Thursday, August 30, 2012
What the Election Means to Movers
Another summer is coming to a close and as fuel prices are again on the rise, the rates are starting to fall. This is as expected as it is ridiculous. It is sad while knowing how flawed things are we continue down the same path - in the moving industry and in America as well. What happened? Since when has it been acceptable to allow everyone around you, to reach so far into your pocket that when you finally get to stick your own hand in your own pocket there is nothing left? As owner operators or even contract drivers, everything we need has gone up almost exponentially and yet we are working for wages drivers in the 80's would chuckle at. Meanwhile, the carriers in this industry are profiting like never before. It has come to my attention recently that some carriers are not paying their agents nor their drivers the billable GBL rates. This is ridiculous. A last minute shipment was offered up at a 54% discount and accepted. A short time later, another carrier (who was also awarded the same shipment by the wonderful DPS system) offered up the same shipment but at a 67% discount. This was obviously questioned and the response from the carrier after a long time on hold was that they made a mistake quoting the rate. Do you think their "mistake" what have been corrected when it came time to pay? Why are the rates a secret now between the carriers and the government? The DoD is huge portion of the moving industry so why in an administration of 'transparancy' and Freedom of Information, is everything so secretive? We are now expected to work for what we are told we are worth. We can trust them I guess. We have no choice in the matter other than to quit. This has been continually happening and the actual household drivers in the industry are few and far between. At the same time, carriers are holding seminars trying to recruit service members into the moving industry to try to recover drivers. This is a joke!
The unemployment in this country is out of control, and at the rate the moving industry is going, you can expect more agents to close and drivers to quit. The moving industry is taking the same route of government - taxing, over regulating, overcharging, over penalizing and underappreciating what made them what they are today! It has to stop. Moving companies that used to thrive with good paying national accounts have been reduced to fighting over work that doesn't pay. The mega-corporation moving companies are so out of touch with the moving industry, they don't even realize their experienced drivers made them a mega-corporation - when they're gone, how long do you think your time at the top will last? When the government finally gets it way and forces "black boxes" in every truck - how will your drivers make money then when they aren't prospering now? When no one in your fleet will be able to enter California because their trucks aren't new enough? Have you not thought of these things?
Now what does any of this have to do with the election?
Well, as every driver knows, diesel is not cheap. It hasn't been cheap in a long, long time. Will it ever be cheap again? Of course not - but what I can tell you is that this administration has not helped keep the cost of diesel down. In fact, it has done nothing but help drive it up. The Keystone Pipeline wouldn't have been any kind of immediate relief but it would have been a step in the right direction. And with it would have come jobs. People would have been RELOCATING to get to these jobs. Some of them would use a mover.
The energy secretary, Chu, stated “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.” (Politico). How is this going to help our business? If people are spending $9/gallon of gas - how many of them will be able to afford to move? Better yet - many won't even be able to afford furniture! Alternative energy is a great idea that needs to be researched and developed - it can't be forced upon the market. Ask Solyndra.
The president has suggested veterans should have their combat injuries covered by their private insurance, possibly making it impossible to get coverage after joining the private sector. If he doesn't want to pay for combat injuries, how long do you feel he'll think it is necessary to pay to relocate them? Under this administration we are looking at the DoD being cut by $492 Billion! I can guarantee you tanks and generals' salaries will not be the first things to go..
Taxes. This administration feels anyone making over $200,000 (or $250k married) should be taxed more to "pay their fair share". Wake up - this should mean YOU! Most owner operators can't afford $4/gallon fuel - can you really afford a tax increase along with $9/gal fuel??
Health care - if you do not choose to (or can afford) health care, by 2016, you will be taxed $695 or 2.5% of your income, whichever is greater. This means if your income is just say $225,000, your penalty will be $5,625. That's nice - especially on top of your new tax increase and $9/ gal. fuel.
Jobs - you have to agree things are bad when movers are out of work. Movers are a convenience people enjoy when they have a job and they have money. When consumer confidence starts to fade, movers are the first to be shed - as corporate perks and in peoples homes. People that are at work have money and no time - thus they need a mover. Unemployed people can't afford movers and probably don't need one when they sell their furniture and pack all their belongings in their car and move back with their parents. It's simple - prosperous people use movers, not people without jobs.
This administration was giving an economic crisis, true but unemployment rates promised below 6% are still over 8% and that number is a gimmick..
Department of Homeland Security. Yes, that's right. This administration feels the TSA is now necessary in weigh stations throughout the country. So now on top of working for free, we can expect to give up our rights every time we enter a weigh station! It bad enough, the ridiculous fines and penalties such as a $2700 fine for talking on your cell phone, but now - when you enter the weigh station the TSA will have authority to take your phone to see if you were on it! It's gone too far my friends. There's a company out there that is marketing a video recorder to be mounted in the cab of YOUR truck for a view of everything in addition to your black box. When are we going to say enough is enough?
We may be able to quit our jobs to avoid all this crap from the carriers and the DOT, but why should we stop doing what we love to do to appease someone else? We shouldn't - we should demand answers and real reform of regulations. Stop going along with the flow for the "greater good" while we are suffering!
It's time for movers to take a stand and Americans to take a stand and make informed decisions in November!
Be safe out there my friends and God Bless America!
Friday, March 16, 2012
Rate filing for 2012 - there's still time
The moving industry is getting ready to file rates with the SDDC for 2012. This just may be the industry's last chance to save itself - or more likely to seal it's fate. Like in every case, time will tell
Some things have sparked my interests recently and it has got me thinking - Firstly, let me repeat myself, again. Carriers: You must raise the rates SIGNIFICANTLY to save our industry!! Six or even ten percent just won't cut it. I hate to keep repeating myself but this is the number 1 problem facing us today. All the other rising costs we see everyday can and will be offset with rates that are profitable for everyone (including your drivers since you've forgotten we are part of your 'team'). Of course all the carriers will see this as impossible because the next guy will always do it for less. This needs to stop. It seems inconceivable to me that the van lines continue just to drop the rates when their industry is spiraling out of control! What has made me truly realize that people will spend the money to move is this: An old friend of the family is moving from Rhode Island to Houston,Tx. She surfed the web to find a mover. I'm not going to promote one of the Internet leaches that gave her a price but for 2000# she was quoted $1954.00. Of course the Internet company won't release the shipment to a mover at that price - the mover that would have hauled it would get $1050.00 to start cutting up with the driver. How do I know this you ask? Simply because the way this company works is that their profit comes by way of their deposit from the shipper, in this case $904.00. After hearing this, I did some research only to find that 2000# over the route miles at a 50% discount is $1954.00. (Scratching my head) Wait a second - how come a 'salesman' can sell a 50% discount over the phone and carriers can't send one into a house and get better than a 72% discount? It makes no sense other than the fact the major van lines have been all this time SO consumed by someone else getting a job they forgot the reason we do the work is for money! Look - its simple - one carrier is not going to get every job. It is impossible and stupid to try. Arpin or Allied is not going to suddenly corner the market and jack the price because they're the last ones left. It's just not going to happen.
If you take a moment to swallow that fact then you can move on. Next, if all the carriers are going to bicker over a percentage point here and there don't do it at 70% - do it at 10% or 20% - a reasonable discount any normal industry would give their customers, as mentioned in an earlier blog of mine. This would make the moving business PROFITABLE again - for EVERYONE! You cannot deny the fact that even the carriers would be making a ton more cash than they are now. Carriers must understand their drivers need PROFITS not pats on the back or awards... I'm not even suggesting that they give their contractors a bigger percentage - just give them good numbers to work with from the start and it solves alot.
How about the next time the carriers get together to play golf or have a seminar they come up with a fair low number they can all agree on for discounts. Sounds simple enough. How about make the discount the average handicap of all the players? Not mental handicap - golf handicap. I think mine is maybe a 14. We are all on the same team here in the industry just wearing different colored jerseys. When we start playing like a team instead of trying to cut each others throat everyone will prosper and benefit - even the shippers! I'll even offer up the rounds of golf - ON ME, in sunny Florida. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for a response though..
Now to the lovely topic of the SDDC rate filing. If we can get this golf thing in before April maybe we can all agree to put in a 0% discount for hauling and SIT. 'What?!? Are you crazy?' everyone is saying. Yes I am. But there is a method to my madness and you will soon see. It is my understanding of the rate filing process now that it is a secret. No one knows what anyone else filings are and therefore 'ME TOO' went out the window. Now, when you submit rates for your SCAC, you get two chances. If they reject your first rate you have the chance to resubmit another rate hoping they'll accept that one. If not your SCAC goes inactive for the entire year. The military is accepting and rejecting secret rates without releasing what the rates are. How can this be legal? If we are 'bidding' on a contract, how can the military dictate to us what rates to file?? That makes absolutely no sense. And even if they wanted to say that it is legal - If everyone puts in a 0% discount on the first bid, everyone's SCAC will get rejected. So now on the second bid if EVERYONE resubmitted a 1% discount the military would then have to either accept the 1%'s or reject ALL SCACs again and therefore have no way to move their members. The military is not all to blame here the majority of the blame falls on the carriers firstly for letting it get this way and secondly for playing along! The military can not and will not reject every SCAC, if anything they'll have to modify the way things are now and that's the point.
