Got crystal balls?

[icantinaturner]

This piece could be a snapshot of the future of trucking, but isn't all that surprising to drivers who have been paying attention. The comments on some of the large companies are interesting and company drivers would be smart to consider them when making career choices.

I though these comments were right on -

No traditional trucking company comes even close to matching the per-truck revenue and profit accomplishments of JBHT’s Intermodal unit, and everyone should seriously doubt that any traditional trucking company could begin to approach JBHT Intermodal’s stratospheric performance heights even if the traditional trucker’s every employee wore a mask and carried a gun.

Speaking of other companies, the article goes on...

“They lose money the old fashioned way. They haul your freight for less than the actual costs.”

Du uh!

Truckers, according to the leading trade organization, The American Trucking Associations, even today still transport nearly 70% of the freight needed in America, while currently losing much money in the process.

Isn't that what we've always called "the race to the bottom?" Trucking has a stranglehold on transporting freight that the railroads can never match, yet truckers lose money. Pretty fart smellers if you ask me...

Absent material barriers to entry, trucking has long been a relatively easy business to begin; but today many of its participants, those traditional truckers, would love to find a way out, if only to ease the pain levied upon them by their growing deficits, dismal demands for capacity, now again fast rising fuel prices, and sadly depressed used truck values.

Serious food for thought, especially for someone who is considering becoming an O/O...

[joehill]

Interesting article Ike, but I don't think it's a newsflash to anybody but the most stubborn holdouts.More and more companies are going intermodal and operating regional fleets.There was a recent thread on the right wing truckers board about how Marten is now going regional..

I saw that one coming when I drove for them and they had me sit for most of the day only to dispatch me from the New York/Connecticut line at 5 pm to the railyard in Springfield Mass,so I could get another one of those big 120 mile trips.

They've figured that on all but the most time critical freight, the railroad is the way to go.They don't need near as many drivers and they don't have the enormous fuel costs associated with transporting,say, a truckload of paper towels across the country.They only need a couple of drivers to endure the waits and poor treatment at the railyards. Then they only have to lay out the cost of paying you to transport the load on the last leg of the trip.They save on fuel, tires, driver pay and wear on the equipment and also reduce the risk of accidents..

The thing many of the big carriers havent seemed to figure out yet in this new business model , is fair driver compensation.I noticed the article said that JBHT pays an average of $80,000 to the driver.They are certainly leading the pack in that respect.I remember from my ordeal at Marten,that they made no effort at all to offset the negatives incurred from sitting for hours at railyards and then only getting a fraction of the miles you'd normally get..

Here is a video I made back in Feb, that kinda supports your article..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbbvgPh5Vc8

[icantinaturner]

Your video is right on, Kenny. I always got a kick out of drivers b!tching on the CB as a trainload of intermodal stuff rolled by. I'd ask them if they'd rather have all those trailers parked in the truck stop when then decided to call it a day. But that is the future and it's a smart way of doing business while conserving energy.

You also pinpointed the problem and it is going to take a while for companies to fine-tune pay to offset the hassle of waiting for those intermodal loads. I think a whole new flock of "conservative" truckers (from other industries) will tolerate it since they have nowhere else to go for a job.

[bigjoe]

Intermodal has been discussed for years and will eventually be the way freight is hauled.

There will still be some long haul TL freight such as time sensitive JIT stuff, high security freight and overdimensional, but the bulk of ordinary general FAK will be moved by the rails and distributed by regional trucks with average hauls probably no more than 500 miles in duration.

Not if but when...and No, Ike, I don't have crystal balls....mine are made of brass.

[hapekamper]

I understand that many of you think of bigjoe as a pompous bragger about how great he is....but really..the man is jus tellin' the truth !!

[blacksheepdawg]

Originally Posted by hapekamper

I understand that many of you think of bigjoe as a pompous bragger about how great he is....but really..the man is jus tellin' the truth !!

That is a truism, Hape.
It's very difficult to improve on perfection.
And I doubt anybody is more aware of that than
Big Joe, who, where countless others have failed,
has managed to succeed in big ways ----- on his way to becoming a man,
a legend,
a way of life.
Big Joe is a man who fights with half his brain tied behind his back,
just to make it fair, and still his foes fall by the wayside ----- quaking in terror ----- by merely gazing upon his massive presence in their midst.
Silence, ......... as not a single newbee puke could be heard tryin'
to contradict The Bottom Line, which, as it turns out, happens to be at the top.

Don'cha know.

[for_a_dancer]

Originally Posted by blacksheepdawg

That is a truism, Hape.
It's very difficult to improve on perfection.
And I doubt anybody is more aware of that than
Big Joe, who, where countless others have failed,
has managed to succeed in big ways ----- on his way to becoming a man,
a legend,
a way of life.
Big Joe is a man who fights with half his brain tied behind his back,
just to make it fair, and still his foes fall by the wayside ----- quaking in terror ----- by merely gazing upon his massive presence in their midst.
Silence, ......... as not a single newbee puke could be heard tryin'
to contradict The Bottom Line, which, as it turns out, happens to be at the top.

Don'cha know.

If my eyes roll any farther back into my head, I'll have four (non-brass) balls.

[hapekamper]

Big Joe is a man who fights with half his brain tied behind his back,
just to make it fair, and still his foes fall by the wayside

I luv it when a' shock brags on us peeples.

[swerve]

Oh -- YUCK -- the Railroads...

Our Nemesis...

HUGELY subsidized by the GOVERNMENT...

HUGELY in DEBT because they gobbled up the smaller ones, merged with the bigger ones, Warren Buffet just borrowed AGAINST the ASSETS of BNSF to BY BNSF, etc (THANK YOU RONALD REAGAN)...

And NOW -- as the banks -- they are TOO BIG TO FAIL...

SO...

Lets SCREW over ALL OF US SMALL trucking companies -- allow SOME of the BIGGER companies to SCREW over their drivers while adapting to "regional" lanes...

And there you have it...

The AMERICAN NIGHTMARE...

We NEED regulation back -- and I can't BELIEVE I am saying that...

[swerve]

And JUST FOR FUN...

I have a friend that works at the "parts counter" for Union Pacific...

He is actually EMPLOYED by General Electric since almost EVERY part of a Locomotive is GE...

Imagine that...