Jack Cooper looses Ford Traffic

Discussion in 'Car Hauler and Auto Carrier Trucking Forum' started by Banker, Jan 3, 2025.

  1. Hammer166

    Hammer166 Crusty Information Officer

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  3. EvertonP

    EvertonP Light Load Member

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    The only people applauding this are the guys who live off of the load boards. They’re hoping to get these units at overflow rates. They’ll be surprised to see what contracts rates really are.
     
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  4. tadpolly1966

    tadpolly1966 Light Load Member

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    Ford has been aggressively trying to cut logistics costs for a while now. As a person that has been involved with Ford in one form or another for +25 years, this is not a surprise. I've seen them throw money at stuff on many occasions without any direction other than to say "fix it." Their freight, contractual or otherwise, has been somewhat immune to the "race to the bottom" pricing models of years past. No longer. Brokers are slowly starting to dominate this freight sector and they are doing it using ELD information (and many other data points being collected about you and your capacity) to determine pricing models. Ford I'm sure saw a large cost saving opportunity here and they are trying to take it. Jack Cooper has a stellar operating record with Ford. This was done strictly from a pricing standpoint. I'm not sure Cassens has enough capacity to fully support this, but possibly a percentage of these moves will hit DAT or get eaten up by other carriers just looking to survive. Not long ago it was somewhat rare to get an email from a broker that had automotive related freight. Now I get 40 a week. It's all going to be <$2.00 a mile soon. And we as carriers have no one to blame but ourselves for getting to this point by running freight for pennies. Now we have set the bar so low it will take years to claw it back, if ever. I've been around the block more times than I can remember, but this is one of the only businesses where the customer dictates the price he will pay you for your services. Call a plumber and when he quotes you $2000 for your water heater and you tell him you are only going to pay $700 and let's see what happens. Glad I'm retiring soon. In 10-15 years, going to be near impossible for smaller carriers to survive, regardless of the freight you haul.
     
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  5. Banker

    Banker Road Train Member

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    There won’t be any $2.00 a mile freight on my rig or anything remotely close to that. The manufacturers that pay well now have no trouble getting their automobiles to the dealers in a timely/damage free manner. Talk to any dealer and they absolutely hate having their units delivered by “brokers” generally non English speaking wedges. The Ford freight I am aware of that is hauled non union in my part of the country is junk rates compared with the rates out of union yards and I deadhead right past it. They will get what they pay for if the bottom falls out of their rates and it definitely won’t be my rig or anyone with similar standards.
     
  6. tadpolly1966

    tadpolly1966 Light Load Member

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    That maybe fine for you if your stuff is paid off and you are not swimming in debt like most. Good luck. This is the new age of tech trucking. It's not going away.
     
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  7. Speedy356

    Speedy356 Medium Load Member

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    I can’t wait to see the magic carpets and dingle berries hanging from the windshields of the new and improved car haulers:eek:
     
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  8. Banker

    Banker Road Train Member

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    37 years in and well prepared for any storm that hits. While I can retire at any time I don’t plan on it as the freight I haul is contract and still pays well. When it renews if it were to go down I wouldn’t haul it cheaper. Fortunately I had no immediate plans of hauling Ford freight before or after Ford cut Cooper. If they were to show me the money for contract freight similar to what Cooper is getting to haul it you will see Ford on my rig again, but definitely not out of Louisville as that would be too much bad blood and bad Karma would come with it.
     
    Last edited: Jan 23, 2025
  9. EvertonP

    EvertonP Light Load Member

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    Tech has zero to do with this. it’s been like this for ever.
    The loads I would take back in 2007, @Banker and @Hammer166 wouldn’t get out of bed for. the loads these new guys take today I won’t get out of bed for etc. It’s not a race to the bottom , it’s a race to see how far they can push the bottom down.
     
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  10. tadpolly1966

    tadpolly1966 Light Load Member

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    Then most of us run to get there. It ends the same.
     
  11. TankerP

    TankerP Road Train Member

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    I'm guessing their DEI program didn't net any positive results to their bottom line. Now they're unemployed.
     
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