Rates are crashing and fuel to the moon!

Were pulling a van last week. They don’t have the proper equipment, over loaded af, not chained properly, run all night long and some how never gets stopped.

 

I’ve been out 5 years and I’m getting the itch to try my luck again. The thing in 2020 scared me enough I sold my equipment and went to work for the man. Passively looking at load boards I can see the freight and rates aren’t too bad. Would sure do things different the second time around. It’s stupid to give up a steady job where I’m home every day in exchange for spending nights in a box hundreds of miles away. Still, that #### road calls to me.

 

2020-21 rates were great and fuel was cheap... the exact opposite now for the last 3 years... fuel still 4.00 - 5.00+ out here in the west coast..not sure what it is everywhere else... sadly I think these rates/fuel prices is the new normal. Hardly any drivers speak any English anymore... they are happy to make enough money to afford 2 grains of rice at the end of the day..

 

I unload some flatbed drivers at my job now. In 5 years I’ve met a total of two who weren’t foreigners. I should have stuck with it in 2020, but the truck had put me in a bad place with mechanical problems, and the lockdowns made me panic. I didn’t want risk going into debt to stay afloat. Fuel around here is in the low $3s. About the same as when I was doing good in 2018 and early 2019.

 

We are along ways away from doing good, everything is through the roof for prices, insurance is ridiculous,fuel is ridiculous and if you have to bring the truck in to a shop that price is ridiculous also. Trucks are still way over capacity and like said before there is alot of people running around happy making enough for a couple grains of rice

 

Freight and rates aren't that bad? A lot has changed since 2020. I think you'll regret it this time around.

 

I have few buddies with small fleets (10-20) trucks, everybody is hanging by a thread. Freight does not pay enough to support having a driver in the seat. Equipment that was bought in 2020-2021 is starting to fall apart now and there is no money to fix it. Lots of late payments to banks. Banks also don't want to take the trucks away, because why spend couple grand to repocess, when that Volvo with 800k and blown engine will bring $3k at the auction.

Couple of guys have $4000-5000 house payments and their wifes had to go back to work to try to stay afloat. Still, credit cards are maxed and there is no relief on the horizon.

Basically people who already have their equipment paid off are doing kinda ok, everyone with payments is really struggling. I don't know how long this can last, maybe three months, maybe a year, who knows.

 

If they are in that shape they need to stop
digging and close the doors. Desperate people are why things are continuing to circle the drain.

First thing to do when you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging

 

It completely blows my mind that 3-4 year old equipment can “fall apart”

 

When it’s got 800,000 miles and two oil changes it’s believable