Anyone else seeing a slow down at their company

Only way I see this is up north in ft mac or maybe GP

 

A few years ago I was at landstar doing a contract that charger had lost (one of many I know) because they could pickup on time, deliver on time or even keep the parts in the racks most of the time. Then charger start cutting everyone's rates by half to get the contracts back. It just blew me away that not only charger thought they could operate that cheap but how the customers completely forgot how incompetent they were.

 

I had lunch with the head of the shipping department for a local lumber mill last fall. He was complaining about the kind of trucks and drivers he was getting. He doesn't get to pick carriers, he just takes whatever the sales department sends him.
I told him the latest scam we'd seen with some of the rock sub haulers we had last year. These were single truck O/Os. I got the feeling that something was wrong when every single one of them listed the same policy number on their liability insurance and a completely different one, but the same number, on their cargo insurance.
My friend said the lumber haulers were all from the L.A. area with converted tomato trailers and trucks that looked held together with spit and promises. Nobody spoke English. But they hauled cheap. Real cheap.
I told my friend to find a way to check his carrier's insurance policies. He did and I got a phone call from his boss asking if we'd come haul for them because none of their carrier's had valid insurance.
I didn't have any trucks to send him. I don't think he would have liked my rates anyway.

 

Nope, closer to Edmonton than either of those.

 

Amazon has dedicated lane "auctions" and we can see who the lowest bidder is and how much they are pulling for. Guess who is pulling freight for basically nothing? SGR, charger, AC transport are all slashing rates across the board. The good loads get booked up in seconds, by the time we hit refresh it's gone.

Today was the first day off I have had all year because of no work, it's definitely going to get worse next year.

 

I have a buddy who is doing local work. Local p & d and regional. Home every night and is as busy as ever. He is making more money running around town then I am OTR and sleeps in his own bed every night. Doesn't make sense but I think it's time I make that switch.

 

Yep. Ltl is still strong for the most part.

 

I'm debating this as I leave this message. I'm just wondering though how long the local stuff is going to last? Yes, its good for today, tomorrow and next month but after February is it going to be the same? Gauging the right Carrier or Freight Company to go on with (I have me local Carring Authority) makes my decision even harder because a company I maybe going on with is the biggest with hundreds of direct customers not necessarily running off a loaf board

 

IMO I think the biggest reason local work is successful right now is the overhead is minimal compared to OTR and by over head I mean fuel, your fuel locally is probably 60-70 percent less and right now that is huge and all your profit.