Actually all three companies work with a lot of the same accounts. They have the most compacity, think about it with three phone calls one to each organization there are thousands of trucks. If they do not have a truck the broker the load so they become a one stop shop and 99% of the time they do not say NO to the customer! Brokering is positive and goes hand and hand with being a carrier,..anyway to service the account will insure they call back. I would never say brokering is bad, brokers are a great tool for carriers and customers alike to get extra compacity and cover loads. The problem are the idiots that accept loads for peanuts! The industry is just a cycle like you said, if a lot of drivers get out of it, that's more loads in the long run for the die hards!
So much for the strike!
- Thread starter Vinnie T
- Start date
Actually all three companies work with a lot of the same accounts. They have the most compacity, think about it with three phone calls one to each organization there are thousands of trucks. If they do not have a truck the broker the load so they become a one stop shop and 99% of the time they do not say NO to the customer! Brokering is positive and goes hand and hand with being a carrier,..anyway to service the account will insure they call back. I would never say brokering is bad, brokers are a great tool for carriers and customers alike to get extra compacity and cover loads. The problem are the idiots that accept loads for peanuts! The industry is just a cycle like you said, if a lot of drivers get out of it, that's more loads in the long run for the die hards!
When they really want to solve the problem, then full disclosure on all loads will be implemented.
No point in complicating the simple, unless of course........there is something to hide.
Folks should really know who they are doing business with. The margins on many loads is amazing. Everything from altering percentages to FSC's.
No point in complicating the simple, unless of course........there is something to hide.
Folks should really know who they are doing business with. The margins on many loads is amazing. Everything from altering percentages to FSC's.
Jefferson3000
Expert Expediter
Brokers aren't the problem at all. The problem are dumb O/os who are willing to haul cheap loads w/o contesting the rate.. Cheap carriers (and O/os) are the ones killing your bottom line. You only have yourself to blame.
I do not think the ranks will be reduced by any amount. The carriers view there leased contractors as disposable truckers. They have a never ending supply of warm bodies with enough cash or credit to get a truck and run for awhile. When they run out of money and quit the carrier just puts another warm body in there place and never misses a beat.
dragontrans0304
Seasoned Expediter
I run exclusively off of brokers/load boards. I do haul some cheap freight, but I try to get 2-3 of these that are going to the same area, on one truck. You get 2 or 3 $1.00 a mile loads on one truck going to the same area of the country it adds up quick. Do that across and 8 truck fleet, well, I do quite well.
Jefferson3000
Expert Expediter
What he is referring to is only cheap in comparison to expedited/exclusive shipments. Putting three LTLs on a truck at a buck a mile each are half decent rates for non-critical loads of a couple pallets each. Cheap LTLs are the ones you find where they have 8 skids @ 12000 lbs and only want to shell out $.30 per mile. That stuff can sit and rot for all I care. They are the same guys that offer truckloads at $.90 per mile on 42000 lbs.
That is what I call cheap freight.
dragontrans0304
Seasoned Expediter
Thanks Turtle I try my best!!!
arkjarhead
Veteran Expediter
The last guy I worked for would get these power unit only loads. Basiclly we would be pulling an empty trailer. Well he would put a load on it and double dip. I don't know if you are really supposed to do that when transporting a trailer, but he did it quite frequently.
I've been reading consumer forums and there were more negative posts than anything regarding truckers after they inconvenienced the public with their slowdowns and convoys . General public opinion - Truckers are rude , speeding tailgaters that are crying because they are too stupid to properly negotiate their rates .
There ya go..the crux of the problem if the first trucker wants to negotiate with the shipper he's told to hit the bricks cuzz the shipper knows there'll be one that won't...The longer that frieght sits on that dock the more liable that shipper will have to come up in price...he'll be under pressure from his superiors to move it out...
And when stores have shortages Q public will still be ****ed at truckers for holding them hostage and being greedy! We can't win with the public!!
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I moderate a hotshot forum that has free freight listings . I also belong to several diesel owners forums . A while back I saw a member on a diesel forum looking for the cheapest rate to ship an older pickup he had sold . Another member told him to go to the hotshot forum . I posted telling him to not bother going there looking for a cheap rate . Well , he did anyway and didn't get anybody to take the load but an interesting 50 post thread resulted . This guy wanted to do somebody a favor by allowing them to fill empty space on their multi-car hauler with his junker . He'd pay $.40 a mile . Then recently a broker poster 10 travel trailers going 1200 miles to Canada for $1.20 a mile , no chance of return load . Again , no takers . The problem isn't fuel prices but rates . Brokers not passing on the surcharge are part of the problem .
I am always looking for something that takes me home...I use Uship sometimes..I know, i know it's cheap but even if I get my fuel covered it's a good thing....I live about 1,000m west of Chicago.. A trip to Iowa or Wisc. never comes when ya want one....whats your hotshot url???
I have an online acquaintance named Tim Conway. He is a truck driver but not an expediter. When talking about a truck strike, he makes an observation about the public that has not been often mentioned (quoted here with his permission). He says,
"Do you really think that Joe Public is going to give a second thought to whether independent truck drivers and small carriers are being shoved out of the market by falling rates and higher fuel? They certainly didn't care much for the indpendent/small businesses that were bulldozed out of the way by Wal-Mart- quality and service were not a factor. All the public cares about is how much their stuff costs- PERIOD. People KNOW what the effect is on them. No one is going to agree to a raise in prices so that O/O and small trucking companies can stay in business."
The man has a point.
"Do you really think that Joe Public is going to give a second thought to whether independent truck drivers and small carriers are being shoved out of the market by falling rates and higher fuel? They certainly didn't care much for the indpendent/small businesses that were bulldozed out of the way by Wal-Mart- quality and service were not a factor. All the public cares about is how much their stuff costs- PERIOD. People KNOW what the effect is on them. No one is going to agree to a raise in prices so that O/O and small trucking companies can stay in business."
The man has a point.
greg334
Veteran Expediter
Phil,
I think I also said some thing like that a couple times.
The public wants cheap stuff, they will not look at a strike, shutdown or an interruption to their lives as acceptable. They do not care for the walmart employee serving them, so what makes anyone think they care about the trucker.
I think the public is really ignorant to how important the trucking industry is to them, it is too transparent. Striking does nothing to make them visible other than to p*ss people off.
I think I also said some thing like that a couple times.
The public wants cheap stuff, they will not look at a strike, shutdown or an interruption to their lives as acceptable. They do not care for the walmart employee serving them, so what makes anyone think they care about the trucker.
I think the public is really ignorant to how important the trucking industry is to them, it is too transparent. Striking does nothing to make them visible other than to p*ss people off.
Careful there Greg WE are also a part of the general public...When and if fuel stablizes and frieght rates all this talk will disappear and all will go back to the way it was....always does. Nothing ever gets done....Someone will throw us a bone and we'll chew on it for awhile till it's gone and we'll be back to the whinning.