Welp, that's ugly news for freight trucking

[moniss]

46. Thanks

for the sourcing and yes there is regional variability but overall trending is down across the board. I would also point out that I use DAT and I can say that their numbers are usually very conservative. The actual reality is that markets like the Midwest/Plains States/Auto Belt are collapsing worse than the industry trends reflected by DAT. Small operations haul the vast majority of freight in this country every day and a man or woman with a $3,000.00 per month payment on a truck and trailer is staring disaster in the face. So they keep hauling cheaper and cheaper freight just to have cash flow to make the payment but it's a downward spiral because our freight system in this country is ruled by freight brokers and they keep offering lower and lower rates for loads because they know they have leverage. They pocket the difference. They typically run as pimps. I've personally sat in their offices and heard them work both ends against each other for their benefit even during a good economy. As an example a trucker calls the broker asking if he has loads. The broker says "No I don't it's real dead right now and if I do find you something it will be cheap". Five minutes later a shipper with a load calls the broker and the broker says "I'll try and find you a truck but there's hardly any around right now so if I do you're going to probably have to pay a little higher rate than normal." So the broker gets the shipper to agree to a high rate. then the broker calls the trucker back who had called in earlier. He dangles the load and says the following "Well I found you something but it's really cheap and it's way below normal rates but it's all there is." So now this desperate trucker is faced with a small amount of cash flow or nothing. the broker pockets the difference after having lied to both ends of the transaction they are a part of. Many times the broker is making as much or more than the trucker actually doing the work. This freight system in America is dysfunctional to say the least but it keeps going because there are thousands and thousands of average people every day who have few options to try and see a way up the economic ladder and so they turn to the siren song of owning their own business/truck. The finance companies will OK the deal with little to no money down even with iffy credit. If for some reason you are rejected then there are large freight companies who run a scam of "lease to own" where you lease the equipment from them and haul their freight exclusively. Supposedly you'll make plenty of money but most don't catch on that they are also determining how much you get paid for hauling the load. Because of normal expenses and the low pay few are ever successfully paying off the truck and then owning it but of course they don't show you that up front because then people wouldn't do the deal and haul their freight. If you realize you've been scammed and want to walk away they take the truck and you lose everything you paid into it.