What's new

FedEx Freight | Purchase Trailers

Ted Decker trk said:
The fact that you're asking this question belies your ignorance of the industry. PT and rail language has been part of the Union LTL
NMFA for a long time. Your unfamiliarity calls into question your assertations about Union vs Nonunion and how the PT fits in.
Click to expand...
I didnt know the specifics to the 6% I’m not going to lie. Most of the folks who “liked” your posts probably didn’t know either. I’m okay with that. Does your company use rail as well?

However, it Still doesn’t changes the facts. It makes zero sense for a company to send a driver with empties so he can run. If the lane is severely imbalanced - you run a PT.
 
George Knighton said:
I didnt know the specifics to the 6% I’m not going to lie. Most of the folks who “liked” your posts probably didn’t know either. I’m okay with that. Does your company use rail as well?

However, it Still doesn’t changes the facts. It makes zero sense for a company to send a driver with empties so he can run. If the lane is severely imbalanced - you run a PT.
Click to expand...
You still have to run the driver with empties to the hub. PT drivers don’t work the dock.
 
Richard Cranium said:
You still have to run the driver with empties to the hub. PT drivers don’t work the dock.
Click to expand...

RC, shame be upon you! Dock workers who commute to their platform in a set of doubles, are oft called "shuttle drivers". We all know they're dock workers first and drivers second. May Big Dave shade you with his hat this winter, so your furry thong freezes over!
 
George Knighton said:
I didnt know the specifics to the 6% I’m not going to lie. Most of the folks who “liked” your posts probably didn’t know either. I’m okay with that. Does your company use rail as well?

However, it Still doesn’t changes the facts. It makes zero sense for a company to send a driver with empties so he can run. If the lane is severely imbalanced - you run a PT.
Click to expand...
I knew & im sure the rest did to. You seem to be lost when it comes to the daily function’s of trucking....Why is that? Most of the time you run to a Eol terminal out of a breakbulk with loads & pull empties out or vice verse....
 
GO40 said:
Most of the time you run to a Eol terminal out of a breakbulk with loads & pull empties out or vice verse....
Click to expand...

Alright so let’s talk EOL to HUB and back to EOL.

If the EOL’s last driver is going to take empties to the HUB and return home with empties (no dock work either). You say run him??
 
George Knighton said:
Alright so let’s talk EOL to HUB and back to EOL.

If the EOL’s last driver is going to take empties to the HUB and return home with empties (no dock work either). You say run him??
Click to expand...

George Knighton said:
Alright so let’s talk EOL to HUB and back to EOL.

If the EOL’s last driver is going to take empties to the HUB and return home with empties (no dock work either). You say run him??
Click to expand...
That barely ever happens but yes it’s a bid run they have to pay him for eight or 10 hours if he leaves the dock or drives to a hub....They get paid
 
Last edited:
GO40 said:
That barely ever happens but yes it’s a bid run they have to pay him for eight or 10 hours if he leaves the dock or drives to a hub....They get paid
Click to expand...
I know it rarely, if at all, happens because the driver gets cancelled and goes to extra board.

That is not a good business model and if it were the business model, i have a feeling things would be drastically changed.
 
Very few terminals or lanes are balanced 50/50 inbound vs outbound. You're going to be heavy inbound or outbound. Empties must be run to balance equipment. No amount of use of PT is going to alter the fact that Florida, as an example, is inbound heavy and outbound light for the LTL market and many other segments of trucking. Put the majority of freight on PT dry vans and the PT is going to develop an equipment imbalance into Florida with nothing coming out and rates will eventually reflect that and the PT will be as expensive as a companies own drivers/equipment. This concept is what is popularly referred to as a "backhaul" lane. Guys will haul cheap out of a place like Florida just to get back to a market like Atlanta to get good revenue. LTL's are well aware of this . PT is used for peak times or as a bludgeon to wield against the labor force by leaving guys sit.
 
silent trucker said:
RC, shame be upon you! Dock workers who commute to their platform in a set of doubles, are oft called "shuttle drivers". We all know they're dock workers first and drivers second. May Big Dave shade you with his hat this winter, so your furry thong freezes over!
Click to expand...

When i go on shuttle runs, I grab a strip and bay everything. I have to get to chasing my freight to get out of there. Its crazy to me that I'm expected to work to the dock while your dock workers are all huddled in a corner having a conversation.
 
Richard Cranium said:
You still have to run the driver with empties to the hub. PT drivers don’t work the dock.
Click to expand...
I can only speak for the hubs but we usually use PT to cover longer than avg runs.

If there’s an imbalance say in the LOU lane, they’ll load all STL on the PT...or if there’s an imbalance in the POS lane, they’ll load all HFD on the PT...ORL lane, all MIA on the PT.

I agree with George, not only is it NOT a good business model to run a driver with empties because it’s “his bid”, it’s outright ludicrous...and it probably explains why O/R for union companies stay around 95% and up!!
 
Redracer3136 said:
I can only speak for the hubs but we usually use PT to cover longer than avg runs.

If there’s an imbalance say in the LOU lane, they’ll load all STL on the PT...or if there’s an imbalance in the POS lane, they’ll load all HFD on the PT...ORL lane, all MIA on the PT.

I agree with George, not only is it NOT a good business model to run a driver with empties because it’s “his bid”, it’s outright ludicrous...and it probably explains why O/R for union companies stay around 95% and up!!
Click to expand...
So out here on the left coast, we have two terminals that feed the Pacific Northwest. They are considered separate lanes because each feeds a different hub. We also load PT in those lanes. More than once (many more actually) one of our runs will pull empties north to meet southbound freight. Pulling those empties right alongside the PT.
SOUNDS LIKE A SOUND BUSINESS PRACTICE TO US!
 
Somehow my center has gotten back into the practice of routinely having to unload a PT filled high and tight with freight going to a nearby (~40 miles) EOL and get it all high and tight into our own pup trailers.

For now I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that maybe it's technically more cost effective to do this every now and then, but to go through that procedure and then have to sit through pre-shifts where we're lectured about how we need to limit the number of times we handle freight gets ridiculous. Especially when the following day we're informed in another pre-shift that we missed cut times the previous night. I'm sure none of our drivers even want that PT-pup run, but it gets mind numbing the way they double down on the whole wasting time/money thing in practice and then waste everyone's time in pre-shifts acting surprised things aren't running smoothly.

But in all fairness I will say that my center (a decent sized hub) only regularly loads one PT per night, which is down from about the five we did this time last year. Thankfully the one we run usually has logistic posts, because that also got annoying sitting through pre-shifts where management couldn't figure out how so much freight was getting damaged in reefer vans where nothing can even be strapped in.

For what it's worth I will also say that we have been getting a lot more PTs that need to be broken on a daily basis. Maybe five on the hub up from three, and then certainly more on the inbound.
 
Redracer3136 said:
I can only speak for the hubs but we usually use PT to cover longer than avg runs.

If there’s an imbalance say in the LOU lane, they’ll load all STL on the PT...or if there’s an imbalance in the POS lane, they’ll load all HFD on the PT...ORL lane, all MIA on the PT.

I agree with George, not only is it NOT a good business model to run a driver with empties because it’s “his bid”, it’s outright ludicrous...and it probably explains why O/R for union companies stay around 95% and up!!
Click to expand...
You agree with George, I’m shocked!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top