Under $2/mile loads with $6/gal diesel.

Evidently, the spot market is not a beauty contest. There are only so many months per decade when one can tout their $40k gross.
If that truck beats the competition, it's the winner.

 

Joe, it’s been advised to you by lots of members to not use the 1 click booking cheap and easy brokers. You’ve said yourself that your nervous to expand to any broker that’s not large and that your content and doing just fine. You have also always been nervous to upgrade your equipment.

So now, you have equipment that your worried will break down, you have a short list of potential broker customers, no personal relationships on any freight, but yet now want the government to hold your hand. What happened to being content and good enough?

It’s admirable to be an independent owner op for as long as you have, but this position your in is of your own doing or lack of doing. Quit being mad at others and look inward.

 

I assure you with 100% honesty that I am not mad at the current market situation. I am still content with my proceeds and costs. The equipment isn't compromised but utilized more properly to its age and mileage and furthermore my intentions in this thread were only honorable.

 

As a matter of fact, I welcome the bust. It'll be shopping time.
I am not a fan of inframes. The truck performs as always but at 1400 000 miles, I am a realist not to venture too far out of home radius. So I keep Regional.
I am not worried, I am the guy with the money waiting for the right moment to buy.

 

Then they should buy an old Freightshaker and hold it together with duct tape and delayed maintenance. Would you rather make money with an ugly truck, or go broke with a pretty one?

I can't be the only one hoping it gets worse. I want to see if I can survive when it actually gets bad.

 

I definitely don't see anything wrong with that.

For the second part of your proposed changed, the 15% cut, it's obvious you think this will be a benefit to you, but in what what will it benefit the industry as a whole?

 

Rates are not bad right now. Fuel is unstable but you can make it out here on current rates.

If there was no government mandated minimum wage you can rest assured the market would figure that one out.

Wild rate swings on the open market are nothing new. Anyone that can't deal with that needs to go knock on doors and get consistent direct freight. There was a golden opportunity for anyone on this forum from the summer of 2000 up until about January of this year to knock on customer doors and offer fair options to customers.

 

I trust that this way the wolf will be satiated and the lamb will stay alive.

 

There needs to be several changes at the DOT level for thing to improve (IMHO anyways)

1) Adequate training. I was a CDL instructor and I was asked once if we were going to teach them how to drive in various weather conditions. I laughed and said "in 30 days, you will be lucky if you can just pass your test". 30 days is NOT enough time to train drivers. I went to a 9 month vo tech when I went back in 1984. Now frankly that was overkill, but coming out of there, I could back a truck into anything. 3 months MINIMUM should be required. And frankly maybe 6 months. Yes, I had my CDL after 21 days, but the REAL training didnt start until after I had the CDL. And thats the way it should be.

2) Detention pay should be law. We have all been there where you get in some place and they screw around and keep you for hours beyond when you should have been out of there. When I first started I ran refers to food warehouses and would spend 8 hours in the trailer restacking everything in the box because they "didnt want it on MY wood, they wanted it on theirs". I got paid a flat $20 per drop. Now the trip home was nice, I would have 13 stops at fabric stores so that was good, but honestly they required FSC, why not detention pay as well?

3) Been up all night, I had a 3rd but I forget. Time to take the dog to the dog park and then hit the bunk. I will add it later when it comes back to me...

 

I'm happy that you found your slogan, can you explain how this will specifically improve the whole industry, for example, increased efficiency?