How has the recession, and the "recovery," affected you?

[jmcglone]

Hi, all--

My name's Jason McGlone, and I'm the new staff writer for ExpeditersOnline.com. I'm still learning the ropes, and am finding the expediting industry to be pretty fascinating.

Anyhow, I'm working on a piece for the site about the recession and how it's affected the Expedite industry. I've looked at numbers and more numbers, but the one thing I haven't been able to get a solid grasp on is how it's affected individual drivers and owner/operators. So, what of it? How has the recession and the bounce-back of the past few months affected you? What has happened, good and bad?

Know that there's a chance I'll use a quote or two in the piece. You'll get credit.

Thanks, all!

 

[davekc]

It started a little slower than previous years, but wound up as a real profitable year. I think the freight levels came back a little, but a whole lot less trucks available to run that same freight. A lot of o/o's and fleet owners tanked last year leaving some great opportunities for the ones that could capitalize on them. Seeing more of the same this year as tight credit has kept entry level people from buying equipment. Probably not a banter year for truck sales, but should be fairly good for freight.
On the downside, I don't see a huge movement on rates as competition is still very fierce. Watch your pennies!

 

[greg334]

Jason,
Welcome.

I don't want to seem to bash you and I'm not, but what is your expediting experience or do you have trucking experience as an owner?

I ask for a number of reasons which may not be obvious to those in the EO audience.

After reading your "your truck eats vegible oil" article, I realised you missed a few things, like the Pickens plan, how Eaton actually has several test trucks on the road, what the difference is between Bio-diesel and WVO, the difference between CNG and propane and so on. I'm not writing this to bash you but to give you a heads up.

The last thing I ask you, is please don't use netspeak - "... space b/c the cylinders ... ." - but spell out because.

 

[jaminjim]

Jason,
Welcome.

I don't want to seem to bash you and I'm not, but what is your expediting experience or do you have trucking experience as an owner?

Why does it matter?

I ask for a number of reasons which may not be obvious to those in the EO audience.

Yep we just some dumb drivers. Then why not put it in a private message silly.

After reading your "your truck eats vegible oil" article, I realised you missed a few things, like the Pickens plan, how Eaton actually has several test trucks on the road, what the difference is between Bio-diesel and WVO, the difference between CNG and propane and so on. I'm not writing this to bash you but to give you a heads up.

The last thing I ask you, is please don't use netspeak - "... space b/c the cylinders ... ." - but spell out because.

Yep spell it out but try to spell it correctly

 

[greg334]

Jim,
It matters a lot because this is written for an audience within a profession, not a bunch of housewives sitting around a table having coffee and cake needing to discuss the politics of a sewing bee. If one can't dissect the information that they get and put into a form that is useful to more than a small group of people who answer a question in the first place then the entire article is useless. Experience seems to matter when you are writing for an audience who knows what's going on.

I didn't want to PM him because others want to know and to correct someone doesn't mean much with PMs here, they get ignored a lot. So I don't bother with PMs.

Oh boy forgot to change my spell checker back to American English - my bad.

Realise => correct for the UK, Australia and even Canada
Realize => American speak

Yep after writing three different things at once and answering the phone during that time, I forgot the word 'it'.

 

[TeamCaffee]

Welcome Jason we look forward to reading your articles in the future. If you do not understand something about expediting just ask away.
You might want to grow a thick skin and sometimes people like to needle you a bit.

Last year was an interesting year that started out very slow and continued on that way. When freight started picking up we had to have an attitude adjustment as we had started to get sloppy about staying near the truck.

The one thing you learn out here is when freight is good run like heck and put money away for a rainy day. As the year progressed the loads just kept getting better and so far this year we have been pleased. The future is starting to look better all of the time...

 

[layoutshooter]

Welcome Jason and good luck!!

We started out slow, due to truck problems not related to the recession. Once we got rolled we did ok. We ended up with the highest net since we were in the business. We feel that happened because we are finally learning how to run our buiness correctly.

