Profile For Davy A.

Wow, glad you're ok

The car industry is the next 08 crash. It's not surprising to me about the 10 year notes. For one thing, it's the only way most borrowers can afford the monthly payments.

Added to the list of things that state propaganda (the media and news outlets on the net) won't discuss is the default rate and repo rate on vehicles. It's the highest It's ever been in history. Auction yards are flooded.

If you have the money, its a great time to get a specialty vehicle, like a last call challenger or shelby or mach 1. I got my mach 1 for 24k less than they wanted. It was holding up their allotment of the s650. C8 vettes can be had for 20 to 30k less than msrp. They won't tell you that, their in denial of the crash, but the reality is that they are so overstocked, no ones buying, especially the high end stuff.

What used to be called conspiracy theories are now called spoiler alerts

I find it odd that they are forecasting gains too as we're in what many have described as Carpocalypse. Inventories are stockpiling, the dealerships can't sell them and are defaulting on their floor loans and allotments.

If I recall, it was GM, that close to 80 percent of all their new vehicle sales were fleet vehicles, meaning people are not buying new vehicles. Since their sales were down 30 percent in q4 of 23, any improvement in that is going to look good.

With the discontinuation of the Camaro and the push for BEV which is costing the automakers billions and the public rejecting buying them, coupled with non existent resale values and the highest default rate on car loans in history, I don't think they're going to be doing as well as they claim.

Both ford and Toyota ceased devopment and further production other than current on their EVs with plans to cease production of them after loosing billions each. They can't sell the crapolla, yet GM doubles down on it.

Plus, after they milked the American taxpayers of billions of dollars in bailouts from criminally mismanagement, they turned around and built the camaro in Canada and Mexico. Remember the "too big to fail" where's my bailout?

Out of the big 3, only Ford didn't take a bailout.

As far as projecting profits. Knight was off 37 percent of their earnings forecast. So, not really a reliable barometer of the companies health. I would expect more layoffs impending.

This was from a discussion I was having with some drivers at work. My thought was that this is why unions need to embrace piecework pay as well as hourly.

This is an age old debate. To be successful being paid by the mile, which is piecework, meaning paid by the unit of measurement, you need to have a deep understanding of piecework and extras. It's really advantageous if you have been a business owner or worked previous jobs that were piecework such as most of the trades.

We're much closer to a micro business than an employee. The TM and DMs are basically your customers. You have to effectively "bill" for every action you can that is not driving. Layover, detention, repairing trailers, double drop and hooks, multiple stops, etc. Some items are included in the rate per mile, such as fueling, pre trip, etc.

Like any customer to business relationship, you have to provide exceptional service and communication to keep the customer and to get more work from them. You also need to justify your additional costs and document them. There is always a balance that needs to be struck. All customers (the company) obviously want to pay out as little as possible, its just business. All of us micro businesses want to bill as much as possible, it too is just business, nothing personal. The art of negotiation comes into play and a balance between the two is achieved.

Hourly is a fixed income. You will only consistently make a certain amount per week. Many prefer this because they don't have to think about the administrative side of things. It's understandable but it limits your earnings.

Piecework on the other hand, while having more risk, rewards those who hustle, those who can negotiate terms. A piecework employee can earn more than their hourly counterpart, but it takes more effort.

In piecework pay systems, the unit is what's important, not the hour, not the time. The more loads completed per week along with accurate billing for additional items will produce very lucrative results. The relationships with your team and the load planners by proxy through your DM are vital, as is completing the max amount of loads possible. I thrive in this environment. I have great relationships with my team, get fed a lot of work, and have no problem negotiating payments for additional work, in fact, I've found Knight to be very generous with them provided that I consistently perform safely and productively.

I ran a successful business for decades prior to driving, there are many similarities to that here, but you really have to have that mindset to succeed being paid by the mile.

Man, I simply don't have the patience to deal with ignorance on that magnitude.

Yes wearing a seat belt is a safety function. Seriously, go race cars and not wear a 5 point, see what happens.

I'm sure Stevie was the best of the best at trucking with that attitude.

Yes many companies have cams, some driver facing, while I don't condone nor will I work for a company that has driver facing cams, their benefits to the corporation that uses them are true and factual. Road facing cams are beneficial to both drivers and the corporation, provided they are not being used to reduce wage payouts to drivers by basing bonuses on them. It's a personal choice.

Long and short, I think Ole Stevie would have a difficult time adjusting to the industry these days.

Yes, we are all obviously insane, we drive giant vehicles for less than stellar pay, put up with idiots in cars, the government and corporations taking a piece of us at every turn, but we all have had that magical sunrise or sunset on the road that keeps us doing this lifestyle.

I work for the largest truckload carrier in North America. But each terminal is like its own business having full autonomy on most decisions. I prefer it for many reasons including resources, equipment, solvency, consistency in policy, and opportunity to rise above the bulk of drivers.

With corporate policy, if you're smart enough and diligent, you can find systemic opportunities and exploit them, that doesn't exist at smaller companies.

But it really comes down to your conduct, performance and relationship with your dispatch and team. Even in a large company, you're still interfacing with a small number of people. How well you perform unlocks higher levels of pay and perks.

The question I always ask is "Have I maximized my earnings potential?" If I haven't, I might not be ready to leave.

When I'm out for extended periods of time, I'll take a couple days off, fly the Mrs out to where I'm at and do hotels. It's way easier and keeps me tolling instead of having to route home time.

Knight also is really good about covering hotels if I need one during truck repairs or doing a recovery for them.

Also, Karen, pardon, I mean Sharon. No need to report it to the "mods"...we can see it and many, like myself, are commenting on your post. If you look carefully, like one would when checking the weather when route planning, you'll notice the title "moderator" under our names that are indeed moderators. It's somewhat aking to "getting the manager".

Sharon, something that unfortunately needs to be looked at:

After driving for a couple decades without incident, we have 2 backing incidents, one of which into a fuel truck, extremely dangerous and an easily preventable roll over.

This shows a degradation in mental acuity, cognitive function and judgment along with loss of fine motor skills.

It's never easy to look at, but these are all indicators of degenerative cognitive illnesses such as alzhiemers, dimensia and stokes. Most loved ones, rather than seeking testing of this, retreat into denial over the possibility of these, especially as we age.

By your own accounts, something has changed in your husband. He's gone from a safe driver to one that has demonstrated a marked deterioration of safe judgment skills in a relatively short peroid. I know times are tough, but perhaps this should be looked at with the family doc. It may be unrelated incidents, and your husband is just distracted or burnt out, but why risk it. Many illnesses, if diagnosed early can be treated with much success.