Random LTL Rants (all are welcomed)

Talk about an adventure filled day….. Did my normal Saturday Fargo-Grand Forks-Fargo run….

It wasn’t very normal today. Got all my Grand Forks stuff done and went to build my set. Home office wanted me to bring the oldest trailer on the GF yard back to Fargo, no problem.

Except it took just under 4hrs to go 90 miles, including a visit with the NDHP. Why you ask? Well I’ll tell ya why:

The brakes on the old trailer kept smoking. Like all of them on this pos wagon. Saw the smoke and pulled off the first off ramp I came too, let them cool off to see if I can find the issue…. I couldn’t.

Got going again and got just north of Hillsboro, nice big puffs of smoke coming out. Hit the shoulder get ready to drop it because I thought it was on fire and so did the NDHP.

Thankfully it wasn’t. He sat with me long enough to cool them down, then escorted me down to Hillsboro. FINALLY got ahold of someone that could help me, they send a service truck and he can’t find anything wrong with them. He finally caged them and followed me back to Fargo, where I red tagged it and said adios to the week.

108.45 hours on this pay period coming up, 28hrs of OT on it. Uncle Sam will love me.

 

Is that a typical pay period for you 28 OT hours or do they try and keep you guys at 40 hours per week?

 

Just depends on route-run. For my deal Tuesday-Friday it averages out to 11-12hr days. Saturday is supposed to be a lot shorter, but days like today it can be long.

I get OT after 40, each week. Bi-weekly pay.

 

right? Wasn’t an issue before, driver.

last guy did the route, and would be done 3pm everyday.

 

I suspect we’re about to get a reminder of what it looks like when a company with competent management merges their brands. Let’s not forget that FedEx did it successfully before Yellow failed.

 

One big difference is that Knight-Swift is integrating the companies within 2 years of acquisition. I'm not a big fan of how much debt they're holding, but the balloon payments are spread out and the interest rates are reasonable so the debt isn't going to impact cash flow or reinvestment.

 

YRC waited 10 years before making a real effort to consolidate, then tried to do it in a hurry without a real plan - at least from what I could see. They should have had the entire network consolidated by 2016 at the latest.

It looks like Knight Swift has already merged the network, and they might lose some customers due to the name change but in the long run having one consistent brand will pay off. Particularly when trying to build a national network. I know who NM Transfer is, but I doubt anyone outside the midwest does, so there isn't a ton of value in the name.

As to timing? I think doing it during a down turn is better than when freight is booming. You've got the extra capacity to cover for the screw ups without impacting service and are positioned to respond when the market improves (if it ever does). Layoffs can be attributed to the economic environment and not losing market share.