Analyzing Freight Slowdown

[louixo]

One of the big reasons for any slowdown is competition. If you look around out there today, there are alot of companies offering some type of expedited delivery. Even some of the big carries, have a version of expediting. Look on the home page of EO. There are 30 5 star carriers listed. That`s a whole bunch of units out there!

 

[OntarioVanMan]

yes some of the large LTL carriers are offering an expedite service...Yellow, Roadway, ABS. R&L, UPS Freight and Fedex Frieght and dare I say Conway...We've hauled loads for all in the last 3 months.

 

[Roadpig]

You hit the nail on the head. Not only is there less freight because of the slow down in the economy, there are more carriers out there trying to get as much of that dwindling freight as possible.

Back eight years ago there were only 5 major companies; Roberts, Fedex, Landstar, Tri State, and Panther.

Now look. It's a simple supply and demand issue. There are more of us than there is freight to haul. And there seems to be less every day. And as long as this trend continues, especially with the small carriers scraping the barrel on rates, it's going to be tougher to make it. Higher fuel cost + more competition - Less freight = tough times.

 

[Lawrence]

We touched on this on our Expediter News Break radio news:

http://www.expediternewsbreak.com/show.mp3 Let the page load.

Http://www.expediternewsbreak.com

Lawrence,
Expediters Online.com

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[Moot]

I think it is great that LTL carriers offer a form of expedite service to their customers. Especially when it comes with a guaranteed delivery time. More business for me! The LTL environment is not conducive to time critical freight. In fact it is a great place to have your shipment mis-routed, delayed, damaged or lost forever.

 

[Jefferson3000]

>I think it is great that LTL carriers offer a form of
>expedite service to their customers. Especially when it
>comes with a guaranteed delivery time. More business for
>me! The LTL environment is not conducive to time critical
>freight. In fact it is a great place to have your shipment
>mis-routed, delayed, damaged or lost forever.

======================================

Hehehehe. Good point Moot. LTL carriers are not the enemy. Which brings me to my point.

Either this is getting to be a tired topic (Freight is slow.), or maybe I'm just tired. Eh. I'm probably just tired. Why? I was out 12 hours today. Ten driving and 2 waiting to be loaded. I even got a $10 tip for being nice. Here's my solution to competition:

-Be better dressed,
-Better prepared,
-better spoken,
-better equipped,
-better certified,
-kinder,
-friendlier,
-and more appreciative.

You must be willing to work harder, longer, and more efficiently than the next guy. There's no free lunch. You must be more conscientious about making your customer look good than the next guy. Be proactive about your choice of where to layover. Don't complain about your carrier not offering you enough freight. That's employee thinking, not business owner thinking.

Sorry. Don't mean to poo-poo on a nice poster's parade. It's just that there is a lot of blame shifting going on around here lately as to why freight is slow. As an owner operator you must find the freight, because freight won't find you.



Drive Safe!

Jeff

Driver for 15 years
O/O for 13 years
OOIDA #829119

[em]"Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed." --Mark Twain[/em]

 

[x06col]

Jeff, been trying to splain to the clowns reading here for some years the same ting. Good to see someone getting it. Kinda funny how easy it is, once you get it. Isn't it?

 

[nightcreacher]

I didnt know freight was slow,guess it just depends where you are leased,or what you are driving,or maybe your just turning the wrong loads down

 

[joebob1_30132]

Every body has caught on to this type of hauling ..lots of promotion from Eo and others has successfully attracted many to the industry..the only winners now are the vendors advertisers (eo)selling the "dream travel job" ..look at it like this the people in the nintees who were in realestate made out like bandits.right place right time ...the guy on TV you know him ...selling information kits on buying and selling property with NO MONEY DOWN.. Well he already made the easy money now hes selling you information...makes it sound like you can do it to ..well think of the millions of people watching the same commercial..competing with you for the crumbs .left by the lucky few who were there in the begining//(sound familar roberts express etc..)
Now he makes big money on you selling information. and the dream...
Lawerence (happy holidays to you sir) now makes his money by selling advertisers space for access to you the guys slugging it out with all the others for what ever freight is out there ..and he can do all this from his living room ..a pretty good gig if you ask me ..he has done a very good job and has had and deserves great success..
what if 15 more people started web sites for expediters or 20 more they could do it cheaper sell avertising for a little less...attract more drivers to there sites give away vouchers for fuel for every fith visit to the web site...it would be the same as taking on more vans than the industry cant support ...who makes the money? the carryers... vans willing to it cheaper jst to get bye.just looking at the hole industry to find out where the good money is now...Expediting is a great way to make a living but I can make the same money home every nite with a fraction of the stress.
If I were inclined I would find a way to sell to you (from my living room)the hundeds and hundreds of trucks and vans now flooding the expediting market..Understand your business ..no where you stand in this business..no where the money is at.
good fortune ..health ..and prosparity to veryone on this holiday..

