My Pete is parked here in front of the house. I drive it to the store and buy $20 of fuel once a week. I'm not running for cheap just like they ain't selling for cheap.
But what about your weekly expensive i.e. Insurance 1 Insurance 2 Insurance 3 2290 Permits DEF Maintenance [?] Parked my truck in February 2024- it is now an landmark artifact!
I’ve been in the TRUCKING game since I was 16. I’m past retirement now I have seen this cycle so many time. the old smart guys survive to the next cycle. When the rates go up, everybody wants to own a truck and make $1 million. But inevitably the rates go down and they can’t survive. Unfortunately, we need a a lot more bankruptcies before the rates go up.
Some shippers and large carriers are hiring foreigners for pennies on the dollar. non-citizens can get their CDLs in some states. So large shippers and carriers are outsourcing labor, pricing most American run companies out while brokers bleed the remaining profits dry.
yup!! sometimes they are not even hiring them they are using a 3rd party dispatch that runs a couple 100 trucks in Mexico that came out here with their b2s and run loads for a $1 a mile.
My driver has taken on a second job to make ends meet, the rates are so bad here on the East Coast, and the bridges along with the interstate tolls are going up, along with the fuel cost! Thank you for all your help.
I parked mine a year ago. My fuel was costing me more than the loads were paying, and mine will stay parked until these places want to start enduring some of the pain. My shoulders are sore from carrying all the burden.
How? Do you have another job lined up? My truck is paid for but I still have bills $6000 in annual home property tax, healthcare, food, cell phone, health insurance, car payment/insurance , the list goes on. I just can’t park my truck, sit at the house and starve.
At this rates, fuel needs to be below 2$ . Surprisingly, no one talks about fuel prices 🤔. Yet fuel is one of the most expensive components in my spreadsheet.
Yup and the shippers and brokers are the last people there with us when we brake down. Imagine having too replace a radiator, turbo, water pump, tires on the side. Better know how too wrench 🔧. I have done all that. Fuck all these companies and brokers they aint there with us. Buying 3000$ in parts. Theres many things. The list is huge. My heart goes out too yall owner operators. A breakdown is Deadly right now.
I had this company who tried to low ball me. They doesn’t want to pay my pull hour that I worked. I told them I quit. They got stuck with no drivers for a week. I went to a better paying job. I got no time for their bullshit. They were so nice and keep calling me back. I never went back
I think I have the worst luck, started driving in 2015, bought my first truck (used) in 2018, rates started going down that year, sold the truck at a loss in Jan. of 2020, and started working in another industry. Went back to driving at the end of 2022 then bought a truck (hotshot) in mid 2023. Bills are getting paid but that’s about it. Starting to think I should do the opposite of what my brain says 😂
I’ll be honest with you but I never thought about blaming shippers for the pathetic rates. I say that because shippers naturally will try to save as much money as possible as you explained in your latest video. Again thank you for yet another honest and educational video.
Shippers can say whatever they like, if you (and everybody else) say no to their rate, they have to go up or not moving the freight, it`s as simple as that. But as long we got the f..... idiots working for peanuts, we will have this situation.
Yea well we cant run like this forever neither. There will be a breakdown or something always comes up. If they dont pay us how do you save for a rainy day??
If there was a whole lot of freight, and very few carriers, and shippers were paying crazy money to get somebody to pick up their freight, nobody would be saying "No, my costs are really low, so you don't need to pay me that much." People love supply and demand, but only when it's working in their favor.
You must be a broker regardless trucking operation costs aren’t cheap and freight should pay well no matter how much freight it is out there the operations costs doesn’t change and when the rates were up the fuel was $5 a gallon and over $6 in Cali so it all evened out sell your truck and get out u sell out mechanics,parts and labor stats the same why should we take a pay cut keep brown nosing
Everyone drooling over how great the rates were not too long ago forgets about inflation. Look at what happened to truck prices. How about those 15$ McD meals?
I parked My truck at the beginning of the month, I been working on suspension, new turbo and new disc brakes. Trying to make it flawless. No reason to put miles on it with cheap rates. I’m sure the market is going to flip soon and that’s when I need to be ready
Thank you for your work. Problem looks like it’s created by brokers. They make shipper pay more and they make truckers haul for less AND brokers are the only ones who don’t contribute (in good way) to transportation/manufacturing of goods - they don’t manufacture, they don’t load/unload and they don’t haul. 🙋♂️
I'm concerned trucking volatility will coincide with markets volatility. I think it may be a rollercoaster ride for the foreseeable future. Gotta be super clever, resilient and patient for the duration. Hang in there and if not, quitting is not always for loosers. Sometimes quitting can actually be a good business decision.
