Freight Waves says the bloodbath is coming...

“Fear Sells Newspapers”

 

Memorial Day will start to be the turning point IMO, rates might trickle down a little bit but I’m starting to think we will be left behind with inflation, and be asking who is pulling this cheap ### $4 a mile freight next year when fuel is $7 a gallon and you can’t even run a truck down the road for less then $5

 

Well, well, maybe this "Happily Retired" isn't so FOS as we thought. It doesn't take Albert Einstein to see what a quagmire lies ahead. Hey, we "coasted " along for decades with cheap fuel, allowed us to drive dually pickups, live far away from work in mansions the King of Siam would like,,,and such,, while the entire world paid this kind of money for fuel, it's way overdue. We just might see a huge reversal in our "gimmee, gimmee, more is better, livin' in the hills" society, and until it affects someone personally, THEN there will be a revolt, but will be too late,it's the American creed, "if I'm doing okay, who cares about anyone else?",,Now, who will be our leader? I say, CHINATOWN to rattle some cages,,

 

People like negativity. An article like this is going to get more clicks and shares, especially with the price of fuel, than an article that says yeah fuel is high but freight is still moving.

The article talks in absolutes and leaves out some things. “Outbound contract loads are down and that’s an indicator of what’s to come”. They didn’t say how many companies they spoke with. They didn’t say what sector they’re in. They didn’t say if they spoke to the shippers or trucking companies or both. There’s some key info missing.

 

As gas prices blow past $5/gal and food becomes a luxury purchase there may be demand for getting out of the house and seeing the country but not enough disposable income for it to happen.

A certain current event is causing corporations and governments to rethink globalism and the world's supply chains that they have been building for the last 30 years. China is seeing an, "unprecedented" capital outflow. All that cheap junk people keep buying from China won't be so cheap and won't be from China. Higher costs for goods and inflation will mean consumers will have less money to buy stuff. Less stuff bought but more freight in the US since one intermodal trip from the dock to the warehouse will be replaced with several trips to support US manufacturers.

The big question is, "When will US consumers recover"? Most are lucky to get one raise a year as fuel and food prices are jumping 50% or more in the same period. Hard to see how the economy picks up until consumers have disposable income again.

 

America is richer than ever and getting richer by the second

 

Ya all the politicians

 

I’ve only been at it since November. Last two weeks loads where I run were low. Next week is already looking much better.

 

Be like the last time. Anybody who goes into it packing huge amounts of debt are going to be casualties. They were the only ones had trouble then.

 

That’s about right and all those debt drowned ones went out of business.

 

This isn’t new. If you listened to Punkin’ or JB back in the day you’d think the ‘80s were the worst decade in trucking ever. They were stroking out over deregulation. I was making an obscene amount of money in the ‘80s. This is the same kind of bs coming from the same sources now. Megas and their lapdogs at the ATA. They should turn up in Washington looking for handouts any minute now.