Are cargo van runs realy THIS slow right now?

tom tinker · Mar 23, 2006

Hi Randy and all, This does'nt surprise me, I'v checked with different companys pass 6 yrs. usually bottom line strieght truck was way to go.
Their reason shippers were finding they could get a strieght truck for almost same money, if they had a pallet or two more no problem through it on. In 1999 Panther was more for van's I checked with them around 2003, leaning towards strieght trucks. I still had van on my mind for same reasons as listed above. Ken used truck salesman at Michigan Kenworth-Hino told me 3 yrs ago I could get a used expediter for about same money as new cargo van.
My mind set was if it falls flat I could use it for handy man projects. My son is a truck mechanic, tells me in 3 yrs his son will be out of school. Said with his heart condition he was going to drive truck.[ Wonder as I'm typing this if he could pass dot phys.]
I could have a little thing set up and going with him. I'm not sure if I could team with him very long, we are opposits. Maybe I should give this idea up???
Hay Randy wish you well glad you have back job, be nice if you paved roads we could use less pot holes. They should use ground up tires for road surfaces. I seen this stuff at a company between Albion and Homer.

:+ :9

randy123 · Mar 23, 2006

thanks tom.. we have done freeway work (i-275) when they re paved it we did all the prep and patching work and most of the shoulder paving.. by my house their is a spot on merriman rd that was done about five years ago, five inches asphalt and 8 inches concrete on top.. it was saw cut every 4 feet.. i thought this was crazy putting concrete on top of asphalt... but..five years later it looks like the day it was paved... i am sure a few years ago cargo vans made a good living, i asked them before i started what kinda truck would work best...cargo van was the answer.. i could have bought a strait truck... but they wanted a van...thay had one strait truck and he quit...they might have more i just have not seen them.. and if i had known i might have bought a sprinter... i had seen sprinters but i thought it was a contractors van...oh well. randy

x06col · Mar 23, 2006

Seems to me by the news, GM Delphi offering buyouts to folks that the van ranks will very likely increase in numbers. I am not as gracious as Dave, I see people getting into vans for the reasons he mentioned, but, I call it screw'in the pooch, or, at least trying to.
Unfortunately, it comes with a price. Possibly, the retirees would view van expeditin' as a resumtion of their old practices of not hardly having to put their coffee and donuts down, folding their newspaper up to make a living. Wait for the phone to ring, turn the key and go. On another note, the fella that went home to "get some things" after a load was bid on and lost the load to someone else and is mystified by that amazes me.

randy123 · Mar 24, 2006

x06col.. they were bidding on the load..i live two miles away, and i went home to do the map quest thing (when they call) so why would that amaze you.... the load was not awarded yet and i had two hours before the load would be ready and it was 10 miles from the office.... anyways i got three locals and a cleveland run today after my last post on here...and the other guy is still waiting for another load... randy

x06col · Mar 24, 2006

Just does.

Mister TyZo · Mar 24, 2006

>Blip01:
>
>I've been expediting in a van for 17 Calendar Year first
>quarters and heve never experienced the type of dry spell
>through which you are going. I believe there are some basic
>reasons that an O/O isn't moving at least a minimal amount
>of freight at this time of year; run offer to Canada or East
>Coast refusals; or, run offer refusals for other reasons
>such as cheap freight. These reasons don't seem to apply to
>Blip01 because they weren't mentioned.
>
>The most probable reason you aren't moving is you are in the
>wrong sized vehicle for your carrier's needs. Nearly all
>expedite carriers have leased vans in their inventory of
>trucks and, if you read the EO posts on the subject for the
>past year, you'll notice there is no shortage of veteran,
>rookie and wannabe drivers looking to lease a van to an
>expedite carrier. Just because your chosen carrier leased
>you on doesn't necessarily mean they can keep your van and
>all their other vans busy all the time.
>
>So, what size truck is relatively busy while we vanners sit
>and watch Dr. Phil for answers to life's mysteries? It's
>the straight truck! They are hauling the greatest majority
>of expedite freight, which is typically in the 5000# or less
>range. The straight truck owner/operators are also the
>group most sought after by most all expedite carriers'
>recruiters, and the most difficult to keep productive and
>happy during the slow times. Perhaps they are hauling your
>van freight so they won't quit and require a replacement.
>
>If I were in your boots, I would take a realistic look at
>your carrier's truck size requirements and decide if you are
>filling there requirements or are just a utility vehicle
>waiting for the leftover scraps. Try calling many
>recruiters and ask them what type truck they need for their
>freight requirements. If you find a company with a van
>requirement, you might consider moving on.
>
>Finally, if you really believe this expediting life is your
>calling, invest a couple of days and a round trip this week
>to the Mid America Trucking Show in Louisville. The answers
>to the mystery of expediting is there.
>
>Terry