You can't tell me the military knows what it costs me to operate my truck so why would they set guidelines on the rates I can make? Sounds kind of Socialistic or Communistic to me. Only I know what I need to make a profit - I don't need the govt telling me. We, I'm sure, are the ONLY industry letting this happen. I doubt Halliburton lets the govt tell them what they can bid. It's stupid. All other jobs the military contract out are paid what the bid calls for, not what they military sets it at. How come we've all heard stories of $500 toilet seats and $2300 doorknobs at an IRS building but we can do moves for less? I am going to look into the legality of telling us what we can or can't bid - it just sounds illegal. Again, I'm not going to hold my breath but if the carriers could cooperate a little I wouldn't need to - they could solve alot of major issues over a simple game of golf. Cheers to no discounts!! And freedom from the government dictating ANYTHING to us!!
Some things have sparked my interests recently and it has got me thinking - Firstly, let me repeat myself, again. Carriers: You must raise the rates SIGNIFICANTLY to save our industry!! Six or even ten percent just won't cut it. I hate to keep repeating myself but this is the number 1 problem facing us today. All the other rising costs we see everyday can and will be offset with rates that are profitable for everyone (including your drivers since you've forgotten we are part of your 'team'). Of course all the carriers will see this as impossible because the next guy will always do it for less. This needs to stop. It seems inconceivable to me that the van lines continue just to drop the rates when their industry is spiraling out of control! What has made me truly realize that people will spend the money to move is this: An old friend of the family is moving from Rhode Island to Houston,Tx. She surfed the web to find a mover. I'm not going to promote one of the Internet leaches that gave her a price but for 2000# she was quoted $1954.00. Of course the Internet company won't release the shipment to a mover at that price - the mover that would have hauled it would get $1050.00 to start cutting up with the driver. How do I know this you ask? Simply because the way this company works is that their profit comes by way of their deposit from the shipper, in this case $904.00. After hearing this, I did some research only to find that 2000# over the route miles at a 50% discount is $1954.00. (Scratching my head) Wait a second - how come a 'salesman' can sell a 50% discount over the phone and carriers can't send one into a house and get better than a 72% discount? It makes no sense other than the fact the major van lines have been all this time SO consumed by someone else getting a job they forgot the reason we do the work is for money! Look - its simple - one carrier is not going to get every job. It is impossible and stupid to try. Arpin or Allied is not going to suddenly corner the market and jack the price because they're the last ones left. It's just not going to happen.
If you take a moment to swallow that fact then you can move on. Next, if all the carriers are going to bicker over a percentage point here and there don't do it at 70% - do it at 10% or 20% - a reasonable discount any normal industry would give their customers, as mentioned in an earlier blog of mine. This would make the moving business PROFITABLE again - for EVERYONE! You cannot deny the fact that even the carriers would be making a ton more cash than they are now. Carriers must understand their drivers need PROFITS not pats on the back or awards... I'm not even suggesting that they give their contractors a bigger percentage - just give them good numbers to work with from the start and it solves alot.
How about the next time the carriers get together to play golf or have a seminar they come up with a fair low number they can all agree on for discounts. Sounds simple enough. How about make the discount the average handicap of all the players? Not mental handicap - golf handicap. I think mine is maybe a 14. We are all on the same team here in the industry just wearing different colored jerseys. When we start playing like a team instead of trying to cut each others throat everyone will prosper and benefit - even the shippers! I'll even offer up the rounds of golf - ON ME, in sunny Florida. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for a response though..
Now to the lovely topic of the SDDC rate filing. If we can get this golf thing in before April maybe we can all agree to put in a 0% discount for hauling and SIT. 'What?!? Are you crazy?' everyone is saying. Yes I am. But there is a method to my madness and you will soon see. It is my understanding of the rate filing process now that it is a secret. No one knows what anyone else filings are and therefore 'ME TOO' went out the window. Now, when you submit rates for your SCAC, you get two chances. If they reject your first rate you have the chance to resubmit another rate hoping they'll accept that one. If not your SCAC goes inactive for the entire year. The military is accepting and rejecting secret rates without releasing what the rates are. How can this be legal? If we are 'bidding' on a contract, how can the military dictate to us what rates to file?? That makes absolutely no sense. And even if they wanted to say that it is legal - If everyone puts in a 0% discount on the first bid, everyone's SCAC will get rejected. So now on the second bid if EVERYONE resubmitted a 1% discount the military would then have to either accept the 1%'s or reject ALL SCACs again and therefore have no way to move their members. The military is not all to blame here the majority of the blame falls on the carriers firstly for letting it get this way and secondly for playing along! The military can not and will not reject every SCAC, if anything they'll have to modify the way things are now and that's the point.
You can't tell me the military knows what it costs me to operate my truck so why would they set guidelines on the rates I can make? Sounds kind of Socialistic or Communistic to me. Only I know what I need to make a profit - I don't need the govt telling me. We, I'm sure, are the ONLY industry letting this happen. I doubt Halliburton lets the govt tell them what they can bid. It's stupid. All other jobs the military contract out are paid what the bid calls for, not what they military sets it at. How come we've all heard stories of $500 toilet seats and $2300 doorknobs at an IRS building but we can do moves for less? I am going to look into the legality of telling us what we can or can't bid - it just sounds illegal. Again, I'm not going to hold my breath but if the carriers could cooperate a little I wouldn't need to - they could solve alot of major issues over a simple game of golf. Cheers to no discounts!! And freedom from the government dictating ANYTHING to us!!
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Fuel prices may be the nails in the coffin!
Another wonderful week has passed and the price of diesel is skyrocketting! Getting out of control already and we haven't even made it to March yet - great.. Although I am not booked under a load, listening and watching things going on I thought it may be a good idea to fill up the truck. Boy am I glad I did! I found diesel at a Racetrac gas station here in town for $3.899 per gal so I filled up - I haven't checked this morning but last night it was $4.039. Even worse was that the day I filled up at the Racetrac, I dropped my trailer at the local Pilot - fuel there was ALREADY $4.179 (cash). Today I wouldn't be surprised if it's $4.50. What really disgusts me is the fact that these Pilot stations can charge 28 cents per gallon more for fuel and 50% - 90% more of a markup on everything else and nobody says anything.. Are you kidding? There is a reason for the term "Highway robbery" and I'm thinking they may have had Pilot, Petro, and TA in mind.
While reading an article about fuel prices and how they were soaring I stumbled across another article of interest - 5 Cheapest Places on Earth for Gas, or something like that. Anyway, they were from cheapest: Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Turkmenistan, and Bahrain. In any of these countries you can expect to spend under 90 cents per gallon with Venezuela being in the 75 cent area. Seventy five cents?!? Hmm... and we are averaging $3.65 - although, I haven't checked that in about an hour so we may be higher now.. That's just short of 5 times higher than what they are paying in Venezuela. That's ridiculous..
How much oil do these countries really have for it to be that cheap? Now of the 5 countries that are the cheapest lets look at these a little closer: Venezuela (290 Billion barrells), is an Iranian ally. Turkmenistan (600 million barrells), was working with us on the Trans Caspian Gas Pipeline until they backed out of negotiations possibly because the US wanted to dictate to them how to have a 'sucessful' democracy (pot calling the kettle black). Libya (46.4 Billion barrells),SHOULD be thankful we save them from their tyrannical leader, although they will probably become a nation of Muslim extremists. Saudi Arabia (161 Billion barrells) and Bahrain (125 million barrells) are our "allies". The estimate from Saudi Arabia was 267 Billion barrells but many have recently found that the Saudis have been overstating there reserves by as much as 40% which is where I came upo with 161 Billion barrells. The United States has 134 Billion barrells, not including shale. Look at these numbers and tell me that something is not seriously wrong... WE have MORE oil than 3 of the top five countries with the cheapest oil! Understandably we have many more consumers of oil than probably all of these countries combined, but I just don't understand why if we have 134 Billion barrells of oil why do we only access 21 Billion barrells? And more importantly why import so much if this is the case? The liberals and the EPA. Period. There is no reason to not to tap our natural resourses, everyone else is. Yes, oil is a fossill fuel and blah blah blah but saying that - everyone knows it's limited and there will be a point in the future when it is all gone, but should our entire country fall because of a turtle nest or a sandpiper?? You may think that's a little extreme to think the country is going to fall apart over gas but it will. Will you be able to move your truck with $6 or $7 per gallon diesel? Neither can the guys hauling your food or gas for that matter! Oh yea - and don't forget the DEF at another additional cost!!
What the moving industry absolutely cannot handle right now is $5 gal diesel, and guess what? We are almost there now. If we are to survive this summer in the moving industry the carriers and the drivers need to implement just a few things. First and foremost the carriers MUST RAISE RATES!! This can not be stated loudly enough. If your competitor wants to haul 70% discounts - let them!! They will not be in business!! First, if they have 70's and there are carriers out there with no discount or say 20 or 30% discounts, who do you think will have all the drivers? The good drivers at that... Owner operators will not be hauling junk when fuel is $6/gallon, if they do it'll take them maybe two months or less to go bankrupt. So I say - let them.. all of them - maybe it'll weed the morons out of our industry! Secondly, the fuel surcharge needs to be overhauled somehow because surely they will try to adjust the rate off what they pay us.. This needs to be corrected. A few years back, fuel surcharges were based off $1.00/gal, then it jumped to $2.50.. whats next? $5.00??
