Post Gordon ~ Thoughts, Commentary & Reflections

Actually, BrightOne, average 'means' a lot of very different things, such as mean, mode, median and more.

HTLD posted GTI length of runs (see msg 418 http://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/gordon/214973-gordon-culture-one-drivers-experience-gordon-11.html -- link should take you there)

26.6% of runs < 100 miles

39.5% of runs 100-399 miles

15.2% of runs 400-699 miles

10.9% of runs 700-999 miles

7.9% of runs > 1000 miles

Over 66% of Gordon loads run UNDER 400 miles... that's a tough way to make any money with 2-hour free (unpaid) to load and 2-hour free (unpaid) to deliver. It reflects the ACTUAL experience of Gordon's 2000 drivers prior to HTLD acquisition.



Written Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 at Ellettsville Public Library. All rights reserved. Having a little trouble typing tonight. I'm usually 65 wpm but my sawzall this morning couldn't tell the difference between my left pinky and the metal I was cutting.

Dumb saw.

 

HTLD stock price still sticking at $20-ish. Sharp downward pressure (selling, profit-taking) moves in before $21 and upward pressure (buying) kicks in at $20.

Impressive.

HeartofaFatTrucker said something on joseph's thread I did not know, says HTLD paid off $150 million debt to Wells Fargo already. That knocks me over, frankly. Have not been following HTLD announcements, quite a surprise.

Stocks generally rise on announcements and sell off on news. That is, the market anticipates where it expects to be down the road apiece like the lead (announcement) you take with a shotgun on a bird in flight. When you actually bag the bird (news), price tends to drop.

Counter-intuitive, but true.

 

December, January and February have always been difficult months in trucking--well, unless you haul mail for the post office. In that case, no one got any time off from November 1st to January 5 or 6.

If you're not OTR, you probably get laid off and collect unemployment for a while. Not OTR, an industry that has managed to shift most, if not all, risk they can onto their drivers, so the OTR driver just takes it in the pocketbook as he suffers through weather, breakdowns and bad loads. If the megas don't care whether their drivers make any money driving, they darn sure don't want them making money on unemployment on their nickel. So you don't get laid off. You just sit or get lousy loads. Your nickel, not theirs.

As I write this HTLD stock has popped up to $21.95, dropped back to $21.80, up a penny to $21.81 and the market hasn't yet closed today. Gerdin keeps the best, gets rid of the rest as Gordon's 7.9 per centers open the left door, step out and waltz down the road, whistling a little Dixie. Gerdin keeps chugging along. The writing was probably on the wall when Gerdin gave his first conference and said there will always be long loads that miss the boat or train and he has a small fleet of team drivers to chase those loads.

If Gerdin has a hundred drivers in the Gordon Midwest US Fleet tie up 100 trucks on those loads, his teams will release 50 or more of those trucks back to the fleet. Do the math... please, do the math.

The math for job-hoppers isn't any better. All freight starts to pick up about now and through summer no matter where you work. So you make sure you have savings going into winter and go fishing or your personal equivalent until it picks back up. Those who leave jobs because the money dried up would probably have experienced that where ever they were--and new guys move into their seats and vice versa. Musical trucking jobs, a merry-go-round due to the starving out that takes place each and every winter.

I recall once talking to a Stone Belt driver here in Spencer, Indiana. Stone Belt had ads on CraigsList for drivers but this guy hadn't gotten 2000 miles in six weeks. And a gal they just hired a few weeks back was getting steady runs. Curious, I called dispatch. Oh, yeah, they were hiring. "Well, fine," I said, "But do you have any freight?"

"Well, sure" he says. "That's not what I hear," I said. "I hear you've got long-time drivers just sitting."

The dispatcher laughed and didn't deny it. "That may be true," he said. "But they still want me to hire more drivers!"

HTLD closed today at $21.85, up from $14.37 at the acquisition of Gordon in November. That's $7 plus per share increase, a 50% increase since November.

Gerdin just chugs ahead. The GTI 7.9 per centers drift off, whistling Dixie...


Written Friday, March 7, 2014 after fish and chips lunch and a big salad buffet at Canyon Inn in McCormick's Creek State Park near Spencer, Indiana. All rights reserved.

 

WILL SPRING FINALLY, FINALLY...


Can't say when I've ever been so excited about Spring. Not here yet, though. Still a tease, hot and balmy one day (yesterday, Sat Mar 15), cold and breezy the next (today, Sun Mar 16), like some of my almost and past girlfriends. Certainly makes me appreciate when it's been good... the weather, I mean. Yeah, the weather. Sure. Bring it on.

HTLD closed the week at $21.95 after punching up above $22 repeatedly through the week.

Carriers start their scramble for drivers about now as they shake off the winter. Saw a GTI with the biggest lettering on back of the trailer seeking drivers going down my hill yesterday while I hand dug swales and other earthwork around the property. My old mail contractor's looking for help up in Indy--had enough of them but it was just under $24--a good wage in THIS industry. Crappy equipment.

Who needs it? Ugh!

Written Sunday, March 16, 2014 at Wendy's, Spencer, Indiana. All rights reserved.