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R&L | Pushed to the limit....Customers pay the price...

The efects of competition, or the effects of deregulation

braceface said:
I am seeing the company lately make some decisions that are impacting our customers in a negative way....

Drivers are being left at home in an effort to save the companymoney..The drivers that work are completely pushed to the limit and beyond....

More and more freight is being damaged, as the trucks are crammed to capacity and beyond, and everyone is pushed to hurry hurry hurry...

It everything that we can do to make our deliveries and pick-ups, with no room for any error....If you get held up somewhere you screwed....

This is no time to take a break, eat lunch, or hardly go to the bathroom...I have even resorted to not wearing gloves throughout the day, because I don't have time to put them on, and take them off...

Every day is a struggle to get all the deliveries and pick-ups made, and every day, our customers are waiting us to get there,"LATE" and pick-up their freight...

This is no time to count freight, we are in such a hurry when we get to a place, everything is STC....

I know for a fact, that our customers patience with us is wearing thin...We must take care of our customers...

We used to take excellent care of our customers, could even find a minute to say hello, but now its hurry up and load this freight, cause I got a customer that I have to get to, before they close....

This is every single day, over and over throughout the day...

I am not blaming anyone at our terminal, not the terminal manager, dispatchers etc, they are only working within the parameters that are being dictated from the top...(They are being pushed to the limit also)

Is anyone else across the country seeing the same thing?

IMHO, we need to bring in the guys sitting at the house, to lighten the load, and "TAKE CARE OF OUR CUSTOMERS"...

Please forgive the rant, I love working for R&L, but I hate to see what is happening to our loyal customers...

The drivers are doing all they can, busting it every day, I hope you guys at the top are aware of the consequences of cutting labor too much...
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Its that way everwhere, some wont admit it, they just go with it cause we (the dock workers, drivers etc) cannot change it.

Its a big ball of confusion, this is what happens when manufactures move off shore to make their products for us to buy, less freight in the US, then the natural attrition takes place until just a few companies survive.

Some will blame YRC, but if people look at the big picture, the blame rests with those who implement changes in the laws of land, your elected officials.

Sad but true.
 
braceface said:
I am seeing the company lately make some decisions that are impacting our customers in a negative way....

Drivers are being left at home in an effort to save the companymoney..The drivers that work are completely pushed to the limit and beyond....

More and more freight is being damaged, as the trucks are crammed to capacity and beyond, and everyone is pushed to hurry hurry hurry...

It everything that we can do to make our deliveries and pick-ups, with no room for any error....If you get held up somewhere you screwed....

This is no time to take a break, eat lunch, or hardly go to the bathroom...I have even resorted to not wearing gloves throughout the day, because I don't have time to put them on, and take them off...

Every day is a struggle to get all the deliveries and pick-ups made, and every day, our customers are waiting us to get there,"LATE" and pick-up their freight...

This is no time to count freight, we are in such a hurry when we get to a place, everything is STC....

I know for a fact, that our customers patience with us is wearing thin...We must take care of our customers...

We used to take excellent care of our customers, could even find a minute to say hello, but now its hurry up and load this freight, cause I got a customer that I have to get to, before they close....

This is every single day, over and over throughout the day...

I am not blaming anyone at our terminal, not the terminal manager, dispatchers etc, they are only working within the parameters that are being dictated from the top...(They are being pushed to the limit also)

Is anyone else across the country seeing the same thing?

IMHO, we need to bring in the guys sitting at the house, to lighten the load, and "TAKE CARE OF OUR CUSTOMERS"...

Please forgive the rant, I love working for R&L, but I hate to see what is happening to our loyal customers...

The drivers are doing all they can, busting it every day, I hope you guys at the top are aware of the consequences of cutting labor too much...
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This is the consequence of hauling alot of cheap freight. Enjoy!!! :clap::biglaugh:
 
It's not a result of cheaper freight. Fact is we are hauling more freight and not hiring enough people to handle it. Bottom line is we still have a small carrier mentallity and our old customers are paying the price. Our service level is in the tank, and soon customers will find a carrier to service them better because we are not growing with the freight levels. You have to spend money to make money and we just wont do that, so eventually we will lose all new business.Our missed pick-ups on a daily basis,quadruples our returns for the day!!!!
 
