Does your company have enough trucks?

[Bruno]

I wasn't able to be at the owners meeting at Panther because I was out on the road. One of the things that I was told that came up is, the number of trucks that Panther has on. Being at FedEx Custom Critical for many years this same thing would always come up. Now FedEx did a great job of keeping the fleet size down, but we as owners have to look at it from their side of the fence too. On any given day at FedEx, Panther or Tri- state 1/3 of their fleets is out of service for time off or other reasons.

So lets say Panther has 1000 units, that is 333.3 units out of service each day. Now you have 1/2 of the trucks that are on loads or don't have the hours to runs loads. That leaves 333.3 trucks to cover 450 to 550 loads each day. If people don't want more trucks added to your companys fleet size, change the way you take your time off. Most people run 3 weeks out and one week off. That is 12 weeks off a year or 25% for the year. Now I don't know anyone that takes 12 weeks off a year unless your made of millions. We run our driver on at 13 day out program that gets them home every other weekend. Does it always work? No, but for the most part in does.

Our drivers are home on the weekend and sometimes they take Mondays off. Since its the slowest day of the weekdays. When things bust loose which they will, your company will be running out of trucks if 1/3 of their fleet is out of service each day. Just something to think about the next time you say your carrier has to many trucks on. Everytime your carrier tells a customer no, it may be the last time they call. Think about it, if you kept calling UPS to pickup your freight bills to get turned in on time and was always told, " we don't have any trucks that can do it today" your going to call someone that can service your needs.

So keep your in service up and your carrier won't add more than enough trucks. Your carrier likes to make as much money as we do. You would do the same thing if you owned the company. I know I would, its just business. You can call me crazy but I don't think FedEx or Panther has enough trucks yet to service their customers when things break loose.

 

[shawnm1981]

good point yeah somethings arent soley the companies fault you know

 

[RLENT]

Most people run 3 weeks out and one week off. That is 12 weeks off a year or 25% for the year. Now I don't know anyone that takes 12 weeks off a year unless your made of millions.

.... really ? I might know a few ......

52 (weeks in a year) x 2 (days per week) = 104 days

104 (days) ÷ 7 (days in a week) = 14.86 (weeks off per year)

That's just for someone that works a normal 5 day per week job - and it doesn't include holidays or vacation time.

Even someone working 5 1/2 days per week ends up taking off 11+ weeks (78 days) ... add in vacation time and you're easily at 12 weeks.

I'm not saying the above is right or wrong ..... I'm just saying, is all ....

And I really have no qualms with the premise you are advocating - from a business perspective, a good business person would want to work the asset (the truck) as hard as possible to generate the most profit - it just makes sense.

 

[Twizted1]

I would have to ask company X just what their current load count is (per day)verse said trucks to determine the actual needed trucks

 

[Turtle]

Due to a complete lack of oversight in fleet positioning, I would argue that Panther has far too many trucks. The Empty Moves are now gone, as are even the unpaid Relocation Suggestions, and Macro 8 is inaccurate, so they've got the fleet repositioning themselves with little or incorrect information with which to do it. Instead of properly managing the fleet, they're trying to cover loads using the carpet bombing method of fleet positioning.

Like RLENT said, it's prudent to work the asset as hard as as possible to keep the truck loaded and earning revenue for all concerned. I don't see that happening. It wasn't that big a deal when loads came calling, but now that freight is more scarce, there needs to be a significant shift in the SOP. Bluntly put, some of the larger expedite carriers should be able to put some of the smaller and/or marginal carriers out of business during this type of freight choked atmosphere, but that's not happening. The smaller carriers are holding their own, in some cases doing quite well under the circumstances. One can only wonder why.

 

[RLENT]

I would have to ask company X just what their current load count is (per day)verse said trucks to determine the actual needed trucks

Twizted,

I see where you're coming from .... and I get it, but really I'd think that they would need to look at that ... PLUS:

What are the potential number of additional loads that there is a reasonable expectation that could be gotten or booked ?

Reason being, if you only go by what you are actually doing, you will never cause the statistic to rise, and you will have no expansion, no growth. To get production to rise, one always has to target upwards (then demand that the target be met) ... having a production target that is merely the same as the day's or week's before will never cause statistics to rise.

