Have Things Been Slow For The Rest Of You?

My run was canceled again, I meet with a driver from one of our largest if not the largest terminal on and they don't have anything to come north with on a Saturday.

The guy at central said it's becoming pretty common. Luckily I anticipated this and sold my Explorer for more than I owe and got myself a beater so at least I don't have a car payment.

I also worked 3 days. Could have been 5, but I declined the runs that require dock work. I didn't feel like doing it and I didn't sleep on Tuesday because I was drawn into the election day stuff. Days 1 and 2 were meets and 3 was a rail run that paid hourly. I ended the week with 1150 miles plus task pay and 6 hours on the clock.

I can't say how their actual volume is but Schneider has some approximately $3000 bonus deal if you'll run teams on the van side up through the holidays.

I appreciate that, thank you. In the event that I do get furloughed, I'd probably just hang out at home and do some cash gigs.

Wow, as a potential future driver, reading this thread and planning on jumping in the pool in late spring 2023 if I can't find work in my current industry its a bit discouraging but appreciate the raw info from you folks out there doing it now.

Looks like my family may starve and it would take me 12 years to pay back my tuition to Roehl if I moved forward based on the current outlook.

No, I haven’t noticed a slow down, but I’ve been doing reefers all this year and dedicated cross country for Unilever/US Cold. Normally 2500-3500 miles each week.

Wow, as a potential future driver, reading this thread and planning on jumping in the pool in late spring 2023 if I can't find work in my current industry its a bit discouraging but appreciate the raw info from you folks out there doing it now.

Looks like my family may starve and it would take me 12 years to pay back my tuition to Roehl if I moved forward based on the current outlook.

Like the above comment, I haul reefer freight and I have been staying busy. Most of these comments are from drivers who do LTL , which is a whole different world from OTR reefer. Other than the comments from those LTL guys on this forum and occasionally talking to a driver at a truck stop, I don't know much about LTL. If a company is willing to hire you and train you, it means that they have a need to for your butt to be in a seat in your own truck within a few months.

Ryan is correct. Things in LTL operate a little differently. A mega carrier hiring you is likely to have work. Reefer is always running.

Looks like my family may starve and it would take me 12 years to pay back my tuition to Roehl if I moved forward based on the current outlook

Zen Joker, that's not true. Things slow down at times, and next year will almost certainly be an economic disaster, but the industry always needs new drivers and there's always freight available. If things are slow you might turn 2,500 miles instead of 3,000 but it's not like you're sitting around doing nothing most of the time.

Also, here's a big thing to keep in mind; freight gets distributed based on performance much of the time. In other words, if two drivers are available for a load and there's only one available at the moment, there's an excellent chance the freight will go to the more productive, efficient, and safe driver. It's not about experience. It's about performance.

So even a relatively new driver will get good miles during slow times if they've proven themselves to be productive and reliable.

This industry favors bold, determined, and hard-working folks. Get out there determined to turn good miles and get to all of your appointments on time and you'll have plenty of freight to pay your bills, even during slow times.

Thanks Brett and everyone

Looks like my family may starve and it would take me 12 years to pay back my tuition to Roehl if I moved forward based on the current outlook

Zen Joker, that's not true. Things slow down at times, and next year will almost certainly be an economic disaster, but the industry always needs new drivers and there's always freight available. If things are slow you might turn 2,500 miles instead of 3,000 but it's not like you're sitting around doing nothing most of the time.

Also, here's a big thing to keep in mind; freight gets distributed based on performance much of the time. In other words, if two drivers are available for a load and there's only one available at the moment, there's an excellent chance the freight will go to the more productive, efficient, and safe driver. It's not about experience. It's about performance.

So even a relatively new driver will get good miles during slow times if they've proven themselves to be productive and reliable.

This industry favors bold, determined, and hard-working folks. Get out there determined to turn good miles and get to all of your appointments on time and you'll have plenty of freight to pay your bills, even during slow times.

I can speak to personal experience proving Brett's statement to be true regarding drivers getting miles based on performance and not experience.

I have roughly a year and a half of class A driving experience, all with the same company. I am routinely in the top 10% of my terminal , with regard to miles run/30 days. I am nowhere near the top 10% in seniority. I have maintained a 100% success rate in not having any service failures on loads. I have a 99% on time delivery rate. I never refuse loads (one refused because I was not going to be able to get it to delivery without running about 2 hours over drive time). I report issues with equipment before they compromise on time delivery of loads. I maintain a safe driving record. I communicate with my DM , and I do so in ways that are predictable. I keep the use of my clock predictable. If I do switch things up, I communicate that with my DM. Trucking companies make money by moving freight. They make money when the load is picked up and delivered on time with no damage to equipment nor property. It doesn't matter who the driver is, as long as the load is picked up on time, delivered on time, and nothing is damaged in the process. Finding drivers like myself is not easy. They usually have many years of experience.