 

[jands]

nightcreacher, you're so full of crap it's not funny

 

[ATeam]

That would make two of us then. While I have been talking about an anticipated recession (and advised caution and stronger balance sheets because of it), and have referenced reports from other expediters here in the Open Forum that freight is slow, our run count is the same now as it has been since we got into our truck 17 months ago. The pay for those runs has increased with the fuel surcharge.

While there is no question that we are in the midst of an economic slowdown, it is not the case that freight has slowed for all expediters.

If you are one of the people saying freight levels are deteriorating, exactly how do you mean? How, specifically, do you see it showing up in your business? Is your slower freight showing up in lower run counts? Shorter loads? Lower-paying loads? Specifics please.

nightcreature is reporting consistent freight levels. So am I. We both run with FedEx Custom Critical. He is in an E-unit. Diane and I are in a CR-unit. I have to believe that there are owner-operators in various truck types at Tri-State, Landstar, Panther, Bolt, C & M, and others that also have consistent freight levels to report.

Correct?

 

[davekc]

Looking over several posts, I think much has to do with the type of vehicle and certain markets. The beginning of October was weak from slowing economy and several strikes. There were still runs, but length of haul declined. We had several trucks go to FL and it took several days to get them out. A few other times, areas were overpopulated with trucks and we had to double dip the LTL market to move at a decent rate.
November on the other hand has been a pleasant surprise, and it isn't even over yet.
What I do see though is much less van freight when looking at load boards. I also think there are some companies in which their FSC is not keeping pace with the increase in fuel as some have posted. So far, we have been doing ok in that department.










Davekc
owner
23 years
PantherII
EO moderator

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Express One's customer base has not let us Sprinters down..there's a steady flow of runs pretty much if you can stay away from the crowd on the I75 coridor and work the fringes...I call it trolling! I am in weekly contact with another sprint and CV and they to are rolling pretty good...so it's not just me. However on the other hand I've run into others that aren't doing too well.

 

[greg334]

Oh boy break out the charts and forecasts... here we are again.

E units are best equipped for any down turn in this industry.

WG and Elite units will always see offers over the rest of the fleet.

The sad thing is not everyone can get into either WG or Elite.

OVM,
Hate to break your bubble there but I met 4 couples who are not happy with Express-1 and they all have sprinters and they all seem to be devoted to the customers. They broke out their settlements and compared them to each other's - wow how can someone run like that? I heard all kinds of stuff that reminded me of what happened to other owners and drivers when I was there. Something else.

 

[jands]

ATEAM, One week ago you reported your load counts and revenue were down? What's up? One week turned your opinion around from inconsistent freight to consistent freight? we spent many years with fedex cc, so stop lying to the people about your great rates and busy schedule. we know better. and no its not much better anywhere else, so lets be honest for crying out loud.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Greg...you can't break my bubble...because the moneys in the bank...I could show you my settlements and you'd prolly wonder why you are driving a big one!! I don't have a clue as how these people work the system or the system works them. I only have my and 2 others to go by and they are ok...BUT as i said originally I do know of some myself that are not doing well....

 

[ATeam]

>ATEAM, One week ago you reported your load counts and
>revenue were down? What's up?

At the time, it was exactly as I reported. About half way into November, we had hauled only three loads and earned 25% of our monthly average.

One week turned your opinion
>around from inconsistent freight to consistent freight?

That is also exactly correct, and I reported the same in a subesquent post. See:

http://www.expeditersonline.com/dcforum/DCForumID1/6564.html#9

>we
>spent many years with fedex cc, so stop lying to the people
>about your great rates and busy schedule.

Our run count and revenue numbers are just that...numbers. They are what they are. When they are good, I say so. When they are bad, I also say so, as I said about our first half of November.

>we know better.

From what you write, it would seem that you do not.

>and no its not much better anywhere else, so lets be honest
>for crying out loud.

There are a fair number of positive reports in this very thread. Are they all lying too and do you know better than them? Lying is a serious charge. Do not make it if you cannot back it up.

 

[SWTexas1]

Just thought I would put in my 2 cents worth. Oct was the best month I have had in my 14 months in this, Nov was going good till i took a load outside Tri-State's normal freight lanes. That along with trying to work my way home has this month running just avg.
I understand from talking with others @ Tri-State that some are running on avg. Some above and some below.
So the news from here is right now things are running like they have been.

Good luck to all, Have a Wonderful Holiday Season, Be safe

Steve
Tri-State #349

 

[letzrockexpress]

I am in concurrence with SWTexas1 and that South Dakota Canadian transplant... I have been insanely busy the past month. I haven't hardly had a day to spare in at least 2 weeks... If somebody wouldn't have said there is a slowdown I wouldn't even know it. No complaints here.

 

[nightcreacher]

>nightcreacher, you're so full of crap it's not funny
I'm not even going to bother and argue with you.I'm not going say that I've been hauling the loads I'd like to,but when they all add up,its paying the bills.My revenue is over what was expected for this year,and still 4 weeks to go.I'm home right now,wont be back in service 'til Tuesday,and my plans are to be home the last 2 weeks of December.