Earlie - Firstly, let me commend you on all you have contributed. I imagine there are many, like me, who lurk and hopefully derive great benefit from those who contribute. Your comments with regard to trucking were of particular interest because that's an area with which I have some acquaintance. So I'll come out of lurk mode briefly and offer you some observations.
Some years ago I got an itch to drive a truck. Not just any truck, but an eighteen wheeler. Partly it was to get first hand knowledge for a story I was writing, partly it was because of the myth aspects. So I got my CDL and hooked up with a medium sized trucking firm based out of Iowa which was, and continues to be quite successful and efficient. I've held on to my CDL and have driven trucks on and off over the years for reasons that escape me. Talk to any trucker and they'll tell you once you drive one, it gets in your blood. LOL! Another myth propagated.
At any rate, back then the so-called "owner-operator" was the king of the road. He owned his own rig. Chose the company he worked for, or worked for himself. He was the true road warrior. The top of the pecking order in the trucker's world. Over the last ten years or so this has all dramatically changed. The owner operator is fast becoming a relic, doomed by the efficiencies of huge trucking firms like JB Hunt, Schneider National, Swift, Werner Enterprises, etc. These are all over-the-road truckload carriers which were, at one time, the province of owner operators. LTL firms like Yellow, ABN, etc are a totally different animal.
Mergers, acquisitions and consolidations have been the driving force in the trucking industry, Used to be a week didn't go by that one would hear of yet another small "independent" trucking firm being subsumed by one of the behemoths mentioned above. Everything you heard from the operators you talked to is true and then some. However, and I must stress this, the "independent" owner operators you talked to are not a fair indication of the current state of the industry.
"Many rigs on the road these days are owned by the guy driving up front and his rig is humping a big mortgage. Some truckers are already owning up to the difficulties involved in keeping up with the payments...Most are very worried, about the shrinkage of available loads, as well as load pricing." This is all very true. Sadly, the days of these owner operators are numbered. But they are numbered because the industry is changing. It is becoming much more efficient, much more competitive, and in some cases, much more specialized. Bottom line is, either one hooks up with a large company, or one dies (figuratively speaking of course). It is this latter fact that the folks you talked to are bemoaning.
Now, a few more observations about the housing industry and trucking (Bear with me, this all ties in). I have a friend who owns a small trucking company here in Maryland. He runs bulk tankers (about 100 or so) which haul primarily three commodities - polyvinyl chloride in pellet and resin form and liquid resin. The vast majority of his customers are located in the northeast and are engaged, for the most part, in some form of manufacturing related to either the construction, paper or plastics industries. He is a damn good manager and runs an extremely efficient operation. He currently has two big problems - lack of drivers and the inability to service all the business his customers demand.
Every once in a while (only on weekends) I help him out by making deliveries to some of his most important customers. I'll give you two examples. One is located just north of Harrisburg, PA. They manufacture window and door frames, along with sundry other items used in the housing and office construction industry. They run three shifts 24/7. Two years ago my friend's firm shipped one bulk tanker a day to them (each tanker holds roughly 49000 pounds of resin). They are now up to three, sometimes four loads a day! That's a lot of resin.
Another firm is located near Binghampton NY. They manufacture pipes of all kinds. Sewer, water, drainage, etc. Also used extensively in the housing industry as well as in road construction. They used to get three truck loads a day. Now they are up to six to eight. Also 24/7.
Just about every single one of his customers has similar demands on the products he delivers. Unfortunately, he can't meet their needs because he can't get the drivers. And its not for lack of pay ($22.00 per hour plus time and a half overtime).
At any rate, and please forgive me for rambling, I don't presume to know of what significance if any this has to anything. All I know is that whenever I get the itch to finally do something about the short side of the builders and financiers, and I'm tooling down the highway with another 50000 pounds of resin destined for a manufacturer in that industry, I become very leary. I suppose this too, shall pass, but so far, from my very small perspective, I don't see it yet.
By the way, as an aside, if any of you ever entertained the "romantic" notion of trucking -- don't. It sucks. Its hard. Its really, really boring, the hours are long, and whatever romance there may have once been, well, it ain't there anymore.
Still, there's something about roaring down the road, riding 80000 pounds of screaming metal, shifting eighteen gears, that's ....... ;)
Best regards - |