R&L_PHI said:
It's not a result of cheaper freight. Fact is we are hauling more freight and not hiring enough people to handle it. Bottom line is we still have a small carrier mentallity and our old customers are paying the price. Our service level is in the tank, and soon customers will find a carrier to service them better because we are not growing with the freight levels. You have to spend money to make money and we just wont do that, so eventually we will lose all new business.Our missed pick-ups on a daily basis,quadruples our returns for the day!!!!
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I can't understand why they are running the business into the ground...Do they really not know what they are doing?

World class customer servive????? We used to have world class service...

Employee moral is the worst I have ever seen it

I bet Mr. Roberts does not know what is happening to his company....

I hope they wake up and see what they are doing in Wilmington, before its to late....

Its time to put more drivers on the street everyday, stop running them in the ground, so we can service our customers the way we used to...
 
Running us into the ground is right......thanks to the old YRC folks !!! Kind of funny, how many people have we seen come and go in management (Opps & Sales) from Conway, UPS, Fed EX because they tried to "change the company" ????
 
R&L_PHI said:
It's not a result of cheaper freight. Fact is we are hauling more freight and not hiring enough people to handle it.
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Now think about this for a moment. Why would they be hauling more freight and not have enough people to handle it? Wouldn't you think they'd be adding capacity to handle the additional tonnage?

It's not that they don't want to hire more people...they CAN'T. The yield per shipment is not there to support the additional payroll due to the heavy discounts they are handing out...thus they run you guys like chickens with your heads off around town trying to get stops off and then pickups.

It amazes me the mentality in this industry of people who think that because a carrier is busy that they are making money hand over fist.

Right now, it'a a market-share grab. Everyone is trying to steal as much market share as they can so that if/when YRC goes out, they can raise prices and re-coup the yield over a larger revenue base which = more $$$$$. Then they can hire more men and purchase more equipment.
 
On average our terminal probably misses 20 pick-ups a day.I believe the revenue from those missed pick-ups would adequately pay for 2 or 3 more drivers.Not to even mention the returns coming back because we can't get all our deliveries off. Service is what customers remember.
 
R&L_PHI said:
On average our terminal probably misses 20 pick-ups a day.I believe the revenue from those missed pick-ups would adequately pay for 2 or 3 more drivers.
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You would have to know the revenue being missed vs. the cost of adding additional manpower/equipment.
R&L...like other LTL's...will circle the wagons around their multiple-bill money-making accounts first and foremost.
They don't want to miss any pickups...but if it's from some one-bill shippers maybe a couple of times a week, then they are not going to sweat it.
Like I said, they are strectched thin without the ability to add more manpower/equipment at this point and they can only do so much with what they have.
Once the supply/demand balance returns to the industry then...like the rest of the LTL's...R&L will enjoy better pricing power.
Now if they are not servicing these prime accounts than I agree completely with you that it's a big problem that ought to be addressed.
 
75% of our customers use us 3-5 days a week. There are not many one time, one bill shipments.We have not added many new customers,they are all old customers.These are not new accounts we are pissing off and missing. I am not in management ,but I believe soon they will find carriers that have enough idle employees to pick up their freight before they close. Don't forget , the shipper has to pay people when dispatch calls and begs them to stay an extra 20 minutes.And our dispatchers make a lot of them calls.
 
R&L_PHI said:
75% of our customers use us 3-5 days a week. There are not many one time, one bill shipments.We have not added many new customers,they are all old customers.These are not new accounts we are pissing off and missing. I am not in management ,but I believe soon they will find carriers that have enough idle employees to pick up their freight before they close. Don't forget , the shipper has to pay people when dispatch calls and begs them to stay an extra 20 minutes.And our dispatchers make a lot of them calls.
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As long as they are servicing those multi-bill gravy accounts first and foremost, then that's their #1 priority.

This is your typical low-ball LTL carrier...they just throw out huge discounts like a net and see what sticks.

Trust me, if they could add manpower/equipment then they would. But this carrier hauls alot of cheap freight and they try to make up for it with volume. Don't believe me? Ask the shipper (if you have time) to show you the discount he is currently gettting from R&L. Then you will understand.

They are not alone, just about every carrier is doing this to some extent but R&L is pretty steep. Why? Because they all want to put YRC out of business and then divide the spoils later.
 
