months ago, cash was tight, going through that divorce, bang, money was there and I was rolling. No questions, and they did not take out of my escrow, which was good for me. That was two new Michelins and a new Alcoa wheel, and I used my vendor. How many outfits would allow you to do that, and send you the cash?

I am sure there are better outfits out there, and we occasionally lose a guy now and then, but it is quite rare. The same guys that were here when I signed on are still here, and we all watch each other's backs. Not that we have to, but if you need something, just drop a dime.

And those other 159 outfits, I know what you are saying, I have watched them come and go, all European owned too. No clue how they do it, but they never quite last. That one outfit that bailed on that GM Lansing, Fort Wayne run, European, and they had issues, like they all do, that "attitude" problem they all suffer with. Sorry, we don't owe them guys anything, no matter how loud they squeal. Just saying.

The ups and downs? I will say this, even a bad week is still a good week here when all is factored in... I'm going on my fourth year here, with no regrets. Never a pay discrepancy, or even anything that has even bothered me to even think of looking for another outfit or turning my authority back on. No one bugs me here. We have 24/7 dispatch during the week, and I have the number to the broker and am dispatched off of the actual load sheet, which is emailed to me if I request it.

We are getting rid of our Xtra Lease trailers in February, getting brand new 53' vans. I forget who makes them, Canadian trailer outfit, but they are the BOMB when compared to Xtra. These guys just take care of us.

And the settlements, Gross, Fuel, Net, and $12.50 for the stinking ELD, that is new, but the company shelled out over $100,000 on these units, so I am not complaining about $12.50 when all things are considered. I went from 3 lines to 4... Not the normal settlement, at least what I am used to seeing...

To all, we are looking for three more O/Ops if anyone is interested. Need to live in the area, we run Michigan, Northern Indiana and Northern Ohio, closer to Toledo the better.

Orientation is install ELD, slap the signs on the door and go. This is not a wet nurse outfit, they give you an address and that is it. You need to know what you are doing. This is a true O/O company on our end. Our office/yard is located at the old Detroiter Truck Stop, now a Flying J in Woodhaven MI. I get nothing if you sign on, I do well enough on my own.

 

I'm at a solid company and not looking for anything else. No hand holding here either and no BS. There's not a better company out here for an owner that prefers to do their own thing. No doubt in my mind. If I make another move I won't be leasing on anywhere again, that's for certain.

 

With companies like swift, jb hunt Schneider and several other Mega carriers that have been on elogs for years, you sure you wanna go here?