I have never stated that everything that happens is the drivers fault. In most cases the driver does have culpability. If he commits to taking a load then he has responsibility to get his load delivered as agreed. I have done LTL and I never guarantee a firm delivery time. The only way I have a firm delivery schedule is when I do truckload. And I always allow for some delays or contingencies. There may be some carriers who operate differently, but most carriers or owner operators I know who do LTL, do not guarantee a firm delivery schedule unless the shipper wants to pay for the entire truck. There are too many opportunities for delays. If a driver takes a load that he knows he cannot meet the schedule then it is his fault. That is why I prefer to see dispatchers driver for a couple of years before being allowed to be a dispatcher. Unless someone has been there they have no idea of what it takes to do this job.


When you driver OTR you may or may not be able to stop and take a 2 hour nap when you feel like it. If you pull a box or reefer around, you will probably have a pickup and delivery time. These two points could be completely across the country. That requires a lot of time management. It sounds like you don't have a lot of time to do your pickups and your company keeps you on a tight schedule. When I do LTL we don't commit to a firm delivery schedule unless the shipper wants to pay the truckload rate. We often have pickup and deliveries in different cities.

 

That statement shows you have no idea what you're talking about. You've got it back asswards.

The black box (aka: EOBR) will not control your speed. What it will do is ensure you are not driving past 11 hours or working past 14 (in absence of a sleeper berth split). It will be a huge aid to DOT and law enforcement and it will save lives by cutting down on tired drivers.

Yeah, I see so many people obeying the speed limit!! :lol: :lol:

This is how shortsighted you and your beloved OOIDA are. What you fail to realize is that those costs will create barriers which keep the rif-raff out. When you limit the supply of trucks, you will see rates and raises go up.

But the OOIDA wants as many trucks on the road as they can so they can collect mmore dues and sell magazines, tires, and insurance. It's all about the money. :roll:

Well I've done both and you couldn't be more wrong. Your LTL is not true LTL in the sense of working for a hub-spoke carrier. It's more like multi-stop truckload. Shippers and 3PL's use you for LTL because you're cheaper and they don't really care when the stuff arrives. Otherwise, they'd call us.

When you're dealing with next-day and 2nd-day regional LTL freight it's a whole different ball game. Most of the stuff is JIT and with some of the freight, there's penalties for arriving late...no not a day or two but like a day window from 10:00 - 12:00. Arrive after 12:00 and you just delivered it for free. :evil:

 

It is increasingly obvious that you have little knowledge of what you are talking about. LTL is less than truckload. It doesn't matter whether it is with a fixed schedule or open, a partial is still a partial. I am not talking about FedEx or UPS. Just because an LTL doesn't have a hard delivery time doesn't make it a truckload. JIT can be a LTL or truckload. For most carriers I would think that there is more JIT with truckloads unless you are someone such as FedEx or UPS. I believe Overnight used to do more time sensitive LTL's. I hope that I have cleared up your confusion.

You are correct to some degree about the EOBR's. They are a tool that DOT can use to see how long a driver has been working. I doubt that it will actually improve safety. People have different body clocks. A computer cannot tell when a driver is tired. Common sense will tell him to stop and rest when he gets tired. He can be compliant and still be too tired to drive. Speed limiters control the speed of the vehicle. Neither is likely to improve safety. By the way, speed limiters will not prevent trucks from speeding. Just check out most any construction zone. You cannot legislate safety. If you could then this should be the safest industry

I am not sure where the reference to OOIDA came in here. I have been in business most of my life. I am well versed in how business functions. What you don't seem to realize is that by increasing costs you will limit the number of carriers. That doesn't necessarily mean that you will raise driver's wages. It could likely have the opposite effect. It is funny that you would accuse OOIDA of being about the money. Isn't that what you have been talking about with driver's wages?

Whether you deliver on a hard schedule or not doesn't define LTL. Picking up less than a truck load from different shippers and delivering them to different consignee's is LTL. Multi-stop truckload means that you pick up a truckload and make several stops. That isn't LTL.

I think you just like to argue.

 

I never said it did.

That's pure nonsense. The only difference you've stated is whether the truck is full of freight or not. But the only thing that really matters is whether the rates you get for the partial freight you've collected are profitable enough to haul. You can physically stuff a trailer to the back door with partials and make less money than a trailer of partials that's 3/4 full. It all depends on 2 factors: the rates you get and the type of freight-mix you have (density and weight).

That's why an LTL carrier...not a truckload carrier...has breakbulks. The breakbulks allow us to take partial freight (and sometimes tho rarely full truckloads) from different terminals and collect them at a central location so as to efficiently pack our outbound trailers for max load factor.

That's why I say you do multi-stop truckload because you're a TRUCKLOAD CARRIER doing multiple stops. You're not an LTL CARRIER because you lack the terminal-breakbulk system needed to do true LTL. Your comparison of us to UPS and FedEx was unknowingly to you valid because we use similar hub-spoke systems as the parcel carriers.

Here's something else to consider: a shipper in Miami won't call you up for 4 skids tomorrow to be delivered to Ohio in 3 days because GMAN Trucking doesn't have a terminal in Miami. Why? Because you're a truckload carrier. Unless the shippper is willing to wait awhile for one of your trucks to get down such that it would be profitable enough for you got justfiy picking up the 4 skids.

Do you get it now?

 

. . and so go the days of our lives . .

Once again, everyone wants what's best for Drivers and Trucking. Once again, you can't find two Drivers who agree on what's best for them. In the course of civil discourse the first thing to go off course is the civility. Tempers flare, nothing get's done . .

. . and so go the days of our lives.

Gman . . please hire me. I have impeccable creds. Gaurantee me $60k, decent bennies, 60 days off a year and I'll run any load you send and drive every mile I can log legally. I have zero requirement for home time. One truck wash a month and I'll take care of my own showers, OK?

 

[quote=LeBron James]I never said it did.

I always get more doing LTL that I do truckload. Otherwise it isn't worth the extra work. In reality, the rate has nothing to do with whether you are doing LTL or not. It does make a difference in whether you are profitable or not.


It wasn't unknowing. I know exactly what I was saying. I know exactly how UPS and FedEx work. I never said that I was an LTL carrier. However, I sometimes do LTL. There is a difference. And you don't need a terminal to do LTL. You still seem to be confused.

You know nothing about my business. I never denied being a truckload carrier. However, we also do LTL. I just don't do LTL all the time. Whether I have a terminal in a certain area is irrelevant as to whether I can haul 4 skids to Ohio. In reality we could conceivably take an LTL out of Miami and deliver in Ohio within the 3 days if we had other LTL's lined up to take. I have dealt with short delivery LTL schedules. Sometimes things come together to make it work. I never commit to a schedule where there is a question that I can make the delivery. By the way, I have gotten calls similar to your 4 skids.

I believe that you previously posted that you have been in this business for 2.5 years? It is amazing that you know everything about trucking in only 2.5 years. :roll:

 

I think you missed the point of what I was trying to say.

I never said there was. But you said: That's not correct.

Where did I say you needed a terminal to do LTL?

OK, come by tomorrow by 16:00 to pick up those 4 skids because the customer needs them in Ohio by Friday. I've also got 3 skids from my Dallas manufacturing plant for you to pick up going to California. Oh yeah, and 5 skids from my Arizona warehouse that need to be in Maine by Monday.

 

That was me! Your other buddy, G! :lol: Actually, I meant 3 years.
But who's counting? :wink: