YRCW ask Teamsters for "relief"...

It is unreasonable and inconvenient to use cash all of the time.
Credit or Leverage frees up a company's ability to update, upgrade, or replace capital.

How many O/O's do you know that can purchase a new rig or newer for that matter in cash?

How many large carriers will pay cash to upgrade or replace their fleet, especially now with the EPA and CARB regs as they are?

Consumer credit, I'll agree is out of control.
Americans just have to have that Escalade and that plasma screen.
Business has always run on credit, that's why the banks are in business themselves, not for the passbook accounts at 4% or less.....

Credit is the "engine" that allows businesses to grow.

 

I understand what you are saying, but the unions will be the first to feel it-and if YRC chooses to remain the company they are, the union WILL have to deal a little bit more than just some negotiations, they will have to actually give up stuff. Like I said if YRC chooses to declare bankruptcy(which they say could be an alternative to their problems) they WILL renegotiate their union contracts, but they dont even have to do that under bankruptcy laws--they could close altogether(I.E. Consolidated Freightway) or they could push the union out the door and they dont even have to give a notice, all they have to do is tell the bankruptcy courts that they cannot afford to renegotiate or honor current contracts.. The Teamsters position is that they have already given up concessions in their last contract and they will be giving up concessions again next year. YRC is trying to get them to give in now, and from what I have read the Teamsters are not budging, and I say again that is the wrong attitude in this economy and that tells me that they arent representing their rank and file as they are paid to do.

 

What do you Freight Teamsters have in the way of benefits currently?
When I started out as a young Teamster in the 80's we had 100% dental, 85% optical, 95% medical. It was not unusual for a Teamster who worked at least 2000 covered hours a year to receive a vacation paycheck of at least $5K.

When I froze my card back in 2004 I was getting $22 per hour plus add the time and half X 5 extra hours weekly for driving time port to port. My brother went back in a year ago was getting around $25 per hour. The thing I hated about being a Teamster foreman was that Teamsters only receive $1 above Teamster pay to be a supervisor unlike labors, carpenters, masons, and operating engineers who received $5 above top craft. So we had labor foremen making over $35 an hour when they had an O.E. on their crew.

 

My wife used to make that same arguement about our non trucking related business. The overhead is enormous and she also believed in extending credit to customers. I finally prevailed on her about five years back to try it my way (No credit to us or from us) and now she is a believer. It is simple really if the bill is a dollar then pay the dollar. Why strech it a month for some imagined convinence then pay a dollar and five cents. All those nickles tend to add up.

 

What happens when you need to buy a new rig though? An old rig won't even make a dent in (trade in) the down these days and HELOC's are no longer used.
If we only bought what we could afford at the end of the month...no one would buy a house, cars, the "toys" ect...how many would be out of a job if credit wasn't used for purchases?

 

Let's pretend our first rig (Or car for that matter) is one we can indeed buy with cash. This would mean a used plain jane ride, they exsist and we all know that. This ride serves one purpose only and that is to make money. Take the average payment for the ride you really want and pay yourself that amount going into a regular savings account. You are more or less making the payment before you ever buy and are making them to yourself. Once you have the amount needed for what you want you can now buy anytime and even have given yourself the ability to score a great deal from say a business liquidation or the like. Upon purchase of the new ride the process starts over with saving for the next. Anytime you have all you need in the bank the former amount you were paying yourself now becomes extra funds to get something else or just to enjoy.

I can tell you from experience that this process really sucks to get started but is well worth the trouble. We started it because we didn't have a choice. My wife got hurt pretty bad and we ended up losing everything we owned or thought we owned. The beauty of have no credit is it teaches you how to live without it.

 

As an O/O I would haven't started off with a new rig. "Old Bull" makes the same as a new rig and cost me 1/4 the price. But "Old Bull's" days are numbered and I'll have to find a a "new" one that meets the CARB requirements. It's a shame because that old truck still has a few more miles left on it too....
I used to work for a company where the owner never paid for anything "on time" or leased any equipment. Problem was the equipment spent more time in the shop then out in the field. The drivers were told to "Avoid the scales or don't come in back to work".
This was before the porta-scales and CVSA program in CA. You can't get away with avoiding the scales now since the BIT program is enforced in CA.

 

Times are tough, this is true, but trust me, YRC can easily find 15 percent in increased efficiency by paying attention to its business. it is not unusual for me to sit for three or four paid hours unnecessarily waiting for freight when there really is no unusual problem. I mean, shouldn't there be reports to show these things? When you multiply every inefficiency by the number of people impacted, we're talking big money.

Even still, personally, I would be willing to entertain some concessions IF the officers of YRC were willing to take an equal pay cut and an equal benefits cut. The idea that they could cut our pay and then get bonuses for it, which is what happened in the airline industry, really burns me up. But hey, the Teamsters seem to be too busy agreeing with the company to care. I hope I'm wrong.

 

I have seen guys wait for 2-3 hrs also at are terminal in Syr. NY but they were waiting on break freight that still had not arrived from the other terminals . you got figure the frieght this guy needs is coming from NY city they aren't teamsters there longshoreman an dont give a crap how things get loaded or unloaded so when the trailer shows up you end up digging thru the trailer for particular freight putting everthing else to the side .. then after you have had the supervisor come out to take pictures of the damaged freight 3-4 times ..then you find his freight ..it is weird but they(central dispathers) have a game plan an it changes all the time .. Ive never been able to figure it out, nither has anyone else ..yeah that would suck if all the drivers took a pay cut of some type and the company would still give bonuses to all terminal managers etc whats the scoop with that anyways Lantanea ?? any input would be apperciated