Switching COMPANIES bad rates

BigStickJr

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
We made one carrier change in the ten years we were in the business, and we did so believing the grass was greener on the other side. In fact, that turned out to be true, even with the very real and very substantial costs of changing carriers factored in.

Our satisfaction with our first carrier declined when they changed their dispatch system in ways we believed to be unfair and financially harmful to us.



When making such a decision, it is best to place your emotions on hold.


Oh,I so love this story.
Will you tell it to me again Uncle Phil ?
Will ya ? Will ya ?
 

Mailer

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Geo does work as a consultant.
I wonder if he'd be good at doing the analysis and I wonder what he charges.
Has anyone on here consulted him ?
I talked to him years ago about going to Ceva and he seems to be a good guy.
I never used him as a paid consultant. .
Yep. Spoke with geo a about CEVA a few years back. I must say, he's an expert regarding CEVA.
 

TeamCaffee

Administrator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
Just don't be lazy and follow people without due diligence.
Making the move Eddie,Turtle,or Linda made may not work for you.
Because you are not Eddie,Turtle,or Linda.

EXACTLY you really said a lot with that post! Each one of us have different needs. When freight is slow though at one company it is probably slow at all of the companies. Make the decision to move for good reasons with a lot of research.
 

geo

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
Retired Expediter
US Navy
what I see is if you jump ship it takes you about 6 months or longer to learn the system of new company
and them to get to know you what kind of driver are you, on time or late
than you have the cost of changing carriers , up front money for new signs , ins, and 2 weeks or so before you have money coming it again, so it always pay's to think before you jump ship
what I see every company has a show season
they is why I do other things on side to take care of that time
so far have sold 7 sprinter vans and a few more in the works, if you buy from me a sprinter I don't charge for advice
when I ran the road, sold pc's laptops, Mary Kay, mason shoes, preheat gensets, new and used trucks
heated window wash tanks for wipers, mirrors, and a few other things
time came fedex cc wasn't working for me time to go
egl/ceva works for me
 

Ragman

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
Sometimes it's just a different brand of fertilizer...
dog-poop.dimsum.319x208.jpeg
 

JohnMueller

Moderator
Staff member
Motor Carrier Executive
Safety & Compliance
Carrier Management
Three cents:

Little Joe - companies DO care about the drivers and owner operators - sorry, but without you all we would not be in business. I know I care very much about our drivers and O/O's but unfortunately you can't always give them everything they want - with the rates as low as they are now, and FSC being so low - we all (companies and drivers) are taking it in the shorts.

Linda - great comment - if it is slow at your company chances are it is slow at all companies. This is so true for the most part. The grass is not greener and switching companies is most likely not the answer. There are real costs involved in switching companies.

Third penny of advice: we all know that the Expedite Industry and at times trucking in general is very cyclical. We know there are periods of time that freight is terrible slow and rates are down. An example of slow is the present time, in 2007 into 2008 and 2009, and also many times prior. We also know there are periods of time that we are at the pinnacle of rates - like as in most of 2014. In those high rate periods we have companies, drivers and owner operators demanding and receiving rates far above their contracted rates. In the slower times the opposite. Point taken to be successful in this industry you must learn to accommodate the cycles by saving money in the peak times and becoming more efficient during the tough times. This applies to companies, drivers and owner operators. The good rates will return. It is just difficult waiting for those good rates.

Thank you drivers for all you do. Be safe.
 

geo

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
Retired Expediter
US Navy
if you buy sprinter from me don't charge for advice
if there buying from me and going in to expediting industry show them how to set up the van, and help them with getting it set up or if there going into other uses of sprinter van help with that to
wouldn't be right to charge for advice, knowledge is power. have over 50 years of knowledge of hauling freight
 
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Slo-Ride

Veteran Expediter
Three cents:

Little Joe - companies DO care about the drivers and owner operators - sorry, but without you all we would not be in business. I know I care very much about our drivers and O/O's but unfortunately you can't always give them everything they want - with the rates as low as they are now, and FSC being so low - we all (companies and drivers) are taking it in the shorts.

Not going to read backwards to see what Little Joe said but I question why would some (carriers) not be in business? Would you not own your own trucks and have employees that do own them and absorb the cost of owning them yourselves? Its my understanding many carriers operate this way now..

