Trucking in 2019

Yesterday is not today and tomorrow is not yesterday. So, I figure that if the market does not stay the same it will either go up or down.

 

Walmart doesn't appear to be happy with the Tariffs Walmart is where the trade war comes home

I'm not sure of what percentage of products that Walmart sells come from China but I know its gotta be really high.

 

I think it's truck saturation as well. Tanker still pays.

 

Just another clandestine DAT Rate View advertisement.

 

That makes my day! Hilarious !!!

 

Q1 2019 I believe is going to be a rough patch and next year in general if things keep going the direction they are, it's going to be ugly.

There's a lot of moving parts right now.. including the tariffs and the economic hostility from the FED, raising interest rates that are going to very negatively affect the economy.

It was a pretty good short ride with rates this year but I expect a dramatic correction coming.

The market is already in terrible shape right now from massive oversaturation with all the new trucks and O/Os flooding the industry.

Guys just be ready to weather the storm it'll be rough for a bit.

 

Sounds like a normal year little slow till spring. Automotives been slipping slowly for over a year now Big boom almost over. Watch for incentive wars usually the beginning of the end. Great when it’s booming but a bloodbath when it declines. My year will depend on how hard I work. How well I manage my $. I understand the tariff theory but really don’t believe it’s going to affect people’s buying habits much. It’s simple People making money spend it while they can and tighten up only when they have to. Look around SE Mi. Everyone’s spending like no tomorrow. Hard to believe. Same cycle been through it too many times since I started paying attention to such things in late 70s . Either way we’ll make it. I made it through the last 14 yrs. 2019 should be breeze.

 

I don’t think a lot of new O/O s will survive the first slowdown.. This reminds me of mid 90s Used Trucks were in demand and priced high. A Lot of new O/O including myself. I laughed at them for quitting when fuel went from 1.00 to 1.25 in late 90s. By 2004 I started to think I should have quit myself a few years earlier. Instead I got my Authority. It’s been ups and downs. For everyone. It’s always been that way . My Grandfather always said there’s a recession every 10 yrs. For such a simple vague comment it’s pretty much true . It’s not If but when and for how long?

 

The reality is that IF, for whatever reason, an individual can't continue as an owner operator, it's not like it's the end of the world work wise.

A cdl is a valuable asset, especially if you keep your mvr clean.

Having gone through the great recession of 2008/2009 as a licensed contractor, I can't say the same about that field during a tough time economically.

In fact, it was during that period I obtained my cdl. There were (it seemed to me) only 2 vocations hiring at that time, trucking and cna's. Wiping butts in a nursing home is something I couldn't bring myself to do, thus, I became a trucker