Fuel has gone up significantly in the past few days and in a little over a week it's gone up close to 20 cents. Of course the fuel surcharge for the month is factored on the 15th.. Surprise surprise. This means for the next month you are getting a fuel surcharge that represents LAST months fuel prices! I called around the other day trying to find out where I was gonig to buy fuel and found out that many places update their fuel price EVERY 15 MINUTES! So as we are hauling on last months surcharge they can raise the price every fifteen minutes.. This doesn't make sense to me.. If you can put a Qualcomm or EROB on my truck to get 'real time' info why do you expect me to work at month old surcharge rates? I understand for billing purposes you can't update the fuel surchage every 15 minutes but daily is definitely not out of the question.. There are charts for daily fuel pricing so the industry can agree on which chart to use and figure these daily. It's not that difficult and everything is done by computer now so in all actuallity it's only a few keystrokes more. Your office personnel can do this in a few extra minutes which I'm sure they can find by shortening up their Angry Birds game. Of course many will laugh and say that this is impossible but I don't think it is and in the wonderful world of DP3 every contract is unique so why can't it be implemented? It can be - but drivers can't do it - carriers need to! God willing maybe someone can get the point across to the carriers before the rate go in for the next cycle!! If not - I hope they have a government subsidized cemetary to bury the moving industry because Lord knows anyone that actually works in this industry can't afford their own plot!
While reading an article about fuel prices and how they were soaring I stumbled across another article of interest - 5 Cheapest Places on Earth for Gas, or something like that. Anyway, they were from cheapest: Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Turkmenistan, and Bahrain. In any of these countries you can expect to spend under 90 cents per gallon with Venezuela being in the 75 cent area. Seventy five cents?!? Hmm... and we are averaging $3.65 - although, I haven't checked that in about an hour so we may be higher now.. That's just short of 5 times higher than what they are paying in Venezuela. That's ridiculous..
How much oil do these countries really have for it to be that cheap? Now of the 5 countries that are the cheapest lets look at these a little closer: Venezuela (290 Billion barrells), is an Iranian ally. Turkmenistan (600 million barrells), was working with us on the Trans Caspian Gas Pipeline until they backed out of negotiations possibly because the US wanted to dictate to them how to have a 'sucessful' democracy (pot calling the kettle black). Libya (46.4 Billion barrells),SHOULD be thankful we save them from their tyrannical leader, although they will probably become a nation of Muslim extremists. Saudi Arabia (161 Billion barrells) and Bahrain (125 million barrells) are our "allies". The estimate from Saudi Arabia was 267 Billion barrells but many have recently found that the Saudis have been overstating there reserves by as much as 40% which is where I came upo with 161 Billion barrells. The United States has 134 Billion barrells, not including shale. Look at these numbers and tell me that something is not seriously wrong... WE have MORE oil than 3 of the top five countries with the cheapest oil! Understandably we have many more consumers of oil than probably all of these countries combined, but I just don't understand why if we have 134 Billion barrells of oil why do we only access 21 Billion barrells? And more importantly why import so much if this is the case? The liberals and the EPA. Period. There is no reason to not to tap our natural resourses, everyone else is. Yes, oil is a fossill fuel and blah blah blah but saying that - everyone knows it's limited and there will be a point in the future when it is all gone, but should our entire country fall because of a turtle nest or a sandpiper?? You may think that's a little extreme to think the country is going to fall apart over gas but it will. Will you be able to move your truck with $6 or $7 per gallon diesel? Neither can the guys hauling your food or gas for that matter! Oh yea - and don't forget the DEF at another additional cost!!
What the moving industry absolutely cannot handle right now is $5 gal diesel, and guess what? We are almost there now. If we are to survive this summer in the moving industry the carriers and the drivers need to implement just a few things. First and foremost the carriers MUST RAISE RATES!! This can not be stated loudly enough. If your competitor wants to haul 70% discounts - let them!! They will not be in business!! First, if they have 70's and there are carriers out there with no discount or say 20 or 30% discounts, who do you think will have all the drivers? The good drivers at that... Owner operators will not be hauling junk when fuel is $6/gallon, if they do it'll take them maybe two months or less to go bankrupt. So I say - let them.. all of them - maybe it'll weed the morons out of our industry! Secondly, the fuel surcharge needs to be overhauled somehow because surely they will try to adjust the rate off what they pay us.. This needs to be corrected. A few years back, fuel surcharges were based off $1.00/gal, then it jumped to $2.50.. whats next? $5.00??
Fuel has gone up significantly in the past few days and in a little over a week it's gone up close to 20 cents. Of course the fuel surcharge for the month is factored on the 15th.. Surprise surprise. This means for the next month you are getting a fuel surcharge that represents LAST months fuel prices! I called around the other day trying to find out where I was gonig to buy fuel and found out that many places update their fuel price EVERY 15 MINUTES! So as we are hauling on last months surcharge they can raise the price every fifteen minutes.. This doesn't make sense to me.. If you can put a Qualcomm or EROB on my truck to get 'real time' info why do you expect me to work at month old surcharge rates? I understand for billing purposes you can't update the fuel surchage every 15 minutes but daily is definitely not out of the question.. There are charts for daily fuel pricing so the industry can agree on which chart to use and figure these daily. It's not that difficult and everything is done by computer now so in all actuallity it's only a few keystrokes more. Your office personnel can do this in a few extra minutes which I'm sure they can find by shortening up their Angry Birds game. Of course many will laugh and say that this is impossible but I don't think it is and in the wonderful world of DP3 every contract is unique so why can't it be implemented? It can be - but drivers can't do it - carriers need to! God willing maybe someone can get the point across to the carriers before the rate go in for the next cycle!! If not - I hope they have a government subsidized cemetary to bury the moving industry because Lord knows anyone that actually works in this industry can't afford their own plot!
Sunday, February 19, 2012
2012 - The End of the World? Or just the moving industry?
Well 2012 is upon us now, sorry for not blogging in so long but I guess for the first time in my life I have been speechless. Literally. This industry has left me in awe.. How can so many not see the death of an industry right around the corner? In the fourth grade I received a 'I Can't Keep My Mouth Shut' Award. My mother for some reason thought it was a good thing to save - I guess she made the point. Well, here it is 2012 and never has the moving industry been in so much peril. Drivers, the backbone of the industry are leaving by the hundreds every month and there isn't anyone to fill those empty positions. For years guys 'jumped ship' from one company to another for various reasons - more home time, a little better percentage, whatever the reason they may have made a shift but now they aren't jumping ship - they are jumping overboard! Drivers are (finally) figuring out the grass probably isn't greener on the other side. There is one simple reason for that - just about EVERYONE has the same shitty rates. Over the past several years more and more carriers are worried about nothing but tonnage. Their profits are made by the high amount of tonnage they move. That's great for them. Only problem with that is that the drivers make the money for them and they have no care for costs to do the job. We are doing work today in 2012 that guys wouldn't have touched in 1995 when fuel was less than a dollar a gallon. What I still can't figure out is - How??
How can we, as businesspeople, continue to do the same work for ridiculously less money? Everything in the US revolves around the price of oil. EVERYTHING, except of course, the cost of getting your most precious household items moved. How can that be? When oil goes up so does the price of everything else. Not only is fuel more expensive but your oil change, the food you buy, the clothes you wear, the help you hire, the motel you sleep in, everything. Heck, even tolls have been skyrocketing out of control. Yet, our rates go down. The reason the carriers think they're doing so great is they have no overhead and no fluctuating costs. On paper they are thriving. Realistically I think they may be in for quite a surprise.
It is only February and the military has already suspended the 70% rule for SIT. This is good for the drivers but one has to stop and think why? Why, in the middle of the winter, did they suspend the rule? I'm not 100% sure, but my guess would be because they can't get the junk moved. What?!? There's a red flag right there - it's wintertime and you can't get tonnage moved? It should be obvious to SOMEONE that in all the days of the moving industry winter is notoriously slow - now you can't get guys to move it. Think about it, it's scary. The shortage of qualified drivers is unthinkable. When drivers leave this industry they certainly aren't returning and carrier's need to act now before it's too late. I've been hearing ridiculous stories of "drivers" coming in to warehouses to pick up junk tonnage that have NO IDEA what they are doing. Drivers loading 13000 off the dock, taking two days to do it! Everything was out on the dock the first morning, the driver loaded some of it, then left the rest outside overnight and then the following day loaded the rest finishing at 5:00pm. Another bozo with any empty trailer came in to RI with 13500 from San Diego and left a 4000 pound overflow! These are obviously not furniture guys but they are driving trucks that have your name on them Mr Carrier! Is this really the guys you want representing you? If you're not careful it will be the ONLY guys you'll have left. Many of my friends are leaving this industry and the ones who aren't are either parked for the winter or refusing to go on the road unless it's clearly a decent linehaul. I have done maybe 3 trips since October. That's ridiculous. But why would I want to go out on the road and spend money to make peanuts?? Another driver I know has a moving trailer parked at home and is running a flatbed! Just so he can make some money - the dispatcher doesn't even know. But can you blame a man for trying to feed his family?? Unfortunately these problems will probably only get worse...
