Reason carriers have more trailers than tractors

it happens. We are local with GPS on the units. We do a lot of drop and hook at a well known DC for a '____' coat factory. They can tale a long time getting them empty and have a switcher and drop lot.

Somehow an Amazon shipment got loaded in one of our oldest 48 footers and we watched it travel all around the east coast. Probably put on more miles than we did in the past 20 years before it ended up in KY with a couple flats.

Amazon doesn't answer phones!

We ended up sending in the local sheriff who basically told the head of that Amazon facility to call us -or- come down and explain why they had a stolen trailer...We sold it to a local repair guy with a small fleet of storage trailers; it wasn't worth sending someone to get it.....

 

It is the same way that the rail road companies keep track of their cars, they have an accounting system that they use and even if the car is used by another company (which happens albeit rarely) they know where that trailer goes.

I saw a couple company's systems up close and personal, one is a HUGE package company (can't mention their brown name) and it is amazing what they know, not just tracking packages but everything they own.

See I think many drivers/owners don't see the bigger picture about logistics, there is soooo much more to it than the truck and trailer, it sometimes boggles the mind. It is just like loads, there is this idea that the broker/load board is where all these loads are but they have just a small percentage (like 22%) of the freight that is moved in a day, there is so much and no one keeps track of all of it or more than 30% total of it where the public has access to it.

 

One thing I have learned recently is just because a mega or a carrier is utilizing vasts amounts of resources having dropped trailers at a customer. It doesn’t mean it pays anymore whatsoever.

See as a small fleet I need to be able to charge more for a dropped trailer since I have maybe 1.5 trailers to 1 truck if that. These big guys act as if having dropped trailers there is just a cost of doing business and demand no extra money, maybe even are more competitive. I guess they try and recoup the costs by the drop situation being more efficient in not having to wait.

 

Another reason as well that companies can make money off of customers using their trailers for storage. For example, some companies charge X amount of dollars per day for each trailer still loaded after a 24 hour period.

Another reason there are more trailers than tractors, have you had to do an empty trailer hunt for a mega carrier in a major freight market?

Some carriers have big contracts where they have to maintain a trailer pool where it decrease downtime for drivers and detention for shippers/receivers.

I ve worked for some companies where if you delivered an empty or loaded trailer, you left with a loaded trailer, you could not take an empty

 

Fella I know has a deal like the one you were talking about the other day, He does all the work himself. He said that during a new bid process his customer was trying to chisel him because a much larger carrier charges a lower trucking rate and has a lot more capacity. His contention was that his rate is higher on the transport, but he does not charge them on drop trailers, Which the larger carrier does. From the sounds of it, it all washes out at the end. Difference being, when it comes to line items his customer sees transportation differently than paying for the drop trailers.