WHY SO MANY COMPANIES JUST RUN FREIGHTLINERS AND INTERNATIONALS

You lost all credibility with this statement. If it wouldn't cost them a dime to let you sit there, why not just have the entire fleet of trucks park on the side of the road? They'd make a killing then, right?

There are far greater expenses to running a truck than the driver. Freight companies only make money when freight gets delivered. If the truck is sitting, it DOES cost them money. Trucks have fixed costs whether the wheels turn or not. Same with any other freight moving company, including FedEx, UPS, etc. A dead truck isn't making ANYONE any money. Even airlines are the same way, an airplane down for maintenance is costing that company millions of dollars to sit there. Lack of income is the same as costing them money. The last thing they want you to do is sit. Why do you think they'll jump through hoops to get you back on the road, even renting a loaner if they have to? Moving freight is what pays the bills, sitting freight pays nothing. And some contracts won't pay at all if its delivered late so they SURELY don't want you sitting doing nothing especially with a load on your back.

I can't comment on trucks because the only ones I drove were freightliners but I like how they ride. I'm sure some are better and some are worse. Mine threw an AC compressor and some high pressure switch last night. Spent all day in the repair shop but they got it fixed and I'm ready to roll.

 

I'd love a mid roof classic with a big series 60 in it.

We have two freighliners, both columbias they rattle like hell and are basically the ugliest trucks ever but they will hit 90 mph and run at 80 all day no problem. Series 60 with he boost cranked up ftw.

 

Work on your reading and math skills before you exclaim some BS of my credibility. I said downtime, as in a warranted break down of a truck, costs a mega fleet relatively nothing.

I said nothing about them making money breaking down trucks, even though that is exactly what Swift did in one of their contracts.

In your rush to pass judgement your not thinking things through and just plain making stuff up. Pay attention and you could learn something.

At times fuel is more expensive, but other then that driver wages are the greatest expense.

Duh.

As such mega freight companies have worked to eliminate fixed costs of broken down trucks. The huge purchasing power of a Mega company allows them to shift those costs onto the manufacture during contract negotiations during the procurement of large quantities of trucks.

Other fix costs exist in the company regardless of whose trucks are used or the reliability.

Those are two way different freight and business models and discussion of those models will just divert attention from the whole point at hand so lets just leave them out.

Swift made lots of money off dead trucks. However, only you stated any different, not me.

I am not concerned with airlines. Lets keep this on trucks.

No it is not.

Your dispatcher might have fead you that line in order to get a lazy ### moving, but sitting is better then loosing money. Any good O/O will tell you it is not about the miles, it is about the money.

Who is renting a loaner? the mega? I guarantee the mega's will not rent a loaner to get you back on the road. They may rent a truck, but that is rare, very rare. They may repower a load. They may even contract a load to another company to move. But they will not do it to get you back on the road.

Another great platitude.

Mega's don't take freight unless it pays, don't let a dispatcher BS you. If, and rarely if, their is a monetary penalty for a mega freight load, you best believe their is still some coin in it for the mega. Don't let some dispatcher BS you about that. For them, every load is late, and crucial to the company. It is their job to spread that BS.

I know. I can see that.

Thats what were saying here. Pay attention you might learn something.

When your a mega, say like Swift, with an order for 4500 trucks a year, say the retail value of use of the equipment/warantee is $100,000 each unit, do you think they are worried about a few CPM drivers being disappointed in their trucks or reliability? I say at $450,000,000, negotiating the price of lease/purchase is much more of a concern for any executive then any perceived value added to the productivity associated with one brand of truck over another. Especially when you consider all warrantee work is covered by the manufacturer, and all company work is covered by the driver.

 

When a company buys an extra truck they'll have a figure on where the monthly mileage needs to be to cover all its costs and make the profit they expect. For a small company in my area it will be around 10k$.

If the truck stays parked for a few days, it makes no difference to the figure they want. Very often it will pay the company better to hold on a day or more for a better paying run, it really is no loss at all to them. Of course the driver who is paid on mileage is desperate to get going, and when he does he's going to go running hard to make his money back up by knocking up the miles and the process repeats itself.

@Toomanybikes understands the realities of the economics involved, it's normal that as drivers we want to be the most indispensable factor involved but really we're just another juggling ball in the air for the company. No different to their fueling or maintenance strategies .