Linda - great comment - if it is slow at your company chances are it is slow at all companies. This is so true for the most part. The grass is not greener and switching companies is most likely not the answer. There are real costs involved in switching companies.

I'm not one to drag up often as other drivers do and have done so only once. Really the only cost involved was the fact that your not working during the time your processing into the new carrier, a cost but not a big one. A bigger cost is for a driver that is at a company that doesn't have the work load and is sitting more then working.. So in my book the cost of dragging up is a wash. Like duck hunting, line up your ducks properly and ya will hardly miss a beat and it will go smoothly. (Or it should.)

Third penny of advice: we all know that the Expedite Industry and at times trucking in general is very cyclical. We know there are periods of time that freight is terrible slow and rates are down. An example of slow is the present time, in 2007 into 2008 and 2009, and also many times prior. We also know there are periods of time that we are at the pinnacle of rates - like as in most of 2014. In those high rate periods we have companies, drivers and owner operators demanding and receiving rates far above their contracted rates. In the slower times the opposite. Point taken to be successful in this industry you must learn to accommodate the cycles by saving money in the peak times and becoming more efficient during the tough times. This applies to companies, drivers and owner operators. The good rates will return. It is just difficult waiting for those good rates.

As far as saving money?? Do you think owner operators have not been trying to do this since the downturn several years ago? What's left to help us save? Cost of operating keeps going up and we are still operating at or below 2006/2007/rates. Right down to the loaf of bread and jar of peanut butter I need to live on. We can't control the cost of living anymore then your household can. A carrier has a much better shot a controlling the cost of doing business then a truck does. Other wise you would have more trucks and less owners. (And yes I know fuel is cheaper,,not cheap just cheaper, it's still a major cost with the rates going downward)
If ya can't control your office cost there are plenty of company's that can come in and and cut cost for you..Do some time studies on your people and ya maybe surprised how manyb manhours are wasted in the course of one day.
Granted I'm not in the office and I don't find my own freight, I don't see it all. But I don't agree with this slow thing,,It maybe slower then yesterday but when a carrier bags a load they are going to cover it at all costs when possible. Case in point let's say I turn down a load because there isn't enough money on it for what ever reason, bad area, to much d/head, I really hate the shipper, I simply don't wanna do it, whatever the reason.. The carrier is still going to cover that load by bringing a truck from a greater distance which cost them more in most cases instead of offering me a reasonable rate to do it in the first place.

Thank you drivers for all you do. Be safe.
Sorry about that..I didn't quote it propely..It may be a tough read but I'm not doing it over. :D
 
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tknight

Veteran Expediter
I find that there are no carriers willing to negotiate, they just don't know how to communicate, there are so many times I have to call and ask if they even bid the load, and then you can't even believe them most times, my trust is failing faster day by day, I've bid 4 so far this morning and no word.
 

Slo-Ride

Veteran Expediter
I find that there are no carriers willing to negotiate, they just don't know how to communicate, there are so many times I have to call and ask if they even bid the load, and then you can't even believe them most times, my trust is failing faster day by day, I've bid 4 so far this morning and no word.

There is no doubt they are bidding on loads..What they do with the loads or if they win the bid maybe a different story. If ya follow Pro# and T.O.# ya can get a fairly good idea..Not always accurate but a good idea. Safe bet a certain percentage of those loads are sold to other carriers.
What gets my goat is so many times the carriers know a loaded truck on Friday morning will be sitting empty come Monday morning and then Monday night still not a single call. (Or any other day of the week)
For Friday load, That translates into nearly 11or 12 full shifts of dispatchers that have either failed the truck, their carrier or sold a lot of freight to other carriers. Let's say 2 people per shift. That's a lot of wasted man hours or a lot of freight that was put on other carriers.
 

tknight

Veteran Expediter
What gets my goat is so many times the carriers know a loaded truck on Friday morning will be sitting empty come Monday morning and then Monday night still not a single call. (Or any other day of the week)
For Friday load, That translates into nearly 11or 12 full shifts of dispatchers that have either failed the truck, their carrier or sold a lot of freight to other carriers. Let's say 2 people per shift. That's a lot of wasted man hours or a lot of freight that was put on other carriers.

That only holds true if they have their own shipper customers.
 
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