Modern Trucking Industry

revrnd · March 4, 2017

I hope we can move the trucking industry discussion over here. I have a couple of comments, questions that I'll post later today.

revrnd · March 4, 2017

Cowpie, you would've been thru here anytime you were heading back to the States from Oshawa.

http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/tractor-trailer-falls-from-ramp-crashes-onto-highway-401-1.2293406

The ramp in question has been there for a gazillion years and is clearly marked @ a lower speed. Further info stated that the driver was 21 & from Brampton a neighbouring community, so it's not like the driver was from GA or MO & had never been to Toronto before.

Two of the scariest words a motorist can see on a transport on an Ontario highway is 'Brampton' & 'logistics' on the trailer or cab. Usually day trucks or beat up used trucks that 1 of the majors have worn out. In the past few months I've seen 2 used Werner tractors (name is still visible in the faded paint) on the 401 w/ Ontario plates & some 'no name' company graphics on the door.

Any idea @ what point do the majors get rid of their tractors? Is it age or mileage? Emission regs are mentioned in the other thread, do they ever take any off the road @ a certain date or are older trucks 'grandfathered' until their end of service? Also, would it be possible for an obsolete truck to be sold to a Canadian operator & still be run as long as it stayed on this side of the border?

Cowpie after you stopped hauling into Oshawa, Verspeeten lost a lot of parts hauls to the Truck Plant to an outfit called Autobahn. I walked by a dock that they used and it was a steady stream of these:

http://www.adpost.com/classifieds/upload/us/vehicles/us_vehicles.1008668.1.jpg

All different colours and definitely seen better days. Faded paint, cracked/broken fenders, tank or bumper covers (or a combination of all three). Absolutely no pride in ownership. I Googled their name (this is their 'new' presence on the 'net):

http://www.autobahnfreight.com/docs/about_us.html

That Peterbilt at the top of the page must be a Photoshop job, because I never saw anything that decent. I also found @ the time ('07 or '08), all their drivers were O/Os, no company drivers.

Cowpie · March 5, 2017

My guess is the driver who went over the ramp is foreign, though not from the U.S. That is a tin can hauler (rail container hauler) rig. You can tell that by the first pic which shows the trailer frame behind the tractor. If you do a little digging, you will probably find a lot of western Asia, Eastern European drivers are employed by those operations, and quality drivers are not what interests them. Just someone who can fog a mirror and generate a pulse. And will take a lower than average wage to do it. Brainwave activity is not a requirement. And the driver was 21? Well that should tell you something. Not necessarily that 21 year olds are incompetent boobs, but that is the lowest age one can drive commercial tractor trailer operations. This was a newbie. I have trained a lot of drivers over the years, mostly during the 90's, and I let them all know that their first year the odds will be stacked against them and they have to be seriously focused every minute to avoid situations like this. They just don't have the experience level to juggle all the balls efficiently. This is also why the better carriers will not hire a driver until they have 1 and even 2 years experience. This guy didn't.

I doubt the Peterbilt was a photoshop job. That was probably a pic of a current or past contractor they have pulling their stuff. It is simple eye candy for the website.

Most of the good "major" carriers have agreements with the OEM's on rotating tractors out of fleets. Those have to be resold to someone, and values drop precipitously after 400,000 miles. But on the flip side, the modern emissions nonsense has caused a substantial increase in initial truck purchase cost, increased weight which mean less payload, and substantially more downtime and maintenance issues. So you will have some carriers that will hold onto older pre-emission trucks (like the one in your single truck photo) for as long as they can. it is far cheaper to just change out components as needed and keep them going. Body paint and other cosmetics don't really concern them. It is just making sure they can meet all regulatory requirements to operate. Profit margins are razor thin doing automotive freight. I don't mess with it anymore. I have seen many carriers who put all the eggs into the automotive freight basket and fail big time.

There is another downside also to the above. Quality drivers tend to shy away from operations that have shoddy looking trucks. So, the longer they hold onto those trucks, they will have higher driver turnover and have to replace drivers, and the only ones they will be able to attract are mediocre drivers at best.

diyer2 · March 5, 2017

Not hijacking the thread.

My dad was a retired Teamster. A total of 6 family members were truck drivers.

If you bought it, a truck a brought it.

Cowpie · March 5, 2017

Truer than most people realize. 90% of "air freight" is moved by truck and not airplanes, and that is over and above what actually gets moved by truck to a plane or from it.

revrnd · March 5, 2017

Not hijacking the thread.

My dad was a retired Teamster. A total of 6 family members were truck drivers.

If you bought it, a truck a brought it.

Not knocking the 'good' drivers or outfits, it's the 'logistics' outfits we see on the 401 driving junk. I asked my buddy that drives in northern Ontario after many years of N/A hauling (lots of Quebec to GA runs) about the 21 year old. He said that was the minimum age. I said, "So obviously a newbie & he said yep.

barry G · March 5, 2017

This thread is missing something..

someone off a ramp, photo, something.

I did not know the painful beginnings to trucking happened anymore.

My dad is challeneged, and lovable. He does not mind who he is.

His first ride was to macy's in new york with a mack setup for class 7..(my favorite ride to this day.. a straining mack v8) and it was a bad day of backing into a vehicle, and then making a mess of the load.

His class A was a chauffers license out of ohio in 1977. A time of outlaws, crazy viet nam vets, leftover recovering hippies...

and my dad. A man truly being the best he could be. No CDL, no real rules.

He was driven until my mom spoke up.. he did not know when to stop. He had to be told he was abused.

To look down on lack of brain cells hurts me and entire families.

Stay pro-trucker. They are all pros.

40 years later, now in his 12th truck as an owner operator... a 2016 pete is at the helm.

revrnd · March 5, 2017

My guess is the driver who went over the ramp is foreign, though not from the U.S. That is a tin can hauler (rail container hauler) rig. You can tell that by the first pic which shows the trailer frame behind the tractor. If you do a little digging, you will probably find a lot of western Asia, Eastern European drivers are employed by those operations, and quality drivers are not what interests them. Just someone who can fog a mirror and generate a pulse. And will take a lower than average wage to do it. Brainwave activity is not a requirement. And the driver was 21? Well that should tell you something. Not necessarily that 21 year olds are incompetent boobs, but that is the lowest age one can drive commercial tractor trailer operations. This was a newbie. I have trained a lot of drivers over the years, mostly during the 90's, and I let them all know that their first year the odds will be stacked against them and they have to be seriously focused every minute to avoid situations like this. They just don't have the experience level to juggle all the balls efficiently. This is also why the better carriers will not hire a driver until they have 1 and even 2 years experience. This guy didn't.

Bingo! My friend says any experienced driver wouldn't drive for those rates the 'fly by nighters' pay.

Several years ago he was in WI getting unloaded. Another Canadian rig pulls up on the street adjacent to the receiving area. He's standing on the dock & the other driver asks if he knew where Acme Manufacturing was? He said no, this guys works here & points to the receiver. He then asks where this Acme place is at 123 Walnut St (they were @ 400 Walnut). The receiver says there is no such business called Acme down the street. The driver says yes there is, it says right here, pointing at his paperwork.

The receiver guy asks for the paperwork and looks @ it. W/ a disgusted look on his face, he hands it back while saying, it's in Cheboygan MI, you're in Sheboygan WI!. The other driver said thank you and walked back to his truck. I don't recall if my buddy & the receiver exchanged words or not. I asked him how far away was the MI drop, "Oh about 6 hours away." I said I hope it wasn't a time sensitive or JIT load. LOL