Supporting the American Trucking Industry

[wildflowerschicago]

We have been sold down the river by the very people we elected to serve us. (How does it happen anyway that the people we elect as servants somehow confuse their role and become our leaders, incompetent asshole leaders at that).

The White House would be a good place to start - bring several sets of handcuffs.

Then we can move on down from there.

Perhaps because the lobbyists are paying more...and we have become so dependant on the "spin" we are fed that we fail to see the real issues. We have turned into a country of Stepford Wives, believing what we are told rather than questioning who is telling us!

We are seduced by the sensationalization!!! Oral sex will outrage more people than no bid contracts ever will...so sad but true!!!

The sad part is, we can elect anyone we want...this country is not run by our elected officials, it's run by the special intrest groups that get those officials elected.

I am off my soap box again!

I totally agree with the handcuff statement!

 

[RJD]

Four generations ago, my family founded a trucking company to haul Rockefeller's oil, and ended up with a large potion of the Ohio to Carolina routes. Today, my brother (a fourth generation driver) is a vice president at one of the mega companies, and I work (the day job) for a logistics firm that handles freight at the rate of nearly 250,000 loads a year (will be closer to 400,000 by the end of the year). Let me give another POV here:

1) I believe trucking deregulation actually began in the 70s, under Nixon or Ford. Technically, though, it was an act of Congress, not a Presidential decision.

2) Before trucking was deregulated, the little guy stood absolutely no chance. You were either a corporate driver, or you didn't drive. You needed permits to run specific lanes, and incumbents were protective of their lanes. Deregulation allowed the little guy to at least get a chance. Some made it into recognizable names today, some did not, and some are barely scratching by.

3) There is a severe driver shortage, so if you're not getting loads, you need to ask yourself why. Maybe before you could wait for the calls, but today you need to be involved in electronic spot markets or bidding on regular routes. Freight buyers aren't calling one company any more, they're posting loads on competitive spot markets and getting the best performance for the price.

4) Success in transportation comes from hard work, professionalism and performance. We have had to remove a number of carriers, large and small, because they could not make their appointments, they were difficult to communicate with, or they wouldn't update the information in the transportation management system. We've replaced large with small, small with large, etc. We've also taken some excellent small companies and helped them grow into excellent medium sized companies.

5) Contracted rates allow for a fuel surcharge, which in the past was rarely renegotiated, but has been renegotiated like crazy lately. Wholesalers and retailers have been mostly absorbing these costs, but probably not for much longer. Retail prices will reflect increases in fuel at an increasing rate in the near future.

There are a lot of parallels between trucking and the floral industry. How to get more orders/loads? How to make them profitable when discounts dominate the industry? How is fuel affecting us? How do I get into new markets? To survive, you need to be able to recognize change is needed, figure out what to change, and make it happen.

 

[MANORVILLE]

Gotta say, that was a heckuva great post !
Kudos, and my respect !

 

[RJD]

If you want to take the parallels between industries a little further, let's look at CH Robinson. CH Robinson is a freight broker--people with stuff to ship call CH Robinson, who has a large Rolodex of companies in the areas needing serviced. They arrange for a truck, bill the shipper, and pay the hauler a percentage of the cost. CHR is huge, and since they're so easy to deal with, they're very popular for shippers. They market like crazy, so they're a very familiar name.

We've heard this story somewhere else...

So how does an independent driver compete?

Well, to start with, you need to get your name out. Where are your potential customers looking? More than likely, a magnet stuck to a filing cabinet, or an e-mail address, and new customers are likely to find you on the Internet.

Next, you need to demonstrate the benefits of going direct to the driver. If CHR bills at $1000 and pays you $750, you could charge $850 on a direct call, and both of you come out ahead. Also, by calling you direct, the shipper will have a faster response time, since they'll talk to you first hand.

So what if you're on a run, and they need another load? You need to team up with some other drivers, and make yourself the one call the customer needs to make. If you're out, call your new buddies and broker a load to them. Keep a small percentage if you wish, or pay them full. Whatever, but make sure you can cover the freight when it needs to be covered. Otherwise, it's back to CHR forever for that shipper.

Shippers want to know where their freight is, so communicating with status updates is a strong selling point. E-mail or call them as soon as you back up to the door. If there's damage, send your own photo right away and be prepared to make it right.

Increased ease of ordering, status visibility, and outstanding performance will win you back your market. To succeed, you can't just be in a market, you need to own your market.

One final thought. A trucker boycott makes for great TV, but what will your customers think when they can't get a load delivered? Because while the trucks are sitting idle, Norfolk Southern isn't.

Put it this way--what if we all boycotted delivering flowers one day? How impressed would our customers be? The most dedicated floral consumers would still be able to get their flowers delivered, because FedEx wouldn't stop on our behalf. We'd lose them for a long time, perhaps ever.

Can you think of ways to help the truckers? Good. Now, can you also think of ways to help yourself?