What happens when, yes I'm saying when, fuel is over $5.00/gallon EVERYWHERE?? They are already predicting gas to be over $4.25/gal by early April so fuel will certainly be $5.00 easy. Drviers can't afford fuel now. Drivers can't afford repairs, tires, heck I've met some drivers who couldn't afford to eat! No BS - a guy was eating crackers and cheese on a Tuesday and his carrier/agent wouldn't send him any money until that Friday.. If it was me, their trailer would have been dropped in the Gulf of Mexico but that's me. I truly hope that someone in these offices have some sort of plan for when fuel goes thruogh the roof because it IS going to happen and soon. An Isrealli strike on Iran or an interuption of oil through the Strait of Hormuz will pole vault oil prices over the top and this industry nor this country is ready for this. If they can't move tonnage now how will it happen when it costs more in fuel than the linehaul?? Any drivers that are still left out here need to take this to the offices where you are at and try to drive these points home. They just don't get it or they just don't care. Figure it out and decide if that's who you want to make rich because that's all your doing! Take a stand household drivers who know what you are doing! WE ARE THE 1% in this industry! Except in this model the 1% is broke.... til next time
How can we, as businesspeople, continue to do the same work for ridiculously less money? Everything in the US revolves around the price of oil. EVERYTHING, except of course, the cost of getting your most precious household items moved. How can that be? When oil goes up so does the price of everything else. Not only is fuel more expensive but your oil change, the food you buy, the clothes you wear, the help you hire, the motel you sleep in, everything. Heck, even tolls have been skyrocketing out of control. Yet, our rates go down. The reason the carriers think they're doing so great is they have no overhead and no fluctuating costs. On paper they are thriving. Realistically I think they may be in for quite a surprise.
It is only February and the military has already suspended the 70% rule for SIT. This is good for the drivers but one has to stop and think why? Why, in the middle of the winter, did they suspend the rule? I'm not 100% sure, but my guess would be because they can't get the junk moved. What?!? There's a red flag right there - it's wintertime and you can't get tonnage moved? It should be obvious to SOMEONE that in all the days of the moving industry winter is notoriously slow - now you can't get guys to move it. Think about it, it's scary. The shortage of qualified drivers is unthinkable. When drivers leave this industry they certainly aren't returning and carrier's need to act now before it's too late. I've been hearing ridiculous stories of "drivers" coming in to warehouses to pick up junk tonnage that have NO IDEA what they are doing. Drivers loading 13000 off the dock, taking two days to do it! Everything was out on the dock the first morning, the driver loaded some of it, then left the rest outside overnight and then the following day loaded the rest finishing at 5:00pm. Another bozo with any empty trailer came in to RI with 13500 from San Diego and left a 4000 pound overflow! These are obviously not furniture guys but they are driving trucks that have your name on them Mr Carrier! Is this really the guys you want representing you? If you're not careful it will be the ONLY guys you'll have left. Many of my friends are leaving this industry and the ones who aren't are either parked for the winter or refusing to go on the road unless it's clearly a decent linehaul. I have done maybe 3 trips since October. That's ridiculous. But why would I want to go out on the road and spend money to make peanuts?? Another driver I know has a moving trailer parked at home and is running a flatbed! Just so he can make some money - the dispatcher doesn't even know. But can you blame a man for trying to feed his family?? Unfortunately these problems will probably only get worse...
What happens when, yes I'm saying when, fuel is over $5.00/gallon EVERYWHERE?? They are already predicting gas to be over $4.25/gal by early April so fuel will certainly be $5.00 easy. Drviers can't afford fuel now. Drivers can't afford repairs, tires, heck I've met some drivers who couldn't afford to eat! No BS - a guy was eating crackers and cheese on a Tuesday and his carrier/agent wouldn't send him any money until that Friday.. If it was me, their trailer would have been dropped in the Gulf of Mexico but that's me. I truly hope that someone in these offices have some sort of plan for when fuel goes thruogh the roof because it IS going to happen and soon. An Isrealli strike on Iran or an interuption of oil through the Strait of Hormuz will pole vault oil prices over the top and this industry nor this country is ready for this. If they can't move tonnage now how will it happen when it costs more in fuel than the linehaul?? Any drivers that are still left out here need to take this to the offices where you are at and try to drive these points home. They just don't get it or they just don't care. Figure it out and decide if that's who you want to make rich because that's all your doing! Take a stand household drivers who know what you are doing! WE ARE THE 1% in this industry! Except in this model the 1% is broke.... til next time
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Summer of Disgust 2011
It's now mid-summer, 2011, the year the bugs and quirks were supposed to be worked out of the governments DP3 system. Ha! By far, I'm sure you will all agree, it couldn't possibly be any WORSE!
There is so much to smash on and wondering 'wtf are they thinking', I'm not quite sure where to start and if there is anywhere to stop! I regret not taking time throughout the last month to update my blog and all the foolishness I've seen on the street but this time of the year, sleep is more important and time off is rare...
Remember for the past few years they slowly tried to implement this wonderful 'Families First', now DP3, system?? Every time they tried there were problems problems and more problems. No one in the industry thought it would work and no agents or drivers were welcoming it. After seeing this year after year they decided to FORCE it on to us and did so successfully. How did this really happen?? Why in the world and how in the world did the carriers allow it? I understand the military is THE biggest mover of household goods in the world and it is the bread and butter for thousands in the industry, but why would you possibly let a customer (of ANY size) dictate to you how to run your business?? First of all, most of the people in the corporate offices don't know anything about the moving industry anyhow, but now you're going to let some military officer tell you? What does he really know about the day to day operations of a moving company?? Was he deployed to Fort Wayne, Indiana for a tour to learn the industry? The answer is surely 'No.' With that being said, it is totally and honestly ridiculous that the industry allowed this to happen. Yes, customers are the most important person in the big equation but if sum of your equation equals ZERO or a negative by dealing with this customer, what are you really accomplishing?? Nothing. And that's the problem. Most, if not all, of the major players out here just bowed down to the military and let them have their way.
Now, since they forced DP3 upon the industry look at all the wonderful times we are having!! Great idea, right?? Last year the carriers set discounts so low that no one made a profit except them. Agents and drivers were trying to figure out all the workings of this god forsaken system to try to profit while never being able to and the carriers were saying '..it's really not that bad!'. Of course not - you have little to no overhead! As the winter passsed more agents and drivers went out of business and day by day, as the cycle change came close, the carriers were singing about how much better this year will be. I heard it all about how the rates were going to be SO much better and how smooth things should be... What happened? Do you really think that because your lows are only 69% that its ok? Drivers and agents started refusing 70's, so you put in a 69 and think its going to be better? This only goes to show how unconnected you really are from where you need to be for everyone to be profitable. And honestly, most of the carriers lows aren't even 69% - they're still in the 70's! Why?? Now, in order to get these shipments moved, you are paying either bonuses (which I'm SURE the driver never sees) or a different linehaul discount. Well, to that, at least you realize that much. But if someone in your office realized it takes a low discount to move a shipment, wouldn't it be smart to have him consult with the person setting your discounts?!? These people get paid generously for the job title they have but yet can't get together and make an intelligent decision? I realize that the government set limits for high and low discounts, which, by the way, I don't even believe is legal, but wouldn't you think that you would want to be at the side most beneficial to you and your company? Hmm.. If the owner of my company said 'I'm going to pay you somewhere between $4000 and $7500' to haul a shipment, do you really think I'm going to tell him - 'Yea, I'll take the 4, Thanks!' This is not brain surgery! I do think some of you folks in the corporate offices NEED brain surgery, but this definitely is not. Everyone knew that this was going to be one of the busiest years in a LONG time so why not put in 40% discounts? There's plenty of work to go around, why not? Oh yea, because we wouldn't dare want another carrier to haul 8 more junk shipments than us! Then we can't say we're the biggest or busiest... We'd rather lose money than our reputation. Sadly to say, the reputation you have created for yourself is FOOL. Well congratulations because your reputation is one I'm glad I'm not stuck with right now!
Since the industry lost so many agents and drivers over last year, this year was certain to be interesting... And boy has it been!! Where do we start? Well without the amount of drivers needed to haul the amount of shipments you were awarded because of your crappy rates, you have resorted to paying different linehauls and/or putting shipments on ABF or other freight trailers. This is ABSURD!! Let's look at this...
By paying a different linehaul, you are getting the shipments moved, but look at the extra cost - I've personally pulled two shipments, 29000#, for the same carrier, out of the same area, at 59% discount instead of the 72.18% discount the job was booked at. The difference in the linehaul amounts was not small. I appreciate the work because at 72%, I would have sat at home. Instead I took your profit and then some. Thanks. Next time put in a better rate and we can both make a profit.
