Landstar season has started

[jeepman]

Must be the beginning of LANDSTAR season....I see many LANDSTAR trucks pulling LTL shuttle freight again. Looks like T/L is going to loose out on pulling shuttle freight for awhile. Looks like T/L is going to be getting the FICKLE FINGER waiting for a load, especially on Fridays when many of us use shuttle freight to get home! Must be cheaper to use outside carriers, than company trucks to pull AVRT freight!

[1tt1]

Yea I've seen them also...

[jeepman]

I was in LEX thursday morning, normally I would get something going to KNX ,Ful,NOR or CLT,I saw 2 Landstars pull out of there with LTL's, so I figuire I'll either go to LOU or CIN and get something....nope...after 24 hrs I go down to Russell Springs KY,load one for Kinston NC, take it to GBO,drop and pickup a HAZMAT load going to Fl...got into ORL last nite at 2030 after leaving GBO at 1000 in the morning. 2110 miles for the week.

[RickyRicardo]

Started seeing dropped Swift trailers in LOU.

[ltl lifer]

Remember, Landstar and US Express are under contract and are paid regardless so they will be dispatched. They will move them on a load before AE employees, then comes TL then comes shuttle on shuttle runs. I don't know why they do this but it has to be because of predictions made by Central Dispatch and by that I mean that it is left up to the omniscient Pam R. and her less-than-stellar performance.

But look at how efficient they use their LTL sleeper teams. Oh it must be paradise for the driver in the bunk, struggling to sleep as it is, being rocked around after a 150 mile dispatch (happens all the time).

Hey Gary...clean out Central PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is some petrified wood in that most important operation that needs to be put out to pasture. They are pathetic.

[1tt1]

I have to disagree a little with you LTL...every LTL load I get is always a second load after a shuttle load and about 30% of the time it is cancelled because there is not enough freight on it to ship...

[ltl lifer]

I have to disagree a little with you LTL...every LTL load I get is always a second load after a shuttle load and about 30% of the time it is cancelled because there is not enough freight on it to ship...

But what you don't know is if the shuttle driver on that lane (bid driver) had already been contacted to stay home and they were going to put you on his run. Maybe there was freight going out of that yard to a destination and nothing but an empty to come back. This is common and known as a 1 way move hence TL gets put on it because they aren't required to turn you back with that empty whereas they would be forced to turn me back. This scenario makes good business sense; I am totally aware of this.

However, on the Landstar issue, they are going to find something for them to roll with because as part of their contract they have guaranteed Landstar drivers to get x number of miles a day. This is an entirely different scenario from TL pulling it.

[Iceman]

I understand's Centrals dilemma, it's darn if you do, darned if you don't. This crazy economy is like we have never seen before, spike in freight, then bottom drops out only to rebound a day later. They look at the "big picture", number of hooks, then priority of hooks and their time sensitivity. I'm like everyone else in hating to see Landstar pulling while our guys are staying home or working the dock at 50-60.00 less a night. I would not want to be in the position to make these calls on "power" each night.

[ltl lifer]

With all of this combo mumbo-jumbo running around there is ample manpower to pull loads. You will never convince me that Landstar will have a sense of urgency about getting a service load 600-700 miles by time required to be there.

I also think that with all of the signs hanging all over all of our terminal's gates desperately seeking more "combo" drivers, my prediction is slowly starting to manifest itself. If you are going to try and run your company on the cheap and not pay people what the competition is paying, the prospects will stay away in droves no matter how much "bonus finders fees" you say you are going to pay. When SAIA starts a driver out at a penny more than our top shuttle driver pay and then over 18 months the pay increases to top pay, why would any driver choose to come over to el cheapo express?

Also adding to the problem that is slowly coming to fruition, the industry wide shortage of drivers in general coupled with the attrition of older drivers. The younger generation wants nothing to do with this business even with it being a much easier job than it was when I got into it. The regulations, the confiscatory rates just to get a CDL not to mention the cost of training, the CSA 2010 rules (ridiculous as they are), government intervention on things like $2700 fine for using a handheld phone (the HEIGHT of lunacy though I use hands free 95% of the time), the lack of pay for the job done (especially at this outfit), drug screens, alcohol screens (that we are not paid for...ludicrous) the law seemingly out to target drivers, the list goes on...younger people are saying the hell with it and want nothing to do with the trucking industry.

If I was a kid in my teens and was considering what I was going to do in my future, I would stay FAR away from this business. All of the hoops to jump through for a $50-60 k a year job? I, myself, would be doing something else. This problem is going to grow bigger and bigger and get larger and larger. The end pay is not worth all of the endless BS that you have to go through.

As the years progress and the older of us retire, there are not going to be the equal amounts of replacements entering the industry. At that point, these companies are going to be forced to adjust their pay scales to compete. I probably won't be around to see it but it is coming!

[Tarheelfalcon]

This industry is hiring drivers.Just not any with common sense.You and I see it every night.Idiots in big trucks.Its amazing that some of these people can even get a CDL.Thats what the Trucking Companies are hiring now and paying them low milage pay which in turn brings the industry pay average down.