Who’s in and who’s out?

This is not a downtime, this is the new normal.

 

For some its the new normal. I haul long term contract freight 99% of the time and all of my carriers new business has rate increases and 3-5 year contracts. The “cheap freight” that I passed up yesterday is stuff I didn’t haul anytime so it’s no real loss. Our business is tied to the economy like most, but everyone that wants a job has one currently and they are still buying big ticket items. Best part of being debt free and able to retire at any time, if the economy slows down so will I.

 

I’m doing pretty fair. But, I’ve been at it for 18 years and have been able to build some pretty decent relationships that are paying off. I’m mostly local/regional any more. Long haul just isn’t paying and frankly anything on the load board seems to be trash. But I still look and still book a handful of loads a month off them. Again it’s all short stuff that people seem to over look. I mean I can get 3,000 for 250 miles or 6,000 for a 1,000. Both are 3k a day, but I’d rather do 250 miles

 

Obviously you're not a part of the small business trucking that relies only on the spot market rates. And I guess you do specialized freight. You have nothing common with Scotty, but you react like you do. C'mon now.

 

Own my own truck, have my own authority. Trucks paid for and parked. Dropped my insurance to bare minimum 750k liability and 100 mile radius which works out to 400 a month. Still a gamble should a storm get the shop lean too it’s parked under. A tornado in the spring turned over my hopper which we were able to set upright without enough damage to talk about. I’m working on trucks in the shop to keep the lights on. Now there is way more to my situation than this down turn, though I will say that certainly played a big role in my decision. I’ve got an 80 acre Tifton 44 hybrid Bermuda grass field under a pivot that goes to 1 farm in Lexington each year. So I’ll truck that myself instead of farming it out. I hope the cards play out I can get back under a bovine bus again before they throw dirt in my face. I refuse to say this is it

 

I don’t know what Scotty hauls or have a dog in your fight. I saw your condescending comment to Scotty and put my comment in since this is a public forum. Come on back driver!

 

The economy isn't very much different now than it was a year ago. I thought it was pretty okay then, and it's pretty okay now. There is a lot more uncertainty and nothing is being done about the underlying weaknesses- but by and large nothing has changed in the last year.

 

But the trucking is very, very different since 2022.

 

I don't have a fight with anyone, driver.