Hopefully not... the way its been since January... I just keep having my fingers crossed that it flips in our favor.
This is exactly why. If you look back, the year before a two term president is on his way out, our economy stagnates, or goes into a recession. It lasts until after the election and picks up with the typical spring boom. Sometimes longer depending on what idiot gets in office. example 1: carter in 76 thru 80, example 2 obama in 08 thru 10.
Guess there is always room to hope for the best, but plan for the worst. Make what you can, when you can, and sock it away for when there is nothing to be made.
I know there are ups and down which slows everything down, but I've spoken to various brokers I know personally and different truckers and they haven't seen anything like this before.
If they have not seen anything like this before, most likely they were not observing what was going on before. It happens every time an election year comes up, especially more so when the eight year presidential crossover happens. Check the history and you will see, this is nothing new. The rest of us are riding it out, being picky, knowing that a lot of others are not going to make the ride. Lots of nice trucks and trailers out there for bargain prices right now. There will be more, brokers that will be gobbled up by the bigger players during this time as well. Only the strong will survive. You better learn how to run lean and mean, or you won't make it.
That just means they don't pay attention, or are relatively new to the industry. 08 to 10 was so bad, repo rates were at an all time high. this is nothing compared to that. Even big well established companies went under. What year was it arrow went under? They gave no warning. One day they was open, the next the office was locked up, and fuel cards shut off. Drivers had to find their own way home. Don't take me wrong, I'm not getting all end of the world doom is here. Just stating the reality that what we see today, it can get a LOT worse. But if you prepare, and are good with your money, you should be able to prepare and position yourself to make a boat load of cash when things pick up.
