Big questions for all timers.

Wait times depend on the truck around here. If ordering Volvo you will be waiting longer than most.

 

Ford in Liberty MO is doing everything they can to hire anyone. They even sent out flyers a couple times this month and last month to hire. In 20 years I have lived here they never have done that. It normally is a waiting list to get on. Crazy no one wants to work these days.

 

The young would rather work online and sell their souls rather than do traditional labor. The sex industry is a major part of employment these days.

back to the op, dry van is in overcapacity. With a economic downturn, it doesn’t look good. I would sell now before your towed equipment becomes almost worthless. Pull a different trailer or go completely out of business and try something else.

 

I think the reason is more like the trucker shortage augment. I saw where California fast food workers minimum wage could be $22 per hour in 2024. If that goes through you would make more per hour working at McDonald’s than being an w2 otr trucker. More companies are raising pay and incentives so there’s greater competition than before. Each year the new incoming workforce is increasingly putting a higher value on quality of work/life balance. More people are opening their own companies. And of course they’ll always be lazy ####s who don’t want to work no matter the compensation is.

 

The spot market is great for filling in blanks between customer hauls. It is also good for us during overages and there is a shortage of trailers to cover the overages. Now that we are in a downturn it is not a good time to run a business relying on the spot market. More megas are posting their freight and having others haul it for less than they can afford to. Smart move.

 

The spot market is fine for a 1 truck guy all of the time. Market up or down doesn't matter. Since 2011 outside of a couple of or maybe 3 months early in the pandemic lockdowns of 2020,I've never seen it that bad won't happen again, never mind for an entire year so bad that you couldn't make a living off 100% loadboards. That truck has wheels so it's easy to go where it's needed. There's always a decent market somewhere, even in overall bad ones, that's needing extra trucks. A fleet of trucks on 100% spot freight? Now that'd be sketchy.