Current Van rates dropping, is there an end to this?

Is it just me, or are you seeing rates in the toilet? DAT and Truckstop are even at odds with their 15 and 30 day averages. I spoke to 4 different companies with loads near my Huntsville area to Portland yesterday and the rates were a joke. There was one load that was almost 45klbs (dry van) and they wanted to move it almost 2500 miles for $5400. It seems all the freight I’ve been looking at the past couple of weeks is in the toilet.

 

I've been seeing the same trend in the open deck world on the lanes I run as well. It started to drop after July Fourth then dropped even more after Memorial Day. Now, they're bad enough for me to start sitting. For me, this time of year things start slowing down anyway. There's a thread on here where van haulers are still making some big numbers so there's that too.

 

I've seen a small drop in the open deck lanes I run as well. It isn't low enough for me to consider start sitting yet but it's ticked down. The higher fuel prices and winter definitely raised that number though.

 

AL has sucked lately for sure. Even worse for reefer. Go run somewhere else for a bit is my advice.

 

It looks like the Pacific NW and AZ are pretty hot right now...I may take a hit to get out there. I expected the holiday rush to have started by now but given all the hoopla with the supply chain, maybe the rush will start later and last further into January and February...

 

Well I am in the Northeast and at least where I'm at things suck.

The loads that I normally do are not there. There are other places to travel to I suppose but the rates for them look pretty sucky in addition to paying tolls and everything else. Sometimes you can find a good-paying load but now that's becoming more a Rarity than the regular course of business.

In my opinion, The Surge after the economy was closed down that the supply chain was backed up now is leveling out. In addition to that, now we have bottlenecks with getting the freight from the ports and it seems as though there might be one day there's a spurt of better rates and then it goes back to being crappy again for however many days.

But hey, keep buying overpriced trucks and trailers, that'll make things better...

Whatever it cost you don't worry about any of it. The sky's the limit! Time to get in on the gold rush!!!

 

I noticed a couple weeks ago, a lot of rates advertised that are very close to the old rates. Seems to have gotten worse. I’ve waited sometimes, and a decent paying Load comes up, and is gone right away. That’s a bad sign.

 

iits hlgonna come crashing down hard. thats for sure. specially for people making big equipment payments

 

Thankfully I paid cash for all my equipment and maintain it myself. I can maintain a good living without running hard but I've been worried that I missed something...like why have spot market rates dropped off so much? Anyone with hard facts and stats? I know there's lots of stuff going on...where do you see things headed from here?

Do you think rates will go up, maintain, or go even lower? What will it take to turn things around?

 

They will go up right after Thanksgiving