Next, someone came up with the bright idea of using ABF trailers. This was a brilliant idea!! Someone figured 'Hey we don't need a household goods driver - we can load freight trailers!' Again, I must comend you on this idea.. First of all, if you were knowledgable, you would realize, in the summer, the quality of help you get from an agent is pretty much poor. Everyone knows even drivers find it tough to find good help from an agent. This is why so many drivers run with someone because if all else fails they have one good man and together you can show the greenhorns and get the job done. Where does the knowledge come from when three greenhorns show up on a job to load an ABF trailer? Do you, as carriers, honestly think you are getting the agents best loader? Or a loader at all? Since the agent doesn't have any responsiblilty of a claim (unless the shipper actually sees something done at origin) what does he care? I just hope no agents are dumb enough to be loading the trailers for $3.50/cwt. Please don't. ABF isn't giving away a 70% discount to move the trailers. They pay ABF what they want. Let them pay you what you need. Name your price to load them. If thats what they want you to do - fine - but set a price where you are going to profit. If not let the ABF driver load it.. Let's see what THAT would cost.. But obviously, cost is no issue at this time.. It's almost seeming like the union is getting their foot in the door a little at a time. Drivers and agents are dropping off left and right, carriers are reeling and losing money by the ton and we're giving away our work to unionized companies to haul. If this keeps up we won't have any work at all! If ANY unions are pushed upon this industry - shouldn't it be one WE create? Back to what it is really costing these carriers to ship these shipments by ABF - It costs to load the truck - hopefully around $10/cwt, then they have to pay ABF to pull the trailer to its destination, and then another $10/cwt to unload it. If you think ABF is pulling these trailers around for free - you're out of your mind! Sadly enough, the money it's costing for the transportation ALONE is more than the linehauls! I know this for fact. I've seen a Landstar Qualcomm that showed the linehaul for a shipment going from RI to Pensacola, FL. $3.00/mile plus waiting time on both ends. The GBL was paying $4100 and change. The mileage was 1398 miles x 3.00 = $4194.00, and this doesn't include the money to load and unload it. Again, another loss. And let's not forget the all intelligent Full Value Protection that you promised!! How many happy customers do you suppose there will be later having their worldly possesions paper padded and thrown on a spring ride freight trailer with holes in the ceiling and sides? (I have pictures of these as well, so it's not heresay!) So not only are you taking a loss on the transportation, you will SURELY see even bigger losses when the claims start rolling in! Guess what - you did it to yourselves and DONT expect us drivers to help deflect any cost of this because we won't! YOU made your bed - lie in it. I really find it not only disgusting, but also mind boggling on why you would do such things as these instead of just paying the experienced drivers you have (or have recently lost) to do the job the right way? All of these years you have been figuring out a way to increase YOUR profits and decrease ours until we had no more to take. Now look at where we are. How does the word 'Quality' even show up in your vocabulary? You expect us to give you high quality work when you are paying less experienced or NO experience people to do our job? Thank God there are some guys like me that take anythying that I do personally and make sure its done right - otherwise you might as well fire anyone in Quality Assurance. You should anyhow it's a joke.. Real furniture movers don't need any help or guidance from some 20 year old girl answering a phone 1500 miles away. Unfortunately, real furniture movers are hard to come by these days.. This is why the few of us left are going to surely demand we get what we deserve! I recently pulled an ABF trailer to a shippers house from Yuma, Az. He had two. The one I brought was filled with boxes and a little bit of furniture they literally threw in it. When I returned to the yard to hook up to the second trailer to bring him, I couldn't because the mup flaps interfered with the landing gear. We called the carrier to have ABF pull it out to residence - Couldn't possibly be done until the next day. Contacted the carrier, their thoughts were to cut off the shippers lock against his wishes and put it onto a shuttle truck to deliver it. The shuttle would be paid for but just get it done. Why is it that a shuttle for a job that doesn't need it can get authorized in less than two minutes but a driver that needs a legitimate shuttle needs to wait hours if not all day for authorization? Anyhow, calls were made by my company to find another tractor to pull the trailer there to try to salvage a relationship with the customer and it finally got there around 3:30. Nice, the trailer with the furniture shows up late afternoon. ALL his wood was marred, broken, chipped or gouged in one way or the other. All 17500 lbs of it. It was wrapped in brown paper partially and some dressers were loaded on their sides, others were wood on top of wood leaving rub and wear marks of 2300 miles. And of course, since the person doing the inventory wasn't responsible for anything, basically just listed his items. No descriptions, just an occasional top scratched.This shipper will probably get a 25 or 30 thousand dollar claim. This is your great idea of moving a 67% discount... I have never seen a shipper so stressed out and rightfully so than this Marine officer. And to think this is where the carriers are pushing the industry.
With all the crazy and foolish things going on right now - how can this DP3 system still even be a viable thought in the minds of anyone?!? Everyone needs to start opening their mouths and reiterate to the powers at be that this is not going to work. Every time you turn around there is an exception for this and that so why bother? The rules are made up as things go along and are constatly changing. To think this is all supposed to be for customer satisfaction. Fact is, nobody is happy - not the agents, the drivers OR the customers! So at what point of disarray or how many people have to go out of business before this changes? Hopefully not too many more because there aren't many left! Every day this continues, the deeper the hole is we are going to have to dig ourselves out of.. Thankfully I work for a small independant company who has been being extremely picky at what tonnage we haul. If it doesn't pay - we don't haul it. If I don't want any particular shipment, it stays where it's at. This is probably why I still move furniture. I don't have to deal with the shady 'if you don't want this shipment, you lose the whole load' crap that most dispatchers pull. Today a major carrier called my company with 3 shipments - one at a 51% discount, the other two at 72%. The owner told them we'd gladly take the 51 but we were all set with the others. Their response was - one or none, so he chose none. 30 minutes later, they called again to find out where to fax the paperwork on the 51% job. If everyone adopts this train of thought, it won't take long for the carriers to realize agents and drivers have woken up and things will change! They'll have to. Hopefully it won't be before its too late.. Please, if you agree with any of the things I have to say - firstly, join me on my facebook page and secondly, and most importantly raise your voice and let it be known - things have to change or our industry will be going the way of the horse and carraige, a thing of the past. Lastly, to all my fellow drivers out there trying to do their jobs - Be safe, keep your head up and try to spread the word - together we can make a difference!
There is so much to smash on and wondering 'wtf are they thinking', I'm not quite sure where to start and if there is anywhere to stop! I regret not taking time throughout the last month to update my blog and all the foolishness I've seen on the street but this time of the year, sleep is more important and time off is rare...
Remember for the past few years they slowly tried to implement this wonderful 'Families First', now DP3, system?? Every time they tried there were problems problems and more problems. No one in the industry thought it would work and no agents or drivers were welcoming it. After seeing this year after year they decided to FORCE it on to us and did so successfully. How did this really happen?? Why in the world and how in the world did the carriers allow it? I understand the military is THE biggest mover of household goods in the world and it is the bread and butter for thousands in the industry, but why would you possibly let a customer (of ANY size) dictate to you how to run your business?? First of all, most of the people in the corporate offices don't know anything about the moving industry anyhow, but now you're going to let some military officer tell you? What does he really know about the day to day operations of a moving company?? Was he deployed to Fort Wayne, Indiana for a tour to learn the industry? The answer is surely 'No.' With that being said, it is totally and honestly ridiculous that the industry allowed this to happen. Yes, customers are the most important person in the big equation but if sum of your equation equals ZERO or a negative by dealing with this customer, what are you really accomplishing?? Nothing. And that's the problem. Most, if not all, of the major players out here just bowed down to the military and let them have their way.
Now, since they forced DP3 upon the industry look at all the wonderful times we are having!! Great idea, right?? Last year the carriers set discounts so low that no one made a profit except them. Agents and drivers were trying to figure out all the workings of this god forsaken system to try to profit while never being able to and the carriers were saying '..it's really not that bad!'. Of course not - you have little to no overhead! As the winter passsed more agents and drivers went out of business and day by day, as the cycle change came close, the carriers were singing about how much better this year will be. I heard it all about how the rates were going to be SO much better and how smooth things should be... What happened? Do you really think that because your lows are only 69% that its ok? Drivers and agents started refusing 70's, so you put in a 69 and think its going to be better? This only goes to show how unconnected you really are from where you need to be for everyone to be profitable. And honestly, most of the carriers lows aren't even 69% - they're still in the 70's! Why?? Now, in order to get these shipments moved, you are paying either bonuses (which I'm SURE the driver never sees) or a different linehaul discount. Well, to that, at least you realize that much. But if someone in your office realized it takes a low discount to move a shipment, wouldn't it be smart to have him consult with the person setting your discounts?!? These people get paid generously for the job title they have but yet can't get together and make an intelligent decision? I realize that the government set limits for high and low discounts, which, by the way, I don't even believe is legal, but wouldn't you think that you would want to be at the side most beneficial to you and your company? Hmm.. If the owner of my company said 'I'm going to pay you somewhere between $4000 and $7500' to haul a shipment, do you really think I'm going to tell him - 'Yea, I'll take the 4, Thanks!' This is not brain surgery! I do think some of you folks in the corporate offices NEED brain surgery, but this definitely is not. Everyone knew that this was going to be one of the busiest years in a LONG time so why not put in 40% discounts? There's plenty of work to go around, why not? Oh yea, because we wouldn't dare want another carrier to haul 8 more junk shipments than us! Then we can't say we're the biggest or busiest... We'd rather lose money than our reputation. Sadly to say, the reputation you have created for yourself is FOOL. Well congratulations because your reputation is one I'm glad I'm not stuck with right now!
