With that said, I am amazed at the number of people that are saying they want to get out of the type of expediting they currently do because they are'nt making the money they used to.
Have you been living in a cave? I have been in this business over five years and not a month has gone by where I have not heard some trucker, including many here on EO, moan and groan about not making the money they used to. It is part of the background noise of thus business.
You can verify this yourself. Just read old posts. You will not have to go back far. The same is true in every major trucking magazine. Most if not every issue has a trucker quoted someplace in it complaining that he or she is not making as much money as he or she used to.
I have been sitting in truck stop restaurants when total strangers approach me to say they are not making as much money as they used to. It is a popular and commonplace refrain in good times and bad.
It is also true in many cases, as it is true of me sitting here right now and many other drivers I know. We don't make as much money as we used to because the freight has slowed down. This is hardly a news flash.
It leads us to believe that they feel to change from say FECC to Panther or visa-versa will not improve their situation. If they felt it would, why would they be looking outside of the box?
Speaking in general terms, people look outside of the box because they are not fools. Looking outside the box is a wise and prudent thing to do.
We have considered converting our truck to a flatbed to haul a very specific kind of freight for a very specific customer. We have considered converting it into a truck designed to haul live lobsters from the East Coast to the Midwest. We have considered replacing our box and reefer with a fifth wheel and moving on to big-rig opportunities. We have interviewed different drivers about other opportunities. If any of them took our interest to mean that we plan to leave our present gig, they would be wrong. It means we keep our options open and research them on an ongoing basis.
If they do in fact leave will it really impact you? Only if you can fit a trailer load of freight in your box!
I exepct it will impact me in a positve way, yes. It has happened more than once that when an E or ER unit is not available, multiple straight trucks have been called in to cover the load.
You carry on like it is some strange thing that people complain, sometimes with justification, that they do not make as much money as they used to, and that a trucker in one line of work asking a trucker in another line of work about that line of work is something significant.
There is not an expediter out there that has not been approached by non-expedite truck drivers and asked about the expediting business. Why would it be any different for any other truck driver in any other segment of the truck driving industry?
People are always asking each other about each other's jobs. With the recession now underway and people losing jobs everywhere, the pace of that will certainly increase. It would be no different among self-employed independent contractors. Especially among those who lack financial reserves and have lived paycheck to paycheck, the rate of inquiry will increase.
If people are not making as much money as they used to, of course they are going to ask about. It is the smart thing to do.
Who is asking these days? They way I hear it, most everyone. That they are asking does not mean they are moving. But asking makes perfect sense.
I spoke with a vendor today who sells to some of the most successful truck drivers in the business. His customers are independent contractors at the top of their game and haul all sorts of freight for all sorts of carriers. I asked him if he knew of anyone who was having a better year this year than in 2007. He did not.
By his reckoning all of these folks are making less money than they used to. That does not mean they are all rushing off to become flatbedders or anything else. It means they are going to do the same thing they did to make it through previous hard times. They will figure out how to succeed and do so.
There are others, some who drive reefer expedite trucks, that will be unable to survive the economic slowdown; just like hundreds of thousands of others who are today losing their jobs, businesses, truck, freight, employer, pension plan, or whatever else they need to stay afloat. Such are things in these times.
Every year, in good times and bad, expedite companies turn over hundreds of contractors. This year, the recession will likely accelerate that rate.
You are welcome to make the case that (1) the FedEx ER business is destined to fail, and (2) and you were wise to have left when you did, and (3) your amazement somehow stands of evidence of a unique industry trend.
On point 2, you would be correct. On points 1 and 3 I think you would be a bit off.