This is 100% true, and an accurate picture of the "pendulum" effect. We killed it in the covid years, and now we're paying the piper. Alternatively, shippers are killing it now, and will inevitably have see their days of plenty come to a close as well. I'm actually encouraged by the idea that we won't see rates like we saw in '18 and '21, because hopefully it will lead to a much more predictable and manageable ebb and flow of rates, both for shippers and carriers. But then again, this is trucking in the 2020's and I'm not sure logic applies anymore. Thanks for all your info and updates!
Please correct me if I am wrong, didn't shippers charged customers more money for products they have been selling, my monthly shopping bill went up 45 % in last two years , and it still going up. So how is that shippers are suffered from higher rates🤔. All they was worrying about is that the simple undersuply of hungry drivers has taken away power from shippers to price rates the way they like. And their quarterly results with super high profits in the last two years is clear proof of that . Anyway it's not the first time this kind of market is happening, equilibrium will happen soon. I just stick with good old supply and demand theory.
@@SAM-lz7hmno, because then the shippers competition will undercut them. Its all the exact same game, just in corn or furniture or pillows. Whatever widget you’re selling someone else will undercut you just they are doing here in the trucking industry.
Midwesterner here got a load @ 4:00 am good 9 hour run first this week! slowing down a bit about breakdowns man I seen a lot of trucks on the side of the road !!! lucky my carrier takes pretty good care of our trucks any problems get taken care of right away Got a new windshield just the other day!!!! Go Girl Go!!!!
I thought it was the first 1/4 of 2024. Now it’s 2025. We are in a recession. Things cost more than people can afford. Until that changes and capacity is reduced to where demand for trucks rise. We will be here.
I have a “customer” with a daily spot bid of 5 + lanes they are out of Houston, I have never won a lane with them even bidding 10-25% under market. I repeat Houston in tight market dry van 40k lbs with apt pu and del, and 25% under market doesn’t win the lane. lol I always ask, do you have problems with in time deliveries? Carriers constantly falling off? Stolen freight? Never get a response to that statement. Get what you pay for. It can be fast, cheap or good. And you can always only pick 2 of the options at once.
Yikes! I wonder if they realize that carriers will try to make up for their losses in the future when the market turns, and all those profits will be for nothing. There is no balance
@@TruckingMadeSuccessful small to medium customers are also in financial distress, a lot are delaying payments for freight from 30 to 60 even 90 days, limiting expense exposure from shipping costs for a brief period of time while waiting for their sales cycle to end on their back end, to receive payments from the consumers and with those payments they start to cover overdue expenses. This is putting a serious strain on small to medium brokerages, especially effecting their cash flow, as factoring companies and carriers get payed , and brokerages have to brunt the cost until the customer pays, now when we are talking with a commodity like produce which is extremely high volume and razor thin margins where you move upwards of 50 lanes a month those costs can go up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, with 5-10% margin. If you have the cash for it, it can be very profitable in the long run but the second your reserves are depleted, you are in very dangerous territory which is why a lot of small brokerages are going out of business.
@@TruckingMadeSuccessful .... That's where you're wrong.... There is a balance.... It's called equilibrium.... Supply and demand always teeter-totters to either side, and the push/pull re-balances itself. There is a balance, but its fleeting and momentary 😂
that's funny you mention milk. i haul milk locally. i pickup a farms with a tanker truck (tractor trailer, day cab) and i deliver loads to the plant or leave them at the yard for another driver to take to a plant. i get $25 plus overtime at 40 hours at $37.50 per hour. i make really decent money but i have to put allot of hours in.
The problem is unity, there is none and the only way things will change is all drivers and trucking companies standing together rejecting cheap freight. Remember If you don’t haul it someone else will. Remember, some people not only have truck notes but they also have families depending on every dime coming in. I was like that a few years ago so I know that feeling.
@@unperuanoenlascarreterasde9964 you must not be in this industry or a driver for a company because if you owned your own business you would know we can negotiate all day long and get hung up on because brokers know someone will take it cheaper. Unfortunately we can’t do anything unless you get a contract and even that’s hard because other carriers are fighting for them as well and undercutting the competition.
Told company I work with abd brokers if the rates aren’t up then I’m not doing it. These latest rates are terrible. But I know some product is not getting moved and this is apparently causing a “problem.” It is a problem I have the solutions to, you have to pay more money.
Everything is interconnected, Everything is a trade off too. How much of your time is worth it? How much BS are you willing to put up with? Everything is give and take.
I dumped my paid off truck and went back to company driving. I've been an owner operator for the past 12 years and this is the most relaxed I've ever been. Not as much money but I'm learning money ain't everything.
