Freight rate still trending lower

[Opel2010]

Granted, they're not all that heavy, but most are more than double the Sprinter's wt capacity. Unless your rate drops significantly, it's just not cost effective to use several vans instead.
[And if shippers decide to consolidate & use LTL instead, I'll be in the same boat!]

When I was driving a big rig, not just once happened to get only one pallet or one barrel. I remember the very first time when I came to El Paso, I got one pallet going to Michigan...

 

[zorry]

That's because big rigs will run cheaper than most straights.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

When I was driving a big rig, not just once happened to get only one pallet or one barrel. I remember the very first time when I came to El Paso, I got one pallet going to Michigan...

Yes I've heard of at least 1 company American Lighting usually out of El Paso...which has a plant in Mexico as well as several here...use Mercer transport at backhaul rates to take their dies to be cleaned and reworked into the country...

 

[skyraider]

Its not all about vans and straights out there. Since beginning in November with driving train crews back and forth to depots and sidings, the railroads are not doing so good. Yes freight is way down there too and crews are starting to gripe more..My shift is from 3pm to 3am and now Im lucky to get one run a day and usually they start at 11pm, way out from the normal.

I'm seeing the rail-yard completely bare of trains. It looks like they are going out of business. Last week I called dispatch and jokingly ask, " are we still in business?". The answer was , all the east-coast is way down on rail traffic, must be the season, hmmmmmmmmmm,,,,,I dunno....

We have 70 drivers that usually move the crews to and from trains and we are twiddling our thumbs as of the moment. Many drivers are seeing their pay checks down over 70 percent and thats not good, but this job is not a money maker anyway, but really for old dudes like me wanting something to do...

I can only judge the economy by the trains I see and I am not seeing the trains anymore...

 

[bubblehead]

I think the adjustment and fine tuning was to teach the better half to love on less.
Lower the thermostat. Eat cheaper,etc.
The take home is smaller.

And let's not forget..."shower together" (Jimmy Carter) circa 1977?...

 

[geo]

this is why i sold my western star when ask is this for sale said yes sold it why i had a chance
fuel was over $2.00 gal
hour's of service they were working on , you could see the writting on the wall
no log books unless hazmat , don't carry that
under 10,000 lbs
still follow 10 hours driving , won't drive tried
won't haul cheap freight

 

[rollincoal]

What a difference a year makes. Last year was sure enough a feast with TL, especially expediting automotive, end of 1st Q thru to end of 2nd Q - at least for me. This year I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for that to pick up, even a little, but it's completely dead. Here and there a couple of times a week, maybe.. Granted I do spot freight exclusively or as some say "load board scraps". I do have the flexibility to haul general freight and don't have an aversion to it as long as I get my rate. But even general freight is spotty at best but there's enough of it to weather the storm. When freight is down like this timing and patience are everything - that's the only way one can get really aggresive on rates and push up, up, up. How long will this "bad time" last, or when will it end? I do not know but I'm thankful to be able to weather it. Reading some other posts here from guys who drive for others complaining about sitting. If they were looking for loads instead of waiting for the call/beep they would understand. I guess we're all in the same boat get the feeling there are lots of trucks out here not generating near the revenue they would hope to be at this point in the year. And it seems worse than any period I've been through since 2000. Gotta believe when it does get busy it will be more than any of us can handle.