I can tell you LSV has very few missed pick up's. If a truck is still on the street. That truck is going to pick it up. No matter if he is a block from the Term. That truck is turned around to go get it. Big or small account. What gets me is so many drivers know so much about R+L. And they driver for LTL 's that do the same thing. It is of the name of the game. If Company A can take fright from company. B and make a profit. Then A wins. If B wants the fright then B mout meet or beat. One Company I will not say the name because I don't know it to be true. But for some time it's has been said this Company has been doing 35 dollar flat rate from LSV to all points in CA. Now if it is ture and they are making Profit then good for them. To bad mouth a company for the pricing is not right. It is the name of the game. And to think FedEx,UPS,ABF,Conway and everyone in management at all the LTL's are not waiting for YRC to fall. Then one must think everyone is a nice guy. If they fall. Every LTL out there from the big to the small will be chasing that fright. All it takes is FedEx to put the wrong guy in the top job. And they can fall also. Any LTL if managed bad can tip over and me run over my everyone.I will tell you this. If I see fright going to another LTL. I will ask if I can get them a new Quote. I have no problem taking that fright. My job is to make money for R+L. Just my two cents.
 
Mike Varnco said:
As long as they are servicing those multi-bill gravy accounts first and foremost, then that's their #1 priority.

This is your typical low-ball LTL carrier...they just throw out huge discounts like a net and see what sticks.

Trust me, if they could add manpower/equipment then they would. But this carrier hauls alot of cheap freight and they try to make up for it with volume. Don't believe me? Ask the shipper (if you have time) to show you the discount he is currently gettting from R&L. Then you will understand.

They are not alone, just about every carrier is doing this to some extent but R&L is pretty steep. Why? Because they all want to put YRC out of business and then divide the spoils later.
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i don't know what area you are in, but i was talking with our sales rep here and he cant compete with anyone. corp wont let him do a big enough discount, here out west r+l is not the low ball, this is all info from my sales rep.
 
same in LSV

bullwagon said:
i don't know what area you are in, but i was talking with our sales rep here and he cant compete with anyone. corp wont let him do a big enough discount, here out west r+l is not the low ball, this is all info from my sales rep.
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In my area of Vegas I run. FedEx has 6 trucks puilling trips. To R+L's 1. I get a full trailer everyday with over flo going on 1 or 2 late trucks. FedEx is on top of each other. My area of Vegas is small with alot of fright. Often I see Pups being dropped at new accounts. Taking up doors once open for docking. Now you have to wait for the only open door. I'm told many times are rate is to high to CA. that's why we gave it to others.
 
That is where the YRC boys and the R&L mentality differ......YRC is all about serviceing the multi-bill customer first.....R&L WAS all about servicing the Moms & the Pops and not missing ANY pick ups !!!!
 
My (__!__) is draggin' from the last couple of weeks. Slam a few guys with 15 or more deliveries and shove pickups up your (__!__) before your half empty...while some guys are sitting at home or starting way to late to service the customers. Not to mention the price hike in my area...has left us looking for freight some days. As for R+L hauling cheap freight...that's a joke. We are hauling what ever freight that is handed our way. I just wish management would get off the numbers game and get back to servicing the customer and worrying about customer numbers and not production numbers. Take care of the customers and everything will take care of itself in the end.
 
Today I made a late run to an out line area. To service a woman that was expecting her flooring for this weekend. Now while I am driving I count 10 FedEx L/H pulling trips coming into LSV. So stop the poor mouth how much freight is being taken from poor FedEX. Is BS. I passed are lone day run pulling trips coming back to LSV. We have a total of two day runs. The FedEx L/H drivers were coming from the north. How may were coming into LSV from the South?
 
jaguar95 said:
Today I made a late run to an out line area. To service a woman that was expecting her flooring for this weekend. Now while I am driving I count 10 FedEx L/H pulling trips coming into LSV. So stop the poor mouth how much freight is being taken from poor FedEX. Is BS. I passed are lone day run pulling trips coming back to LSV. We have a total of two day runs. The FedEx L/H drivers were coming from the north. How may were coming into LSV from the South?
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I normally don't get involved in R+L Topics, but I thought I would chime in on this one.

Fed-Ex Line haul now works on a wheel system and although I an not sure how much freight we haul into and out of Vegas on a daily basis ( I know it's not that much) most of those trailers you see are just passing through on there way to and from Cali. and other via points.
 
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