 

[Slo-Ride]

Glad to see some did well during last year,,I for one feel it could have been better.
With less freight,,,longer D/heads,,Higher Operating costs,,Longer wait time in between loads,Dispatchers knowing freight was slow and holding it over our heads,and playing their lil favorite games they play with ppls lively hood..
I say it was a bad year,,I took in less then the previous year but I scratched out a living making the house payments,truck payments,,utility's where all paid but I aint afraid to say their wasn't much left..Resulting in less attention to the truck as far as doing Maint and repairs in a timely manner,,(Exp. replacing tires,shocks,belts etc etc. when needed only hoping and praying they give ya one more load)
Not only has the economy effected my wallet it has effected my family's life but cutting back on things that would pull money away from the bussiness..In 2009 things I have cut off where the house phones, INTERNET service,Magazines that came to the house,2 planned vacations that where put on hold,(1 being a hunting trip) Mostly nonessential items, Just to keep the truck running
Thats my view point on 2009, I Like to think I learned alot on a bad economy and hope to adjust things to my favor by making some major changes this year,Glad its behind me...

 

[jmcglone]

Jason,
Welcome.

I don't want to seem to bash you and I'm not, but what is your expediting experience or do you have trucking experience as an owner?

I ask for a number of reasons which may not be obvious to those in the EO audience.

After reading your "your truck eats vegible oil" article, I realised you missed a few things, like the Pickens plan, how Eaton actually has several test trucks on the road, what the difference is between Bio-diesel and WVO, the difference between CNG and propane and so on. I'm not writing this to bash you but to give you a heads up.

The last thing I ask you, is please don't use netspeak - "... space b/c the cylinders ... ." - but spell out because.

Thanks for the input, Greg, from top to bottom. I appreciate it. My experience lies more in writing than expediting and trucking, so I'm happy to take any advice wherever I can find it.

 

[chefdennis]

Ok, after lurking on this board for 6-9 months, i bought a CV and started running full time in july 2009 with no expectations other then this business paying its own bills...I have ither incomes so i do not have to pay home bills along with this businesses expenses.

I started this business when i was told not to do it by most here because of the downturn in the economy and the freight business in general and especially the expediting business. I run for those 5 months and learned that i didn't know as much as i thought i did, but i filed all the info away and continue to learn each day. I set my business up to succeed as i would and have done in my other businesses, but soo n found out that this business is also depended on the company you lease to, it isn't all in your hands. I stayed out for 3 weeks at a time, learned where to wait for loads and worked with dispatch to show them that i wasn't worried about them making me money, but all of us working together to make each other money. I did fine in those 1st 5 months.

Last year was just a extension of those 5 months....the yr started ok, then a truck accident took me out of service for 2 weeks...but once back on the road, i continued to stay out for 3 weeks at a time and while i sometimes had extended wait times between loads, i learned to "chase freight" and move to better locations when the time arose, something i still do to this day. I don't sit for anything more then 36-48 hrs without moving. The was up and down but never what i considered bad....it could have been better at times, but then when can't ot be??

A recovery?? I think we are still in the slow beginnings of that, we are by no means even a good ways along and i think it will take a step back again. I had a good yr as far as the business paying for itself and putting extra cash in my pocket....

I have no reason to think that this yr won't be as good if not better then the last yr, but then again, 18 months is all i have to draw from.

When i said i came into this business with no expectations other then the business paying for itself what that is about is that i never drove yrs back when a O/O could make a $1.10 a mile, i knew i could pay the company bills on considerabily less then that and driving for alot less wasn't an issue. Alot of people that have been doing this for yrs have a hard time justifying that and understandably so, but its not the old days its now and we all have different wants and needs from our business....each or our own expectations, wants, needs and our own attitude and ability to do what we have to do to be a success is what it takes to be a success and make it through the slow times and make the needed changes to be that success.....

Sorry to be so winded.....

 

[skyraider]

Hi, all--

My name's Jason McGlone, and I'm the new staff writer for ExpeditersOnline.com. I'm still learning the ropes, and am finding the expediting industry to be pretty fascinating.

Anyhow, I'm working on a piece for the site about the recession and how it's affected the Expedite industry. I've looked at numbers and more numbers, but the one thing I haven't been able to get a solid grasp on is how it's affected individual drivers and owner/operators. So, what of it? How has the recession and the bounce-back of the past few months affected you? What has happened, good and bad?

Know that there's a chance I'll use a quote or two in the piece. You'll get credit.

Thanks, all!

Hey,,jump in a straight truck or a cargo van for 2 weeks and see how much fun we are having out here,,,its like bootcamp, u cant explain it till u put on the uniform,,its a thought......