At least some percentage of the loads at any carrier are coming from load boards - so the potential number might include whatever number of these loads - in addition to whatever normally "just comes in the door ...." .... which at this time might be minimal (referencing Jefferson's post in another thread about pretty much everything being bid at this time ...) .... dunno ....

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Lately the load planners are bending over backwards to accomodate us with info as to where to relocate...they don't pay of course but we are spreading out, thanks to the info....one only needs to ASK and be patient. BUT some are not doing this...there is a wad of vans in Ohio and Ind like ants....I did a quick look around and I said to a load planner...Wow by my calculation that should make the south almost empty...yup...almost no one below Loiusville at the time.....sooo I'll invest 20-25 bucks and go south for a crack at a 5-600 buck run....Ya gotta think!! Of course this isn't so practical for a straight.

 

[blizzard2014]

Yeah...Moving is a good thing. I personally have no problem spending a tank of fuel to make five or six hundred dollars. When all is said and done, it beats sitting in a parking lot or at home listening to the wife nagging.

 

[RLENT]

Like RLENT said, it's prudent to work the asset as hard as as possible to keep the truck loaded and earning revenue for all concerned. I don't see that happening. It wasn't that big a deal when loads came calling, but now that freight is more scarce, there needs to be a significant shift in the SOP.

That would be somewhat puzzling ..... wouldn't it ? You would think they would be on it like a dog on a bone ...... on the otherhand ....

Here's the only thing that I can come up with ..... it's just a cost vs. benefit thing. To reposition a fleet there is obviously an inherent cost - if you do it, that cost is there whether you reposition the fleet correctly or not .... afterall, it is a guessing game ....

Maybe the cheaper cost vs. the above is to just broker the load to a partner carrier where you earn less gross margin (maybe ? ) .... but at the point where you need to book them, there isn't any "wrong guess cost" involved - they are either there where you need them ..... or they aren't .... and you haven't incurred the expense of moving someone (or a whole bunch of someones) to where you ultimately didn't need them ..... dunno .....

Bluntly put, some of the larger expedite carriers should be able to put some of the smaller and/or marginal carriers out of business during this type of freight choked atmosphere, but that's not happening.

I'm not so sure ...... I think I know of one that a mutual friend ran for that is now apparently belly up ..... or all but gone ....

And then there's the post about the guy that TryHours owes money to floating around .... kinda gotta figure they ain't in too good a shape ....

And Jeff's comments about a carrier (un-named) that sounded like they were in dire straits .....

Fact is, I'll bet that there are a whole slew of real small carriers - 10 to 25 trucks or less - that I've never even heard of, that unless they have they have own customer base (of hopefully more than one or two customers), and have their financial ducks all in a row, are probably in a real world of hurt after the bloodbath of the last few months .... could be more than one or two have functionally ceased to exist .... dunno ....

Anyways, I referenced this article (it's on the main EO page - "An Industry Analysis") in another thread - here's another take on the above premise:

Sutton has one solution: “What could possibly save the trucking industry as a whole would be the exit from the industry of some big players. If some major carriers found they had to close their doors, the freight would then be split among the remaining carriers.”

He continues, “One figure that I can cite just off the top of my head: In November 2007, our customers had a total fleet count of 5700 trucks in our program. One year later we still have a fleet count of 5700 trucks despite growing the number of companies in our program. Carriers are not “hiring” and they are not retaining a certain percentage of trucks.”

Could this latest chapter in the expedite saga be a "death by a thousand cuts" for the big(ger) guys ? ..... and the further fragmenting of an industry ? .... who knows ....

The smaller carriers are holding their own, in some cases doing quite well under the circumstances.

"Small" being a relative term ...

One can only wonder why.

Dunno .... mebbe in some cases, smaller, more nimble, less overhead, able to react quicker ...... ?

 

[RLENT]

Lately the load planners are bending over backwards to accomodate us with info as to where to relocate...they don't pay of course but we are spreading out, thanks to the info....one only needs to ASK and be patient.

Yup.

Wow by my calculation that should make the south almost empty...yup...almost no one below Loiusville at the time.....sooo I'll invest 20-25 bucks and go south for a crack at a 5-600 buck run....Ya gotta think!!

Sounds like a reasonable roll of the dice to me.