Have noticed more broken equipment from every carrier at the intermodal yards, as well as towers of empty containers stacked up. Mega carriers loosing contract to other carriers offering cheaper rates, eventually will brake the carriers operating in the red whom took the contract thus another competitor out of the game. Mega carriers are able to shed employees and survive, but small carriers or O/O cannot, plus the high cost of fuel, insurance, and other operation cost is cheaper to park it for now.
As per my experience brokers are keeping money, they are keeping 500 to 1000 usd per load depending on the miles. I am working with a mega carrier as a dispatcher for them and they have dedicated lanes ar to ks for around 450 or less miles paying 1500. Ga to mi 2400, In pa a short run 180 miles paying 900
I’m doing better today than ever and that’s just experience… I was in the gutter for 2 years. Got my second truck. I’m finding it easier to get contracts right now…… any guess why?
A lot of companies during bid season lost to other carriers who would run cheaper. The question is who are the carriers that will make it as this continues. People are not spending because everything is expensive. This is going to continue. We all need to slim down on expenses and run as lean as possible. This is not going to get better. Mega carriers are loosing contracts! Theres not enough product for everyone to have work. Global influences also place pressure on spending insecurity’s. This is a hot mess.
My company is eliminating wash cloths and threatening to eliminate towels at our terminals for showers. Also they eliminated trip book planners for drivers. Yea, I guess times are tough.
I work for a midsize carrier as an employee and at $23.00 an hour, it sounds like I make a lot more than alot of O/O'S. It works out to be about $1,000 a week. Even at that, I'm still struggling to pay all my expenses--unbelievable! And that's without a family.
Which is bull I have spent the last month in a half only running loads from my direct customer, like there posting rates on load boards for rates that don't even negotiable like .90 cents a mile
It's bad enough drivers are dealing with the hardships that go with driving and transporting shipments, earning low wages, and no homelife because they're trying to chase the all mighty dollar. We need real changes.
im local but i still put in 75 hours a week. the wages havent remotely kept up with inflation, but then again no one's wage has. biden and his policies can go to hell
They should go lower still with rates. If you came at 8pm to a truckstop, there is no place to park anymore, meaning that there are still way too many trucks on the road making money, otherwise they will not be there. Lets see after couple of months like this, what is going to happen, I bet that after 30,000 trucks go park, things will improve. America baby, do or die. Live the American dream.
Last month we lost a big contract with a shipper with a just in time inventory model. I guess our price was too high. Guess what? This month we are back! There’s little point in trading money with your customers. Just say thank you and park the trucks. Let the other guy do it for free
If i had my own truck i would've covered my entire truck with solar cells the doors, side walls front back, and even the trailer, connected a motor and attached to engine shaft like an Ebike. Save myself so much fuel, push everyone out of the market. 😂
Honestly ever since shippers got shafted during Covid with high rates they haven't let up... Soon these low rates will only bring bad service. There will be a breaking point... These larger fleets think they can just run freight at losses to eventually play the long game but that long game has lasted over a year now...
Freight rates will go up because all the mega carriers are cutting their misc equipment. Our company cut our division by 25% by simply not replacing drivers as they quit on their own. Their trucks were sold, new drivers now have to wait for a truck to open up instead of having 30 empty ones sitting on the yard.
Those 30 used trucks (originally purchased by the megacarrier with huge government subsidies) aren't empty now... they are hauling freight for cheap in a market with more trucks and the same amount of freight.
Yes, shippers had to pay a lot more between 2020 and 2022 but they lost NOTHING! We as Carriers raised prices because the demand for trucks was high but as a result the shippers raised the prices to the end consumer (inflation) which is why only one bag of groceries now costs us $50. So in the end the shippers still made record profits. Our problem now is that we cannot demand higher prices to coincide with the higher fuel costs because we're over capacity and racing eachother to the bottom with rates.
All the future holds is only for owner operators because trucking can only work with a ome man company with the owner driving his own truck and i predicted this two years ago but if you count the alarming number of brand new warehouses they are building is crazy but its not too many trucks at all if anything happens we will be out if has in two days and food in one week and this is why they need more loads they are running these warehouses wrong
We have to ask then, what makes shippers feel comfortable with such low rates.... it goes back to who is accepting the cheap freight. Also, rates were not high a couple of years ago, and now shippers are trying to make their money back. That's false. Rates are lower now than in 1981, and that's not adjusting for inflation. Like the rest of the economy, rates should be adjusting for inflation every year.
Who? The drivers and companies that bought all the used trucks when the 2018 "tax cuts" flooded the industry with government subsidized trucks. The megacarriers bought new equipment with huge write-offs, the 2012-2019 trucks they sold are mostly still operating.
