Random LTL Rants (all are welcomed)

XPO is sort of a reluctant LTL from what I can tell, not really into it as much as the 3PL kinda stuff where they can outsource and not have all those expensive trucks to pay for. Like Reddaway and Holland, I think they'd be an easy buy for a company looking to expand.

They have some odd niches; those local Home Depot drivers check in with XPO for dispatch somehow, even though they are all employees of subbed out power owners. Kind of a complicated way to deliver lumber, IMO.

 

LTL city work sucks with a Studio 900 and a 53 footer.....just say’n

 

I’m the senior company driver for a small company with 4 drivers, (I actually trained the other 3), literally the biggest fish in this tiny pond. I was the first driver. I’m that guy that got in on the ground floor thinking I’d be in the front office one day. (My business card actually says operations). Now I see that’s probably never going to happen, the owners will sell out and retire before we grow big enough. But I helped build this part of the company. It’s hard to walk away from it. I’m going into my 11th year, still under 50k per, (low even by NC standards) and the light at the end of the tunnel is getting dimmer, not brighter.
I think you and I have something in common with your Montana days. (Minus the racism,etc) Your brain kept telling you to move, but I think you held on so long because you knew what it could be. I remember the resignation letter you posted. (Don’t remember the date, I think I read it 6 months ago). You made it sound regretful. No mention of why you were really leaving or the guy that should’ve been pushed down a flight of steps, you were just “moving on”. I’ll probably write something like that as well, hiding my bitterness over broken promises and how I watched but wasn’t allowed to stop the quality of our service and product go downhill.

Sorry for the overly long answer. I’m still here for the moment because I keep thinking things will get better but my gut says no. I’m thinking I need to get my hazmat endorsement back and get in front of a set of doubles and get on with my life. But I know what I was trying to build. I know what it could be...

 

^^Not sure what I did up there.^^

Gotcha. Do y’all charge anything extra for that? In our case, we bill hourly anyway so it’s takes whatever it takes. I spent 8 hours at Camp Lejune in Jacksonville, NC once trying to get in to deliver. We were in steady contact with customer during this because the bill was going to be so high. They didn’t even blink. Told me it was averaging 12 hours each for their crew.

 

Not a rant for me but for a guy I work with.
Some jackhole ran the yard dawg out of oil and done blowed it up. Poor yard guy has to shift trailers in a regular road tractor now. That's a lot of cranking landing gear, he's all smiles and doesn't seem to care but #### that's a lot of work. I keep telling him he's gonna have the world's biggest arms if it stays like this for a while which it might. The truck was old and ratty as hell to begin with so I imagine they are struggling with the decision to fix it or replace it now which won't happen fast.

 

We checked a couple years ago about adding the switcher kit to a regular tractor. It’s only like $4k to add the lifting and self unlocking 5th wheel, etc. the downside is the driver still has to hook the air line so he/she may still have to climb up and down.