When I checked earlier today I was the only one up here .... so I'm hanging around until at least tomorrow afternoon ....

 

[Turtle]

"Dunno .... mebbe in some cases, smaller, more nimble, less overhead, able to react quicker ...... ?"

Personally, I think that's it. Smaller carriers don't have as much of the barriers of resistance to change that many large carriers have. They can react quicker to smaller changes in the marketplace. Large carriers tend to move more slowly, and change with the larger changes in the market. For example, you've got a large team of people working contract customers, and another large team working the bid boards. Suddenly, most of the contract customers are now bidding their loads, and the people who handled those customer suddenly don't know what to do. They are ill equipped and untrained for a rapid change. I'm not talking about any carrier specifically, just tossing out an example, one of many possible smaller ones, that can be a problem for a larger carrier.

As for the fleet repositioning, I'm not talking about paid moves even, I'm talking about just letting us know where vans and trucks are needed. As far as I can tell, there's no one in the office at Panther watching the fleet in toto and taking a look at where resources need to be repositioned. They went through the whole board redesign extravaganza in order to let the computer do that, but the computer isn't even doing that anymore. You can do a Macro 8 to see load counts and vehicles on nearby boards, but those load count averages aren't accurate most of the time. Sure, if you have Internet access you can look online and see the accurate numbers, but not everyone has net access, and not everyone has the opportunity to check it before leaving the consignee to make a decision.

And even if you look online and see accurate numbers, you still don't know how many might also be en route to where you're going. Nothing like driving a couple hundred miles because there's no other vans in a particular location, and once you get there you're 5th out. They will tell you that the "en route" numbers you see on Macro 8 are accurate, but when you look at those, and then call in and ask how many are en route, they'll give you different numbers from the QC nearly every time.

Can't call dispatch to find out anything, either, not if you're not on a load. Dispatch has enough to do as it is without being pestered by folks who are looking for a place to get loaded. Not that they'd really know, anyway, they're dispatchers, not load planners.

Instead, you have to call Driver Relations, and they don't know either. It's not their job to know. They're a call center that fields calls and forwards the information via e-mail to whomever needs to know about your problem. You ask them which locations we are short on vans, they don't know. Where's a good spot to for me to move to? I dunno. They don't know. They can look at load counts on particular boards for you, if you know which boards to inquire about, but they won't offer anything up on their own (unless it's a seasoned veteran who's been there a while, they know).

Like I said, you'd think they would be doing everything they can to keep every available truck loaded whenever possible, and if that means calling someone and informing them of a better spot to wait for a load, even if it's an unpaid move to get there, so be it. But they don't call. So you've got to figure it out on your own, with limited information, and unless you're experienced and can guess right, you're gonna be wrong. The result is, we need more trucks.

 

[nightcreacher]

As long as your in the expedite business,you have to realize, non of the expedite companies make phone calls to their customers to ask for loads,as that woud bring the price of doing business down,you would no longer be getting the high expedite tariff.In expedite trucking,the areas that need trucks will always have more trucks than are needed,and the areas that were busy last week will have what I call are the what if there is a load trucks,so those accounts get covered too,incase a load is called in there.If owner opps were on a forced dispatch,there wouldnt be a need for so many trucks in one given area,but as ong as you are able to say no,there are always going to be more trucks than needed.
Owner opps think of themselves,but you have to look at this business thru a companies eyes.If a company only takes the perfect loads,that company isnt going to be around long.Expedite isnt about 2000 mile runs,even though there are many of them,its about overnight first thing in the morning delivery.Delivery that will keep companies from shutting down operation.
You want to stay busy,try taking loads that dont look so good,then see how your average is when the month is over.Cut your costs of operation so you can afford to do a cheaper load,and when your company sees they can get the loads covered with a less amount of trucks,your fleet size will beome smaller.Dave said any given day 1/3 of the trucks may be out of service,Ive always figured that to be 25%,with 25% doing second day delivery,that leaves 50% to do the everyday business,and if your company is running 400 loads a day,and 25% of those loads are turned down,this why a fleet size will always be high.
I know the next answer is well raise the rates and the loads wont get turned down,sure raise the rates and another company will steal your companies freight.A load that in 1 persons eyes sucks,is gravy to another.Its to bad its that way,but it is.

