Too many vanners now ?

Monty · Jul 26, 2011

Personally I would never tell someone to stay out of the business.

I did not tell them to stay out .. I told them to stay out AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME. No reason for me to blow smoke up thier butt, the recruiters are payed to do that.

Give it a couple of months, see how it shakes out ... then make the commitment and take the risk. Why jump into a whirlpool and get sucked under?

As for excess capacity ... I love Landstar. They will not recruit for freight they do not have. Nor will they recruit a regular c/v .. high capacity only.

idtrans · Jul 26, 2011

I agree with you Greg ! This was my complaint when I was a vanner I would ask why don't you hire someone to help find freight at night or weekends? And I always got the same answers because there isn't any freight nights and weekends. Funny thing was when I started booking my own loads on top of having a lease also I almost always booked my own loads later in the eve or weekends. That is what was making me so bitter I hated the answers I would get like "DO YOU PAY MY BILLS" or "IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT GET A NEW LEASE WITH A NEW CARRIER" .

Now in the TT I just do everything on my own and I have never been more relaxed in my life.

Main reasoning of mine for this question is since I have a couple CV still I thought about having friends drive them but darnit everytime I see van loads pop up now on sylectus the loads vannish fast. So I am not hip to the idea of basically wasting my time hunting or having to beg for cv freight.

greg334 said:
I've heard that for 6 years now and it has yet to happen.

I got to add this, it isn't really the capacity that is the problem - van, straight truck or flying carpet - the problem is the company. If the company has 125 vans in the fleet and only five people trying to capture enough freight to keep 50% of them rolling on any given day, it is not the fault of the van driver but the fault of the company. I think many companies who don't have a solid customer base and use load boards don't know how to manage their fleet size and the greed factor comes into play.

ALSO as I am thinking about it, the great thing about a straight truck is that it can take three to five van loads and capture all that revenue - seeing that many will not run for a load that is being bid as low as 60 cents a mile. With four 60 cents per mile loads going in the same direction, that is a good $2.40 a mile which makes more sense to run on a straight truck than a van.

Camper · Jul 26, 2011

Dakota said:
Those companies not taking on more vans are also the ones that care about their contractors more, some companies keep on signing vans even when they have too many.

And despite these conditions, there are still those who believe $1.08/mile is a realistic rate for cargo vans(See Recruiting Manager thread: http://www.expeditersonline.com/forum/welcome-center/49001-recruiting-manager.html ).

Dakota · Jul 26, 2011

Camper said:
And despite these conditions, there are still those who believe $1.08/mile is a realistic rate for cargo vans(See Recruiting Manager thread: http://www.expeditersonline.com/forum/welcome-center/49001-recruiting-manager.html ).

I have no idea, as I don't drive a van but is $1.08 a good rate or a bad rate?

LisaLouHoo · Jul 26, 2011

Dakota said:
I have no idea, as I don't drive a van but is $1.08 a good rate or a bad rate?

Considering what a lot of carriers offer, it is very good. Hard to come by, and can't make the full living off it because the loads aren't daily. Most of my boyfriend's carriers paid .95-.98. A couple would always try to get him to haul for .75 or less. Can't blame them for trying, but when gas was $4.17/gal, THAT was never going to happen.
"Bruises fade and bones will mend-but a psyche can be ruined FOREVER" : LisaLouHoo, c. 2008

OntarioVanMan · Jul 26, 2011

Good discussion here with the general theme....
Enter at your own risk.....but then again every business venture has risks...
Plus the general thoughts.....finding the carrier that has van freight and works best to get you loaded....that is the tricky part....

LisaLouHoo · Jul 26, 2011

OntarioVanMan said:
Good discussion here with the general theme....
Enter at your own risk.....but then again every business venture has risks...
Plus the general thoughts.....finding the carrier that has van freight and works best to get you loaded....that is the tricky part....

No one can predict "emergency freight". This isn't an occupation for the impatient, broke, or timid.

"Bruises fade and bones will mend-but a psyche can be ruined FOREVER" : LisaLouHoo, c. 2008

OntarioVanMan · Jul 26, 2011

LisaLouHoo said:
No one can predict "emergency freight". This isn't an occupation for the impatient, broke, or timid.

"Bruises fade and bones will mend-but a psyche can be ruined FOREVER" : LisaLouHoo, c. 2008

My crystal ball has a great track record however.....LOL

Camper · Jul 26, 2011

Dakota said:
I have no idea, as I don't drive a van but is $1.08 a good rate or a bad rate?

$1.08/mile is a very good and rare rate as I'm sure any number of vanners, sitting will attest to.

Posted with my Droid EO Forum App

tumbleweeds · Jul 26, 2011

Notanewbie said:
It's sort of like the economy, we don't have to many taxes, we have to much spending.

As for vans, it's not that we have to many, we have to little freight.

Add the fact the recuriters make it sound so rosy, and folks get a convoluted view that it's all milk and honey.

A lot of the newbies I chatted with at expo, I advised NOT get into the business right now, simply because they might very well fail. The business is simply not here at the moment.

When business picks up, we will be running, no matter the number of vans available.

Todd at FedEx never made it sound rosy for us. As far as we can tell, he was totally honest with us. So far we are running enough to keep us happy. I know as a team we are doing okay. It would be much tougher as a solo. Todd told us the best advise he could give was to have patience and save, save, save when we could. Don't spend unless necessary.

Just my 2 cents.