And if most companies buy Cascadias it will be for a combination of all the important reasons already mentioned in the area of cost of ownership and operation. Some companies will make a few concessions to driver comfort ( sun visor, bunk Windows etc) and some won't as its coming off their bottom line.

 

Friend currently drives for Prime, when his Freightshaker broke recently, resulting in 4 days in a hotel, Prime simply had him towed to the dealer, the tow company dropped the trailer in the back lot, parked the tractor in the service lane, he walked to the hotel across the street (Holiday Inn Express), next morning, his loaded trailer was gone and an empty had replaced it. Wasn't even a hot load, just a 40,000 lbs of toilet paper heading to a Sam's warehouse.

Truthfully, I'll take my Mack, aside from the fact that the dealer can't seem to fix anything on the first 3 tries, it's much better truck than the frieghtliners we used to run.

 

Yup very few companies today spec a truck to get the job done right. Schlumberger still specs a truck how it should be. Heavy frame-driveshaft-rears. Isx12 425/1650 with 4.42 rears on 22.5 with 8ll

Not big power but with those low 4.42s I only drop 1 gear coming up out of wheeling wv on 70/470 with a frac pump (90-100k) and still walk away from the megas with their castrated dd15's and 2.64 or 2.xx whatever super high rears.

The last cascadia dd15 was 1275rpm at 62, these petes with the Isx12 are 1900 at 65 and fuel economy isn't really noticeable when your in the mountains.

Mack, specifically mack camelback suspension was king offroad. US-WS has some daycab pinnacles that i suspect were regular road tractors (not to mention their entire fleet is whatever they found on the auction line) road gears 1400 @70mph and a useless 10 thats impossible to start on a grade with a 100k in tow. Everyone's big complaints were front felt way too light.

@Pedigreed Bulldog maybe you can chime in since you spec'd yours properly.

content://media/external/file/31540 ugly as sin but it will take you to hell and back

 

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Now maybe???

 

When a company builds it's fleet on the lease program, rather than investing in the equipment for the long term, they tend to jump on whatever best deal they can work out with whatever local dealer gives them.

My company is the "investment" kind, the owner wants trucks to last a million miles (or thereabouts) and keep on going after a rebuild. He recognizes that paid off equipment that costs very little in upkeep (using preventative maintenance) equals almost pure profits (we have 20+ year old pneumatics that cost almost nothing for upkeep and make serious coin).

I drive a 2007 Peterbilt 379 for them. The truck was given to me almost a year and a half ago now. This is the list of things that's needed repairs/replacement in that time:

1. Blew a set of belts within the first couple weeks of having it.
2. Blew a second set of belts a few months later, mechanic realized the belt tensioner was shot, replaced it.
3. Had low oil pressure early this year, found out the truck was on the "highway" schedule for oil changes despite me being a regional driver and needed one desperately.
4. Passenger-side high beam lights were shorting out, needed a re-wire.
5. Had a maxipot done on PS front drive axle.
6. This past week, check engine light came on, threw a code for some water valve, being replaced.

Other than that, general maintenance (greasing, oil changes, etc) and fuel are the truck's only costs. To me, I don't understand the mentality of a company leasing a bunch of trucks, then having them sit in repair shops because new drivers don't understand how the DPF/SCR systems work (or they are just garbage in the first place and need constant work to keep running).

 

As a diesel mechanic and a two truck owner operator, you could not get me to buy a freightliner these days unless it was a glider and then I would still be reluctant. I started off with a classic and a fld and if they could still be bought new like they were built in 2000 I would recommend it to other drivers. I only recommend Pete gliders these days. Even the 579 can be bought as a glider. DD motors, Paccar motors, Volvo motors all get a thumbs down from this mechanic. The only current motor that can be repaired at more than just "certain" dealers are the Cummins motors. I own two at the moment. Trying having your DD, Paccar, or Volvo motor break down near an independent shop and see how likely you are to get it repaired. I am sure there are a few independent shops who can still do it all, but that number gets smaller everyday. I have a few friends who are mechanics at dealers and if you mention any other truck than what their dealership works on, they have no clue about them.

 

Freight liners are garbage. They buck just like internationals when backing and even the seatbelts refuse to release.