Are you guys seeing this ??

I have been seeing alot of bs not that low but i can beleive it. Everybody was talking about striking and all when the fuel was thourgh the roof but its just as bad if not worse now atleast then u could find decent loads. I can get plenty of good loads near my home base ga but where do u go? I was running ga to chicago for a while but now its getting hard to come outta chicago heading south with a decent load I dont dare go to tx anymore its hell out there right now compared to a couple of years ago. I hope it gets better.

 

alot of guys take crap just to get out of fla id leave empty b4 i hauled it myself

 

CH Robinson is a VERY CHEAP company.

We use to use them back in the early 90's as our last resort, to get a truck out of a certain area.. but we tried to avoid using them as much as possible. But as time went by, we found others to work with, that paid much more for loads.

Their Rating is very low with a heavy law suite that was claimed against them.
How Embarrassing it would be if I had to work for that company. I would stick my head between my legs and walk like a duck around drivers.
They're not even Worth Talking about.

 

It sad that trucks get stuck down there 5 to 7 days, willing to recover any part of the costs just to get out. I don't go there unless I am prebooked out.

 

The guys that get stuck down there then take this freight to recover some costs are not recovering anything. It still takes so much per mile or day to operate a truck. All these guys are doing is keeping the brokers and shippers happy by hauling the cheap freight (and going broke while doing it). If all guys would just say no to this freight the rates would have to come up...eventually. This won't happen overnight, it would take probably a month to see the results.

My opinion is if I can't make a profit on the load then I don't haul it. Yes I do take a load once and awhile that I break even on to get to a great load, but that doesn't happen but maybe once or twice a month.

 

You can pick up on the trends of the Trucking Industry after so many years.. You'll find that certain times of the year, you learn to stay out of certain states and areas when their freight is not moving, unless you have a certain customer/shipper to work with.

But then you'll have someone offering you a great paying load to get it there,, cause no one will take it, knowing that you'll get stuck getting out of there..

We've turned it down many times. ,, for this may also help get the rates back up.

 

SAN FRANCISCO -- C.H. Robinson Worldwide on Tuesday reported a first-quarter profit of $85.4 million, or 50 cents a share, down fractionally from $86.3 million, or 50 cents a share, a year earlier. Sales dropped 15% to $1.69 billion as the economic recession slammed demand in the broader transportation market. Analysts polled by FactSet Research were looking for the trucking company to post a profit, on average, of 49 cents a share with sales of $1.94 billion.

There 4th Qtr 2008 profits were up 4.3% from 85 mil to 8 mil.

This all down on the backs of the trucking industry.


Its crazy that any company or O/O would utilize CHR. They have no real capital, just people, some computers, and rented office space.

Remeber the customer is paying the broker, and they are taking the largest cut of the profit, and the left over pennies will go to the O/O, or company. With those left over pennies, you have to pay the fixed costs of the truck, then whatever is left over, can pay the driver. That typically being a negative #.

There are some legit brokers, that pay fair rates, but still using them, part of the profit is going to a "middle man".
Don't see how using a third party makes sense. But I guess its the same as Walmat.

But like most things in our industry, if everybody would do the same and use these types of brokers, they would have no choice to pay decent market rates or frankly go out of buisness. THey only exist because they can go into these shippers and under cut everybody and know that somebody will haul it for their rates.

Florida will always be a backhaul market, but to haul out of there for a billion dollar broker at .63 cents a mile is whacked.

These brokers, and some customers use the economy as a excuse to cut rates. But I guess since the industry itself can't agree or get together on one subject and stand up for itself.
You have OOIDA, ATA, individual state associations, etc all with claims to represent the industry. But all with diffferent agendas and going in different directions.

Personally I am not a O/O, but am a member of OOIDA, as it seems they are the only ones that have the interests of the drivers in mind. Figure if its good of O/O's it should fall in line for company drivers and maybe as the industry as a whole.

"Thats all I got to say about that"

 

Right now I can get $3mi to get into FL. because there is nothing coming out. Rates are that good doing in to entice guys to go.

Last month when the potatoes and mellon were runing out of FL for a good rate I couldn't get a load into FL for more then $1mi.

just the way it is. Rates fluctuate depending on how many trucks VS how much freight in any given area.

Californias the same. When produce is runing heavy out there every truck in the country wants to get out there to run it so the rates going out suck. Ive been seeing them at $.80mi

Fact of the matter is even with all the companies that have gone under we still have too much capacity. That and the big companies run the rates dwn even further because they have 30,000 trucks they can run each one of them at a $.01 mi profit and they still make millions. We as owners operators can't do that