Research Question For Truck Drivers

Hello all! I am a college student writing a mini research paper on the trucking industry, specifically looking at drivers.

The question I am trying to answer from the driver's perspective is:

What is the quality of your trailer when you pick it up and the difficulties that arise when a trailer is not fit to operate? Secondly, what is the accessibility/availability to repairs/maintenance services prior to trip (during pre-trip) and during trip?

Thank you!

Hello Oliver,

Trailer condition and age is all over the map. Some companies have really good, late model trailers and some have old, poorly maintained trailers. And then there is everything in between.

Perhaps you could refine your question to get better information from drivers. The answers to your current questions will be all over the place, depending on what company a driver works for.

My company has excellent trailers in good repair. If there is ever an issue, which is very rare, it is taken care of promptly either at our shop or a repair facility near the location where the problem first occurs.

I unfortunately have different experiences with trailers than BK. My company's trailers are anywhere from 12-13 years old to brand new. When I have a good trailer, I hope for live loads/unloads so I can keep it, versus doing drop and hooks where I'm wondering what if any problems are awaiting me when I pick it up.

It could be the last driver didn't post-trip it, or didn't notice the problem during post-trip, or did but didn't bother to tell the company about it and red-tag it. Or maybe it picked up a nail in the tire while the yard dog moved it around the lot.

Getting whatever it is fixed can be very time-consuming, waiting for a shop to get you in, while your clock continues running down. I'm the opposite of mechanically-inclined but I will try to fix whatever it is first to keep myself moving.

I'm going through my first year driving, and that's been my experience so far.

This is weird coming right after this topic was posted, but I had one of my “rare” trailer issues last night up in Minnesota.

I had just left the customer with a trailer loaded for Denver, about 22:30. Less than 10 miles away, my trailer lights went out except for the emergency flashers. So I pulled over in a fairly safe place and tried to find the cause. Couldn’t locate the problem so I called our road breakdown number. They said they would try to find someone to come out, but I might have to wait until morning. About half an hour later, there was a knock on the door. I hadn’t seen a service vehicle pull up, so I was a little surprised. Turns out it was a technician who came out on his bicycle pulling one of those child trailers. His tools were in the trailer. He lives about 6 blocks from where I was parked and had to use the bicycle because he had a OWI and his license was suspended. I got a few pictures of the road service “vehicle” but they are not very good photos.

We couldn’t find the problem so here I sit in the shop this morning. They say there is a short somewhere in the trailer wiring and they are trying to locate it.

I'm curious as to what your hoping to find with your research.

Trucking companies trailer pools are as variable as snowflakes. Each company has different approaches and different philosophies. Even among one carrier, they may have different divisions with different needs.

For instance with Knight, I work for the largest truckload carrier in North America. We have several divisions including dry van , reefer , ports, flatbed, expedited, local and then we have different companies that we have absorbed.

To further complicate it, each terminal is independently operated, some have different trailers than others. For instance, our Fontana terminal has brand new dry van trailers, they horde them for their dedicated routes. It's not uncommon for us to abscond with them if we can.

In general though, in dry van, most of our trailers that are older are problematic. It costs a driver untold amounts of time and thus money to have them repaired. As with most carriers, breakdown pay is woefully low and doesn't adequately compensate for lost miles, so the drivers avoid repairs at all costs. It's engineered systemically to avoid costs until absolutely necessary.

What generally transpires is that a driver must haul an empty to a shipper , many will haul it even if it needs repaired because we need the next load in order to make money. The shipper usually doesn't do a thorough inspection, some do, but not many. The bad trailer gets loaded and the next driver is stuck with it. Because we don't get paid enough to repair, it gets passed on until catastrophic system failure occurs on the trailer or tires. We all get our turn in the barrel.

If the trailers must be repaired, often the driver will ultimately absorb the cost of getting the trailer in a position to be serviced and babysitting the trailer while repairs are done unless the driver is transactional and knows how to procure ancillary pay. Since our bonuses and pay are milage based, we loose hundreds of dollars per day wasted on getting repairs.

Our dry van trailers are non air ride, and the landing gear on the older series are difficult and frequently malfunctioning. Most of our older trailers are dog legged and have severe issues with the tandems.

We frequently have multiple flats and blown tires. Some of it is from under inflation, some from cheap recaps, some just normal wear and tear. In the summer I average a flat or two a week on our trailers. Most can be reinflated, but blowouts occur, and if it's unbeaded, it will require service. I usually average a blow out or service on trailer tires twice a month.