Since the industry lost so many agents and drivers over last year, this year was certain to be interesting... And boy has it been!! Where do we start? Well without the amount of drivers needed to haul the amount of shipments you were awarded because of your crappy rates, you have resorted to paying different linehauls and/or putting shipments on ABF or other freight trailers. This is ABSURD!! Let's look at this...
By paying a different linehaul, you are getting the shipments moved, but look at the extra cost - I've personally pulled two shipments, 29000#, for the same carrier, out of the same area, at 59% discount instead of the 72.18% discount the job was booked at. The difference in the linehaul amounts was not small. I appreciate the work because at 72%, I would have sat at home. Instead I took your profit and then some. Thanks. Next time put in a better rate and we can both make a profit.
Next, someone came up with the bright idea of using ABF trailers. This was a brilliant idea!! Someone figured 'Hey we don't need a household goods driver - we can load freight trailers!' Again, I must comend you on this idea.. First of all, if you were knowledgable, you would realize, in the summer, the quality of help you get from an agent is pretty much poor. Everyone knows even drivers find it tough to find good help from an agent. This is why so many drivers run with someone because if all else fails they have one good man and together you can show the greenhorns and get the job done. Where does the knowledge come from when three greenhorns show up on a job to load an ABF trailer? Do you, as carriers, honestly think you are getting the agents best loader? Or a loader at all? Since the agent doesn't have any responsiblilty of a claim (unless the shipper actually sees something done at origin) what does he care? I just hope no agents are dumb enough to be loading the trailers for $3.50/cwt. Please don't. ABF isn't giving away a 70% discount to move the trailers. They pay ABF what they want. Let them pay you what you need. Name your price to load them. If thats what they want you to do - fine - but set a price where you are going to profit. If not let the ABF driver load it.. Let's see what THAT would cost.. But obviously, cost is no issue at this time.. It's almost seeming like the union is getting their foot in the door a little at a time. Drivers and agents are dropping off left and right, carriers are reeling and losing money by the ton and we're giving away our work to unionized companies to haul. If this keeps up we won't have any work at all! If ANY unions are pushed upon this industry - shouldn't it be one WE create? Back to what it is really costing these carriers to ship these shipments by ABF - It costs to load the truck - hopefully around $10/cwt, then they have to pay ABF to pull the trailer to its destination, and then another $10/cwt to unload it. If you think ABF is pulling these trailers around for free - you're out of your mind! Sadly enough, the money it's costing for the transportation ALONE is more than the linehauls! I know this for fact. I've seen a Landstar Qualcomm that showed the linehaul for a shipment going from RI to Pensacola, FL. $3.00/mile plus waiting time on both ends. The GBL was paying $4100 and change. The mileage was 1398 miles x 3.00 = $4194.00, and this doesn't include the money to load and unload it. Again, another loss. And let's not forget the all intelligent Full Value Protection that you promised!! How many happy customers do you suppose there will be later having their worldly possesions paper padded and thrown on a spring ride freight trailer with holes in the ceiling and sides? (I have pictures of these as well, so it's not heresay!) So not only are you taking a loss on the transportation, you will SURELY see even bigger losses when the claims start rolling in! Guess what - you did it to yourselves and DONT expect us drivers to help deflect any cost of this because we won't! YOU made your bed - lie in it. I really find it not only disgusting, but also mind boggling on why you would do such things as these instead of just paying the experienced drivers you have (or have recently lost) to do the job the right way? All of these years you have been figuring out a way to increase YOUR profits and decrease ours until we had no more to take. Now look at where we are. How does the word 'Quality' even show up in your vocabulary? You expect us to give you high quality work when you are paying less experienced or NO experience people to do our job? Thank God there are some guys like me that take anythying that I do personally and make sure its done right - otherwise you might as well fire anyone in Quality Assurance. You should anyhow it's a joke.. Real furniture movers don't need any help or guidance from some 20 year old girl answering a phone 1500 miles away. Unfortunately, real furniture movers are hard to come by these days.. This is why the few of us left are going to surely demand we get what we deserve! I recently pulled an ABF trailer to a shippers house from Yuma, Az. He had two. The one I brought was filled with boxes and a little bit of furniture they literally threw in it. When I returned to the yard to hook up to the second trailer to bring him, I couldn't because the mup flaps interfered with the landing gear. We called the carrier to have ABF pull it out to residence - Couldn't possibly be done until the next day. Contacted the carrier, their thoughts were to cut off the shippers lock against his wishes and put it onto a shuttle truck to deliver it. The shuttle would be paid for but just get it done. Why is it that a shuttle for a job that doesn't need it can get authorized in less than two minutes but a driver that needs a legitimate shuttle needs to wait hours if not all day for authorization? Anyhow, calls were made by my company to find another tractor to pull the trailer there to try to salvage a relationship with the customer and it finally got there around 3:30. Nice, the trailer with the furniture shows up late afternoon. ALL his wood was marred, broken, chipped or gouged in one way or the other. All 17500 lbs of it. It was wrapped in brown paper partially and some dressers were loaded on their sides, others were wood on top of wood leaving rub and wear marks of 2300 miles. And of course, since the person doing the inventory wasn't responsible for anything, basically just listed his items. No descriptions, just an occasional top scratched.This shipper will probably get a 25 or 30 thousand dollar claim. This is your great idea of moving a 67% discount... I have never seen a shipper so stressed out and rightfully so than this Marine officer. And to think this is where the carriers are pushing the industry.
With all the crazy and foolish things going on right now - how can this DP3 system still even be a viable thought in the minds of anyone?!? Everyone needs to start opening their mouths and reiterate to the powers at be that this is not going to work. Every time you turn around there is an exception for this and that so why bother? The rules are made up as things go along and are constatly changing. To think this is all supposed to be for customer satisfaction. Fact is, nobody is happy - not the agents, the drivers OR the customers! So at what point of disarray or how many people have to go out of business before this changes? Hopefully not too many more because there aren't many left! Every day this continues, the deeper the hole is we are going to have to dig ourselves out of.. Thankfully I work for a small independant company who has been being extremely picky at what tonnage we haul. If it doesn't pay - we don't haul it. If I don't want any particular shipment, it stays where it's at. This is probably why I still move furniture. I don't have to deal with the shady 'if you don't want this shipment, you lose the whole load' crap that most dispatchers pull. Today a major carrier called my company with 3 shipments - one at a 51% discount, the other two at 72%. The owner told them we'd gladly take the 51 but we were all set with the others. Their response was - one or none, so he chose none. 30 minutes later, they called again to find out where to fax the paperwork on the 51% job. If everyone adopts this train of thought, it won't take long for the carriers to realize agents and drivers have woken up and things will change! They'll have to. Hopefully it won't be before its too late.. Please, if you agree with any of the things I have to say - firstly, join me on my facebook page and secondly, and most importantly raise your voice and let it be known - things have to change or our industry will be going the way of the horse and carraige, a thing of the past. Lastly, to all my fellow drivers out there trying to do their jobs - Be safe, keep your head up and try to spread the word - together we can make a difference!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
A tale of the 70% discount...
I've had a few days around the house and got to do things I don't get a chance to so much on the road such as looking through the newspaper and flyers that come to the house.. It seems out of all the great sales and discounts that businesses are giving today to try to get a small edge in, I have yet to find one offering a 70% discount for anything.. Especially anyone in the service industry. I've read ads for maybe 10% discount or a senior citizen's discount of 10-15%, but no 70% discounts? Why would you suppose only moving companies are giving 70% discounts and ABOVE?? Even with material products that are sold everyday by conglomorate corporations like Walmart aren't marked down 70%.. At best you may catch a Buy One, Get One at 50% off or if you're lucky Buy One, Get One Free. But even with these deals the first one you purchase is at no discount with the second "free" one at equal or lessor value.
I don't feel out service should be discounted at all, unless occasionally you wanted to give a senior citizen a little.. But these huge discounts of today are ridiculous and need to be stopped!! As a driver or an agent, even the 'Buy One, Get One' would be better than where the discounts are today! With the same conditions - you move with me once, the next time YOU personally move again, I'd do it for free considering it was of equal or lessor value. This sounds absurd but in actuality it's far better than what we are hauling now. The first move would be at FULL price, therefore you'ld be able to profit enough on that move to take the chance that the same customer would have to move the same miles, with the same amount of household items again. At worst it would be two moves at a 50% discount... Hmm, that's a huge increase over a 70% discount isn't it??
