That's when I started looking at our Stats and Activity. Time after time we're offered good loads and just not getting them. After a while you just got to start questioning WTF is going on?
It is the perfect question to ask when you are feeling like you do, but be careful of the hazards. Take time to think about what you are thinking about. Ask what is going on with your carrier. Also ask what is going on with yourself.
Have you ever seen someone so angry that he or she says to someone who is trying to calm the angry person, "I don't want to hear it!" What is heard may be very helpful but if one does not want to hear it, the help gets neutralized or ignored.
Have you ever had it happen that you look both ways at a stop sign and then proceed only to stop suddenly because you looked but did not see?
Several months ago, Diane and I almost left FedEx Custom Critcial. We were frustrated. We felt cheated. We felt disrespected. We felt used. We resented recent company actions and new policies that we believed were unfair.
Recognizing that we were in an unproductive emotional state and knowing that emotions can drive perceptions (love is blind) and interfere with sound judgement (if it feels good, do it), we took time to think about what we were thinking about.
This was a three-day exercise, important because it involved our future.
We went out of service, parked the truck and moved into a luxury hotel suite. The first day was for rest. We enjoyed nice showers and nice meals, and did little else. On the other days, we thought back about everything that bothered us about our carrier. Incidents that rubbed us the wrong way were written down, as were policy objections. We dissected each one, slept on it and thought about it more on day three.
The decision to stay with our carrier was made. We felt better after we unpacked every item that bothered us, examined our judgments and worked through the associated emotions. Part of the effort was examining our beliefs. Yes, we felt cheated in a certain incident, but were we really cheated? We looked at what happened. We looked at it from every point of view we could think of. We did so because we wanted to know that the story we were telling ourselves about the incident was in fact the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Our carrier made no changes in those three days but we did. Emotionally, we calmed down and lightened up. Mentally, we saw things in a new light. Moving ahead, we reduced the expectations we had of our carrier and changed some of our practices to relieve the stress the carrier's new policies created.
Short story: it took some effort, but by thinking about what we were thinking about, we responded to our carrier's changes with changes of our own in a way that positioned us for continuing prosperity in this business.
Notice the story you are telling yourself about carrier-owned reefer trailers. How much of that is true really, and how much is opinion formed and reinforced in frustrated moments? Does your story include the part about many of those units sitting idle in the carrier's lot? Does it include the part about why they are? Does it include information from other ER drivers about what they see and believe?
Notice the story you are telling yourself about your vehicle activity numbers. Do you have data on file to compare over longer time periods? Have you been in slumps before, and if so, how does this one compare? Or, might it be that being already upset, you are zeroing in on numbers that will justify your feelings?
Feelings are funny that way. They need to be fed to continue. Feelings will often close your eyes to some facts and open them to others to keep themselves alive.
I'm not saying your complaints are unjustified. They may be firmly grounded in the truth. Just be sure that they are before you talk yourself out what may yet be a good business opportunity. And be sure you have considered all the options before jumping ship.
no they asked US to make the investment, which we did. Now that they have the business and they bought their OWN equipment they don't need us anymore, except to haul all the short runs.
