Maybe not knowing what it takes to run a truck has finally caught up with Stevie ????????? :hellno:

How to shut down truck for a few months

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• Posted by Stephen Booth on November 21, 2008 at 5:17pm in General Discussions
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If some of you are not aware, I use to work in a lab doing research but sort of got burned out after 30 years. Well, they are in trouble and need me to come back for a few weeks to a few months. Is there anything I need to do to my truck while not being driven? Should I go down every few days

 

Could be. With rates what they are, and him clearly stating that the loads aren't available for him, he may have simply decided to pack it up until rates get better. If he can afford to do so, then more power to him.

 

It is difficult for an independent right now. I know of at least 2 who are packing it in and leasing to a major carrier. They feel that the larger carriers will have the freight base to keep them running through the winter months. I have been offered rates less than $1/mile recently. A number have been around $1.20-1.50 and that is going to bad areas. issedoff:

 

Since there are fewer and fewer carriers available to haul cheap freight, I can't imagine this particular downgrade in rates will last very long. I would assume it has to do, at least in part, to the decrease in fuel costs - shippers and brokers thinking they can get it hauled for ridiculously low rates, and some carriers complying. If it sticks around for any length of time, I'm sure we'll see more carriers going out of business. When the economy does turn around (and it will), it should be quite interesting.

There are clearly good things ahead for those who can manage to stay in business.

 

I tell ya, step deck freight out of eastern nc has about dried up, what is available is cheap and heavy. Thinking about getting a reefer, it is the only game in town that is paying anything at this time

 

I've heard that tons of people went out and bought step decks because the rates were so good, thereby driving rates down. I almost feel sorry for the guys who were spending ridiculous amounts of money on RGN trailers to get into that game.

Used trailers will be cheap for quite a while, thanks to all of this.

 

I agree, Rev. Rates should rise dramatically when the dust settles. I think it is the brokers as much as the shippers who are skimming so much off the rates. Rapidly dropping fuel costs have also contributed to the low rates. According to some brokers to whom I have spoken the last couple of weeks carriers and owner operators are taking these cheap loads as soon as they are posted. I called one who had a load out of Amarillo going to Victoria, TX that wanted to pay about $1.20/mile. I wound up deadheading out rather than taking something that cheap, especially to another cheap area. I am deadheading the truck just east of Dallas for a load that will bring by truck to Georgia. The rate isn't that great but will get the truck in a better position and I didn't contribute to the cheap rates from these crooked brokers. The broker who had the load going to Victoria told me that they had 48 loads per day going out of Amarillo to Victoria. Apparently, trucks are grabbing them up as fast as the broker posts the loads. Hopefully, enough carriers and owner operators who are willing to haul this cheap freight will go out of business to allow for much better rates for a while.

 

Right after I purchased my step deck a lot of people decided to do the same thing. Rates dropped dramatically. I have been giving serious consideration to buying more equipment due to the lower costs. There are some good buys around if you can get the money. Unless you can get very good pricing and interest rates you may not want to go into much debt. Rates are likely to be low for a few months. Equipment payments raise the cost of running a truck. It may be difficult to make high equipment payments during this time.

 

It genuinely shocks me that the carriers who have managed to last this long have suddenly lost all common sense, and are now willing to operate for cheap rates. I guess when the economy was better, and freight was still moving better than it is now, they could afford to suck up the high fuel costs. Now that fuel costs have dropped, but the economy has tanked, they are willing to take whatever they can get to survive. It won't take long for them to fall by the wayside.

I think it just goes to show that fuel costs don't play as much of a part in running a successful trucking business as what some like to think they do.