Thanks for the Input TO

TAKE PRIDE IN YOUR RIDE

pendiehouse · Mar 24, 2006

Yea, I was mystified too. If he lived so close, why not wait until he knew he had the load and THEN go home to "get some things"???

randy123 · Mar 25, 2006

this is normal for me to run home if i am at the office... the other driver was not their either, landstar got the load and i did not know this till today thats how the other driver got the load. we share the office with landstar. and the other driver is a landstar driver....i had thought he was running our load but he did not.. thay were awarded the load...... i dont have any of the gps or a laptop for my directions so i run home if i am close and use mapquest or msn maps,if not dispatch will give me the directions... besides that i would not have made the run for what he did it for...

randy

ATeam · Mar 27, 2006

In response to a question I asked, Moot said, ">If you can drive a car you can probably handle a van. Some
>carriers don't require a CDL for a van. Initial cost and
>up-keep cost are less than a truck. No log books or scales.
> These are all reasons prospective expediters go the van
>route."

I figured as much but wanted to check with others to be sure. This supports an opinion I developed soon after I began researching the trucking industry, an opinion I continue to maintain.

I believe that many (not all) people fail in trucking not because trucking is too hard, but because it is too easy. Trucking does not have the barriers to entry many other jobs have. Thus, most anyone can get behind the wheel and have a go at it, without regard to one's liklihood of success as a company driver, self-employed fleet driver, or owner/operator.

As proven by the comments in this thread, while negative information about the industry may pursuade some people to stay out of trucking, for many others, NO amount of dissuasive information or advice will discourage some from jumping in. And there is little in the industry to keep them from doing so.

Compared to most other licences or certifications, CDLs are relatively easy to obtain. Training to receive the "top" Class A CDL with endorsements is offered by several trucking companies, for free, but with employment-agreement strings attached. With a little bit of study and 3 weeks of effort, you too can have a CDL.

Finance companies are happy to lend truck-buying money to most anyone, regardless of their liklihood for success. As long as the finance company can repo the truck and the interest rate is high enough to ensure a finance company profit, truck drivers will be able to make truck-financing choices that are not in their own best interests.

Trucking companies check driving and criminal records, not work histories. If you have a relatively clean driving and legal record, you are in with few other questions asked. A prospective driver could have a terrible work ethic and high absenteeism at previous jobs. While that driver would likely carry the same bad habits into trucking, companies will happily put him on because they are so desparate to hire drivers.

At the 2006, Louisville truck show (MATS), I learned that over-the-road driver turnover has increased from 120% per year to about 135%. That means a company running 100 trucks has to hire 135 new drivers PER YEAR just to keep their trucks rolling. (Expediting carriers have lower turnover numbers, but still unacceptably high.) It sounds insane and most company exeuctives will admit it is. Yet the problem gets worse, not better, for a variety of reasons.

Each company has a core group of drivers that stay with the company for years. The 135% number is made up of drivers who enter the industry and get out, and those who jump from one company to another at the slightest provocation. Such repeated moves keep the driver in the industry but are seldom in the diver's best interest. Such moves are attributable to judgement errors, perception errors, and poor business sense.

A driver will sit at a truck stop lunch counter and listen to other drivers talk for hours about how recruiters lie and their companies cheat them. But they will also be deeply troubled to hear that someone out there might be making 2 cpm (cents per mile) more. Or they might be upset because the load they are on takes them further from home when they wanted to be closer. So the next recruiter they see, they sign on with, only to find they made the same mistake once again.

Such drivers have limited business skills or little desire to do real indsutry research. They are easy pickings for the recruiters and finance company officers who prey on them.

If truck driving had higher barriers to entry, and if truck lenders screened their applicants the way business lenders do, fewer unqualified drivers would enter the industry, and fewer failures would occur.

OOIDA has recently come out in favor of increased CDL driver training standards. That would be a step in the right direction, as would most anything else that would make it more difficult for people to become truck drivers and obtain truck finance money. The good ones would rise to meet the higher standards. The unqualified ones would have to find other industries in which to languish or fail.

This would contribute to the already problematic driver shortage and thus drive up driver wages and the freight rates to pay for them up. From a driver's point of view, that would be a good thing. The highways would likely become safer too.

Moot · Mar 30, 2006

Pantherii post on the Layover Lounge forum reminded me of another reason I chose a van. Lot lizards. Nine years in a van and not a single knock on the door. Parking out front with the other 4-wheelers discourages this activity. Plus it's a bit more quiet. No reefers, moo cows or squelling pigs.