what is cheap freight

Yep that's the little anteater nose baby bunk Peterbilt Prime trucks I have been seeing. Super short wheelbase and tiny flattop bunks. I don't know how well that's gonna work for them because Half their drivers wouldn't be able to fit through the opening to get into the sleeper let alone fit in that little ### bunk. I would laugh in their face if I worked for them and they wanted me to run OTR in that little piece of shizz!

 

That's how you've got to do it. I haven't started my truck for 2 days because I haven't found anything spectacular that I wanted to haul. I'm not all that worried about it because it's always slow here between thanksgiving and new years. You've gotta take your time be more selective and stop going places where you can't get out of. This is why we built 3 hopper flats. We had corn going to NC but if you hauled it in a hopper you had to DH clear across the state to get cheap fishmeal back. With the flat you could drive about 50miles and haul lumber, mulch or steel back for twice the price. Be selective, you don't have to eat the first crap sandwich someone offers. But the guys that keep doing it deserve what they get.

 

I had an over-size load last week that the shipper wanted a 53' flat not step...flat.....
Why?????
Because they were afraid the load would over-hang 2' on the nose and 2' on the tail of my trailer....a 48'...
The funny thing was...because of the axle configuration of that 53'...my 48' could haul more weight legally on it than the 53'.....

 

I can hardly wait until they go back to coffin bunks......Let's see how that config works with a team....

 

I heard about this Prime deal the other day from a small fleet owner here. He said Kraft and SuperValue were the two pushing this 50k in the reefer. I don't see how you could do it. You would have to strengthen the frame significantly and that would add weight. Oh lets cheapen up the tractor. I understand the tractor has no passenger seat and 50 gal fuel tanks. These shippers and the ATA are pushing to raise the weight limit to 97k. They contend it will put fewer trucks on the road and therefore less emissions in the air and save fuel. The next few years in trucking aren't going to be good ones IMO.

 

Yeah the ATA wants to raise the gross up to 97k but states like Cali can't handle that weight increase...

The freeway specs are still C-3250 type-II mixes......Which were designed to handle static loads up to 80K gross....And that's for the freeways and highways that have a concrete bed...
Many parts of Cali still use asphalt mixes with 3/4" sub-base at 6" depth, 3/4" asphalt base 4" depth (two "lifts"), and 1/2"-"fine" cap at 2"......The first hot day in August with a static load of 80K....The load just sank......

 

increasing weight limits on trucks? i wonder what else is gonna change..

 

• No English required...
• NAFTA Trucks allowed to run 18 hours while US and Canadian drivers will be held to an 8 hour duty day.....
• No truck parking in city limits of any large metro area....
• Fees for parking in rest areas and truck stops...
• Taxes on those aforementioned fees...
• CARB regulations so strict on American and Canadian trucks that a driver with IBS, will be cited for "illegal carbon emissions..."
• NAFTA trucks exempted from any and all emissions regs...because as well all know...enforcing our "oppressive" laws and regulations on them is just "racist"....

 

I dont run reefers so I cant say much about them. The truck im running now is a fld132 with a 48ft benson spread flat. It weighs 30k with all my sht on it I did have to clean some stuff off it the other day after loading I was 565lbs over lol. I dont know about everybody else but over time I acumulate alot of extra stuff with a flat its seems you can never get enough. I have international 9400 with the 50something inch sleeper short wheelbase thats considerbly lighter 2000lbs if I remember right.Its tough out there not as bad as last year imo but still very hard to make it. I wish I had all the anwsers but I just try to evolve with the business. My feeling on this backload bullsht is why is anything a backload if it needs to be hauled then it should pay the same I know thats not the case but there are trucks going and coming from all areas so what keeps everything from being a backhaul? It cant be because one guy is just willing to pay more then the other because he wont be a fool forever and then you will find yourself hauling backhaul both ways if people would just stick together and let that 1pm #### sit on the dock they would either pay a decent price or shut down there business but thats not going to happen either. Its came down to the only time rates go up is when loads greatly out number trucks and thats not the case right now except in a couple of places and their not that great and its hard to get loads into those places. The way I see trucking is even if you only drive 5 days at a time which would be very rare those are 24hour days you dont get to sleep at home see the family so it doesent make sense to do that for the same 30k a year that another job that allows you those things would pay?

 

WTM,
You said you run under your own authority, right?