Ltl vs food distribution

sorry, not really worried about some ltl boys taking away the work of several thousand local trucks nationwide. at just my location, (one of 10 local locations) we handle 70 to 100 in city deliveries daily, and service 7 other locations primary dc shipments...

 

Thats a very ignorant statement. Any private fleet can sell out overnight. Your bosses only care about the almighty dollar. Zero f's are given about the driver, to think otherwise is naive (nothing personal, just a broad statement)

 

My father-in-law drove for a private fleet for years they sold all there trucks and started leasing from penski didn't think much about it till one week he came back and found out they discontinued there trucking line and he would have to be hired on a penski but it worked out for him he lost 3 weeks of his vacation (he had 6) but gained about 15k a year still doing the same run he did for the private fleet the only thing different now he has to get a backhaul home every week instead of deadheading

 

Not when you know the costs to outsource our work like i do. Theres a reason im comfortable where im at. Granted im also moving out of the truck, but thats a personal choice.

 

Private Fleets are still the way to go IMHO. Can they be eliminated at any time? Sure they can (obviously Walmart is a prime example) but that shouldn't be the main reason why not to seek them. I've seen many Private Fleets come and go (from Bimbo Bakeries, Kellogs, and including when I worked at IBC), but they're still considered some of the best jobs out there. Costco, Frito Lay, Dean Foods, SuperValu, Safeway, ACME, Wegmans, Publix, Franz Bakery, Gold Medal Bakery, Shaw and Mohawk, HP Hood, Coke, Pepsi, WaWa, Dietz & Watson, Goya Foods, Mondelez, Nestle, Wise Chips, Ashley Furniture, Sherwin Williams, etc., etc., etc., are all good Private Fleet jobs. Even LTL (UPSF, YRC, FXF, XPO, ABF, ODFL, R+L, etc., etc.), Foodservice (McLane, Sysco, US Foods, PFG, Reinhardt, GFS, etc., etc.) and Parcel (UPS, Fed Ex, DHL, USPS) are considered Private Fleet. Can any of these companies eliminate the Private Fleet? Sure they can. When it comes down to the almighty dollar, anything can happen. Doesn't always mean that it's a bad thing though (although most of the time it is). Bimbo Bakeries is a prime example of that. They got rid of some of their Private Fleet (Stroehman to be exact) and contracted Grocery Haulers and nothing changed as a result. Still get free healthcare, pension, and excellent income. Wakefern/ShopRite contracts to Food Haulers and those guys make over $100k. Sometimes they'll have a mixture of Private and Contracted (Costco, Fed Ex, UPS, USPS, and LTL to a degree). As long as the Company has no reason to elimate the Private Fleet (due to simple economics or Union contracts), you shouldn't stress out on whether they're gonna still be here today or gone tomorrow. They're still some of the best jobs out their.

 

Of course once a particular company starts utilizing outside contractors to haul their product, then it feels like it's up for grabs. When I was with Ruan, this seemed to be the case with their on again/off again relationship with the Michael Lewis Company(airline food), and various Target and Whole Foods contracts they had in certain spots. They'd keep them for awhile, screw up in some form or another, and then before you know it another dedicated carrier would be picking up that lost contract.

Same thing seems to happen with these dairies we either gain or lose out here with Indian River in west TX/eastern NM, as well as the other adversaries serving the area. A few barns end up dumping milk or doing something to make the dairy owner irate, the co-op is contacted and another carrier is sent to pick up the barn. Problem is, it just won't be one barn lost due to a mistake, but usually quite a few due to one dairyman owning multiple operations in an area.