Basic Minimum Price need to be fixed by the government before getting into situations where people won’t find anything on aisle or on post, careers struggling to survive with diesel price, insurance, repairs, drivers salary etc - so far don’t see noticeable action from Government to bail out carriers
Hey man that's really good advice. Can you tell me how you do it? I can't seem to find any direct shippers because all the shippers use brokerages because that's how the big boss up top wants it done.
You are 100% right I have two direct shippers and last year they both told me they were going to go up on my rate because they see how much the broker is taking from the Driver and they don’t like that the shippers are trying to cut out the brokersthat’s my opinion
Feed back on breaking point price per mile you’ll take. I won’t take anything less than $2.00 per mile. For dry van. Of course I’m sitting at home right now because nothing is meeting my price. Just curious where others are at for the cheapest you’ll run.
I don't run for less than $2.50 generally. Fuck them. Of course, my truck and trailer are paid for. My only big fixed expense is insurance, which just got lowered by $5600 for the year. So I've been parked for awhile now.
Shippers raised the price of their products during the pandemic and have not reduced them eg. tires flower, water softener, pool, cleaning tablets, etc. etc. are almost doubled if not doubled or tripled therefore shippers can still afford to pay “fair” transport rates. They are to be blamed as well.
I’m in South Carolina I’m a conspiracy analyst to I think During the 20## here they made a lot of warehouses and now they sit empty. No trucks are going in or out of them. I believe they stop these with a lot of freight and cannot get rid of it. Remember, we were supposed to be shut down for 10 years during craziness, I think the chickens have come, roost my opinion😎🚛
We’ve got our Pete and reefer parked. We will NOT haul cheap freight and contribute to the problem! If ever there was a time that truckers need to come together and put an end to this, now is the time. We’re doing the only thing we know. It ain’t much, but, if more did this, we could get some control.
With inflation everything is more expensive, parts, fuel, insurance etc But they want to drive rates down to how they were years ago? Make that make sense Brokers are charging more but paying the same usually profiting hundreds off each load because desperate carriers will take the rates I personally know brokers who I grew up with who’ve told me this
It's a business first, I parked my Western Star last December and it will stay parked until the market re-adjust to run the equipment, pay for the maintenance and I can receive a paycheck. The way I see it is you are either part of the problem or part of the solution. Running cheap freight is the problem and I refuse to take time away from my family to move someone's freight for free or at a loss.
fyi there are people runing loads without authority without insurance hiring b1 drivers , people offering loads without being brokers , in other words this industry is corrupt as hell , i see a people still buying 10 - 15 brand new trucks even if the rates are low , how do they make it work?
Don't blame the shipper for driving prices down, blame the trucking companies and the owner op's who take those low ball loads, they are the ones that effect the rates the most.
3 day nation wide strike or a 3 day pause where every trucker..every carrier just take a three or four day holiday. This BS will stop. The carriers are killing the golden goose of logistics.
Did y'all notice that DAT became full of direct shippers and their rates are so cheap too !! today i booked 2 loads from Direct shippers. the first one 1.5$ tom PA-OH and the second 1.3 $ rpm NJ-TN
@@qu1dz we have company drivers working for mileage, and at the end of the week we finish with around 1.9$ to 2$ rpm average. we go to the Midwest for cheap and we go back to the north with a better rate to get that average. we can't keep the truck parked, at least we have to keep moving to not close this company that is feeding too many families.
I drove trucks for 25 years and the worst part is for such a needed job and important position it's very under appreciated and under paid while people puching numbers on computers in the safety of a air conditioned building probably 40 hours a week and can make 6 figures at most companies as a accounting manager. Minimum wage is higher in most states then when I started driving with a class A CDL with hazmat, tanker, and double/triple endorsements 😮 if there are no drivers then most of businesses stop working. That is not a area I would want to mess with but for some reason some overly bright bureaucratic butt sniffer in these corporate headquarters thinks it's a great idea to control cost, too me it's a great way to slow down business and in the end cost more money, then treating drivers like they should as they often do with their corporate buddies with nice bonuses because after all you made most of that money because a driver delivered it. Think about how you would get your product out to people without truck drivers 🤔 STOP TREATING THEM LIKE 💩🤥
Just deadheaded home from Ft.worth, the rates were insulting. Loads sitting on the board for hours, they take the loads off then put back to make it look fresh even though some have been sitting there all day. Brokers think we are a bunch of dummies. Posting loads with a good rate, at least you think till you call, and there are multiple drops and days to finish, but good news not all carriers are dummies with the loads sitting for 24 hours.
Let it sit in the warehouse and back up to full capacity and they have to pay for it to be there I'll bet they start loading up the truck and putting a decent price rate on it