 

[DougTravels]

I don't believe the loads are often getting turned down to customers. If they don't have a truck they post the load and one of the other carriers bids it.

 

[FIS53]

I used to be ops manager at a couple of sameday rush courier companies. Theindustry norm was an average of 10% of the fleet would be down for sickness, repairs, court dates etc. So normal hiring practice was based on a 10% overage of vehicles to compensate for the down vehicles. But where this got into a problem was as business increased a little and the best drivers were loaded and could not cover extras we found that many of the other drivers were not capable of handling too many calls at a time. This created a problem and led to the hiring of more brokers. So the hiring came out to about 20-25% over hire to cover if business was increasing (meaning sales were doing their jobs). Now I know the courier business is a little different but I've seen the same ops ideaology happening and so working the numbers for a few carriers I've looked at they also follow the 10% minimum (start hiring when fleet reaches this low point) to the 20% level for optimum ops coverage.

It is a little harder to work with the fleet spread out over the country and the hos thing factored in so the company is in a bit of a bind as to how many trucks are required total to maintain service. Now compound that when things slowdown as they have and we have the big overage of buggies waiting for calls.

It was always a balancing act to have enough vehicles to cover calls, guys off and handle the extra calls on certain days (like month end) without giving in to the urge to hire more so we were always at top performance. I used to be the one getting the complaints from the brokers and customers (buck stopped at my desk) so I know the probs and the processes of both sides.

So to answer the question of "does your company have enough trucks?", well they have a little more than enough and not quite enough reasonable calls to make us happy.

Rob

 

[BillChaffey]

"333.3 trucks to cover 450-550 loads a day" How can anyone @ Panther be unhappy? they should be able to pick and choose their load.

 

[Bruno]

.... really ? I might know a few ......

52 (weeks in a year) x 2 (days per week) = 104 days

104 (days) ÷ 7 (days in a week) = 14.86 (weeks off per year)

That's just for someone that works a normal 5 day per week job - and it doesn't include holidays or vacation time.

Even someone working 5 1/2 days per week ends up taking off 11+ weeks (78 days) ... add in vacation time and you're easily at 12 weeks.

I'm not saying the above is right or wrong ..... I'm just saying, is all ....

And I really have no qualms with the premise you are advocating - from a business perspective, a good business person would want to work the asset (the truck) as hard as possible to generate the most profit - it just makes sense.

Good point, but if your running 13 days out and home Sat, Sun and Mon. You will find that your in service base on a 30 day month will be 26 day or 86.66 %. Now if you run 3 weeks out and one week off that is 21 days in service or 70% per month based on a 30 month. Does it always work out that way no, but for the most part it does.


16.66% of not being in service can add up to alot of money. Last year I tried letting our driver do the 3 weeks out one week off and we was down $153,000.00 from the year before. Just something to think about. We have now gone back to what I have used since I started back in 1995. 16.66% works out to be $3187.50 per month or $38,250.00 per year for each truck, based on four trucks we have of our own.

 

[Bruno]

"333.3 trucks to cover 450-550 loads a day" How can anyone @ Panther be unhappy? they should be able to pick and choose their load.

Those are just numbers not facts. I dont know how many times I sat in with the agents at FedEx Custom Critical and they was having to tell customers to call back tomorrow because they was low on power units. The agents would even call trucks out of service to get them to try to take loads. So what does a company have to do to keep from losing customers? Put on more trucks, I know I would if i was in their shoes and any smart business person would.

 

[Yesteryear]

Yeah...Moving is a good thing. I personally have no problem spending a tank of fuel to make five or six hundred dollars. When all is said and done, it beats sitting in a parking lot or at home listening to the wife nagging.

Ya wanna know what one of the best parts about being a husband wife team is? Parked or rollin he can't get away when I'm naggin!

 

[bluejaybee]

I don't believe the loads are often getting turned down to customers. If they don't have a truck they post the load and one of the other carriers bids it.

Most of you run loads for one of the "big names". Doug Travels has it right. I run loads for "all the big names". Not saying all my loads are from them, but some of them are. And if what I read is correct, they pay me more than they pay you. But I get no back hauls. So I guess there is always a down fall to whatever game you are playing.

 

[blizzard2014]

I never thought about the husband and wife teams. lol