Now if we could just get you to cut back on the iced coffees and relax a little bit, you'd be golden.

 

The guys I talk to seem to indicate it's best to either have one truck and work at it full time yourself, or have 5-6 trucks and come off the road to take care of them and all the paperwork.

 

Hey, I'm in your neck of the woods. Mclane in Kissimmee. I live in GA now. Trying to bid on local lanes.

I like running into FL., but I won't come here unless I book something leaving here beforehand.

Good to hear from you.

 

Sidman...did you end up selling that nice lookin Int'l or keep it for your new adventures down in dixie?

 

I,m still running it. I did not expect to sell it. Just settling in here in Fayetteville, GA. I go home to much to cut the lawn. Got to get my ass in gear and actually do some running. I,m looking for a reefer to run some local frozen. May rent one for now. I included the rent in my bid for the run.

 

Put deposit down on another unit. This will bring me up to six. I think I am going to have to start factoring though. I truly dread it but I see no other way to grow. These banks won't lend. Drivers are plenty, we keep the trucks loaded; it's just a shortage of equipment now.

I just got today a bid sheet for a lot of lanes but they want dropped trailers. I never know how to bid these things either.

The past two weeks have been expensive, a new clutch on the road ($1700) New brakes on truck and trailer, air bags went on truck as U bolts shifted (2nd time this has happened now [not on same truck]). My friend had a worse one though, one truck has been in the shop for about 5 days now, had an exhaust leak or something and they were going to try and nurse it home. It burnt the clutch, engine harness, and all other types of stuff (I still don't understand mechanics too well, and quite frankly don't want to. I hate it)


I was talking to one of the companies I am an agent for factoring. There is a company that is looking to do $4,000,000 a month. Imagine that and I dread $50,000 or so. But the bank I guess who has the liens on the equipment also has a lien on their receivables and they won't let it go. I don't know who they are but I don't think they are going to make it. He was telling me that a lot of people now calling but are too far gone.

Seems like for those of us that hang in there, things might turn out all right. I have come to the conclusion that there has to be better ways to make money than trucking though, but I'm in it for now at least.

 

A friend of mine told me about an article that he read in Truckers News concerning banks and lending. According to the article some banks have eased their lending and made loans to marginal carriers which has prolonged the inevitable failure. Had they not made those loans many of them would likely have gone out of business. Some of the debt free carriers are setting back and waiting until these marginal carriers falter so that they can take advantage of the situation. Once capacity diminishes rates will come up. When you have owner operators and carriers taking anything that comes along then rates are going to take a nose dive or sit flat.

 

I read that article GMAN. But banks are only going to let that go on for so long and forget about trying to get new equipment now with bad credit.

I forgot there was something else I learned yesterday, CH Robinson is now clamping down on those that may have five trucks for example and are only paying insurance on one.

Or those that have one truck registered but somehow are doing a million dollars in revenue (double brokering)

I also read some where recently that the government was going to start clamping down on companies that get whacked with safety fines but just shut down and open under another name

here is the article
The Associated Press: GAO: Unsafe truck, bus operators still on highways

Capacity is going to get tighter and tighter. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but it is going to happen.

 

I am not sure how CH Robinson would know if someone had one or fifty trucks insured unless they spoke directly with the insurance company. In any case, under current laws the insurance company would be liable for any claims, regardless of whether it was insured or not. Of course, they would then come after the carrier who failed to add any additional trucks. It could get ugly. It would help if insurance companies would lower rates. I was able to get a reduction in rates but they wanted to hit me with a 25% rate increase this year after a 30% last year. There was no reason for such increases other than greed. I had no one with tickets, accidents or cargo claims. They went up due to driver turnover. I would not want to get a truck out on the road without having adequate insurance coverage. I can understand why some might push the envelope and take a chance, but they are risking a lot.

I think it would be a good idea to clamp down on carriers who shut down and reopen under another name to avoid fines, etc., I am just not sure how they would enforce it. They could open under another corporate name and essentially it would be a new company. The only way they could accomplish this is to track ownership, and that is no guarantee that it could not happen.

 

I think for the insurance, not sure but they are going by what Safer Web has for units then maybe asking for proof of insurance.

I don't know but a lot of shiftiness in this business and the more they weed it out the better. Hard to compete with trucks that are running without insurance payments etc.

Kind of like those companies that lease on people; they are making more money off the drivers than the freight.

I had a guy leave me about a month or so ago as he wanted to own his own truck. Calls me more than you can believe waiting for a spot to open up to come back.