Concerns with the future of flatbedding

Overrun with Beancounters and Fearmongers. Anticipation of Death is worse than Death itself.

 

Its no different then any other industry.

My career before trucking was in fixed operations at car dealerships(parts and service). I got started in the golden years at a dealership (early to mid 90's). Basically we opened the doors and the money poured in. As I progressed up the ranks the money was good and it looked like it would never end. Competition ramped up the game and then 9/11 hit us hard. I had the doom and gloom attitude for awhile then found out you just have to put your head down and work with change. At first it sucks but after awhile it just becomes the same old grind that you are used to doing day in and day out.

 

My recent experiment with elogs was a disaster. They just don't work in a regional application where you deliver and reload every day. Once that clock starts you can't hide,edit or fudge anything and you will burn your 14 without getting any miles for the day.

 

ARRRRGH how could I leave that one out

Whenever I look back at the amount of government crap I've put up with just so I can haul someone else's stuff, I increase my rates.

 

Well gosh I hope not-I may color a bit differently than the day ran, but it's pretty rare I'm actually going over any budgets except that half hr lunch break. And that'd be remedied by me getting out of bed a half hr earlier in the am or sleeping in the truck a night every week.

Geographic areas could certainly play a large roll in this circumstance however.

 

I was going to write the exact same thing......not so much about elogs but about CSA, ACE manifests, emissions engines and speed limiters. All this stuff has driven time sensitive and oversized freight rates up for those carriers that can still..... somehow...... get the job done. I don't know. But i suspect general freight rates haven't risen as much because you can import that government sponsored labor cheap

 

What I see in this thread is the ability for drivers to be able to adapt. It's like adapting to weather,construction,brokers and breakdown. At the end of the day we bump the dock safely and on time. It's a tribute to our abilities. Bring it on ! No big thang ! Take a bow drivers !

 

I overheard some good news from an executive at a regional trucking company:

"If the new regs cost us more, we will have to charge more. A driver who makes $ 50k per year will still need to make $50k per year, even running fewer miles. If he doesn't make that then he will leave. So it is up to us to increase rates or whatever we have to do to keep driver pay up there with even fewer miles."

 

You are correct, sir.

In NASCAR, they have rules in place to limit your speed, your suspension setup, etc...in an effort to level the field. But it's the same guys that come up to the top of the pile at the end of the year. In out industry you have the beancounters, the ATA And the teamsters lobbying for restrictions to level the field. Yet, it's the same guys at the end of the year who sit on the top of the pile.

If they put the same drivers in a bean counting truck, with beancounting specs, nothing would change. F'ups would still f'up, slackers would still slack, average drivers would still be average and A Gamers would still be atop the pile. Beancounters, Rutherfordists and the People Interested in the Survival of Steeringwheelholder's Empowerment and Respect (or P.I.S.S.E.R)will all argue and hold a study funded by your favorite doorslammer bottomfeeder outfit to prove that all are equal, and that any punk could while the high end customers would know that this isn't true and would still be willing to pay more to an A Gamer than a F'up or a Slacker combined.

And then the Fearmongers will point to the unmanned truck...

And Jack Daniels survived Prohibition.

In the year 2065, doorslammers will have been combined with lumpers. They stay at the docks. Biggest danger on the road will be hackers. Hack into a truck and reprogram the destination. Easy hijacking. There will be a new market open. There will be a call for Manual Overriders. People with names like CluckCluckCluck andMJPhaseII,PassingBeyond69, TopRank, and my hero, ElementalSix. The high end clients will not risk their product to hackers, and so will hire the Overriders to override the autopilot.

The business will be so lucrative. Said client transfers $250k into your account. You fly in, with a briefcase with a custom electronic Overrider's steeringwheel. Attach it in the truck and it puts all control into the Overrider's hand.