Wow – not yet fully halfway through 2020, and we’ve dealt with pandemic, rising then falling rates, widespread protests, some bona fide riots, truckers finally recognized as essential then one dragged from his truck as if he caused the problems our nation faces. It hurts my heart to see so much pain. It is too sad we cannot see that we are all children of God. Maybe we should take a lesson from the Marines, where everyone is green, because we all bleed the same.
Rising and falling rates are nothing new in trucking, and neither is the blame game – operators worried about going out of business, for instance, and blaming brokers for cheating them. Brokers then blaming operators en masse for accepting their lowball rates.
The reality is plenty more murky than all that. Granted, as with the ongoing conflict over race relations suffered by almost everyone to some degree, there are and will always be bad apples, and definitely among brokers. And yeah, plenty owner-operators are operating with little wiggle room for error, don’t in fact know their own cost numbers, and/or just don’t understand what a broker really does in this industry.
For the most part, though, everyone just wants to make a decent living for their family and do the right thing while working a very tough job. Blaming a big group of proverbial others for your particular problems is never productive. In the end, innocents suffer as a result.
Always begin any evaluation of a difficult situation with Numero Uno. Knowing your operating cost as an owner-operator is essential to the ability to bite the bullet when necessary. While no one enjoys taking a pay cut, at times it is a must to stay in business (though this should be a last resort). Knowing your numbers will show you places you can cut back on expenses before you reach that point.
One of the best and easiest places to cut is in fuel consumption. When rates are good and freight plentiful, we can run the speed limit, make as many miles as possible and try to squeeze one more load a week in under the wire.
When freight falls off the cliff and rates are down, slowing down and conserving as much fuel as possible does actually pay off. With fuel down as low as it’s been, this is not as profitable a tactic as it might otherwise be for those of you who collect surcharges in a leased operation or otherwise. Still, a penny saved is a penny earned.
