No different than it's ever been, rates/freight goes up, it goes down.
You have some who went broke when the rates were way up.
Have had no problem with the normal rate increases each year with customers, but they are 25+ year customers.
Even most of the self dispatch ones are doing fine. Last week average was 3.07 all miles. Obviously some are higher and some lower.
Who’s in and who’s out?
Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by Midwest Trucker, Jul 21, 2025 at 8:50 PM.
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Not sure why you're trying to pick a fight over an innocuous statement.
Planning for down times is par for the course - but a lot of guys didn't do that. There were a ton of long term posters bragging about how much they were making in 2018 that got awful quiet in 2019. Then the covid boom hit and it was sunshine and lolipops all around - until 2022 and then the kvetching turned fortisimo (remember the "Freedom Convoys" fighting for broker 'transparency' and 'fair rates'?). Someone running debt free can get rates 15-20% less than someone with a heavy debt service and net about the same.
And I'm not just talking about solo carriers - the same can be said about YRC and Werner. YRC never got control of it's debt and died as a result. Werner's debt tippled during the boom and now they've cut the 401k match. Compare that with Schneider or Swift, both of whom are weathering the storm better than Werner.
You say this hasn't been normal, but it is. The 2019 freight 'bloodbath' got a reprieve by the covid stimulus. The 2015 freight recession lasted 18 months. Freight volumes stabilized during 2023, but rates didn't because there were more new entrants than companies closing. Despite strong overall economic numbers in 2024, freight continued to be in a recession because of over capacity. By the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, things were looking up, and then 'things' happened which tossed the market into turmoil and left massive uncertanity behind. So we're really talking about two different downturns - but even if you don't want to accept that - all market indications have been signaling retrenchment. If a person entered into 2022 with a solid financial footing there's not reason they couldn't weather this storm if they so chose. Most of the guys in this thread who have hung things up did it on their own terms. They didn't go broke, they looked at things and made a business choice. That's not getting caught out, but there were plenty of others that did get caught out and lost everything.singlescrewshaker, Tug Toy, jcatel and 4 others Thank this. -
Sad to say MO is in all this game.
JB7 and singlescrewshaker Thank this. -
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As you yourself know, I pulled weekly out of a steel plant for a number of years to NY & PA. After I got blackballed for not crossing the picket line I was a little uncertain since that was my bread & butter. 4 years later I have 6 direct customers and still going.
Got a call the other day about hauling steel barriers from the I-64 construction project. He ask me my price per hour and I told him, then he ask about per mile. Beams loaded on my flatbed got me $1500 for 283 miles.
Today I loaded another customers trailer with scrap going to Tennessee, $1500 for 292 miles. Not burning the world up but I’m still surviving.
I had to work hard to acquire my direct customers, but it has worked out. Sometimes simple things like being honest, fair, and polite will get you on down the road…..
PPLC, dirthaller, PSM379 and 13 others Thank this. -
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