Trucking companies failing at nearly triple the rate of 2018

[Nature Boy 2.0 8,370]

7 hours ago, luckytxn said:

A saying in the industry is that the country runs on paper and this is the reason why. It surprised me when I entered the industry how much paper or paper products is used.

 

Yeah it was an eye opener how fast things can change in life.

 

You are correct the reason being is that driver come and go in days and weeks and months. It is rare for any driver to stay around long at one company. As I also said that some companies have 200-300% turnover. (Swift, JB Hunt, etc) It is really hard for companies to survive or even to know from one year to the next what personnel they have to chase after contracts. A company with under 100% turnover is rare and considered very good and I worked at 2 of them and stayed at one for about 8 years and the other for about 10 years.  I also worked at 2 companies with huge turnover. One is Celadon and the other was JB Hunt. One I stayed for 6 months and the other for 7 months. There is a reason they have such high turnover. The recruiting industry is a huge industry in itself. They have trade magazines and have their own trade shows and everything imaginable. You would be shocked probably by how many calls emails and what not in offering me great opportunities to come work or change companies. I get offered big bonuses and all also. I just laugh at them as I know which companies are for me to look at on how I prefer to drive as I am an old hand at this. Like I also said before that most people that come into the industry rarely last even a year. It is a crappy existence but one I excelled at and had no family or anything to pull me toward them so I was free to do whatever. I was also ex military and after the military I was  working for a company that did contract for military and then a Petroleum Chemist that traveled extensively worldwide constantly. I was used to not having any place to stay but did own land as I have always invested in acreage somewhere. After I maxed out my 401K's I would save in account until I would have 10,000 bucks or more and to get it to work for me I would buy acreage or a house to rent out.

 

Anyway the industry is tough and hard so don't be surprised when many of the companies fail. Also when you read or hear about the trucker shortage you now know why.

Most folks dont think about what you said. When I ran a company that made cleaning products everything we manufactured, almost without exception was shipped in boxes or paltazied on display trays. Probably 1/3 of our warehouse space was packaging.  

[Burnt Reynolds 5,058]

30 minutes ago, Nature Boy 2.0 said:

Most folks dont think about what you said. When I ran a company that made cleaning products everything we manufactured, almost without exception was shipped in boxes or paltazied on display trays. Probably 1/3 of our warehouse space was packaging.  

Consumers just see the end product so its no surprise they don't know much about supply chain unless working along the chain or in logistics/operations/executive positions. 

 

I've not had many in this industry in my family, just an uncle from the lakes region who did a career as a driver, was happy as a pig in **** to retire. 

 

When people think SCM organizationally, particularly the disconnected stakeholders or management you almost never see on site, it's always about efficiency and cost cutting, so my experience in seeing policies (and moreover, the implements of them) crafted toward drivers reflects that attitude. Until the trucks are driven by AI (which won't be for a long time as the roads themselves need to be overhauled to support this safely) it looks to me like policies being crafted toward drivers is heavily toward retention. I think the experiential aspect is on the up and up (when you factor CSR as well), even though long term people obviously see an end to this type of job. People who are qualified/competent drivers have quite a bit of leverage. 

 

It's not to confuse that with the problems of a few companies, like Celadon, the transport industry's Enron equivalent case study of scandal. 

Edited December 16, 2019 by Burnt Reynolds

[laylalex 7,284]

I just wanted to say a big thank you to @luckytxn for your posts here. You have a real knack for explaining these concepts very clearly to a layperson like me. I've learned a lot in this thread, so thank you again.  

[luckytxn 2,264]

4 hours ago, laylalex said:

I just wanted to say a big thank you to @luckytxn for your posts here. You have a real knack for explaining these concepts very clearly to a layperson like me. I've learned a lot in this thread, so thank you again.  

You are most welcome and glad I can be of assistance to you.  It seems like I never get any gratitude ever in my daily humdrum life for anything I do so getting this little pat on the back is very much appreciated by me and if you ever needed anything ever explained more plainly then feel free to let me know. Life is a little better today than it was yesterday. 🤠

[TBoneTX 45,299]

I've learned a lot, too, Bro C. -- gracias.

[luckytxn 2,264]

10 minutes ago, TBoneTX said:

I've learned a lot, too, Bro C. -- gracias.

Most welcome Sir.