greg334
Veteran Expediter
The point I was trying to make and it got lost because of another issue is that the average contractor may not be the one who is hurt by declining rates if they decide to weather the storm as much as the one’s who decide to make rather large expenditures in fancy equipment to do the same job.
What I mean is that many of us ‘poor’ truck owners didn’t chase the dream and buy $100K plus piece of equipment with a super apartment on wheels to do the work. I, like many others took the minimalist approach to life on the road and sacrificed the satellite TV, shower, fold out table and other things so we don’t have to worry about my monthly payment as much as the other guy who has three times the truck payment as I do for the essentially the same capabilities than I have.
My only disadvantage in comparison with others is I am a single operator and this is the only place where many with these apartments on wheels have the advantage over me.
I think leaning operations at the time would be sufficient enough to deal with declining rates for most, but at the same time I see a true disaster brewing on the horizon within the FedEx by using this path to capture/retain customers – including what is mentioned about the email.
As Dave mentioned, “The big difference I see is that a lot of specialized freight like WG/reefer is really starting to drop their rates.†which is true. I had a run this past week that should have paid $700 minimal but only paid $550 when all was said and done. Knowing the customer very well I assume that FedEx offered different options and they with their arrogance settled on the same service discounted to prevent them from shopping around. In the case of my run, I know there were two WG trucks closer and I know both refused the run so it was handed to a surface truck to take care of. Tie this in with the issue of discounting customer services within the same company, like LTL opposed to CC opposed to what ever and you may see a reduction in the overall fleet and a possible elimination of WG as we know it in order to shift the work more to surface owners who can handle specialized shipments so not to worry about the discrepancies of WG rates opposed to surface rates or the possibility of no FedEx trucks handling the shipment at all.
What I mean is that many of us ‘poor’ truck owners didn’t chase the dream and buy $100K plus piece of equipment with a super apartment on wheels to do the work. I, like many others took the minimalist approach to life on the road and sacrificed the satellite TV, shower, fold out table and other things so we don’t have to worry about my monthly payment as much as the other guy who has three times the truck payment as I do for the essentially the same capabilities than I have.
My only disadvantage in comparison with others is I am a single operator and this is the only place where many with these apartments on wheels have the advantage over me.
I think leaning operations at the time would be sufficient enough to deal with declining rates for most, but at the same time I see a true disaster brewing on the horizon within the FedEx by using this path to capture/retain customers – including what is mentioned about the email.
As Dave mentioned, “The big difference I see is that a lot of specialized freight like WG/reefer is really starting to drop their rates.†which is true. I had a run this past week that should have paid $700 minimal but only paid $550 when all was said and done. Knowing the customer very well I assume that FedEx offered different options and they with their arrogance settled on the same service discounted to prevent them from shopping around. In the case of my run, I know there were two WG trucks closer and I know both refused the run so it was handed to a surface truck to take care of. Tie this in with the issue of discounting customer services within the same company, like LTL opposed to CC opposed to what ever and you may see a reduction in the overall fleet and a possible elimination of WG as we know it in order to shift the work more to surface owners who can handle specialized shipments so not to worry about the discrepancies of WG rates opposed to surface rates or the possibility of no FedEx trucks handling the shipment at all.