A question to the carriers and "salesmen" of today - What are the benefits of giving a 70% discount on a service where you, no my mistake, I am 100% responsible for replacement value? There is NONE! Not to me anyhow. You, yes, me no. You both make a commision off of the service that I provide. This makes no sense. First off let's see what commision means, or what it means to be 'on commision'.. According to Dictionary.com, the idiom of on commision is - paid entirely or partially with commisions from SALES or for WORK one has done. Now, with that, let's look into this a little bit. For the carrier - you hire what you call salesmen to 'sell' your product (which is me by the way, not your logo!) and you do no actual work when it comes to getting the job that got booked done. You do have the authorities and insurances and what not to deserve some of the pie, but not the huge chunks you take. Now to the 'salesmen' that you hire to 'sell' my service. First of all, a salesmen, you would think would SELL the product or service to the public. You need to change their titles to 'Charity givers' or maybe 'Givers of others money' because this is what they do. They do not sell ANYTHING!! A salesman that has one ounce of self respect for his title would not be proud of selling a 70% discount! How can you be rewarded for landing an account that you're willing to give a huge discount like that?!? The problem of today is that when Mary Lou calls the first moving company, that salesmen will give her a 65% discount, mover two 70%, mover three 72%.... Why in the world do the discounts keep getting bigger and bigger? So your 'Charity giver' can get his percentage for just bidding lower than the previous guy? That's not SELLING that is AUCTIONING! Backwards auctioning at that. Why should he get a percentage of ANYTHING?!? He should get a pinkslip for being a moron! The owner of my company, who is also the salsman, booked a 45% discount on 13000 pounds going from NY to Florida. That's SELLING a job on quality service not giving it away just to work. Any high school kid can say 'We can do it cheaper than that!', and he'll be happy with minimum wage. Instead, you think you're going to sell MY service for minimum wage. Well my friend, the time is over for that - whether you realize that or not but if not you soon will because you will be out of business! And your dispatchers who force these huge discounts onto their drivers are disgraceful. They put the SUPER ridiculous discounted shipments in with shipments where there driver might make a few pennies so he still just breaks even.. Why?!? To get it moved? There is a real simple solution to the problem of getting it moved - DONT BOOK IT!! I've recently heard of an 80% discount on a North American driver! And a 78% DP3 on a Mayflower driver. Big shipments with big discounts gets you a little money and your driver none. It's has been getting out of hand for a long time now and it's to the point where drivers needto say enough is enough! It's disgusting that this is how you and your people treat the ones who provide their services..
And finally, the reason that I figure you will be out of business soon is because when I DO see signs for any discounts as ridiculous as 70% or more is when a company hangs a sign on the front of the building that says "GOING OUT OF BUSINESS - EVERYTHING MUST GO" Even those going out of business don't start with a 70% discount, they start around 50% and as the days linger down to the last it finally reaches 70 or 75%.. When there is nothing left to save. Why would our industry be any different?? Look around, open your eyes. Drivers are getting tired of being broke to make you and your charity giving salsmen money... With out drivers - guess what..
YOU ARE OUT OF BUSINESS!
You can take that to the bank...
Drivers it's time!! Let's get together and FORCE changes! STOP HAULING JUNK TONNAGE!!
I don't feel out service should be discounted at all, unless occasionally you wanted to give a senior citizen a little.. But these huge discounts of today are ridiculous and need to be stopped!! As a driver or an agent, even the 'Buy One, Get One' would be better than where the discounts are today! With the same conditions - you move with me once, the next time YOU personally move again, I'd do it for free considering it was of equal or lessor value. This sounds absurd but in actuality it's far better than what we are hauling now. The first move would be at FULL price, therefore you'ld be able to profit enough on that move to take the chance that the same customer would have to move the same miles, with the same amount of household items again. At worst it would be two moves at a 50% discount... Hmm, that's a huge increase over a 70% discount isn't it??
A question to the carriers and "salesmen" of today - What are the benefits of giving a 70% discount on a service where you, no my mistake, I am 100% responsible for replacement value? There is NONE! Not to me anyhow. You, yes, me no. You both make a commision off of the service that I provide. This makes no sense. First off let's see what commision means, or what it means to be 'on commision'.. According to Dictionary.com, the idiom of on commision is - paid entirely or partially with commisions from SALES or for WORK one has done. Now, with that, let's look into this a little bit. For the carrier - you hire what you call salesmen to 'sell' your product (which is me by the way, not your logo!) and you do no actual work when it comes to getting the job that got booked done. You do have the authorities and insurances and what not to deserve some of the pie, but not the huge chunks you take. Now to the 'salesmen' that you hire to 'sell' my service. First of all, a salesmen, you would think would SELL the product or service to the public. You need to change their titles to 'Charity givers' or maybe 'Givers of others money' because this is what they do. They do not sell ANYTHING!! A salesman that has one ounce of self respect for his title would not be proud of selling a 70% discount! How can you be rewarded for landing an account that you're willing to give a huge discount like that?!? The problem of today is that when Mary Lou calls the first moving company, that salesmen will give her a 65% discount, mover two 70%, mover three 72%.... Why in the world do the discounts keep getting bigger and bigger? So your 'Charity giver' can get his percentage for just bidding lower than the previous guy? That's not SELLING that is AUCTIONING! Backwards auctioning at that. Why should he get a percentage of ANYTHING?!? He should get a pinkslip for being a moron! The owner of my company, who is also the salsman, booked a 45% discount on 13000 pounds going from NY to Florida. That's SELLING a job on quality service not giving it away just to work. Any high school kid can say 'We can do it cheaper than that!', and he'll be happy with minimum wage. Instead, you think you're going to sell MY service for minimum wage. Well my friend, the time is over for that - whether you realize that or not but if not you soon will because you will be out of business! And your dispatchers who force these huge discounts onto their drivers are disgraceful. They put the SUPER ridiculous discounted shipments in with shipments where there driver might make a few pennies so he still just breaks even.. Why?!? To get it moved? There is a real simple solution to the problem of getting it moved - DONT BOOK IT!! I've recently heard of an 80% discount on a North American driver! And a 78% DP3 on a Mayflower driver. Big shipments with big discounts gets you a little money and your driver none. It's has been getting out of hand for a long time now and it's to the point where drivers needto say enough is enough! It's disgusting that this is how you and your people treat the ones who provide their services..
And finally, the reason that I figure you will be out of business soon is because when I DO see signs for any discounts as ridiculous as 70% or more is when a company hangs a sign on the front of the building that says "GOING OUT OF BUSINESS - EVERYTHING MUST GO" Even those going out of business don't start with a 70% discount, they start around 50% and as the days linger down to the last it finally reaches 70 or 75%.. When there is nothing left to save. Why would our industry be any different?? Look around, open your eyes. Drivers are getting tired of being broke to make you and your charity giving salsmen money... With out drivers - guess what..
YOU ARE OUT OF BUSINESS!
You can take that to the bank...
Drivers it's time!! Let's get together and FORCE changes! STOP HAULING JUNK TONNAGE!!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Attention Carriers - Time to wake up!
Today is May 15th, the day the military rates are supposed to go up to a rate where someone besides the carriers may be able to make a buck. Unfortunately I'm thinking a change for the better has been made, but for most it is going to be too little and probably too late. Many owner operators and agents have been trying the best we can to get by on the travesty that you, the carriers have started. And what have the larger companies been doing while we've been suffering?? "Necessary" things like cutting all their overhead with their trucks and putting all the expense on some poor driver, or how about, the definitely needed logo change? Hello?!?! Mr CEO, your drivers are starving, losing everything they have, your agents are shutting the doors at a rate unheard of, and you think a new logo is going to do the trick?? I don't make the huge salary that you or your whole marketing department does, but I DO know a new logo for an entire fleet of trucks is not cheap nor is it going to help your business. I do know however, that if you took a little more time and money and put it into your MOST VALUABLE resource, your contractors, you'd see a significant difference. You are asking us to go into situations where we KNOW we aren't going to make a paycheck and perform a service no one else wants to do, and do it with a smile.. How many drivers out here do you think are happy making no money? I can see in someones face when they aren't happy - your customers can too. And their quality of work is what is going to sell your business NOT your logo!! So next time when you have your board meeting, why don't you have some representation from us, your drivers? And no, not a yes-man, figurehead. I'm mean an intelligent businessman driver. You may have to do a little searching, and schedule your meeting around his schedule, but you'll get REAL input on what's going on in the street, where your work is done, believe it or not . How are office workers who have never been on a job going to figure out what it needs to take to make a change?? I've never seen a Bible of Moving, and the corny training videos you publish don't come close to real life situations. That's like training a soldier on an XBox, isn't the same. All the money spent on your logo change could have been put to good use by the guys who do the work, if they're still in business. You could have split the money in half, put half in your pocket and the other half split between drivers and you would have had a bigger profit (as if you need one), overjoyed drivers who would still be happy with their job, and even drivers beating your door down for a job. Instead you have drivers leaving by the busload, and no one can figure out why... because they aren't making money!! It's not brain surgery.
Now, the reason we aren't making any money:
The first and foremost reason we are not making any money is because the people who set the rates in this industry have NO IDEA what it takes to do a household move. None. So, that being the case, why is that their job?!? I wouldn't want a dentist telling me how much it is going to cost to have a toilet installed. But this is how the moving industry is run. It's absurd. The people saying the work can be done at a 75% discount have no idea what's involved. I just don't understand. The salesmen are getting ridiculous as well.
All to book a job that isn't profitable? How many days do you think either of these people would work if THEIR paycheck didn't come? Or if it was discounted 75%?? But yet your drivers do it everyday!!