US express and midnight express trailers are highly coveted as they both have air ride and air release tandems. Bar Nunn trailers generally will have a mix of air ride as well. These are all companies we have acquired and thus have access to their trailers.

When I was running dedicated, I tried to get our midnight express trailers to the shipper as much as possible in hopes that they would stay in circulation on my routes. The air ride trailers tow better and ride nicer but have a spongey feel, they have sort of a surge effect if you're hard on the brakes. I still prefer them though, far smoother over bumps.

The other component is empties. When freight is busy, they're very difficult to come by, we spend hours and days wasted looking for empties. Its been nice that during the current freight market crash, empties have been plentiful. In general, as noted above, we must have an empty to get a loaded. Given the shortage of them, it exacerbates the issue of repairs.

We do have an app and system for locating empties that works well (Freightbox). We are currently removing our oldest series of trailers in the fleet for sale, which has made parking at terminals hell as they have brought them in and left them there for decommissioning, and will really cause havoc on our empty pool if not replenished with new trailers.

So much THIS! in the beginning of the equipment shortage, Prime stopped selling off their older trailers. Now, the terminals are jam packed with sale trailers, way overpriced, that aren't moving. I have pulled a few 2016s lately that have been in way better shape than the 2021 and 2022s. I call them "survivors." I think we are supposed to be getting ready to decommission the 2018s, but with so many waiting already to be sold it may change that timeline.

We are currently removing our oldest series of trailers in the fleet for sale, which has made parking at terminals hell as they have brought them in and left them there for decommissioning, and will really cause havoc on our empty pool if not replenished with new trailers

BK,

That is hilarious. I will give the guy credit for making lemonade from lemons though. Did he say how long he will be without a license? It might be a long cold winter in MN for him.

This is weird coming right after this topic was posted, but I had one of my “rare” trailer issues last night up in Minnesota.

I had just left the customer with a trailer loaded for Denver, about 22:30. Less than 10 miles away, my trailer lights went out except for the emergency flashers. So I pulled over in a fairly safe place and tried to find the cause. Couldn’t locate the problem so I called our road breakdown number. They said they would try to find someone to come out, but I might have to wait until morning. About half an hour later, there was a knock on the door. I hadn’t seen a service vehicle pull up, so I was a little surprised. Turns out it was a technician who came out on his bicycle pulling one of those child trailers. His tools were in the trailer. He lives about 6 blocks from where I was parked and had to use the bicycle because he had a OWI and his license was suspended. I got a few pictures of the road service “vehicle” but they are not very good photos.

We couldn’t find the problem so here I sit in the shop this morning. They say there is a short somewhere in the trailer wiring and they are trying to locate it.

BK,

That is hilarious. I will give the guy credit for making lemonade from lemons though. Did he say how long he will be without a license? It might be a long cold winter in MN for him.

This is weird coming right after this topic was posted, but I had one of my “rare” trailer issues last night up in Minnesota.

I had just left the customer with a trailer loaded for Denver, about 22:30. Less than 10 miles away, my trailer lights went out except for the emergency flashers. So I pulled over in a fairly safe place and tried to find the cause. Couldn’t locate the problem so I called our road breakdown number. They said they would try to find someone to come out, but I might have to wait until morning. About half an hour later, there was a knock on the door. I hadn’t seen a service vehicle pull up, so I was a little surprised. Turns out it was a technician who came out on his bicycle pulling one of those child trailers. His tools were in the trailer. He lives about 6 blocks from where I was parked and had to use the bicycle because he had a OWI and his license was suspended. I got a few pictures of the road service “vehicle” but they are not very good photos.

We couldn’t find the problem so here I sit in the shop this morning. They say there is a short somewhere in the trailer wiring and they are trying to locate it.

The technician that came out on his bike (temperature was about 20 degrees), was a really cool guy, no pun intended. He was in the process of dealing with the court about his OWI so the outcome is yet to be determined. Fortunately for him, he is a seasoned mechanic and his boss drives right by his house to work everyday. So he has transportation to and from work and job security because their shop was very busy and I was told they stay busy.I was lucky to get in early. The problem was a short in the wiring and they had to fish some new wires from the bottom of the trailer to the top.

Also, Davy’s response above is really excellent about trailer troubles. Especially his description about the time lost for drivers. Breakdown pay is indeed pitiful. It never comes close to equaling what a driver will make if he can keep rolling. Great evaluation of the issue.