Instead of having a stupid video to show your office people what goes on - how about they get in a truck for a couple weeks or better yet, until the driver gets back to HIS home, and see what happens. First of all, the positions would probably stay open but that's besides the point. At that point I feel a salesman would be able to accurately price a job. He'd be able to see what it REALLY takes to do things such as: hoist a couch out of a third floor window, fight to get a truck into a tiny alley fighting traffic, put up with unrealistic shippers IN PERSON, not on the phone, sit in a truck stop for days on end waiting for a load, put up with the DOT regualtions and cops who have hard ons for truckers, and the list goes on and on.
What everyone fails to realize is that us drivers give up a big part of our personnal lives for our jobs. You don't. You don't miss birthdays, holidays, dinner with long lost relatives, baseball and soccer games, plays, first days of school, etc., etc.. And as far as you're concerned, apparently, none of these things are worth anything. Well they are and if you don't make this profitable for the drivers your salesmen and office people will soon have no choice but to be on the truck or there will be no job. If we made the money we deserve nobody would have to miss these things because airplane tickets or rental cars would be affordable in order for people to get to where they need to be and be back in time to complete their jobs. In the past I've done it but now I can't afford to! This is why we drivers are taking a stand in order to have OUR lives back.. Wake up corporate moving industry or there will not be a moving industry no more! Let the people who want to bicker over pennies move their own stuff! They'll only do it once, trust me. Then they'll call back and pay the price that we need to get. Stop wasteful spending and put it into your most valuable resource: YOUR DRIVERS!!
Now, fuel prices. Need I say more?? It disgusts me that we are paying over $4.00/ gal for fuel. And I've heard of non-existent fuel surcharges, are you kidding?? EVERY business out here is charging a fuel surcharge. And remind me the reason the carrier needs any of the fuel surcharge? I put the fuel in my truck, I need the fuel surcharge, not you. Here's an example of how assanine this is:
I'm looking at an estimate on a 5000# move going short mileage. Surprisingly, it's a 68% discount. The fuel surcharge rate is 0.0027 and totals $12.69. 0.0027??? Twentyseven ten-thousandths?? And how far is $12.69 going to get my truck. Well let's figure it out: $12.69 divided by $4.499/gal = 2.8206 gallons of diesel fuel. My truck gets approx. 5 mpg therefore my truck would be able to go 14.1 miles. Basically, that doesn't get me out of the hell hole of an apartment complex that your salesman said was 'no problem at all, easily accessed'. This is RIDICULOUS! The only other business I know that doesn't charge a fuel surcharge is the US Post Office.. Want me to figure out what it would cost a shipper if they had to move a trailer load of household items via the USPS?? I bet the numbers would have 5 or 6 figures in it. But yet we do it for next to nothing! If the shippers do not want to pay the price let THEM buy the fuel and load it in a rental truck. Save us all a headache. When they arrive at their new destination and their loved one is crying and screaming because over half their stuff is broken and now junk, next time they will pay what it's worth.
On the same estimate the extra stop rate is $40.70. I guess this means the extra stop is definitely within 25 miles, because it only pays for less than 10 gallons of fuel. (I guess the help rides around for free!) Think about what you are doing. We drivers can not absorb anymore costs!! We aren't making any money to begin with because of simple things like this.
If you care so much about the customer, stop taking the money out of our pockets and reach into yours. WE do the work, WE keep the customer happy, WE get situations figured out 100 times a day WITHOUT calling an operations manager for help. We'll most likely get a voicemail ,so why bother when we can save all important time figuring it out ourselves. No one in the corporate world of moving know what job his contractors actually have.. We are professionals at way more than just carrying boxes like most think. Actually, alot of drivers don't actually tote much but they manage a crew of workers as well as the customers. We have to direct all our help but also deal with everything else that is involved. Sometimes that involves comforting a shipper who is in tears as her sofa is being carried out of the house. Or, like I recently had to deal with, a shipper who was apparently bipolar, on strong meds and drinking the entire 32 hours I was on the job. (That didn't include the 3 day pack) We have to deal with the DOT regulations, the police, the company mandated policies, over and above the state and federal policies, for what?? For some moron to tell us how to do our job when we are doing it for next to nothing!?!
It's time for everyone to wake up! EVERYONE! Carriers wake up and appreciate what we do every day for you and drivers wake up and stand up for yourselves!! Don't quit - quitting is easy... Fight! Fight for your occupation and livelihood! If we are going down, let's put our feet down, our heads together and demand a change! If not let the them sink with us.
Now, the reason we aren't making any money:
The first and foremost reason we are not making any money is because the people who set the rates in this industry have NO IDEA what it takes to do a household move. None. So, that being the case, why is that their job?!? I wouldn't want a dentist telling me how much it is going to cost to have a toilet installed. But this is how the moving industry is run. It's absurd. The people saying the work can be done at a 75% discount have no idea what's involved. I just don't understand. The salesmen are getting ridiculous as well.
All to book a job that isn't profitable? How many days do you think either of these people would work if THEIR paycheck didn't come? Or if it was discounted 75%?? But yet your drivers do it everyday!!
Instead of having a stupid video to show your office people what goes on - how about they get in a truck for a couple weeks or better yet, until the driver gets back to HIS home, and see what happens. First of all, the positions would probably stay open but that's besides the point. At that point I feel a salesman would be able to accurately price a job. He'd be able to see what it REALLY takes to do things such as: hoist a couch out of a third floor window, fight to get a truck into a tiny alley fighting traffic, put up with unrealistic shippers IN PERSON, not on the phone, sit in a truck stop for days on end waiting for a load, put up with the DOT regualtions and cops who have hard ons for truckers, and the list goes on and on.
What everyone fails to realize is that us drivers give up a big part of our personnal lives for our jobs. You don't. You don't miss birthdays, holidays, dinner with long lost relatives, baseball and soccer games, plays, first days of school, etc., etc.. And as far as you're concerned, apparently, none of these things are worth anything. Well they are and if you don't make this profitable for the drivers your salesmen and office people will soon have no choice but to be on the truck or there will be no job. If we made the money we deserve nobody would have to miss these things because airplane tickets or rental cars would be affordable in order for people to get to where they need to be and be back in time to complete their jobs. In the past I've done it but now I can't afford to! This is why we drivers are taking a stand in order to have OUR lives back.. Wake up corporate moving industry or there will not be a moving industry no more! Let the people who want to bicker over pennies move their own stuff! They'll only do it once, trust me. Then they'll call back and pay the price that we need to get. Stop wasteful spending and put it into your most valuable resource: YOUR DRIVERS!!
Now, fuel prices. Need I say more?? It disgusts me that we are paying over $4.00/ gal for fuel. And I've heard of non-existent fuel surcharges, are you kidding?? EVERY business out here is charging a fuel surcharge. And remind me the reason the carrier needs any of the fuel surcharge? I put the fuel in my truck, I need the fuel surcharge, not you. Here's an example of how assanine this is:
I'm looking at an estimate on a 5000# move going short mileage. Surprisingly, it's a 68% discount. The fuel surcharge rate is 0.0027 and totals $12.69. 0.0027??? Twentyseven ten-thousandths?? And how far is $12.69 going to get my truck. Well let's figure it out: $12.69 divided by $4.499/gal = 2.8206 gallons of diesel fuel. My truck gets approx. 5 mpg therefore my truck would be able to go 14.1 miles. Basically, that doesn't get me out of the hell hole of an apartment complex that your salesman said was 'no problem at all, easily accessed'. This is RIDICULOUS! The only other business I know that doesn't charge a fuel surcharge is the US Post Office.. Want me to figure out what it would cost a shipper if they had to move a trailer load of household items via the USPS?? I bet the numbers would have 5 or 6 figures in it. But yet we do it for next to nothing! If the shippers do not want to pay the price let THEM buy the fuel and load it in a rental truck. Save us all a headache. When they arrive at their new destination and their loved one is crying and screaming because over half their stuff is broken and now junk, next time they will pay what it's worth.
On the same estimate the extra stop rate is $40.70. I guess this means the extra stop is definitely within 25 miles, because it only pays for less than 10 gallons of fuel. (I guess the help rides around for free!) Think about what you are doing. We drivers can not absorb anymore costs!! We aren't making any money to begin with because of simple things like this.
If you care so much about the customer, stop taking the money out of our pockets and reach into yours. WE do the work, WE keep the customer happy, WE get situations figured out 100 times a day WITHOUT calling an operations manager for help. We'll most likely get a voicemail ,so why bother when we can save all important time figuring it out ourselves. No one in the corporate world of moving know what job his contractors actually have.. We are professionals at way more than just carrying boxes like most think. Actually, alot of drivers don't actually tote much but they manage a crew of workers as well as the customers. We have to direct all our help but also deal with everything else that is involved. Sometimes that involves comforting a shipper who is in tears as her sofa is being carried out of the house. Or, like I recently had to deal with, a shipper who was apparently bipolar, on strong meds and drinking the entire 32 hours I was on the job. (That didn't include the 3 day pack) We have to deal with the DOT regulations, the police, the company mandated policies, over and above the state and federal policies, for what?? For some moron to tell us how to do our job when we are doing it for next to nothing!?!
It's time for everyone to wake up! EVERYONE! Carriers wake up and appreciate what we do every day for you and drivers wake up and stand up for yourselves!! Don't quit - quitting is easy... Fight! Fight for your occupation and livelihood! If we are going down, let's put our feet down, our heads together and demand a change! If not let the them sink with us.
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